Lock out hubs or 4 low switch

[webelect]

I have a 2004 dually and a 14,000 lb fifth wheel camper and 4 low is the perfect speed for backing up smoothly! But when I'm on pavement, I cant use it. I remember reading in past issues about a 4 wheel drive low switch. Some way to put truck in 4 low and electrically keep hubs from locking in. But after some investigation, I cant do that on this year. Is this correct? I found some lock out hub assemblies from Dynatrac Engineering and waiting on pricing. Anybody have any information, referrals, or ideas for this dilemma?

 

[Rams-n-Hogs]

I have a 2004 dually and a 14,000 lb fifth wheel camper and 4 low is the perfect speed for backing up smoothly! But when I'm on pavement, I cant use it. I remember reading in past issues about a 4 wheel drive low switch. Some way to put truck in 4 low and electrically keep hubs from locking in. But after some investigation, I cant do that on this year. Is this correct? I found some lock out hub assemblies from Dynatrac Engineering and waiting on pricing. Anybody have any information, referrals, or ideas for this dilemma?

That is correct. The 4 wheel low kit won't work on your truck. Dynatrac and EMS offroad both make kits for the 3rd gens. EMS offroad is a little less spendy.

 

[bighammer]

Somebody talked about developing a kit to mod the transfer case to give 2 lo, but I haven't heard any updates on the progress lately.

I had thrown around the idea of picking up an extra t-case to see if I could make a way to shift only the range (hi/lo) fork without changing the mode (2wd/4wd) fork. With a junk case and some work, I would think a kit could be made that used a jig to drill and mount it w/o disassembly. (like the KDP jig-- CPFF are you listening?)

 

[brods]

Fwiw, a tcase mod will give you 2wd low range and nothing else.



The hub kit gives you several other advantages in addition to 2wd low. With the hubs unlocked you save wear and tear on the front driveline. After a long trip the other day I shot the front diff with an infrared thermometer. It was 143 degrees F at the pinion! The rear diff was 147 F. So when in 2wd there is still enough friction in the stock "free wheeling" front end that it gets very hot. That is wasted energy and certainly has to be causing unnecessary wear and tear.



What sold me on the hubs (besides the likelihood that I'll destroy the unit bearings trying to get them out) is if you ever have a problem with a front ujoint you can leave the hubs unlocked and replace the bad ujoint at your leisure. Just like almost every 4wd truck I've ever owned. I am currently milking both front wheel ujoints until my EMS hub kit arrives. One cap was so dry and bound up that I had to grind a small hole in the end of the cap, inject in grease and put a screw in the hole to keep the grease in. Note that the stock ujoints are not cross drilled so each cap has its own little grease cavity in the trunnion. I guess some of the cavities don't get filled up with enough grease at the factory



Also, wheel bearing servicing is exponentially easier with the hub conversion.



If you want more info try doing a search, there are a few threads discussing the pros and cons of locking hub conversions.