I'm not going to get in your unit bearing debate, but here's my opinion on the manual hubs.
I have the Warn hub kit and yes it was expensive. However, it is also one of my favorite mods since I drive my XJ a lot on the pavement. If it was strictly a trail rig, then it would be a waste of money.
I prefer to think of it this way. The Warn hub kit costs about as much as a Warn winch. How many people have bought an expensive winch and NEVER used it? There are plenty of those people. How many people have the winch and used it once or twice? Plenty of those also... With manual hubs I "use" them everyday I drive the XJ. So I've used them and gained the benefits of having hubs thousands of times.
Obviously a winch is important too and I am not debating buying a winch vs hubs - only looking at it from a cost vs amount of use aspect.
Thanks for the help. Sounds like I will be alright with the aussie as long as I dont drive like an idiot. I am still planning on going with the aussie due to its cost and the fact that nobody seriously objected. Right?
Thanks for the help. Sounds like I will be alright with the aussie as long as I dont drive like an idiot. I am still planning on going with the aussie due to its cost and the fact that nobody seriously objected. Right?
if you drive in 4wd on slick stuff it is squirrely. not so much that it is undriveable, but definitely so much that you don't just hand the keys to your brother in law and let him drive anywhere in sleety, icy conditions. deep snow is fine, fantastic even. 2wd is fine also.
I bring this up because i live in wny and we get several months of crappy slick driving each year. i suspect that in parts of colorado you may see snow as well. ;-)
Thanks for the help. Sounds like I will be alright with the aussie as long as I dont drive like an idiot. I am still planning on going with the aussie due to its cost and the fact that nobody seriously objected. Right?
I have only had my aussie for a few weeks, and of that only had it out one weekend. However that weekend involved a 1.5 hour drive to get there, lots or rock, mud, trails all three at once etc. I am a huge fan of it. I think I am going to cut up my old tru-trac with a torch just because it was such a piece of shit and the aussie is that much better.
We had a shitload of ice here this past winter, roads were solid ice for several days in a row. I was hesitant on a front locker for this reason. But hell my tru-trac cuased enough wierdness on the ice anyways, and a friend of mine ran a FJ62 locked front and rear in the ice and said all was well. Between that and what I have read on I went for it.
I would love to honestly but its actually broken, or seems to be. It had about 1/8-1/4 turn of slop in it before it would move the axles. I still have it and haven't disected it yet. There was no chunks or unusual amounts of metal in the oil, I just grabbed the front DS one day and noticed the nearly 1/2 turn of slop in the pinion and had to look and see. Let me know if you want it for $20 shipped before I take it apart and see what makes it tick
I would love to honestly but its actually broken, or seems to be. It had about 1/8-1/4 turn of slop in it before it would move the axles. I still have it and haven't disected it yet. Let me know if you want it for $20 shipped before I take it apart and see what makes it tick
I went for it.