I just picked up a "set" of asin hubs from an 89' trackkick

now I just realized..... I think I forgot to grab the hub body... CRAP

what else do I need, what are those conical washers?

wish i could help you out, i havnen't swapped my hubs yet, and plan on installing new warns. 

Pulling off my warn hubs.
Eaten two sets of hub/bearings!!

Talked to a rep from a bearing company, apparently "freewheeling" the bearing is not a good thing at all. The inner race would spin with the cv when the stock drive flanges were on, now the centre bearing race is idle and it increases the load on the outer race and bearing cage.
I thought the first set which were the stockers were just tired, but when both sides failed again after only 4000km I thought I would check into it. I also guess thats why Warn doesn't recommend their hubs for newer rigs with the axle disconnect system. Just because the bolt on doesn't mean they'll work properly I guess. At $149.00 cdn |removethispart|@ jobber x 4 = no fun!

ps  For sale one set of slightly used Warn premium manual locking hubs!! LOL!

I know that a few people out there have been running these for a couple of years now with no problems. I have had mine on for over 5000 miles now with no probs. That sucks. I hope mine last.

interesting....  i wonder if you're running into problems because you have more lift than most the other guys running these hubs??  i was pretty much set on installing these on mine, hhhmmmmm...  probably not doing shit to it till after winter but was planning on having a box of goodies ready to go.   

any other opinions on hubs out there?

Well, I'm glad to hear I don't need to agonise about fitting freewheel hubs to my GV.

Tell the truth, I never believed the claim of fuel saving - in my book it must be so small as to be immeasurable.  Now the idea of saving wear had some attraction, but how much wear are you going to save when the components are not loaded?

One thing I don't get about Lowres's report:  How come the Gen 1 vehicles are immune to this problem?  Do they have a different bearing setup?

I've had the warn hubs on my '01 tracker for about 1.5 years/ 15,000 miles with no troubles.  I switched to them because the front axle oil seal wore out from the shaft always spinning and because I'd like to get rid of the shift on the fly system - whenever I get some extra cash!

I certainly didn't notice any fuel savings either.  Also, the suspension is stock so perhaps the lift would have an effect on the bearings going?  Do you spend a lot of time in the water with the truck because I've noticed that the wheel bearings aren't too well sealed on the inside with the cv/half shaft.

The 99-00 Grand Vitaras have a different type of hub.  Probably more closely resembles the pre-1999 Sidekicks.  I wonder if that makes a difference.  I'm not sure what to believe with the whole manual v.s. automatic hub thing.  People talk about the system not being designed to have the axles spinning all the time.  At the same time, shift on the fly was an option on some pre-99 Sidekick Sports.  That must mean their axles were spinning all the time too.  This concept didn't just show up on the 1999 GV.  I guess I'm going to be able to prove or disprove this bearing issue, cause I just put on the WARN hubs and two brand spankin' new wheelbearings the other day.  I also have the Rocky Road suspension lift.  If the bearings give out in the next year or two we'll know there's a problem!  I hope to hell they don't!!  Later....

perfect!  go put lots of miles on and let us know!  i'd rather not waste my money on shit i don't need but theoretically the manual hubs make sense.  also, right now from my understanding is that only the right side is always turning, so; in theory if the hubs are causing this shouldn't we be having problems with the left side already??

also, right now from my understanding is that only the right side is always turning, so; in theory if the hubs are causing this shouldn't we be having problems with the left side already??

Each hub is attached by the drive flange to its axle shaft, so both sides turn, surely.

i'd like to know this because it seems that the leaking problem is always the right side from everything i recall hearing about and reading..  anybody know for sure?!

For my GV ('98), I've just checked the FSM.

The wheel hub rides on a bearing, the inner of which is mounted on the wheel spindle, which does not rotate.  The spindle is hollow, and carries another, separate bearing inside, in which the driveshaft rotates.  So the thing about the inner and outer rotating/not rotating does not apply.  So I guess I could use freewheel hubs, to save the driveshaft bearings from wear, but I wonder whether there's enough benefit.

Could someone perhaps be more precise about exactly which parts are supposed to wear out/leak if the axles always rotate?

Just checked the Parts Catalogue, and, as Davyboy said, it's different for 01-on.  The driveshaft bearing is exactly the same, but there is no separate hub bearing - it looks like the bearing is built into the hub.  I don't see why that would make any difference to fitting freewheel units.

Talked to a rep from a bearing company, apparently "freewheeling" the bearing is not a good thing at all. The inner race would spin with the cv when the stock drive flanges were on, now the centre bearing race is idle and it increases the load on the outer race and bearing cage.

It would be interesting to know which of the bearings failed - the one between the spindle and the driveshaft, or the one built into the hub.  If it's the second, that rep was barking up the wrong tree.  If it's the first, what load is he referring to - there's only the weight of the driveshaft.

Thanks for the explination Ian.  Being the owner of a 99 model and not having a steel front diff I'll probably get around to doing the manual hubs at some stage.  At the moment I'm currently thinking about putting my tax return into a lift so I might do hubs then.  The only problem is finding the time to organise it all!

bzzr2, my understanding is that the leaking diff is seperate to the wheel bearing problem.  The wheel bearing is out at the wheel and the diff seal is at the diff, they are seperated by the drive shaft.  The diff seal is more likely to leak if the drive shaft is always spinning because this puts wear on the seal and due to the unsymetrical diff set-up there is probalby a different seal on either side of the diff  (hence one more likely to leak than the other).  However as Ian explained, if the drive shaft is not spinning on the 01-on models then it is the wheel bearings that wear out quickly, and it would be both of the wheel bearings.

I hope that makes sense, I haven't got into this too much but that's the picture I have in my head.

I just looked at my 02 service manual.  I don't understand how the shaft not rotating would wear out a bearing.

The shaft is not turning in the hollow spindle, so no excessive wear, no load, no excessive friction or heat, etc.

How is the Sidekick set up?

You guys are scaring me, my hubs just got delivered today.

Marc