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Auto Hub Washer Fix With Pictures

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12-28-

2005,03:40 PM

#1

BobK Auto Hub Washer Fix With Pictures

Page 1 of 36Auto Hub Washer Fix With Pictures - Explorer Ranger Enthusiast Forum

3/8/2010mhtml:file://E:\Bob's Documents\Automotive\Ford Ranger\Ranger Hub\Ranger Auto Hub Washer Fix With Pictures.mht



Wannabe EliteExplorerCentralCA

1997XLT

JoinDate:Aug2005Posts:15

See original discussion at: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21469. I probably won't have

my picture server after 2006, so I recommend you save the pictures now or perhaps a moderator can put this in thetech section and host the pictures on the main server. (Edit: Pictures are rehosted below.)

I took some pictures while performing the "Beertime9 Washer Fix" on the automatic hubs of my '97 Ranger.

Many folks have noticed problems with their auto hubs, but upon disassembly they can find nothing blatantly wrong

with the hubs. Symptoms include a popping or loud pinging sound while 4x4 is engaged or a grinding sound when you

attempt to engage 4x4. The sounds are an indication that the hub will not engage or stay fully engaged.

Don discovered that the pot metal cam on the spline gear and the plastic ring inside the hub that the pot metal cam

rubs against can wear over time. As they wear down, the cam can no longer push the internal hub mechanism in far

enough to engage the hub gears. Wear seems to be only about 1/32" to 1/16", but it's enough to prevent the internal

hub splines from engaging, which are only about 3/8" wide to begin with. Ford will tell you that there are noserviceable parts inside the hub. However, adding a washer between the pot metal cam and the plastic ring seems to

replace the worn material and allow the auto hub to engage properly.







P 4 f 36A t H b W h Fi With Pi t E l R E th i t F





Page 5 of 36Auto Hub Washer Fix With Pictures Explorer Ranger Enthusiast Forum



Here are a couple schematics of the auto hub, although they don't show the guts of the hub. Notice the "camassembly". That is not the cam I address below.






When the hub is off, look at the aluminum cam (with the three fingers on it). Measure how much space there is

between the top of the cam and the top of the spline gear (blue circle). It's about 1/16" in this picture. Your objectiveis to add a thick enough washer to bring the cam just about flush with the top of the spline gear. Obviously, you don't

want it tight. Give it a little wiggle room so that it won't be under pressure when you reinstall the hub. (The picturebelow shows this same space circled in blue so that you can more easily see what I'm talking about. Of course, you

can only take this measurement while the cam and spline gear are installed.) Start by removing the snap ring. You'llsee it at the bottom. It's the only thing holding the spline gear and pot metal cam in. Once you have the snap ring off,

turn the hub over and thump it on a wooden or padded surface. The only thing holding the spline gear in now isfriction with the center post and crud, so sooner or later, it'll fall out.






This is the internal spline with the cam on top. The screwdriver is pointing to little nubs on the tops of the splines. Thenubs prevent the cam from coming off the top. It has to slide off the bottom. The blue circle is to exaggerate the gap






you'll be measuring while the cam and spline gear are installed.

If you look down inside the hub with the spline gear removed, you'll see the plastic ring. It is held in place by a round

metal snap ring (red circle). This is as far as you can disassemble the hub without a press. To disassemble it further,you have to compress the plastic ring (and subsequently the huge spring at the bottom of the hub) far enough to get

the round metal snap ring out. The screwdriver is pointing to the wear on the plastic ring. Can you say "plannedobsolescence"??!!. What numbskull at Ford decided to use plastic instead of metal? The blue circle indicates the two

sets of teeth that engage the outer teeth on the spline gear. When these two sets of teeth mesh, you're in 4x4. Seebelow for a deeper explanation.

gp g





On the bottom surface of the cam, you can see the rounded spot that wore into the plastic ring (blue circle). Although

I asked some questions in the original thread about whether or not the little teeth sticking up (red circle) were the

result of wear, I'm now convinced that the cam was manufactured this way. I can see no way that a plastic ring woreaway 1/4" of metal on the cam.

gp g





This is the Euclid E-2411A air brake cam bushing that I purchased from a local diesel repair shop for 26 cents. The

outer diameter was still a little too wide, so I had to grind it down. It should be no wider than the width of the cam.Preferrably, it should be a smidge smaller so that it doesn't catch on the round metal snap ring. On the left is the

original size and on the right is the washer after it was ground down. This washer is about 1/16" thick. I put two ofthese on each cam. A thickness of 1/8" is what I needed to just about make the top of the cam flush with the top of

the spline gear but still allow for some wiggle room (maybe 1/32"). That may be too much or not enough for yoursituation. I recommend starting with a 1/16" thick washer. If that doesn't work, try different washers. The good news

is that if you put a washer on that is too thick, you won't be able to seat the spline gear deep enough in the hub toget the snap ring back on.





The washer takes up the space left by that little bit of wear in the plastic piece. Clean up the inside of of the hub as

much as possible and make sure everything has only a LIGHT coating of grease. Put it all back together, making surethat the new washer fits securely between the bottom of the cam and the plastic ring. The cam, new washer, and

plastic ring have to move in and out of the hub, so make sure that the washer is not going to catch on anything.





Put the hub on the axle. It should sit flush against the rotor. If it doesn't (screwdriver pointing to gap), rotate the axleto allow all the hub guts to settle together. I incorrectly stated before that there should be a gap here and that the





cam is under pressure when installed. Not true. Once everything settles together, you should not have to push against

the force of the large hub spring in order to make the hub touch the rotor. Put the tire back on and torque the lugnuts.

With both front tires off the ground, turn the front driveshaft to see if the hubs engage properly. If they do, take it outfor a drive to see how they perform under load. Go easy and go slow to start with. Test it in drive and reverse. Listenfor the auto hubs engaging and disengaging. If they don't engage--and assuming you don't have other problems--

your new washer may be too thick or too thin. Try a different washer.

EXTRA STUFF ON HOW THE HUBS WORK

If you're curious about how the auto hubs work, put the internal spline gear and cam on the axle, making sure that





the cam fingers fit into the pockets on the cam assembly. This is the disengaged position. The blue circle shows the

finger on the cam sitting in the pocket of the cam assembly.

Turn the front axle to simulate going into 4x4. As you turn the axle, you'll notice that the cam rides up on the camassembly (blue circle). This is the action that compresses the huge spring inside the hubs and makes the inner teeth

inside the hub engage the outer teeth on the spline gear (additional blue circles). This is the engaged position.

I hope that helps. Feel free to add your own thoughts or questions.

Bob

Last edited by BobK : 01-14-2007 at 10:24 PM . Reason: Additional Info





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12-28-2005, 07:50 PM #2

F14CRAZY To the flo...

Dimondale, Michigan'92 GT, '93 Limited

Join Date: Oct 2002Posts: 1,662

Yay! I'm going to do this to my hubs when I get to it

__________________

"New" '03 Mounty. 4.6L, AWD black/silverFor sale '92 XL. 4x2, 5 speed manual, rust freeSold '93 Limited





12-28-2005, 09:55 PM #3

Glacier991 EF Tranny Guru

Sacramento, CA 958271992 XLT

Join Date: Feb 2003Posts: 9,336

Bob... nicely done and excellent pictures. I moderate the Transmission and Transfer case

forum, and made an offer to my folks there that a top notch photo illustrated thread entitled

the poster to a nice FORD Rotunda Mousepad. This ain't my forum but thought you deservedone for this thread. PM me with an address and i will ship you one right after the first of the

year. Gratis.

(ps. Elite status gets you beaucoup room on this server to store pictures for your threads, andsounds like you will be a great addition to the board!)

09-10-2006, 09:19 PM #4

pugsy Wannabe Elite Explorer

Toronto, ON'92 XLT

Join Date: Oct 2005Posts: 193

What a simple fix!! Did this today to my hubs and now have 4x4 again! I should state though

that when my hub sit flush against the roter, it didn't disengage properly when I put the wheel

on and tested it out. So I put on an extra spacer, had a gap and needed slight pressure tomake the hub meet the roter - it all sat fine when the wheel went on. It seemed to work fineafter that so I left it!

Thanks again for the post. Save $$ on coverting to manuals. And when they were down again,

I'll just put in new spacers!!!

09-10-2006, 09:51 PM #5

BrooklynBay Aerostar man

Brooklyn, NY88 89 93 96 Aerostars

Join Date: Nov 2005

Posts: 9,481

This is a very nice thread! Many people have asked questions how to repair auto hubs. I didn'tsee this thread until now.

__________________My list of useful threads. My photo gallery.

My product reviews.

09-11-2006, 01:11 PM #6





ma96782 Wannabe Elite Explorer

Vancouver, WA

'94 XLT, 4dr

Join Date: Jan 2006Posts: 990

I nominate this for a STICKY.

Aloha,Mark

11-15-2006,

11:12 AM

MisterCMKWannabe EliteExplorerFargo, ND1992 XLT

Join Date: May2006Posts: 26

Excellent thread. I just stumbled across it and rehosted the images.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobK

See original discussion at: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21469. I probably won'my picture server after 2006, so I recommend you save the pictures now or perhaps a moderator can put thistech section and host the pictures on the main server.

I took some pictures while performing the "Beertime9 Washer Fix" on the automatic hubs of my '97 Ranger.

Many folks have noticed problems with their auto hubs, but upon disassembly they can find nothing blatantly

with the hubs. Symptoms include a popping or loud pinging sound while 4x4 is engaged or a grinding soundattempt to engage 4x4. The sounds are an indication that the hub will not engage or stay fully engaged.

Don discovered that the pot metal cam on the spline gear and the plastic ring inside the hub that the pot me

rubs against can wear over time. As they wear down, the cam can no longer push the internal hub mechanisenough to engage the hub gears. Wear seems to be only about 1/32" to 1/16", but it's enough to prevent th

hub splines from engaging, which are only about 3/8" wide to begin with. Ford will tell you that there are no

serviceable parts inside the hub. However, adding a washer between the pot metal cam and the plastic ring s

replace the worn material and allow the auto hub to engage properly.













Here are a couple schematics of the auto hub , although they don't show the guts of the hub. Notice the "ca

assembly". That is not the cam I address below.





When the hub is off, look at the aluminum cam (with the three fingers on it). Measure how much space there

between the top of the cam and the top of the spline gear (blue circle). It's about 1/16" in this picture. Your ois to add a thick enough washer to bring the cam just about flush with the top of the spline gear. Obviously, y

want it tight. Give it a little wiggle room so that it won't be under pressure when you reinstall the hub. (The p

below shows this same space circled in blue so that you can more easily see what I'm talking about. Of courscan only take this measurement while the cam and spline gear are installed.) Start by removing the snap ringsee it at the bottom. It's the only thing holding the spline gear and pot metal cam in. Once you have the snap

turn the hub over and thump it on a wooden or padded surface. The only thing holding the spline gear in nowfriction with the center post and crud, so sooner or later, it'll fall out.





This is the internal spline with the cam on top. The screwdriver is pointing to little nubs on the tops of the splinubs prevent the cam from coming off the top. It has to slide off the bottom. The blue circle is to exaggerate





you'll be measuring while the cam and spline gear are installed.

If you look down inside the hub with the spline gear removed, you'll see the plastic ring. It is held in lace by

metal snap ring (red circle). This is as far as you can disassemble the hub without a press. To disassemble it

you have to compress the plastic ring (and subsequently the huge spring at the bottom of the hub ) far enougthe round metal snap ring out. The screwdriver is pointing to the wear on the plastic ring. Can you say "plannobsolescence"??!!. What numbskull at Ford decided to use plastic instead of metal? The blue circle indicates t

sets of teeth that engage the outer teeth on the spline gear. When these two sets of teeth mesh, you're in 4xbelow for a deeper explanation.





On the bottom surface of the cam, you can see the rounded spot that wore into the plastic ring (blue circle).I asked some questions in the original thread about whether or not the little teeth sticking up (red circle) wer

result of wear, I'm now convinced that the cam was manufactured this way. I can see no way that a lastic ri

away 1/4" of metal on the cam.





This is the Euclid E-2411A air brake cam bushing that I purchased from a local diesel repair shop for 26 cents.outer diameter was still a little too wide, so I had to grind it down. It should be no wider than the width of the

Preferrably, it should be a smidge smaller so that it doesn't catch on the round metal snap ring. On the left isoriginal size and on the right is the washer after it was ground down. This washer is about 1/16" thick. I put tthese on each cam. A thickness of 1/8" is what I needed to just about make the top of the cam flush with the

the spline gear but still allow for some wiggle room (maybe 1/32"). That may be too much or not enough forsituation. I recommend starting with a 1/16" thick washer. If that doesn't work, try different washers. The gois that if you put a washer on that is too thick, you won't be able to seat the spline gear deep enough in the h

get the snap ring back on.





The washer takes up the space left by that little bit of wear in the plastic piece. Clean up the inside of of the h

much as possible and make sure everything has only a LIGHT coating of grease. Put it all back together, makithat the new washer fits securely between the bottom of the cam and the plastic ring. The cam, new washer,

plastic ring have to move in and out of the hub , so make sure that the washer is not going to catch on anythi





Put the hub on the axle. It should sit flush against the rotor. If it doesn't (screwdriver pointing to gap), rotateto allow all the hub guts to settle together. I incorrectly stated before that there should be a gap here and th





cam is under pressure when installed. Not true. Once everything settles together, you should not have to pusthe force of the large hub spring in order to make the hub touch the rotor. Put the tire back on and torque thnuts.

With both front tires off the ground, turn the front driveshaft to see if the hubs engage properly. If they do, tfor a drive to see how they perform under load. Go easy and go slow to start with. Test it in drive and reversefor the auto hubs engaging and disengaging. If they don't engage--and assuming you don't have other robl

your new washer may be too thick or too thin. Try a different washer.

EXTRA STUFF ON HOW THE HUBS WORK

If you're curious about how the auto hubs work, put the internal spline gear and cam on the axle, making su





the cam fingers fit into the pockets on the cam assembly. This is the disengaged position. The blue circle shofinger on the cam sitting in the pocket of the cam assembly.

Turn the front axle to simulate going into 4x4. As you turn the axle, you'll notice that the cam rides up on the

assembly (blue circle). This is the action that compresses the huge spring inside the hubs and makes the inneinside the hub engage the outer teeth on the spline gear (additional blue circles). This is the engaged positio

I hope that helps. Feel free to add your own thoughts or questions.

Bob







and the internal spline. In this position you could add exactly the amount you need to get the

internal spline back to its original relationship to the driven spline set. Of course, if you havethe snap-ring removed you might as well replace the offending leaf springs.

The plastic washer is pushed to its upper limit by the springs below it and against the round

metal snapring. If the plastic washer wears down it gets thinner but the difference is lost in thesprings, until the plastic gets so thin it no longer holds. The cam height relative to the

inernal/external spline will be the same no matter how thick the plastic washer is. Aditionally

the plastic washer can't be worn down across it's whole width as the cam only rides on a part ofit's width. If the plastic ring were wearing it would develop a groove and no longer be flatacross it's width.

01-14-2007, 05:04 AM #10

BobK Wannabe Elite ExplorerCentral CA1997 XLT

Join Date: Aug 2005

Posts: 15

Thanks for the second opinion, Brad. I just got another set of auto hubs that need to be fixed.I'll look harder this time to see if I can understand what you're saying.

01-16-2007, 03:28 PM #11

BradE Wannabe Elite ExplorerCouncil Bluffs, Ia

1992 xlt

Join Date: Dec 2006

Posts: 3

If you look into the hub, as you might look into a cup of coffee, you will see the plastic washer

pressed up against a cir-clip (or snap-ring). The plastic washer has three leaf springs attachedto its underside. These springs push down on the cog, or inner spine. The spline cog is against

the bodatious coil spring. The downward movement of this cog causes it to engage with thedriven spline on the axle.

Still looking into the hub? Visualize pushing down on the plastic washer with the intent ofpushing the spline cog deeper into the hub. You will notice that you must depress the coilspring in order to accomplish this but as you push you will also have to overcome the leaf

springs.

The purpose of the leaf springs are to keep the cam assembly from being crushed in case the

splines on the spline cog and the splines on the driven spline are not exactly lined up. The





problem with them is that they are only about an inch long and years of use cause them to

weaken. The coil spring below them is much more robust and so the spline cog willprogressively ride higher in the hub. This means that the cam assembly will have to push

farther in order to get the spline cog to engage the driven spline on the end of the axle stub.

The washer fix takes some of the built in "slop" of the cam assembly and uses it to allow thecam to push farther. You can add as mush washer thickness as you have slop but at some point

you will cause the hub to preload some spring tension and may cause the spline cog to stay in

engagement with the driven cog. If you can't push the hub competely onto the axle withoutdrawing up the lug nuts you have reached the end of the slop and are driving the plasticwasher and the contents of the hub away from the snap-ring. As the cam assembly spins with

the axle this probably isn't a good thing.

The best way to fix this problem would be to unload the hub, pull the snap-ring, and replacethe plastic washer with the leaf spring attached to it but you probably can't buy the darned

thing.

Best of luck

Brad

PS: I appoligize if this description is hard to follow. I don't know what the proper names are for

the components and everyone uses different phrasology. To add to the confusion there arethree spline sets in the hub: the outer spline on the axle, the inner/outer spline set that setsover the axle, and the inner spline that is captured in the hub. The success of the hub dependson the factory set (at rest) relationship between the inner spline (spline cog) that is in the hub

and the inner/outer spline that is on the axle stub.

02-12-2007, 04:18 PM #12

waynar Wannabe Elite ExplorerGlen Rock, PA

1994 Ford Explorer

Join Date: Feb 2007Posts: 1

Can Anyone tell me...

What is the circumference that these washers need to grinded down to? I have a 1994 Ford

Explorer.

Thanks





03-21-2007, 09:58 PM #13


Join Date: Aug 2005

Posts: 15

Sorry, waynar, can't help you there. I saw the guts of an Explorer hub that appeared to havemuch different dimensions than my '97 Ranger. I measured the diameter of my cam after Iremoved it from the hub and then ground down the washers for a "custom" fit.

03-21-2007, 10:00 PM #14


Join Date: Aug 2005Posts: 15

Good post, Brad. I think you hit the nail on the head. To be honest, I couldn't convince myselfthat the plastic ring had worn down, but I didn't know what else to blame. I'll put some thought

into what might be a suitable substitute for the leaf springs. Maybe a big, squishy rubberwasher?

03-21-2007, 11:10 PM #15

BradE Wannabe Elite Explorer

Council Bluffs, Ia1992 xlt

Join Date: Dec 2006Posts: 3

Bob K

As long as you have the hub coil spring unloaded (as you would have to in order to get to theleaf spring) you might try fixing the existing springs. (By unloading I mean removing the cir-

clip that keeps the springs and cogs held in the hub.)

Once you have the plastic washer out of the hub try bending the leaf springs back to originallift position. I haven't tried this so I don't know how successful it would be and you'd want to be

careful not to break one of the three springs as you may not be able to buy another set. Maybe

a Ford dealer will sell you just a new set of springs for the hub.

In my case dismantling the hub, cleaning and repacking seems to have fixed my shiftlessness





(my wife wants to do the same to me now).

As for a creative replacement, be cautious. Whatever you use has to stand the pounding of the

splines mis-meshing as the cogs spin under load. Anything that can't allow the splines to rideeach other until the cogs spin into alignment will cause the cams to snap off. It could be a

pretty abrupt and unkind end to the day (and leave you a ways from home).

By the way, the outside diameter of the washer you would use as suggested by the original

post, in my hub, would be about 2 inches. I lost the paper I had written the measurementsdown on and I can't remember what the inside measurement is. The pictures show where thewasher fits. If you take your hub apart you should be able to measure the space where it fit

easier than I could describe that space.

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