Selectable Front Hubs

[funk]

Manual locking hubs up front. '88 5 speed guinea pig DL.

 

Yes, I am aware that I am unstable. But we all know this is a great idea. Help me out here

[Scott in Bellingham]

lets see what you came up with

[WoodsWagon]

I don't understand the appeal of locking hubs on something you're not running a spool or lincoln locked diff in? I can see it being easier than pulling an axle shaft every time you road drive it in that case, but otherwise you're just adding a bunch of extra parts to cause trouble.

 

The next big development in offroad subaru's needs to be a married transfer case. With the AWD transmissions it's possible because you can run the front pinion shaft faster than the transmission output. A planetary reduction could fit where the center diff was, and then have selectable rear drive like the older 4x4 transmissions. It could be made as a bolt on replacement housing for the rear transfer housing on the 5spd's, and would give better reduction than the EA. Most planetary transfer cases are in the 2.7:1 range. It would also make the transmission stronger because the reduction is after the 1-5 gearing. And it would make the EJ transmission desirable, so you wouldn't need to use adapters to run EA 4x4 transmissions behind EJ engines.

 

The same could be done with a 4eat, the VTD transmissions have a center differential and the front pinion speed can overrun the trans output shaft speed.

 

The hardest part would be casting a housing with bosses for the shift rails to control the reduction and rear outputs.

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

In my own humble opinion, I agree with this:

 

... you're just adding a bunch of extra parts to cause trouble ...

 

Kind Regards.

[Numbchux]

Independent of what I think of the reasons...

 

 

I think it's certainly possible, with the right equipment and money. But, I think will quickly escalate into a complete re-engineering and replacement of the entire front suspension.

 

 

Selectable hubs require 2 shafts. An inner axle shaft, and outer shaft that the hub rides on. Disconnected, they can spin seperately, connected, the force applied to the inner axle shaft is transferred to the outer hub. They need to have their own bearings (although only the outer ones have to support the weight of the vehicle). This all means that the bore in the knuckle will need to be considerably larger, which will likely require a "new" knuckle. It might be possible to machine the stock knuckle down, and bolt a different bearing flange to it that might allow what you're going for, but I think there won't be enough material left to bolt TO.

 

 

 

 

Years ago, Adam NDJ started designing an adapter plate that would allow him to attach Nissan truck front knuckles to the rear of his Brat. IIRC the primary goal for this was to use the r200 diff more than the hubs, but the beefier bearings and brakes, and lockable hubs were also on the list. Although his had a divorced Tcase, so did not have a FWD option available.