Freewheeling or auto hubs

rctr, Apr 13, 6:51am
hi all, am thinking of converting my auto hubs to freewheeling on my 95 l200. What are the pros and cons of conversion of leaving as is.

skin1235, Apr 13, 9:25am
how often do you use them

alfred011, Apr 16, 11:12am
Manual engaged are far more reliable ,only takes a minute to stop and engage them before going off road .

elect70, Apr 18, 4:58am
Wont gain any noticable fuel economy . Better off permanantly fixed less problems & so many forget they are "out ' until they get stuck & its too late .

sterid01, Apr 18, 11:55pm
Auto hubs are crap everytime you change direction they disengage then reengage in 4wd , manual is the best there either in or out .

tweake, Apr 19, 6:57am
does the l200 run autohubs or ADD (diff disconnect) ?

don't know with mitsi but plenty of toyotas and niisan that have had manual hubs fitted and gained fuel economy. the power drain of having hubs locked (but in 2wd) is noticeable.
generally speaking well worth having manual hubs.

rctr, Apr 19, 7:26am
Auto hubs

bwg11, Apr 19, 8:52am
Absolutely. Anyone advocating auto hubs for serious 4WD work is showing their lack of 4WD experience.

elect70, Apr 20, 3:46am
^^ & even boat launching , as mate has discovered with his Rocky auto hubs stuffed so coverting to full time 4wd .

mrfxit, Apr 20, 4:31am
DID anyone suggest serious 4x4 off road work.
Can't find any comments either way . funny that ;-(

mechnificent, Apr 20, 5:00am
Auto is good for beaches, and if you have to drive through a bit of flat slippery stuff. But get them on a hill and they are dangerous because of that coming out of gear when you discover you have to back down that really slippery hill. Then all you can do is slap it in reverse and gun it down hill. otherwise they stay out of mesh, the front wheels lock up and slide.

Auto for casual. manual for serious use.

bwg11, Apr 20, 5:14am
No, but as mechnificent says anyone who goes off the tarmac can inadvertently get into a situation where auto hubs can cause problems. I had never had auto hubs until my Terrano in the mid-1990's.

I was off-road, with just one vehicle, dropped the front into a really swampy patch, decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and I would reverse out and return the way we came in. The hubs would not lock in reverse, so the only option was to charge the bog-hole going forward. While was walking the bog picking a track, another 4WD arrived. He pulled me out then charged the bog and got stuck, I pulled him out and we both returned the way we came.

Moral of the story is that you can't rely on auto hubs. I fitted a pair of "super winch" hubs the following week.

aj254, Apr 20, 5:21am
The best I've seen are the nissan safari ones where you have the option of auto or manually locking them. Leave them in auto and they lock if you get caught out or lock them manually before you hit the real rough stuff. I don't know if they are available for other makes and models though. Otherwise manual for rough stuff auto for driving through wet paddocks, sand etc.

mechnificent, Apr 20, 5:22am
Yup. I haven't experienced it but in theory an auto hub could come out going down a long hill using the engine for braking and throttling to keep control, and then you would have to gun it down the hill to make the hubs relock, only to come out again when you throttle off. It on;y takes one to slip out too easily, or one to be a bit too tight to engage/disengage, and they don't like going back in. or come out at the end of the drive.

mechnificent, Mar 4, 3:59pm
Yeah those three way ones are good. I've seen them on a holden.