2011 Sport, 4.0L V6 SOHC, Automatic, 4x4 4DR

Can this vehicle be retrofitted with manual front hubs?

Makanak

 

YES! i did it to my former B4000 , but you need 2 seals , 2 pre 2000 cv axles and the manual locking hubs , plus 2 inner shaft locking rings that hold the stub axle inside the bearing

it will be somewhat expensive and time consuming

you will need several drill operated grinding stones and some wire wheels to clean all of the rust off

 

As cheese_man yes, but you need to change front axle.

So no there are no manual hub kits for Live Axles, which Rangers used from 2001 to 2012

Live Axle only costs .2 to .4 MPG and seems to be better long term for front axle longevity.
With locking/unlocking front axles the seals, u-joints and bearings could sit dry for years, from disuse

 

yes! ron they worked just fine in my former pickup

Rugged Ridge 15001.70 Manual Locking Hub Set, 98-00 Ford Ranger/01-08 Mazda B-Series Pickup

but you need to purchase the PRE-2000 ranger front CV shafts and bearings for it to work

( you will need to retain the factory ABS sensors installed in the bearings ( the newer 1`s are square connectors )

for me it was time consuming . as i had a lot of rust and sharp edges to grind off

or the seal will be ripped to shreds , ( i lost 1 seal to that fact )

the inner locking snap ring was a pain , took several attempts to get the seal depth correct . or the locking snap ring would not engage the outer stub shaft groove

 

I know Ford engineers state that driving the front powertrain all the time only costs about 0.3 mpg. However, I ran my Ranger without the front driveshaft for a while until I got a new one and I was getting almost 1 mpg better gas mileage around town. I would guess if it was not having to accelerate the heavy 4.56 gears up front, it would probably jump up a little more in mpg.
I did look at converting to locking hubs years ago and almost made the move but having to go to slightly smaller front bearings tipped the balancing point to not doing it. I felt it would not be as reliable with the smaller bearings. I think spinning the front driveshaft all the time contributed to the CV joint boot disintegrating followed by the CV joint wearing out. At least it lasted over 200K miles and was an easier fix than new hubs with bearings.

 

Thanks for the replies.
Interesting.... So it can be done but is no simple modification, and likely expensive. I plan to keep the truck for 10 years so maybe there will be a pay-back, maybe not.

I am getting crappy fuel mileage compared to my previous 2004 2WD XLT. An I mean crappy, not just a little less. 14 - 16 mpg local driving vs 17 -19 in the 2004, and 17 - 18 highway vs 19-20 in the 2004. Axles are 3.73 vs 3.55, wheels are 16" vs 15" and the 2011 is 4WD vs 2WD so I know there are a lot of items at stake here.

The Torque Converter in the 2004 locked at 40mph, the 2011 won't lock until the speedo hits 50mph. I plan to take it to a local Food truck dealer soon to see it can be reprogrammed to lock the converter at 40 or less. Most of my driving is between 40 and 50. I run 87 Octane gasoline (all around here is 10% Ethanol) no ping or knock. I don't believe premium fuel will improve either power or mileage.

Makanak

 

The 4.0l SOHC runs 9.7:1 compression, so can't run 87 octane without knocking, so they had to install a knock sensor to advance spark timing so it could run 87 octane.

So yes running higher octane would get more power in this case with this engine.
And probably a little better MPG.

87 or 93 octane has the exact same amount of power, that's not the difference, most engines run 9.3 or under compression ratio so running 87 or 93 wouldn't matter powerwise or for MPG, no ethanol added in either.
But in this case you get a better spark timing curve with no knocking detected so............

 

as i was told by wayne the mazda mechanic , since 2010 there has 5 PCM updates for the 4.0 SOHC engine

the last PCM update greatly increased fuel economy using 87 octane in the 4.0 , but the engine power dropped off

after i did the manual hub conversion , all of the strange front end vibrations ceased

so i attributed it to the front drive shaft and cv shafts constantly spinning

 

Hate to break it to you, but that's not awful milage for a 4.0 4wd.

Converting to manual hubs isn't going to save you much fuel, if any. The live axle setup is pretty reliable, I'd stick with it.

Unless you've got a 4 banger with a 5spd, these trucks aren't anything to write home about as far as mpgs go. Mid teens to low 20s is pretty average.

 

You are right about that. When I was running my Ranger without the front driveshaft, it was so smooth on the highway at higher speeds. I think it is that big CV joint on the front output shaft of the transfer case that causes the strange vibrations at speed.

 

well that and the universal joint which was just starting to seize up

when i inspected the cv shafts , i shook them , the stub shaft just flopped around .

cv shafts are meant to be constantly powered , not spun loose all the time