Has anyone used the Rugged Ridge locking hubs? Looking for something more reliable than the stock trash. You guys let me know what you think

 

What year are you working on, meaning, do you have those vulnerable centrifugal type of hubs or the PVH? If you've got the centrifugal type, you'll probably be quite happy with the replacement Warn manuals.

 

It's a 99. Guess I should have said that to start. Haven't been real happy with the PVH. I don't feel like I can really trust them. I can put it in 4wd and it'll lock in, then I slow or stop and go again and the ***-end is beside me. Obviously it's not staying "locked in" for some reason. Any ideas?

 

PVH, like the centrifugal hubs, weren't famous for reliability and I don't blame you for not trusting them. After all, the problem with unreliable 4X engagement usually only surfaces when you go to use it, and when it doesn't work times can be tough.

My understanding on the most common reason for engagement/unintended disengagement issues on PVH's is that sometimes the vacuum plumbing develops a leak. You may wish to carefully inspect for damaged vac hose and fittings. An alternative to this is to buy and install manual hubs; there is a vendor out there selling the product. The other option is to disable the release feature of the hubs. In one of the other Ranger forums, there is a tech write up showing how to take the hub apart and modify it to be full time. The work to modify the hub wasn't really too bad.

 

I made the switch and it is the best mod I have done hands down. When you have manual hubs, you can leave them unlocked and put it in 4low and have 2wd low range

 

Hurley: Did you use Rugged Ridge or another brand? How easy was the installation?

 

rugged ridge is the only brand that made em for our years. the installation was stupid easy. jack up your truck, take off your wheel, pop off old hub with a flat screw driver, remove rubber o-ring aroud the wheel bearing, put new o-ring on, grease up the new hub, the slide it on, take a board and put it against the outer side of the hub and give it a couple taps to ensure its on all the way.
putting it on

on

using a board to tap it on

sorry i dont have more pics, this came from a how-to i wrote up on changing a wheel bearing

 

in the first pic you can kinda see the rubber o-ring around the edge of the wheel bearing. also use a shop rag to wipe out some of the old grease and apply fresh.

 

Thanks for the reply, Hurley, they really made it easy! I had 4x4's in the past with the Warn supplied hubs, I was accustomed to the half dozen allens around the perimeter.

 

Thanks for the info guys. Now, where is the best place to get ahold of a set of these things. I found some on ebay for about $150. Is there somewhere else I should look?

 

$150 is a good price. I searched a lot when I got mine and ended up paying like 160

 

make the switch, you will like them!

I bought mine used so they were a little beat up and havent had a problem with them except right after i put them on. I put them on and went out to test them on some steep hills and stuff and they wouldnt engage. went back to the house and took them back off and put them back on and worked fine since then.

 

$144.50 at Amazon.com, I have ordered several things from them, many times shipped free and quickly.
I will probably install a pair in the near future, I'd rather not trust the vacuum pulse hubs too far. If I had my preference I would have a lever on the floor to engage the transfer case too. I have more trust in manual engaging mechanisms.

 

The pvh hubs are garbage

 

Thanks for the info. I'm gonna have to get some soon.

 

i know of a temporary fix untill u get new lockouts on the pvh hubs thers the hole in the center and what looks like a peice of flimsy plastic peice cut out the littel peices of plastic that cover that peice and you can push it in the whole way that will lock it in pushin a littel and you can hear it click and thats unlocked[beware only a temporay thing] lol

 

The only problem with doing that is now there is nothing stopping water and dirt from getting in you wheel bearing.

 

Hurley did you get the hubs fixed? I'm having the same issue with a 1998 ranger. At wits end because when i talked to Warn rep he said that they dont make manual locks for that year. I also went on line to an after market one and he said you need to modify the hub to make them fit. Did you install the rugged ridge manual lock outs and did you have any issues? Also would you know if they would work on a 1998 ranger.

 

^ The rugged ridge do work on the 98 and they are the only ones made for 98-00 rangers. I havnt had a problem with mine yet.

 

Littlered is right. Warn does not make manual hubs for 98-00. Rugged ridge is the only company that makes them. There is absolutely no fabrication required. They are also extremely easy to swap

 

Thanks for the advice

 

I found these on ebay for $119 if anyone is looking. For those of you already using these hubs, what about center caps? I saw some centers from Rugged ridge. My question is do they offer these for the Ranger?

 

That's a good price on the hubs. I don't know about the center caps, my truck was missing them when I got it, and looks fine to me without them. I don't see reason that a person wanting to retain the caps couldn't use the appropriate size hole saw on them to make them work.

 

I used a hole saw on mine so that my lug nuts were covered up. You have to reach inside the center cap to turn the hub but its not to big of a deal.

Do you have a link for the ones on amazon? I broke one of mine and need to get a new set.

 

It was on ebay, this should take you to the listing AVM 470 Locking Hubs Ford Ranger 1998 1999 2000 Warn 61572 Internal Mount Lock | eBay