Quote Originally Posted by MudRunnerTD View Post
Yeah driving on the bitumen with the front locked in puts stress on your CVs and Diff centre so its not ideal.

The Auto Hubs kind of act the same as an Auto Locker in that they engage when they sense drive, the reason guys change them or modify them to be Lock and Unlock is they can Drop Out rather than Lock up. Pain in the arse really, when they fail they just drop out and you loose your 4wd option and drive to the front. They also tend to drop out in Reverse. By choosing the Lock position they tend to stay in and should be bedded better but fundamentally they are weaker than a standard manual hub and given a choice the manuals are the go.

Autos are awesome for switching on the Fly. I can choose Hi Range 4wd on a dirt road at 60kms/h and visa versa. but to disengage them you really need to stop and reverse up 5m to 10m to click them out.
I used to drive an old Jackaroo & the auto hubs were working fine for an old vehicle(83 model I think).
I've never had to reverse to release the auto hubs.
I wonder why these newer patrols couldn't come up with an auto hub like that.
Manual hubs are reliable, but bit of a PITA when you have to get out to engage them all the time, depending on the frequency &
the spot that I need to get out of the vehicle.