I recently replaced my factory auto lockers for a set of MileMarker manual hubs. Interestingly enough, I noted a marked improvement in gas mileage. Since my gas mileage hasn't changed since the day I bought my X brand new almost 2 years ago, this tells me that my autolockers haven't worked correctly since the day I took delivery of my truck. I found this rather interesting and was wondering if anyone who has done this experienced the same thing or is it a fluke? I have seen close to a 2 mpg increase in gas mileage since the install. This leads me to believe the hubs were not fully disengaging when they were supposed to.

I haven't noticed anything like that at all.

Um ... congrats! I guess. :D

Philosopher,

Actually it kind of irks me. It means I could have been getting better mileage for the last almost two years and haven't. Money wasted, know whut I mean?

Originally posted by warmonger
Philosopher,

Actually it kind of irks me. It means I could have been getting better mileage for the last almost two years and haven't. Money wasted, know whut I mean?

Oh I definitely hear you, that would piss me off too. But since adding all the stuff to my truck I haven't noticed any loss of MPG and one of the last things I added was manual hubs.

I doubt they are to blame.

If they were engaged, and turning the front axles and driveshaft, you should have felt it long ago (dull heavy steering, different handling, more noise and vibration).

I lose a lot more than 2MPG when locked, usually closer to 4 or 5.

are the milemarker hubs better than the warn manuals, or just less expensive. and does switching from the factory auto hubs to manuals void the warranty? i only have 20k on my rig and don't want to get screwed.

XOC,

Actually there was a noticable steering difference. I noticed the steering wheel turned freer, in fact so much so that I jacked the truck back up and checked the bearing adjustment in the front end. There is no doubt in my mind that there was something wrong with those hubs. I had no idea this was abby normal until I replaced them. I've only driven my X so I've never experienced any different.

As for the hub quality difference, none that I know of. A hub is a hub is a hub. The quality of the MM is comparable to any Warn I've seen, so in my opinion, it is just a matter of choice and personal opinion.

How many times did you have the stock hubs off when repacking the wheel bearings ? Did you lube the hubs as well ? Could you never hear the stock hubs engaging and disengaging ?

XOC,

Lubricating the hubs is a no-no. If you pack them with grease, they will cease to operate. As for feeling them engage and disengage, now that I think about it, I can't recall ever having felt them disengage but one time when I put the truck in reverse on a nasty sand hill and that was jsut a couple of weeks prior to the manual hub installation. I felt them disengage and reengage briefly when I had to go into reverse to back off of a tree root.

Originally posted by warmonger
XOC,

Lubricating the hubs is a no-no. If you pack them with grease

Packing them no, but periodic lubrication of auto and manual hubs is very important. That's steel on steel in there, and it will cause a lot of wear and noise if not lubricated correctly.
If you submerged your Xterra as often as I've seen on your website, and never did any maintenance to the locking hubs, that may be the culprit.

I recently drove about a 100 miles to off-road event. Warn hubs not engaged on the way down but I forgot the disengage them on the way back. About a 4.5 mpg difference, some of which could be attributed to the fact that I was drving 5 mph faster on the way back.

Originally posted by evergreen
are the milemarker hubs better than the warn manuals, or just less expensive. and does switching from the factory auto hubs to manuals void the warranty? i only have 20k on my rig and don't want to get screwed.

Check out Matt Peckham's thread on the MM hubs.

i think i am going with the mm hubs. sound like a stronger unit. from the looks of the other posts, the warn's instruction blow. thanks for the info philosopher.

One important note regarding Warn hubs. Warn actually has a reason for building their hubs the way they do. Warn has built-in breakage protection in their hubs. By using the cheaper metal, it helps prevent, although not perfectly, the hand-grenading of diffs by building a weakness in the hubs in the hopes that they break before a VERY expensive diff breaks. Although it is no where near perfect, a hub is cheaper to replace than a front chunk. There is a purpose to it, although with the low hp output of a Nissan, it really isn't much of an issue. BTW, if you use a stronger locker in the front end, you decrease the odds of diff breakage. The bolt-in units such as PowerTrax will hand-grenade in spite of the hub weakness. One of the off-road magazines even went so far as to test Warn hub fuses and found that most of the time, the PowerTRax blew before the hub fuse did. But in the case of ARB and Detroit lockers, the hub blew but the diffs didn't. Just a little food for thought.

that is some damn tastey food for thought. never looked at it that way. does changing to manual hubs void the warranty?

Evergreen,

Any after-market items you add to a vehicle can modify the warranty in some way. It depends on the dealer and the rapport you have with them. Obviously, if something happens to your manual front hubs that causes your truck to strip or break an axle, they can refuse to fix it under warranty. I think I would worry less about warranty if you take your truck off-roading on a regular basis like many of us do. The dealer or manufacturer can refuse to warranty a part because you broke it or damaged it off-roading if they want to be jerks about it. One of our club members has had two sets of leaf springs on his X due to the sand in the Ocala National Forest. Fortunately for him, he has a solid rapport and the dealer has replaced them unquestionably. Especially considering the fact that the first time it occurred, he had sunk the truck in the truck eating mud pit. If you rarely off-road the truck or when you do you consider hard grated dirt roads off-roading, I would worry about the warranty.

Why would you replace springs because of sand ?

XOC,

The sand we have in Florida is NASTY! It gets into everything! It gets caught in the spring mounts and they begin to squeak. No matter how hard you clean them, you can't get it out unless you break down the springs and lube the joints and pads. The squeaking can become VERY annoying.

Nissan is offer a extreme off-road package on this years model. It will include the option of Manual locking hubs. Since there has been increased complaints about the auto-hubs. So no it will not void your warranty, unless there is a direct failure contributed to the installation of the manual hubs.

"Extreme" is not the word I would use. It's called the "Enthusiast" package. If Nissan wants an "Extreme" off-road package, let's see their electric locking diff, some real AT or better tires, real skids, and lower gearing for a start.

Brent

Speaking of the "Enthusiast Package", has anybody seen the listing on that? We had a dealer rep at Truxpo and I AM NOT IMPRESSED! As far as I can tell, it is an XE with manual hubs and no supercharger option. Anyone with more info on it?

Details here (http://www.nissandriven.com/global/glossary/GlossaryPopup/0,9382,XE6EP|20460|,00.html)

Brent

Originally posted by warmonger
The sand we have in Florida is NASTY! It gets into everything! It gets caught in the spring mounts and they begin to squeak. No matter how hard you clean them, you can't get it out unless you break down the springs and lube the joints and pads. The squeaking can become VERY annoying.

Sand is sand reguardless of the location. In FL you just have a lot of it. My truck has never been to FL (going for xmas). My springs squeek all the time. Even just closing a door makes the springs squeek.

IMO getting sand in your springs and the springs squeeking is "wear-n-tear" and shouldn't be covered unless the spring pack has sagged an unusual amount. That would be like taking your tires back to the dealer after 40K miles and telling them "they wore down, cover them".

You friend is lucky to have found a dealer who will cover wear-n-tear.

Goliath,

Actually I agree totally with you. My springs squeak like crazy but I haven't worried about it at all. I figure I was the one who buried it in the mud and drove it through the Eureka and Rodman pits. Also I am replacing the springs when I lift it anyway.

BUT, with that said, I do have one minor problem with your stance. I have owned 4 4WD trucks and have never had the springs do this on any of them. And I can tell you I have put them through stuff as tough if not tougher (in the case of my CJ-7) than what my X has gone through. I think the factory springs are junk which is why they do this. If it was normal, I would have had 3 other trucks do the same thing. But to play devil's advocate, I drove a Toyota Tundra 4WD for work a couple of weeks ago and it squeaked just like my X. I think it has something to do with the way the Japanese car manufacturers make their springs. Because the Z-71 I drove prior to that didn't do it and I knew it had been off-roaded as well. That's one of the benefits of working for a car dealer, I get to drive different vehicles and I pick trucks (4WD as much as I can so I can see how different trucks handle) a lot as I have to move ladders and stuff to install network cables.

First off you fools, it's SQUEAK.

Anyway, I try to stay far away from sand and for that matter, mud these days. They both just get into everything and I have found that sand makes springs squeak more than anything else ...

Mike ~~~>:flipa:

War,

I agree the nissan springs are not the best, and that the squeaking problem is not common on all leaf springs. However, everyone who offroads their Xterra has squeaky springs. I still believe it is a wear-n-tear issue. Unfortunatly our springs "wear" very quickly, with better springs this would not be an issue, .

I found when I first installed my AALs my spring pack stopped squeaking for a couple weeks. But I noticed a week ago the squeaking is worse than ever.

I imagine the 02 will squeak, It would be nice if Nissan would upgrade the springs or solve this problem for future models (If Nissan reads this board, that was a hint).

i hate losing gas mileage. i hate it, i hate it, i hate it! (hehe) but seriously, i too will get free wheelers REEL soon. the 100 bucks you will spend today will save on gas, tires, vibration, axle wear tomorrow. it is nice knowing when you are roading to the outback that you are getting minimum wear on those items. get a set soon. :sun:

Originally posted by XMan9
i hate losing gas mileage. i hate it, i hate it, i hate it! (hehe) but seriously, i too will get free wheelers REEL soon. the 100 bucks you will spend today will save on gas, tires, vibration, axle wear tomorrow. it is nice knowing when you are roading to the outback that you are getting minimum wear on those items. get a set soon. :sun:

From a technical standpoint, the only way you should see a mileage increase is if you one or both of your autolockers is not working correctly. I have reason to believe one of mine was not working correctly. The auto hubs free wheel in the same way the manuals do, the manuals just don't unlock when the truck is put in reverse. If your hubs are working correctly, there will be no mileage change whatsoever.

Agreed. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out if your front driveline is turning or not.

Brent