gxl free wheeling hub Conversion Kits

I've got constant 4wd on my 91 80 series GXL and love it. It feels more shore footed on wet roads and it drives great on dirt roads.
I like the way it pulls around a cnr not pushing. That's fine in a car to be pushing from the rear and I've had my fair share of V8's over the years.
How much difference is there in fuel economy and power loss driving the front diff anyway?
How many k's would you have to do to make your money back on the cost of the conversion? If you only saving about a liter per 100k's.
I don't know what the figures are, but it's something you've gotta add up.

why change something perfect?

Luca

Off the topic a bit, what is a "yoused"?

Is it a mophing of you and used to save on letters?

I don't notice any real difference in fuel consumption whether my hubs are locked or not.

I went through the same questioning procedure when I was looking to put a part time kit in my 80 series GXL..

At the end of the day I was swayed away from the idea as the only real saving is the drive flange on the front hub... fuel economy change is minimal and you loose the constant 4x4 ability so you have to engage the front hubs and centre diff lock to put it in 4x4.. should take a fair bit of the drive line clunking away though as you only have the slack through the rear and not the front also.

Some people do the conversion so you can engage low range to reverse big vans etc without getting transmission wind up.. a quick fix to this is to disengage the fly lead that is on top of your transfer case.. essentially you still run constant 4x4 but if you want to engage the diff lock you have to push the button on the dash.


From what I could see on the instructions it is a relatively easy install to do yourself if you are half handy on the spanner.

It all boils down to the question of whether you want to spend $500 to turn your car into a part time four wheel drive or not.

I thought that most people did it to save premature wear and tear on the front drivetrain components. Supposedly wears out bearings and seals quicker then normal. This is just what i was told by a mechanic so dont shoot me down please.

Mate I did it to my 80 mainly because i had to replace my drive hubs and c.v's. I also had a bit of wear on the font diff bearings so it was a lot cheaper then repairing the lot. The effect on fuel wasn't noticable but the handling was a lot worse even on the black stuff. I lost a lot of confidence on gravel roads. If i had my time again i would have fixed the other parts.