Need help with hubs!

[brown78]

I am having a problem getting my hubs to engage. 1971 Chevy blazer, Warn manual hubs. First i tried to take them apart, clean, inspect, reassemble. On jack stands they would engage, on the trail not so much. Bought a brand new set of Superwinch quarter turns, installed, same result. I noticed if I drive 20mph or so down the road they seam to engage, slow down put a load while trying to climb a hill, nothing. Drive down the road at speed, slow down, put it in 4lo, cut the wheel hard and slowly turn and the wheels chirp, hubs engaged. Go into the mud, turn and gas it, only rears are spinning. Now i'm stumped and aggravated, time to walk away and ask for suggestions.

[OrrieG]

Not a expert by any means but are you sure when you turn them in (to engage) the splines are hooking up. I have 74 axles in mine and I once had a problem with some chewed up splines. The outside would turn, but the inside would not engage. Also had the opposite problem with older Warn hubs, they did not have a mechanical disengagement and one got stuck engaged. I would jack up the front end and turn the hubs in and out and see if the driveline turns when the wheels do (by hand). That will tell you if it is the hubs. If that is ok then it might be in the transfer case. You did not say what type you have but 203's are notorius for the inside handle moving but the guts not engaging or disengaging, thats why I converted to a twin stick, I got tired of crawling around in the mud and snow with a big screw driver manually getting it in and out of 4wd.

[brown78]

I have a 205, it it seems to be working great. I think the problem has something to do with the hubs. Just cant figure out why they wouldnt stay engaged. The hubs are brand new. When I installed the new hubs the axle ends had some play is this normal? Maybe cause this problem. Really stumped, any info would help.

[OrrieG]

I looked online and the hubs are different than the Warn in design and how they work. I was looking to see if they were side specific but that does not appear to be the case. Only thing in the install instructions was three ways to clip them in depending on the axle type. The diagrams are not clear but it looks like the 1/4 turn engages a slotted cam. Maybe they are not seating all the way? I would think internally they would have a recess for positive seating so they would not disengage under loading and unloading.

My rememberance of is that the axles do have a little play in them. (at least mine do but they probably have 160K miles on them)