Drivers side freewheeling hub grinding noise when doing motorway speeds.

[ISA.13B]

Hey guys.

Background:

I recently rebuilt both swivel hubs on my 98 GU patrol, and doing so obviously replaced all king ping bearings, wheel bearings and axle seals.
Everything is sweet, no leaks, nothing has fallen off. Thumbs up.

Problem:

When driving sometimes, and it seems to do it when I've been up to motorway speeds, I hear a really bad sound coming from the drivers side auto free wheeling hub.
To me its coming from the hub, and sounds like its not disengaged from the end of the axle properly, so its touching as I drive along. Sounds like its doing damage. Makes me clench my cheeks.

I'm going to pull the free wheeling hub off before I drive it next and keep my fingers crossed the parts are still in 1 piece, however my question is.....

Could too much grease be causing this issue? I packed the shit out of everything with good quality grease.
But could too much of it be pushing the insides of the hub partially on to the end of the axle when it heats up from motorway speeds.

I pulled over and engaged and disengaged the hub, and when I drove off again the noise was gone. I figured i'd just left the hub in a strange position after pulling it a part.
However it happened again on the weekend on the M7, again... motorway speeds.

Thoughts lads?

[Winnie]

Could too much grease be causing this issue? I packed the shit out of everything with good quality grease.
But could too much of it be pushing the insides of the hub partially on to the end of the axle when it heats up from motorway speeds.?

Too much grease can definitely be a problem.

[MudRunnerTD]

Are you in 2wd or 4wd? If your on the motorway your transfer case should be in 2wd and the front diff and drive shaft are not spinning.

You can take the hub off while the wheel is on so its a 5 minute job to have a look. Make sure you engage the hub before removal and it will make it easier to refit.

[ISA.13B]

Thanks guys.

I have been in 2WD MudRunner. Only time I have it in 4H on the road is when its wet. Bighorns aren't great on road in the wet for turning corners. LOL

On a side note, last weekend when it happened, I put the truck into 4H, and the noise stopped. Axle and hub turning together and no noise helped me come to the above conclusion.

I'm no expert by any means, but your replies have helped me confirm what I suspected. I'll pull the free wheeling hub off, remove some grease, inspect, wack it back on and see how she goes.

Cheers.

[threedogs]

I wouldnt be putting it in 4wd High on any bitumen you will get massive wind up

[NissanGQ4.2]

Being an Auto hub it could be on the way out and engaging and disengaging at will.

Maybe you lost a piece from the auto side of it when you removed it?

[ISA.13B]

Hey threedogs. Excuse my ignorance but what is wind up?

Hi NissanGQ4.2. Nah, I was very careful to not misplace or lose any parts.
Everything went from the car, straight into the degreaser bucket, then into its own parts bucket.

Cheers

[threedogs]

if you have selected 4wd and drive on paved surfaces you get what they call "wind up"
its the twisting of axles trying to keep up the differencial when cornering,
You can "un wind" the axles by reversing
Most just leave the hubs on auto,

[the evil twin]

snip...


I'm going to pull the free wheeling hub off before I drive it next and keep my fingers crossed the parts are still in 1 piece, however my question is.....

Could too much grease be causing this issue? I packed the shit out of everything with good quality grease.


There is the problem.
It is critical not to put too much grease in teh Auto Hub when servicing.
If you "pack the shit" out of the hub with grease the viscosity of the grease causes the hub to dragwhen in 2H and partially mesh.

If you haven't damaged the hub removing the excess grease will cure the problem.

[BigRAWesty]

Auto hubs do cause some issues though.
But there is a simple mod you can do to turn the auto Hub into a manual hub. Gets rid of any maybes. Just search here. I think mudski did the write up

[ISA.13B]

Thats Twin and Big GQ.

I'll have a look before the weekend and see how it looks.

I tend to over do things..... IE over greasing.

I used to have a rotary and once snapped 2 bolts off that hold the sump onto the short block. So my old man didn't find out I just siliconed the heads on. That motor still held 500hp without issue. ;-)
Hopefully the hub is still good too.

[ISA.13B]

So. Funny story.

Pulled the drivers side auto hub off. Was all 1 piece still, no metal in the grease. Cleaned excess grease out and removed the spacer bit as described in the post BigGQ mentioned.

Went around and went to pull the passenger side auto hub off, and it was in the locked position already I think....... Either I put it to locked without realising or its been like that for some time.
Unbolted it, and its in bits. The spacer as mentioned above and another shim piece were sitting on the axle, not stuck, but just sitting there. Grease was grey with metal pieces.
The rest of the insides of the hub fell out of the body when I held it upside down.

The axle looks fine still.

Soooo, I'm on the hunt for some manual locking hubs now. ;-)

[happygu]

You're not the first to pack stuff with too much grease, and you won't be the last .... I have that habit too.

Least you are on the right road to getting it all running ok again

[ISA.13B]

Yeah, purchased some new manual hubs to convert the auto to full manual. problem solved. ;-)

[GreyGU]

hi mudrunner, my gu does the same thing. the grinding noise from the drivers side. how do you take the hub off?