84/85 manual locking hubs advice

[frankendat]

Gentlemen,

In my never ending conflict between good, reliable, cheap and wanting all three. A fellow is selling a NIB nissan hub for $60. He only has one. I thought about buying it for a spare, if he had two I would jump on the deal. (Given the original hubs made it over 200k) With the hard life of my 720 all parts not rebuilt or swapped for new are suspect. Nissan manual hubs are discontinued and I couldn't find the part number 40250-30W00 on aliexpress. My concern is trapping myself into future problems as original parts skyrocket in price. I am no purist and would gladly swap the hubs for a standard non-nissan equivalent, but it seems even Warn has discontinued the Nissan replacements. Are there other "standard" products that are swappable? For example, I swap parts with 70's Ford or Chevy trucks (even old Toyotas) as there are enough of them to keep parts available and not cost prohibitive for years to come. (or so is my lame ass logic)

 

Please advise

[Logical1]

I am very interested in this as well. I have an 85' 4x4 with auto hubs , but I truly desire manual hubs. Hearing that all parts are discontinued is disheartening! I have owned a 4x4 with manual hubs (82) and I never had a problem with them so I never got into them, what is the main problem part in your experience? 

[frankendat]

This is my first Datsun/Nissan 4x4, but I have worked with Warn hubs. Like you, I haven't experienced Nissan hubs. Nissan parts are still findable at salvage yards, new in box hubs, if you can get them are expensive (at least to tight asses like me)

 

Warn hubs can be rebuilt with a kit. I do not know if there is a Nissan manual hub kit. A Nissan rebuild kit would make junkyard hubs palatable

 

The problems I have encountered with Warn hubs are leaking seals, and there are some plastic parts in new Warn hubs that will fail (but not in any of mine) I have seen Warn hubs go bad if left locked for extended highway high speed driving and if only one side is locked and the other side free. In both cases the manual hubs would no longer engage or disengage and it sounded like the hubs were full of gravel.

 

I haven't been able to confirm if the Warn kit for 26 spline Nissan axles is available anywhere.

 

 

 

The one for sale looks different from the picture on nissan parts website and very different than the manual Warn hubs that I have owned and do own. 

 

Is this the correct manual locking hub for an 84/85 Z24 King cab?

[thisismatt]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203240351100?fits=Model%3A720|Make%3ANissan&hash=item2f5211a57c:g:bJAAAOSwJXBf9eH5 

 

 

🤷‍♂️

 

 

 

 

[thisismatt]

Umm, @420n620 has one for sale here:

 

https://ratsun.net/classifieds/item/1345-nos-datsun-miscellaneous-items-tote-2/

[420n620]

10 hours ago, thisismatt said:

Umm, @420n620 has one for sale here:

 

https://ratsun.net/classifieds/item/1345-nos-datsun-miscellaneous-items-tote-2/

the person that owns all then goodies, is trying to sell it all for $250.00. I had to tell him I'll pass on it. 

But I could contact him about that part and see what he will take for it. 

 

Let me know @frankendat 

Edited February 3, 2022 by 420n620

[frankendat]

On 2/2/2022 at 10:27 PM, thisismatt said:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203240351100?fits=Model%3A720|Make%3ANissan&hash=item2f5211a57c:g:bJAAAOSwJXBf9eH5 

 

 

🤷‍♂️

 

 

 

 

That's good crackers right there. How do AVM compare to Warn

[frankendat]

On 2/3/2022 at 8:49 AM, 420n620 said:

the person that owns all then goodies, is trying to sell it all for $250.00. I had to tell him I'll pass on it. 

But I could contact him about that part and see what he will take for it. 

 

Let me know @frankendat 

Thanks for reaching out. Hold off on contacting that guy but thanks again

[thisismatt]

6 hours ago, frankendat said:

That's good crackers right there. How do AVM compare to Warn

No clue 😅

[Logical1]

Well I had a few beers last night, went wild and bought that set off of Ebay. I will post up how they look in person and if they look good, how they work out!

[datzenmike]

28 minutes ago, Logical1 said:

Well I had a few beers last night, went wild and bought that set off of Ebay. 

 

Probably for the best anyway....

[frankendat]

On 2/5/2022 at 10:24 PM, Logical1 said:

Well I had a few beers last night, went wild and bought that set off of Ebay. I will post up how they look in person and if they look good, how they work out!

Excellent! I look forward to it

[bottomwatcher]

On 2/6/2022 at 12:24 AM, Logical1 said:

Well I had a few beers last night, went wild and bought that set off of Ebay. I will post up how they look in person and if they look good, how they work out!

Funny how that works. I get all kinds of stuff from Ebay I don't remember ordering and I always wonder how Ebay knew I needed that!

[datzenmike]

Amazon is good for mind reading too.

[frankendat]

On 2/7/2022 at 7:44 AM, datzenmike said:

Amazon is good for mind reading too.

Do you know if there has been any "official" testing or reviewing on Nissan 720 manual locking hubs? How they compare to aftermarket? Google is letting me down.

[Logical1]

UPDATE! 

 

I just did a full rotor, bearing, and hub replacement with the AVM hubs from the link provided. The hubs looked great out of the box and felt solid. It was a super easy swap, the only issue that cropped up was the hex cap bolts from the stock hub are too long and you need to get shorter ones. Other than that, they installed fine and seem to be working perfectly! One thing that is curious to me is that one of my wheels/hubs is consistently hotter than the other. I think this could be from me not backing off enough after the preload torqueing the spindle nut? It could also be from inconsistencies with the new brake pads? There is a 30f difference in temp on the wheel/hub after a 30minute drive. One is 130f and the other is around 160f. Here are some pictures from the installation.

[thisismatt]

How were the slide pins on the calipers?

[Logical1]

They seemed to be in good shape and I am not getting any pull from that side of the truck while braking or not. I have had the work done for about a month now and it drives and brakes perfect but the one side is always warmer. My IR thermometer says about 30f hotter like I mentioned and as well as I can focus it it does seem to be more in the disk brake and caliper. 

[datzenmike]

Switch wheels from side to side, unless the tread has to turn in the forward direction, then swap the fronts to the back.

 

So you're running used pads on new rotors?

[thisismatt]

I imagine you'll just have to dig in and check the drag on the brakes and then possibly on the preload.  Last time I adjusted my 521 rear brake shoes I got one side a little too tight and it gets hotter, but I don't drive it much or very far so I haven't bothered to mess with it.

[Logical1]

New pads on new rotors. When I got home from work today, (same trip distance) both hubs were in about 10f of each other. Maybe I am just over thinking things but for the most part one wheel/hub is notably warmer than the other and it caught my attention.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Are the wheel bearings new too? Setting the preload on new bearings can be tricky. I use two different torque wrenches and a fish scale to get the preload right. I don't have the Nissan book in front of me, but on a Toyota 4x4, the basic procedure is to torque the first nut to about 40 ft/lb, then spin the hub five or six rotations to set the bearing race. Back off  the nut and torque it to 48 in/lb. Install the tab washer and the second nut and torque it to 45 ft/lb. Final wheel hub preload is measured with a fish scale, by pulling on one of the wheel studs. It should be about 6-8 lbs.

 

I have seen the first nut get tightened by the second nut, even with the tab washer installed. Which will definitely change the preload.

 

If you really want to put this to rest, get yourself a $10 fish scale and check your preload. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[frankendat]

I missed this when it originally posted, great work! It is almost the year anniversary of the hubs. Have they held up? If you have a sec, I would really appreciate a measurement of the diameter of the hub. I am wondering the size hole needed in the wheel ( or center cap) to clear the AVM hub.

[Logical1]

The hubs have been flawless so far. I live down a long rocky dirt hill of a driveway that requires me to use them every day and I have had no problems!

[Logical1]

Upon closer measurement the stock hubs (which are the same size as the new hubs) are 98mm+/-