Vacuum hubs

Hi,
I'm new to the site and would like some help PLEASE. I recently bought a 1999 jimny, and have just found out (after getting stuck) the hubs are not locking when selecting 4 wheel drive. I have no flashing light and the transfer box seems to be working fine ( I can hear it, and the front prop engages), also there is plenty of vacuum on all 4 pipes at the hub. I understand I can get manual ones, but I was wondering how much of a job, servicing the vacuum hubs would be.
Any help would be much appreciated
Thanks
Andy

The front wheel bearing seals is what seals the air to make the hubs work

Remove the black locking hubs see if thay are free a 12sided 8mm socket fits the torques/star bolts you can pull then on and off with your finger

When putting in 4wd do you here a click click from the front may need some one to put in 4wd while you put an ear to the hub

And make shore the pipes are the right way round as one hub may be being sucked on and the other sucked off

Thanks will have a look in the morning
Andy

All sorted now thanks, the hubs are working fine. The problem turned out to be a blocked pipe (the bottom one). Tried removing the bottom hose and connecting a spare piece of pipe on the nipple and blowing with a foot pump, but even that wasn't enough. So I put a piece of tie wire in, and that cleared it. I could suck/blow with no problem, (with the hub removed).all I need now is the snow!!

i had the same problem as you when i first bought my jimny last winter. i kept reading everything on the net and asked everybody arround forums. i ended up switching to manual hubs. you can buy them new or get them used from a suzuki vitara or samurai (as long as they are manual locking hubs). you also need to buy 6mm thick spacers and it works like a dream, it never leaves you stuck and its reliable. you can open the hubs, seal them , grease them etc.. i highly recommend it to you. finding the leak is one thing, repairing it is also another thing. the big magic in all this is that it will leak again. look at all the forums, all the newbies, all talking about AWWW, MY VACUM HUBS...do yourself a favor ! you havnt bought a jimny for having the luxury of a range rover vogue so...

ANOTHER GOOD THING WITH MANUAL HUBS IS THAT IF YOU LEAVE THE HUBS FREE AND YOU ACTIVATE THE LOW GEARS, THE LOW GEARS WILL GO ONLY THE REAR DIFF SO YOU CAN HANDLE MORE OFFROADING WITH LESS CONSUMING. ITS WHAT I OFTEN DO. SOMETHING YOU WOULDNT HAVE WITH VACUUM HUBS

Albanianjimny wrote: ANOTHER GOOD THING WITH MANUAL HUBS IS THAT IF YOU LEAVE THE HUBS FREE AND YOU ACTIVATE THE LOW GEARS, THE LOW GEARS WILL GO ONLY THE REAR DIFF SO YOU CAN HANDLE MORE OFFROADING WITH LESS CONSUMING. ITS WHAT I OFTEN DO. SOMETHING YOU WOULDNT HAVE WITH VACUUM HUBS

Search for '2Low switch'. It's a simple modification which allows you to do this with Vacuum hubs as well.

Thanks for the advise, I'll stick writhe the vacuum hubs for now and see how I get on, I thought maybe trying them on a weekly basis would help keep them free and give me a bit of confidence. Only joking about the winter, I hate it.
Thanks to everyone for their advice.