You found it.

Why do you want locking hubs? or rather, unlocking hubs.

 

The only way to install locking hubs on the TJ D30 is to install a conversion kit. Warn has one for around $1200 and Mile Marker has one for around $700.

Why do you think you need locking hubs?

 

the warn kit is no longer avail. you may find a few here and there, but warn is not manufacturing it anymore. randy's ring and pinion purchased the rights or whatever for the kit. i dunno bout the mm kit. i have the warn kit on mine with the small hubs.

 

Probably because the unit bearings suck, and if you break a front axle, you can unlock the hubs and drive, instead of taking it apart.

 

Probably because the unit bearings suck...

For something that "sucks", unit bearings do a fine job for the vast majority of Jeep drivers.

 

btw, i just read the write up for the warn hub conv on stu's site. very good info on the pros and cons of having/not having the conv. there is also a scenario with pics at the end of the article.

 

link to site?

 

Milemarker is about all there is new out there. Still a few Warn kits floating around. The unitbearings work fine for me. With the cost of some of these kits it might be cheaper to swap in a larger steering axle.

 

I'd bet this is it:

Warn Hub Conversion - 1

Dave aka Ghan

 

Gracias

 

Same as said above. I want locking hubs so I can free the axle if I blow my Dana 30. Why else would someone get locking hubs besides preserving axle and gear life with them being free for street driving

 

Where did you plan on blowing your Dana 30 that magically lets you hop into 2WD right after it dies?

As far as preserving axle and gear life? :rofl: Axles and gears in general based on just this board alone are good for 100,000 miles. How much more preservation did you have in mind?

 

Excuse my ignorance but with a lunchbox locker is the conversion more or less helpful?

 

I drive my jeep to and from my wheelin spot. If I blow gears or a u joint I'd like to free the hubs and drive home. It's not magically jumping into 2 wheel, and when something isn't moving, it doesn't wear, that's called preserving or saving or whatever you want to call it.

But the main reason I want them is to still be able to drive home if something like that blows.

 

Sorry to revive. So I noticed Ian installed a Spintech kit his new D60 in his Dodge DD and said it gained him 2.5mpg. That is what makes it worth considering imo.

 

Sorry to revive. So I noticed Ian installed a Spintech kit his new D60 in his Dodge DD and said it gained him 2.5mpg. That is what makes it worth considering imo.

Installing manual hubs is not going to gain any, let alone 2.5 mpg for a modern Jeep. My '97 TJ had manual hubs and my current 04 TJ has manual hubs. There is no difference in mpg with them locked vs. unlocked and indeed, you can't even tell when driving on the highway if they are locked or unlocked. There are a couple benefits to be gained by installing manual hubs but even slightly better mpg is not one of them.

 

Thanks guys. Makes sense they(warn) discontinued it.

 

Dont Do it on a D30

I would not install a hub conversion kit on a D30 I would put the money into and axle upgrade just my opinion. But... the kit from Randy's Ring and Pinon will interchange with a D44 or D30. So if you choose to upgrade axles later you can uninstall and reinstall on the new D44!

You will not here many good things about Randy's Ring and Pinon but I recommend them!! Here is why. They took the kit from Warn and tried to reinvent the wheel and failed but I think they are making it right!! But other are out there. Alloy USA has a kit out now also!!!

I also like Jerry rolled a my front right (D30) U joint about 15 miles from my house. No locking hubs installed so I had to drive it home that way and was lucky I was able to get back with just 2WD. By the time I got home nothing was let of the U joint or the ears of either shaft and the inside of the "C" of the axle end was beat to hell. Had to cut the mount bolt heads for the unit bearing off cause they were so destroyed they did not even look like a 12 point bolt head or any bolt head for that matter. Then I choose to REPLACE my D30 with a D44 and installed a Warn/Randy's Ring and Pinon hub conversion kit. Get the kit, Jeep is disassembled and the outer short shafts in the kit are the wrong ones. They are for older D30 with 260 U joints and I have 297.... First Strike!! First trip out snapped the front left outer short shaft. Get home, shaft out... the way the shaft broke just does not look right... maybe a mis-manufacturing??? So the good people at Randy's send me another short shaft one of the ears on the new shaft was all jacked up. Looked like it had JB weld filling a gap in the metal of the ear of the shaft (one could see a finger print in the filler....???) Strike Two. So I call the good people at Randy's and they say ok send it back we are going to overnight you another new shaft. Ok. Got the new shaft and to my surprise it was a chromoly upgrade for the kit!! Sweet. All has been well so far...but I wonder about the other shaft that is not the CHROMOLY upgrade that I'm going to have to pay 400 bucks for....

 

I have been considering alloys hub conversion. I dont know that much about how these kits are built, but wouldnt another perk be that if you broke an outer shaft your wheel wont fall off? And wouldnt it be possible (with a locker) to atleast 3 wheel drive out of the trail without having to take every thing apart? Has anyone noticed less noise or vibrations on the highway with these?

 

I noticed a TON less vibration. Only because my front d-shaft is always bent.


It is possible to 3-wheel drive out of a nasty spot, but really depends on the break. But I HATE 3-wheeling out, puts a ton of pressure on the front end. Last time I did that I broke the 9/16 bolt of the Currie/JKS trackbar.

 

Why does everyone hate on unit bearings? Last Wednesday, a guy we were with was hammering the absolute piss out of his jeep, I heard it shift to second (automatic) and before I could yell to him to cool it, he blew a ujoint (cap spit out) and killed the shaft.

The joint/shaft blew in the middle of a brook, on a bad section of trail. We were able to replace the shaft with one of my spares in less than 15 minutes from start to finish half in a brook with hand tools and a hi-lift.

Lets see someone change a blown hub in that time under those conditions. (4wd was needed to get back out of where we were)

Pics of the carnage for entertainment......

We have since taught him about excessive use of the skinny pedal

 

Why does everyone hate on unit bearings? Last Wednesday, a guy we were with was hammering the absolute piss out of his jeep, I heard it shift to second (automatic) and before I could yell to him to cool it, he blew a ujoint (cap spit out) and killed the shaft.

The joint/shaft blew in the middle of a brook, on a bad section of trail. We were able to replace the shaft with one of my spares in less than 15 minutes from start to finish half in a brook with hand tools and a hi-lift.
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Nothing wring with the Jeep unit bearings, worked for me for many years. They just have limitations.

Last week on Green Day in BFE, a friend blew one shaft right at the hub. We pulled it, he decided to drive the rest of the way down with 3WD. Due to some poor bumpstopping and going downhill, broke the other shaft. While backing up 20 feet so we could pull it, he destroyed the hub bearing.

When they break right at the hub there's nothing holding the bearing together, and will loosen or even pull the hub apart.

And I can replace an axle shaft in about 20 minutes with my Warn hubs. I dig em.

 

I like the hubs for flat towing.
We have a 56 willies w/ 5.38 and full float 44 in the back, D30 up front, turn out all four hubs and off we go.
With the low gears I think it made sence.

When I was young my dad had a 42 and when flat towing the drive line broke and fell down into the road, pole vaulting the back of the jeep LOL, the drive line was stuck in the road. After that for years I had to pull the drive lines and put them back on at sand dunes.

Now I have a 97 Tj and tow it, No hubs and I'm always thinking (about that 42). Should I switch to hubs.
What do you guys/gals think, If you flat tow are hubs smart?

Thanks for your imput
Cam

 

I have the Warn Small Hub Conversion. I've been running it for several years with out any problems. While Mr. Blaine has said that he's not seen a stub shaft break, he did say that the ears were taken out from a u-joint in one instance.

Are the stub shafts from Randy's similar quality as when Warn had them? I only ask because I'd like to get a spare in case the u-joint takes out the ears of the current shafts. I'd like to have spare ahead of time and not have to wait a week or more to get a replacement part after something has broken. Inners I can get from anywhere, Superior, TenFactory, etc. I can even use my stock spares temporarily. The outer stubs are different as they are specific to the hub conversion.

 

I have the Warn Small Hub Conversion. I've been running it for several years with out any problems. While Mr. Blaine has said that he's not seen a stub shaft break, he did say that the ears were taken out from a u-joint in one instance.

Are the stub shafts from Randy's similar quality as when Warn had them? I only ask because I'd like to get a spare in case the u-joint takes out the ears of the current shafts. I'd like to have spare ahead of time and not have to wait a week or more to get a replacement part after something has broken. Inners I can get from anywhere, Superior, TenFactory, etc. I can even use my stock spares temporarily. The outer stubs are different as they are specific to the hub conversion.

I now have to retract my previous statement over not seeing stubs break.

We finally found the limit and I caused it. I built steel body drive flange carriers to replace the locking hubs. Erik got a bit rambunctious one weekend in JV and took out two stubs. He's back to unitbearings. :rofl:

I just installed a hub kit from Randy and it looked to be fine and likely a good source for spares.

 

Bump.

 

SPYNTEC 5 on 5.5 hub conversion

To whom ever is interested.
If you are planning on getting the 5 on 5.5 big hub conversion from SPYNTEC be aware that you will not be able to do a WJ knuckle conversion unless you do a lot of reasearch on the rotor you need and other things for the brakes to work, and if you call VANCO for their kit, make sure you specify that you have a SPYNTEC conversion not a big warn (THEY ARE DIFFRENT AT THE HUB, THE MEASUREMENTS ARE WAY DIFFERENT BETWEEN THE 2).
If you have any questions please dont hesitate to email me with questions.
I recomend that if you are doing the 5 on 5.5 together with the WJ conversion you go with the Warn kit or the Alloy kit (they are the same), not SPYNTEC. I about lost all my hair over thsi thing...lts of work and measuring and figuring it out.

Regards to all

 

To whom ever is interested.
If you are planning on getting the 5 on 5.5 big hub conversion from SPYNTEC be aware that you will not be able to do a WJ knuckle conversion unless you do a lot of reasearch on the rotor you need and other things for the brakes to work, and if you call VANCO for their kit, make sure you specify that you have a SPYNTEC conversion not a big warn (THEY ARE DIFFRENT AT THE HUB, THE MEASUREMENTS ARE WAY DIFFERENT BETWEEN THE 2).
If you have any questions please dont hesitate to email me with questions.
I recomend that if you are doing the 5 on 5.5 together with the WJ conversion you go with the Warn kit or the Alloy kit (they are the same), not SPYNTEC. I about lost all my hair over thsi thing...lts of work and measuring and figuring it out.

Regards to all

You also need to specify Warn or Randy's 5.5 kit because Randy changed the wheel hub to eliminate the 3/16's rotor spacer but did not change the chamfer where it registers on the rotor. The wheel hub also has a slightly different offset which affects the overall caliper bracket height.

PITA now.

 

I just keep thinking $1200 is alot of money to put into a dana 30. More than likely a person that is putting on locking hubs has already regeared, (around $600 in a shop no locker) and possibly upgraded the brakes ($800)
I have considered putting in locking hubs before but I think its time to draw a line in the sand.