Wasting your time??? gezzz. Obviously you are easily annoyed and offended when your advice did not work and someone has the gull to ask others. Lets not forget you said "its the only way you know of..."

It stands to reason that you would be this way toward a new person I guess.

You gave PM advice to a new guy that does not know your actual knowledge by way of reputation on this site and that advice unfortunately did not work and you actually expected me to just tear that hub apart without asking anyone else after that didn't you? Ridiculous! Again you said its the "only way you know of"

When I decide to ask others by way of a thread on this specific issue you pop off and insult me and say I either don't listen or trust you? WTH? Now you say 'you wont add to my burden and waste "your" time' Gezzz

I guess I was misinformed about this site. This is the 2nd time this has happened to me here. I asked if a motor swap would work and got hammered for it and it was do to someone not reading what I actually wrote and that it was only an idea I had to start with.

I have been here for 1 week. I likely wont be coming back if this is the way a person is treated when just looking for advice and ideas. When one or two people say a motor swap is to difficult or they by say that this is the only way they know of then it leaves it open that perhaps someone else might know a different way so I asked. I guess that's offensive to you and I am sorry if my asking others put your PM recommendation in question. It was not my intent but you knew that since I said exactly that in my last post before your ridiculous reply.

Lets lighten it up a bit can we.

Just to add credibility to FastEddy's recommendations, he has a better batting average on these vehicles than just about anybody. Trust that his advice is solid and try it first. If it doesn't work, simply say so and let's move on.

One way to read a bit of insight into what people are advising you to do is to look at the number of posts a person has. Typically (though not always) someone who has posted here in excess of 10,000 times probably knows his stuff, otherwise there would be a chorus of groans at every appearance.

Likewise on the "inflection gets lost in typing," please don't get so offended. You're definitely getting your money's worth of advice here. Too bad you're not in AZ, as we likely would have showed up and simply done it for you by now, not to mention that the weather wouldn't be a hinderance.

Heck, if it was me, I'd have just removed the offending hub (cap, then circlip & spacer(s), then six Allen bolts, then either replace it with another (there are likely members on here who would gladly GIVE you replacements), or I'd soak everything in a solvent to clean the parts off and give them a good cleaning and greasing before reassembling everything.

Good luck.

John B.

I had my automatic hubs replaced when I had my engine replaced last summer. The mechanic who did the job mentioned that hubs (the manual hubs anyway) should not be heavily greased, only minimally.

If you ran it backwards and still no release, then it is certainly stuck. If the PO didn't muck it up (like mine was), then all you need to do is take a part and clean, etc. I see you are in the rust belt like me. You'll want to hit the bolts with Blaster and let them soak a little. Even with that, when I took my auto hubs off, I had one allen bolt that wasn't happening with the hex key, and it stripped. I was able to mash down on it with vice grips and break it loose. I would not put the allen bolts back in for where we live. The manual hubs that came off a donor I had were regular machine bolts and I used them.

I haven't done an R&R on a manual hub. I would think he'll need a gasket if he takes the whole hub off?

I was thinking of using a light impact on those bolts after spraying them multiple times with PB blaster.

I did not realize they could give that much trouble when I looked at them. I would assume it is likely not a good idea to put any heat to them?

John B

"he has a better batting average on these vehicles than just about anybody. Trust that his advice is solid and try it first. If it doesn't work, simply say so and let's move on."

"One way to read a bit of insight into what people are advising you to do is to look at the number of posts a person has. Typically (though not always) someone who has posted here in excess of 10,000 times probably knows his stuff,"

"Likewise on the "inflection gets lost in typing," please don't get so offended."

I did not know you could tell how many post a person had. Now I see it after you mention it. I am very new and do not know all the navigation of this site

As for inflection. I was not really offended as I was irritated that after my explanation that a post like that would pop up. Like I said I greatly appreciate his advice he has given me and I obviously was not looking for a fight. This particular advice he gave didn't work so I was just trying to get more info form a wider variety of kind folks that's all.

Sorry if I read into it wrong or somehow overstepped by doing what I did. It was not my intention.

On a bright note I lived in AZ for a few years and the truck came from AZ and was in MI for about 5 years but never really driven in winter. Then it went to TN until 3 weeks ago when I brought it to MI. The body is excellent. Only real rust on the truck is under the carpet on the driver side floorboard. The trucks body condition is why I thought it was worth fixing up. It is an 89 and has fender flares. Its appearance was ahead of its time IMO.

I don't think applying heat to those bolts would hurt anything, just don't go overboard and cook your wheel bearing grease. The impact gun is your best bet, just don't whale on it.

Seal needed after removal? Naw. Just clean it up good and use some black RTV. There's only grease in there, so it's not likely that it'll flow out easily.

No sweat, Hamer. Keep the questions coming.

John B.

I was going to use an electric impact so it does not have to much force.

Hopefully I will get lucky and they will come off fairly easy. It will be a little while before I tear into it because the weather is so bad and I need the truck right now. I know that hub being engage is killing my gas mileage to boot. Its not the entire cause but some of it

I will report back what the issue was. I am going to really look that hub over as I remove it and see if I can figure out another way to disengage it if it ever happens again. I am surprised they have not made a sure fire override for a hub incase your stuck with this situation

I assume that manual hubs can malfunction as well leaving a hub engage with no way to disengage them as well? I am not educated on exactly how hubs work or I would have it fixed already. lol

Funny... I can rebuild an engine but have never even looked inside a 4x4 hub. lol

If it hasn't really seen much of what the rust has to offer, you'll likely be okay. And if you use ant-seize putting it back, prolly okay with the hex heads. Since I had a couple strip out, and had the other regular bolts, I didn't bother tracking down the couple of new ones needed.

Where are you in MI? I grew up in the DTW burbs, 13 mile and Southfield, just a hop from Woodward. I can still hear the engines roaring on a Friday night from our front yard. Ah, the good old days...

I am near Ann arbor.