Broken Auto Locking Hub on my 2003 F250???

[ultimate Air Ride]

I recently heard a loud popping sound in my front end while 4 wheel drive was engaged and my auto hubs were locked in. I then heard a grinding sound coming from what sounded like the left front corner. I also had trouble getting it to go back into 2 wheel drive. I pulled the front diff cover and everything is fine. I also replaced my worn out upper and lower ball joints, at which time I had the axle shafts out with the hubs and spindles all off. I did not find any signs of anything wrond. After reassembly, something is still wrong someplace and it sounds like the front hub area. The front unibearing assembly rotates freely and quietly. Just manually locking the hubs and leaving it in 2 wheel drive recreates the grinding sound again. I am thinking that the hub is broken inside, but want to confirm it somehow. I haven't pulled the locking hub again and checked whether I can feel the hub grinding in my hand as I rotate it (not sure if it will actually do that - broken or not).

[redmtn2]

Sorry I can't diagnose your possible hub problem, but I can tell you if it is your hubs, replace them with some Warns. I did, and it was one of the best mods I did on my truck. I like the fact you can unlock them and put your truck in low gear, for backing my trailer up hill. I remember it was cheaper to buy a set of Warns than to buy one hub from ford. Good luck.

[stevedunham]

Welcome to the broken-hub-club...! At least it sounds like you are now a member... Jack up the axle on the side that you think is broken, lock in the hub manually, rotate the tire/wheel by hand and see if the axle shaft turns or grinds... If you hear the grinding, you probalby blew the hub... If the axle shaft turns, lock in the other hub and try again... The extra resistance of the other hub locked and other wheel/tire on the ground may then cause the suspected broken hub to grind, etc... I have blown 3 factory hubs... One grenaded and that was very obvious that it was broken... The other 2 times, very small hairline cracks in the inner plastic mechanism were only obvious after dissasembly and inspection.... I eventually replaced mine with WARN 35 spline hubs when I replaced my stub shafts, unit bearings, etc. with the Dynatrac kit... If I remember right, the factory hub costs like $150 from the Dealer... Not worth the money IMHO because they are Light Duty at best... Not exactly what I think of when I hear "Ford Tough" in the TV commercials...!

[Farmer18]

Replace with Warn hubs one ford hub now is like $195 i priced one this summer and i bought my set of Warn hubs for $210 also like stevedunham said replace the unit bearings when you do the hubs