SJ Manual Hubs

The manual freewheeling hubs have a 12mm bolt head on the inner bolts where it bolts to the car. Put the hubs in free and use a spanner to do the bolts up with the wheel off and you don;t have top open up the manual freewheeling hub.

This won;t solve the hubs not locking and unlocking though, I would take all the grease out and wash them out with a de-greaser and then regrease but not with too much grease as this can cause too much drag with suction and overcome the spring.

Kirkynut

Well the saga continues ... took the hubs off, de-greased and refitted using copper slip instead.
forgot to fit the spacers and packed up, went for a spin and 2 miles down the road, stopped to check the hubs only to find one really loose ... Made it home, removed and refitted with spacers.
still not 100% sure they are locking correctly... went on grass and, lock to lock in 4wd, still results in a clicking as if the splines are not fully engaged ... but no noise when the wheels are straight. I guess im gonna have to leave it now and wait until its wet enough to get out and play again and see if I get stuck.

You can check if they are locking by jacking one side up with both locked and spinning the jacked up wheel. If both are locked the front prop will spin but if one is free it won't as the motion will spin through the free hub rather than the prop.

Kirkynut

Hi- if its only clicking on full lock it could be a cv joint wearing (or rather worn) out. Its a very typical cv noise. I guess its best to make sure the hubs are working properly and then try again on full lock, both ways.

Definatly the Hubs, and not the CV Joints .. put the old Vacuum hubs on and locked them manually. No noises. Ill wait and see when the weather gets a little worse and the Jimny goes back into Mud Monster Mode.

Out of interest, is it possible to have a manual hub re-conditioned or to but new replacements?