Converting your automatic hubs to manual is
a lot easier than you might think. I have a Dana 35 out of a 91
Explorer swapped into my 88 B2 so I bought a set of Warn manual
hubs from my local Ford dealer with all the necessary conversion
hardware for $250. I also recommend that you purchase new wheel
bearings and seals while you're at it. No sense doing this twice if
you don't have to.
First off, I jacked the front end up and
took of the tire. Sometimes the hub will come off with the tire
but don't worry; you won't be needing it anymore. If not you should
be looking at something like this...
Now just pull the hub toward you and it
should come right off and you are left looking at this greasy
mess.
Using snap ring pliers or a couple of
screwdrivers, carefully remove the spring clip from the spindle.
You're going to need to reuse this so don't lose it.
Next you will remove the splined washer from
the shaft. Put this with the spring clip so it can be reused also.
The plastic cam piece is a little more
difficult to get off but you can do it with your hands and just a
little bit of pressure. This vile piece of equipment will not be
reused and may be thrown as far as you can throw it.
There is a little key holding the locknut in
place. It must be removed BEFORE the locknut or you will damage
the threads on your spindle. I used a utility knife blade to work
one side out and a small magnet to pull it out on the other side.
The lock key is kind of hard to see in this picture. It is
attached to the magnetic handle of the screwdriver I'm holding.
You may have to wiggle the locknut to relieve any pressure that
may be present on the lock key to remove it. The lock key is not
required for the manual hubs and may be discarded.
Now just unscrew the locknut. If you can't
unscrew the locknut by hand you will need a 2 3/4" socket.
The automatic hub lock nut is not reused with the manual hubs. You
should have gotten a kit with two locknuts and a washer to replace
it when you got your hubs.
If you wiggle the rotor, the outer wheel
bearing will pop out and you can remove it. I should have taken
the time to put new bearings in when I did this but I forgot to
pick them up before I started. So that will have to be done some
other day.
I repacked my wheel bearing with hi temp
moly grease and slid it back into place.
Here is a picture of the remaining parts
that need to be installed. Clockwise from the top right-hand
corner are the hub, locknut, lock washer, bearing nut, splined
washer, and snap ring.
The two new lock nuts are very similar
except one has a small pin protruding from one side. The nut with
the pin goes on first with the pin facing out or pointing toward
you. This is very important as it is what the keyed washer holds
on to to keep the bearing nut from moving. Thread it all the way
onto the spindle until it touches the bearing.
Using a torque wrench tighten the nut to 35
foot pounds. Back the nut off 1/4 turn and then tighten to 16 inch
pounds.
Slide the locking washer onto the shaft.
Make sure that the bearing nut is positioned such that the pin
will go through one of the holes in the washer. If it won't,
reposition the bearing nut until the lock washer sits flush on the
bearing nut.
Thread the locknut onto the spindle and
torque it to 150 foot pounds.
Reinstall the splined washer.
Put the snap ring back in place.
Slide the new hub onto the spindle. You may
have to rotate the rotor to get the splines to match up.
Viola! You are done and only need to repeat
on the other side and you will be wheeling with your tough new
manual hubs.
From start to finish this conversion probably only took me about 2
hours and could have been done faster if I hadn't done all the
picture taking. Automatic hubs prior to 1990 have some other parts
that are also not reused in the swap. If you have 1989 or older
hubs there will be some thrust washers, and thrust bearing that
come off before the plastic cam. They are not necessary and not
used in the manual hubs. Hope this helps anyone out who'd like to
do this conversion.
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