Warn Manual Hubs on a Wrangler

i dont think you will see a major improvement in mileage. the advantages of doing this are:
having a non unitized bearing assy
you can eliminate the diconnect
less wear and drag (a good idea if you run a locker)
if you break an axle or diff you can dial out the hubs and still drive

also mabey not as important by most but a big thing for myself is that i believe that mechanical systems should have mechanical controls. i am a knob and lever kind of guy.

dan

/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.giflet it snow/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif

Being the devils advocate:
-no more shift on the fly...
-if you're stuck on an incline (I tend to wheel in 2 wd until I get stuck) - they'll be hard to lock.
-hubs get REALLY cold in the snow
-You'll loose your warranty (if you're still covered)
-hard to shift on the fly with manual hubs...
-most YJ's still have open front diffs..

Thanks for the pros. I enjoy the shift on the fly...

Jon-YJ94
a work in progress
[email protected]

I'm thinking of doing this to my YJ for 2 reasons:

1. I have a front locker. With the hubs I can prevent the driveshaft/diff from turning while driving on the street. Less vibration and wear and tear.

2. The warn kit comes with lifetime warranties on their axle shafts. If you get the inner axles too (about $300 extra), you will have stronger axles, and they will have lifetime warranties. Now I don;t know exactly what this warranty covers, but I'm trying to find out. For me this is a big thing - I can beef it up to handle 35s (it does great with the stock axles, a locker, and 33s now), rid myself of any vibration, get lifetime warranty on the axles, and carry my stock axle shafts as spares.

The downside is the price is pretty steep - the other option I'm weighing is spending more and getting a D44 - at least $1000 more, any way I look at it (looking at wagoneer axles, have scout axles sitting around, or simply buying custom axle).

Chad

Here's my $.02.... The 5 on 4.5 conversion is probably not a good choice, if you plan on running 35's and/or a locker in the front. I spoke with a tech guy at Warn and he thought the little Ranger hubs just won't hold up to the stress. The 5 on 5.5 conversion would be much strong and would probably hold up a lot better.

My advise is to save your money and buy a front D44. You get bigger brakes, bearings, etc.... I think, the 5 on 5.5 conversion is about $1000. That's the same price as a new set of 1 ton outers with Warn premium hubs (from Tri County). Put another 2k with that and you'll have a front D44 with 4.56 gears, a Detroit, Warn hubs and 1-ton outers. This is the route I took and I'm far less paranoid about breaking stuff - besides the fact that it's done. No more upgrades to do on my front axle.

Jim