Hey guys I have a ‘98 ranger that was converted to manual locking hubs a few years ago. About a year ago the lower ball joint came apart and sent the whole steering knuckle to the ground. Ever since then the hub on that side keeps falling off or breaking. Majority of the steering/suspension components have been replaced since then but I’ve never heard of this problem before. Any ideas? #4 just fell off today. Thanks.

 

I would like to know the answer on this one I'm having the same problem when I'm tired of buying manual locking hubs how do you get them to stay on

 

Welcome to the forum

What Year Ranger?

The 1998-2000 Ranger 4x4s used PVH(pulse vacuum hubs) and the manual conversion hubs for those, could have the "falling off" issue

 

98 dvh was being bypassed and I put manual locks on it and they keep falling off

 

There are 3 brands but all made by the same company, AVM out of Brazil

Mile Marker
Rugged Ridge
These brands paid licensing for US/Canada and had them branded with their names
Licenses expired so you can get AVM brand in North America as well now

But I think they are all basically the same, but AVM would probably be best

The 1998-2000 hubs don't have a proper way to hold the manual hubs in place like the older 1997 and earlier axles
In 1998 Ranger 4x4s got the new SLA Dana 35 front axles, with PVH, PVH were light and didn't need that much support
The retro-fit manual hubs are heavier, so need more support

But that being said there are literally THOUSANDS of these manual hubs being used on 1998-2000 Ranger 4x4s, and they are not all falling off
There are reports of it but not in the numbers that would indicate 100% failure rate, or even 10% failure rate
So there maybe something you can look at on your front hubs in how the current manual hubs are secured to the hub

There is an article here on the PVH to manual conversion: https://www.therangerstation.com/tec...hub_swap.shtml
Maybe that will help on the mechanics of what secures the units to the hubs

AVM webpage here: http://www.avm.com.br/products4.htm
They make lots of manual hubs for lots of vehicle makers

1998-2000 Ranger uses Model 470

 

Good video

 

So I was looking at why the after market lockouts would fall off while driving. This is what I came up with. In order to remove the PVH hub you have to pry the plastic tabs up to remove. Well in my experience with the after market ones I found that the tabs don't lock onto the recessed area of the spindle. So I heat the tabs up enough to make them pliable to bend towards the gears. This created the tabs to lock onto the spindle. Hope this helps someone.