how long should you keep you hubs locked in.

Prolonged driving(not necessarily in one hit) with the hubs locked in makes your axle driveshafts turn. This in turn, (sorry) will allow the steel balls in the constant velocity joints (called CV's) to wear or chatter little grooves where they seat whilst driving, most of the time straight ahead. When you then turn you'll notice a terrible click click click noise as these balls ride over the worn housing. To replace these CV's an expense of between $1500 to who knows what will be required. If you don't need them locked in, then get out and look after them. Rus.

Tell the truth, don't know much about GQs. But if its part time 4wd with manual locking hubs, leaving the hubs locked in permanently won't do harm except perhaps knock a bit off fuel economy. It would actually keep the front drive train lubricated all the time, which can be a good thing. Tonester.

We leave all our work truck hubs locked in for the life (3 years 80 000km) of the vehicle - no apparent extra wear or performance issues. Makes turning circle a little bigger, but trucks are only in town every now and then

When you are going off road and require 4wd leave them locked in, when on gravel or rough corrugated surfaces it helps to have the hubs locked and 4wd high engaged. When going to and from black top and 4wd work you can leave the hubs locked and just engage 4wd as required. If you read your manual there will be a paragraph advising you to run with the hubs locked every now and then to ensure that bearings and seals etc get lubricated, even on the black top this does not hurt as long as 4wd is not engaged.
As soon as I get off the black top and go on rough gravel roads my hubs are locked and 4wd engaged, this helps with traction and also braking and even helps with steering on corrugated corners.
Regards Dodg.

Keep em engaged for as long as you like (it will assist in keeping the diif lubricated). Theres still lots of earlier 4x4's out there that don't have locking hubs and they all work fine.

As others have said theres no problem with leaving hubs engaged. After all, free wheelin hubs used to be an option on Toyota 4wds up until about 1982.

As far as fuel consumption - unlocked hubs gives a minor improvement.

As far as wear and tear goes, the axle seals and bearings won't turn over when unlocked. But........ there is evidence to suggest that diff bearings will suffer if doing corrugated roads and hubs are not locked - small grooves may form in the bearing cups, and cause premature wear. The old 4wds without hubs rarely had issues with front diff bearings. Later 4wds do.

So, bottom line is: many people will lock hubs as soon as leaving bitumen; and lock them a minimum of every couple of months just to keep the lubricants turning over.

Cheers
Phil

I never unlocked the hubs in my old Feroza and my old man never unlocked his lancruiser hubs up north, all it means is your spinning the front diff around and using a TINY, MINISCULE amount more fuel.

>how long should you keep you hubs locked in

Until they learn to behave properly!

Mike Harding :)

I agree with the posts, but there is one thing forgotten and the universals do need to be worked too. I have had universal joints dry out over summer if the hubs had not been engaged. (sorry locked in Mike Harding as they may misbehave, engaged is hardly a misbehaviour)

Paul
the biggest problem is that when the hubs are locked in and the transfer case is not, is that the wheels are now driving the drive line not the engine.
the wear is on the rear of the crown wheel and pinion teeth not were it should be all other components will be able to handle this it's only a haft life type thingie before we had free wheeling hubs, this is how it was
maybe before some peoples time

Regards

Richard

leave them locked offroad for the day, then if your doing road klms, unlock em. FFS, it only takes seconds...

In days of old there was no such thing as Free Wheeling Hubs (Long Ago....)

All 4bees generally had a live axle (Long Long Ago....)

The only suggested thing was to disengage the 4H or 4L when driving on hard surfaces (Same as it recomends today...)

In a GQ you are not going to harm antthing except a small portion of moola in a little extra fuel.

Personally, I have FWH and use them only when needed (Often.....)

Vinnie