Pardon my ignorance. I posted earlier about the dials on my locks melting down. When I bought the truck (88 lariat XLT 4X4) I replaced all the brakes including the front rotors. After driving a few thousand hard miles I noticed the dials melted (distorted) Although in the free position When I removed the hub I saw that they were locked. I originally thought that I had screwed things up when I replaced rotors. I now believe the hubs had been locked long before I bought the truck. I removed the locking mech. and springs. Tossed in some grease and went for a ride!!! What a difference! Seems like I gained 20 hp and I can coast a mile. And when I stop I can touch the hub without getting a third degree burn. My question now is 1 Are the stock manual locks rebuildable? 2 Have I perhaps done any damage to the front drive? The previous owner never used 4X4 and it is possible the front end has been locked for over 5 years. Thanks for any input.

 

You can rebuild them, but it's probably cheaper in the long run to just replace them. One of my vehicles had manuals that were jammed in the free position, I disassembled them and found the assembly encased in mud, rust and old grease. I removed them, soaked them in parts cleaner for a few days, took everything apart, cleaned it, and put it all back together, they lasted about two months. It was about $100.00 parts to rebuild $150 to replace.

 

If thats what ya got your SOL. Ford for only most of '88 used the flange style manual locking hub. None made aftermarket, and if you want to switch to a traditional 80-87, 89-96 style need to hit the junkyard for basicly everthing past the outermost ujoints.

Adrianspeeder

 

Thanks for the info. As you suggest I am sol. When looking for aftermarket locks I saw "Except 88" everywhere. Im hoping to rebuild what I have. Thanks again.

 

Where are you?

Adrianspeeder

 

Ventura CA I do have the flange type lockers. Do you know of a source for rebuild parts? Thanks

 

Doh! sorry I missed your post there buddy...

Also sorry I don't have a rebuild source for ya either. This is a kinda obscure setup and no aftermarket support. A fellow over on FSB had to just swap all the outer front end parts over from another year or same year with auto hubs Dana 44 TTB.

 

LMC lists a Warn for the 88, can you clarify?

 

Sure,



You can get that for a 88 that came with auto hubs as OEM, but not the few bastard child OEM manual flange style setups.

This is what us 88 stock manual guys have.

 

That truly sucks.

 

Thanks again for the info. Another question is are the rotors the same? I recently replaced both fronts. They appeared to be identical to the ones I removed. My concern is if the previous owner did the same thing I did which was to purchase rotors for an 88 f150

 

I believe so, but I will research it for sure later today. When I redid my brakes a year ago, I don't remember specking that I had flange style hubs.

Adrianspeeder

 

For the benifit of others in the forum This is an earlier reply from Adrianspeeder

In late 87 early 88 ford for the F150s and broncos with the manual hub option used these flange hubs. Just like the ranger style but they use a 5lug 4.5" pattern. However, if auto hubs were ordered on the truck it got the standard setup just like the 80-87 and 89-96 which is what is throwin off your parts guy. I imagine from just readin what everyone has, the auto hub/standard setup is what most trucks were ordered with. There is no aftermarket support as this is a rare part that usually doesnt fail. My advice would be to swap everything down to the spindles with parts from a junkyard 44 TTB, and thats what some have done in the past on fullsizebronco when dealing with problems.

By the way, I have no problem helping you out by email, but it is best for the forum if this kinda info is out for everyone to search for in the future.

Adrianspeeder

 

I switched to the manuals from a junk yard but had the autos to start with. Kind of wierd thing is it had two diffrent kinds on it before I switched not realy sure what happend there. Now for a dumb question. Does the rotor separate from the hub? I have an extra rotor and hub but cant see how they would come apart. I think a brake job is up for the white trash.