GU 4WD Manual Hubs Keep changing

[ChadGU]

Hi,
Have an issue with my my recently purchased GU Y61 Ute. The 4WD Manual locking hubs keep changing themselves from FREE to LOCK after driving for a distance? It only seems to be happening on the passenger side. It is not tight to turn manually. After driving for a few 100kms it manages to work itself from FREE to LOCK.
Anyone had this issue before? What might be causing it?
Thanks

[mudnut]

Too much grease and/ or wrong or old grease which is too tacky.

Welcome to the forum. http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/forumdisplay.php?2-Introductions

[ChadGU]

Cheers.
You mean too much grease in the actual Hub lock mechanism? If i take the Lock hub off and just clean add a little grease should be fine? What is the best grease?
Thanks

[Cuppa]

Cheers.
You mean too much grease in the actual Hub lock mechanism? If i take the Lock hub off and just clean add a little grease should be fine? What is the best grease?
Thanks

You’ve picked up on a warning sign

Treat the issue as an opportunity to regrease the hub & check/re-grease the wheel bearings. Folk here will give you all the support you need if you decide to get stuck in. Do both fronts. First do the one without problem & take pics at every step. You then have a record of how everything goes back together. It’s not hard, just time consuming, so do it when the car is not going to be needed for a day. Do one wheel at a time. Before starting buy a few things so you don’t get caught short - Both sides will need a new bearing seal - so get a couple. Up to you, but if it were me I’d get a pair of bearings for both sides too - if you find the ones in there are rooted (very possible if the grease has gone hard) it’s easier if you have some on hand unless you have use of a second vehicle. If you don’t need them all well & good, you then have the necessary spares for remote trips in the future (as well as the know how to strip things down & get yourself home).You’ll also need a ’special tool’ for adjusting the bearings - these are cheap off eBay - around $25. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Nissan-Patrol-GU-Front-Wheel-Bearing-Hub-Adjusting-Tool-PSRUNI-007/253483977915?hash=item3b04d28cbb:g:wkYAAOSw6jNbuqN V:rk:6:pf:0 You’ll also need grease - any high temp wheel bearing grease will do, my local mechanic swears by the blue castrol stuff over all the fancy pants ones, a philips screwdriver & an 8mm hex key - if you can get one which has the hex key in a socket fitting, you can torque to the correct tightness & avoid use of an impact driver on your aluminium hubs when undoing them. Probably not essential though. Someone here will be able to direct you to a relevant parts diagram. Use it & don’t just assume that what you find is what you are supposed to find. On mine, always professionally serviced for Telstra the ‘egg rings’ were missing & needed to be replaced.
Rubber gloves & lots of rags are essential, it’s a messy job.

If you lack the tools/workshop equipment and/or the inclination, get a professional to check both front hubs & bearings. It will fix the problem & give peace of mind that previous poor maintenance is not going to let you down when out & about. I wouldn’t want to be driving my new car around wondering if the bearings were being properly lubricated.

[ChadGU]

Haha. Thanks. Mine is an ex-Telstra rig too. I'm pretty reasonable with working on cars, being doing it since i was young.
I've felt the wheel bearings on both sides and they seem fine. I might just take the hub assembly off and re-grease to start with, see if they fixes the hub from working it's way into Lock.

[mudski]

Switch the locking hubs over and see if the issue follows sides...

[ChadGU]

So i took the offending hub off today. Low and behold the last bloke that had it off hadn't put any grease on the very inside of the cap where the outer circlip sits. It looked like the circlip had been catching on the end cab causing the hub to turn itself. I cleaned it all up, put some grease on the inside of the hub cap to stop the circlip from catching. Took her for a drive and seems to solved the problem. on a short drive anyway.
But there were plenty of fine alloy shavings come off the inside of the hub that will make there way into the wheel bearings i imagine. So looks like i'll have to do the wheel bearing too.

[ChadGU]

I also gave the MAF sensor a clean too. It was filthy. Hope full that might help with the super sluggish up hill performance.

[mudnut]

I use inox mx8. Expensive but I changed out my front brake rotors and found the grease to be in excellent condition after 10s of thousands of kilometres. It also handles moisture quite well.

[ChadGU]

I see so many mentions online about boost gauges, needle and Dawes valves, ERG block offs etc. If cleaning the MAF sensor doesn't fix my sluggish power problem what is the nest thing to try, start with?

[MudRunnerTD]

I see so many mentions online about boost gauges, needle and Dawes valves, ERG block offs etc. If cleaning the MAF sensor doesn't fix my sluggish power problem what is the nest thing to try, start with?

Start a new thread about this or search and post your question in an existing thread on this topic, it will get lost here mate.