# f350 locking hubs



## Morrissey snow removal (Sep 30, 2006)

2003 f350 locking hubs the hubs i have are auto and lock can i swapp them out with regular lock or unlock hubs thanks


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## fordtruck661 (Feb 26, 2011)

Morrissey snow removal;1533980 said:


> 2003 f350 locking hubs the hubs i have are auto and lock can i swapp them out with regular lock or unlock hubs thanks


Yes they should swap right out just make sure that you seal the vacuum lines when you take them off.


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## MickiRig1 (Dec 5, 2003)

Check the Internet for manual hubs. You may find them much cheaper. Go WARN all the way. Summitracing.com has all kinds of stuff for trucks.


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## Morrissey snow removal (Sep 30, 2006)

i have several good sets of warn but they where not auto i just wanted to make sure they would work


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## BigBladePusher (Dec 7, 2012)

manual never fails go with them!


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## tjctransport (Nov 22, 2008)

there are two different sets of warn hubs for the fords. manual replacement, and manual replacement for ESOF trucks. just make sure you get the ones foe the ESOF truck.


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

tjctransport;1534128 said:


> there are two different sets of warn hubs for the fords. manual replacement, and manual replacement for ESOF trucks. just make sure you get the ones foe the ESOF truck.


maybe a little explaination??


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## dfd9 (Aug 18, 2010)

Electronic Shift On the Fly. 

He maybe right, I was not aware of the difference, but I have replaced several of the "auto" vacuum hubs with manuals once they fail. It isn't worth the money for me to replace all the crap that goes bad once they do. It comes out to less than half the cost for manuals.


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## Morrissey snow removal (Sep 30, 2006)

so they have to be autom looking hubs i put in?


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## dfd9 (Aug 18, 2010)

No, AFAIK, plain ole manual hubs work. They did in at least one of mine, and it had ESOF. My current ride I am just locking the OEM's manually for winter, unlock for summer. They are still functioning, just not automatically. The other truck wasn't working manually or automatically.


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

See what got me was what transport said. Go with the esof hubs. Well if the factory ones are shot then you could get either ones depending upon what u wanted to do. Lock manually or automatics via the vacuum part


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## Morrissey snow removal (Sep 30, 2006)

i just want to put on regular hubs lock or free


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## dfd9 (Aug 18, 2010)

dieselss;1534205 said:


> See what got me was what transport said. Go with the esof hubs. Well if the factory ones are shot then you could get either ones depending upon what u wanted to do. Lock manually or automatics via the vacuum part


The problem is that usually the vacuum seals and all that crap is bad too. So you end up replacing more than just the hubs.

If he gets just manual hubs, he won't ever be able to "shift on the fly" but he will be saving a crapload of money.


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## Morrissey snow removal (Sep 30, 2006)

i dont want to be able to shift on the fly i will just get out and lock them before i shift it the work fine but none of my trucks have stock locking hubs i wazn to change them before they go bad


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

Gotcha dfd9. That whole shift on fly stuff still gets me. Not 100% understanding the ins and outs of it


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## fordtruck661 (Feb 26, 2011)

I feel like everyone is getting confused here so let me try to clear it up. 

To the OP just get the manual hubs not the ESOF ones that will just get you back to what you have right now. 

ESOF = Electric Shift On The Fly (just turning the switch in the truck will lock the hubs you can do this when driving = "on the fly") 

Manual = Having to get out of the truck and lock them by hand (obviously you have to lock the hubs when at a stop so its not "on the fly") 

You can only switch from ESOF to manual hubs NOT from manual to ESOF hubs.

Hope that clears everything up


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## Morrissey snow removal (Sep 30, 2006)

yes it does thank u


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

So ford here's q? For u then. When I put my hubs in lock and while driveing dwn the road can I pull the 4x4 lever and it be the same thing?


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## fordtruck661 (Feb 26, 2011)

dieselss;1534374 said:


> So ford here's q? For u then. When I put my hubs in lock and while driveing dwn the road can I pull the 4x4 lever and it be the same thing?


Yes you can lock your hubs and when you need 4WD you can just pull the lever. (It the closest thing you can get to "shift on the fly" with manual hubs) That is what I usually do when its snowing out.


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

Ok. I never really understood that. So the only difference is the vacuum hubs, and the electric motor. So that would be why you could go from manual to esof hubs b/c of the vacuum assm. Ok that makes coin


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## fordtruck661 (Feb 26, 2011)

dieselss;1534389 said:


> Ok. I never really understood that. So the only difference is the vacuum hubs, and the electric motor. So that would be why you could Notgo from manual to esof hubs b/c of the vacuum assm. Ok that makes coin


yes you basically got it just forgot the not.


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

Yep. Thx ford. !!!


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## tjctransport (Nov 22, 2008)

dieselss;1534205 said:


> See what got me was what transport said. Go with the esof hubs. Well if the factory ones are shot then you could get either ones depending upon what u wanted to do. Lock manually or automatics via the vacuum part


i thought it was pretty self explanatory. there are two different types of warn hubs. 
manual hubs that go onto a truck that had manual hubs. 
and then there are the manual replacement hubs that are put on trucks that once had automatic hubs and ESOF.

they are not interchangeable. 
you need to tell the person you are buying them from whether the truck has manual hubs, or auto hubs and you want to put the manual hub conversion kit on it..


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## tjctransport (Nov 22, 2008)

dieselss;1534389 said:


> Ok. I never really understood that. So the only difference is the vacuum hubs, and the electric motor. So that would be why you could go from manual to esof hubs b/c of the vacuum assm. Ok that makes coin


actually, if you were silly enough to do it, you could easily put auto hubs an a manual shift 4X4, because the vacuum ports are already on the axle. the question is, why would you want to? the auto hubs are prone to failure due to vacuum leaks.


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry to say tjc,,,I haven't been around alotta fords in a while so some of this has knowledge has been drunken away....lol. I guess what the op was asking and your comment got the wheel turning again. So I thought that if he wanted locking but had auto why couldnt he put locking in, if the autos didn't work anyways ?


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## MickiRig1 (Dec 5, 2003)

You also don't want to replace the vacuum hubs with auto hubs. The auto hubs ratchet a little every-time you change directions. The amount of times we change direction plowing wears them out quickly. You want manual, turn the dial it's locked. Turn it back it's free wheeling. They will last the life of the truck.


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## tjctransport (Nov 22, 2008)

dieselss;1534492 said:


> Sorry to say tjc,,,I haven't been around alotta fords in a while so some of this has knowledge has been drunken away....lol. I guess what the op was asking and your comment got the wheel turning again. So I thought that if he wanted locking but had auto why couldnt he put locking in, if the autos didn't work anyways ?


that is what he wants to do. replace the auto hubs with manual locking hubs. 
which is fine. 
i think yall are misunderstanding what i was saying
what i was saying is that you can not put the hubs from a mechanical 4X4 onto a ESOF truck. 
you need manual locking hubs for the ESOF vehicle. 
they work the same way, just two different part numbers.


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