Warn Manual Hubs

what do they do?? what are they for? will they work with a aussie locker?

x2, ive wondered the same thing,m but im too lazy too search, good thing someone else asked.LoL

Warn manual hubs are only available on a D30 with the conversion kit, which costs over $1k. They are easily put on D44s and D60s, etc, because the axle has a spindle and hub, rather than a unit bearing like the D30.

But, what they do is physically disconnect the axleshaft from the wheel. When unlocked, the front axleshafts, dif, and driveshaft do not turn. The idea is you unlock the hub when on the street for better fuel economy, or if you break a shaft, ring gear, etc, you can unlock the hubs, disconnecting the front drivetrain, and drive home.

Begster said:

Warn manual hubs are only available on a D30 with the conversion kit, which costs over $1k. They are easily put on D44s and D60s, etc, because the axle has a spindle and hub, rather than a unit bearing like the D30.

But, what they do is physically disconnect the axleshaft from the wheel. When unlocked, the front axleshafts, dif, and driveshaft do not turn. The idea is you unlock the hub when on the street for better fuel economy, or if you break a shaft, ring gear, etc, you can unlock the hubs, disconnecting the front drivetrain, and drive home.

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thank you very much that sums it all up. so then they will work with an aussie locker. warn hubs are next on my list..

Oof, that sounds like way too much money to drop on a dana 30, if you take gears and locker into account your in over 1500 bucks on an axle that could be easily upgradable for half that amount to a stronger axle..but to each their own.

Not even sure if the kit is still available.

Warn doesn't list it on their site--at least so I could find it.

Randy's Ring and Pinion acquired Warn, but I can't find it on their site either, however I have heard that parts are available through them.

TheMule1 said:

thank you very much that sums it all up. so then they will work with an aussie locker. warn hubs are next on my list..

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While some people have upgraded to the Warn kit on a D30, it is in my opinion not really worth it. If you are interested in it in terms of being able to disconnect the drivetrain should you break, it is much much cheaper to grab a spare set of shafts with unit bearings still attached, and carry those around. Should you break a shaft, just swap it on the trail, and keep going.

Here is a better picture of the hub body of a Warn premium hub being installed into a D44.

You can see the inner opening splines for the axleshaft, and then the outer part of the hub body is splined, to match the inner splines of the hub you can see it sliding into.

That dark gray jagged middle is on a spring, and is currently in the unlocked position. That dark inner circle the shaft goes into can spin independently of the outer lighter gray body. When you twist the dial (which goes on over that hub body) to the locked position, that dark gray ring is forced back into the hub body, and locks the inner shaft ring to the outer hub body, which in turn is connected to the tire.

XJ=Fun said:

Oof, that sounds like way too much money to drop on a dana 30, if you take gears and locker into account your in over 1500 bucks on an axle that could be easily upgradable for half that amount to a stronger axle..but to each their own.

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Trust me and everyone else that has done it, upgrading to a stronger axle like a D44 or D60 front is not a cheap affair. But I agree, it is a lot of money to drop on a D30.

Milemarker still has hubs for the XJ d30,but as already stated its to much money to invest in a 30 with almost no benifit. IIRC you can use Ford Ranger hubs which you could get from the JY!

X2 on the ranger parts. But that is not a strong hub assembly. To get a good strong set up you really need to get into the 5 on 5.5" bolt pattern and up.

EMS Offroad makes a conversion kit. I'm running that on my 30. ive wasted a lil over 3k on my front axle now.

RoyalXJ said:

EMS Offroad makes a conversion kit. I'm running that on my 30. ive wasted a over 3k on my front axle now.

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*sigh* Me too...

How much does EMS Offroad charge for his? I haven't heard of that...

$995

http://www.emsoffroad.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=128_129&products_id=331

RoyalXJ said:

$995

http://www.emsoffroad.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=128_129&products_id=331

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Might be limited to stock on hand(if any,most are drop-shipped anyway).I also checked Warn's and Randy's site,it does appear that they have been discontinued.

At one time we used hubs with a spool up front. With just one hub OUT this would let one tire free wheel. Making a spool liveable on the street. Plus give you 3 wheel drive for trail. Witch is all you got with and open dif anyway. Being the king of easy does it. I very seldom engaged the other hub. Some duds only had one hub for this setup.
When you remenber that at one time many 4*4 came stock with hubs and a spool was much cheeper then a locker. It was a cheep way to get a very strong true 4WD system with min drawbacks.

RCP Phx said:

IIRC you can use Ford Ranger hubs which you could get from the JY!

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Hi, is there a write up on how to adapt ford ranger hubs to the Dana 30?