Trooper II Autolocking Hub Noise

vlachen

After searching through the archives here, I've determined that I can't find what I'm looking for on this one. Therefore, I make my first post by asking a question about my autolocking hubs.

I've got an '88 Trooper II, in-line 4, 5 speed, nothing special. Whenever I shift out of 4 wheel drive, rolling back the appropriate distance and all, I don't think the left hub completely disengages. After shifting out, as I begin to roll down the road, a loud grinding noise emanates from the hub, and the volume increases with speed. Whenever I slow down, for a stop or what have you, it slows down and then begins to grab... I can feel something mesh, the noise quits and the car jerks. It usually does this a couple of times before the noise stops.
I've been lazy, so I haven't ripped the hub apart to see how close it is to fragging out. But it seems to me that the lock mechanism isn't fully retracting.

Anyone else have this issue before? Is it discussed somewhere here that I failed to see?

89trooperid

I had that problem as well and a little worse even ... they need to be greased If you get to the hubs soon enough you can usually save them from grindout/destruction.

I removed the hub cover assembly - an easy job - cleaned and greased the hubs and the noise went away.

To go much farther you wheel need to remove the hub nut which seems to require a special tool or the equivalent as the manual likes to say. Hope this helps.