Auto locking hubs.

My d22 sometimes makes a kind of whirring noise that i think may be the auto locking hubs. If you change down a gear it usually clunks as if the hub has enganged or disengaged and the noise stops.

Question 1 - can i fit manual locking hubs from a d21 or are they different?
Question 2 - If i fit manual locking hubs can I weld the front diff locked and keep the hubs open for driving on the road?

Also the heater blower has stopped working, fuses are ok, cant see any obvious problem. is there a common fix?

get rid of the auto hubs. they are a pain. not sure if D21 will fit, depends on what axle splines are used. however AVM etc are available off the shelf.

i wouldn't weld the diff. i would rather go auto locker than welding. trying to do tight turns offroad with welded diff will be a major pain.
check what diffs you have.

no idea on fan.

No clue about the diff, but may be able to help with the fan.

In the airstream (for cooling purposes, so somewhere BEFORE the heater) you'll find a small plate with a plug on it that is screwed into the air chamber. If you undo the screws and pull this out, you'll see a few coils of wire. One or more of these may be broken/burned or the circuit board could be damaged. These are sometimes expensive little suckers, so repairing it will feel a lot nicer on the hip pocket nerve.

Basically the unit is an air-cooled resistor to adjust the fan speed. Sometimes only one speed is lost, sometimes the whole thing fails.

I am assuming, of course, that you are referring to the blower for the cabin air, and not something else?

Old.Tony said:

No clue about the diff, but may be able to help with the fan.

In the airstream (for cooling purposes, so somewhere BEFORE the heater) you'll find a small plate with a plug on it that is screwed into the air chamber. If you undo the screws and pull this out, you'll see a few coils of wire. One or more of these may be broken/burned or the circuit board could be damaged. These are sometimes expensive little suckers, so repairing it will feel a lot nicer on the hip pocket nerve.

Basically the unit is an air-cooled resistor to adjust the fan speed. Sometimes only one speed is lost, sometimes the whole thing fails.

I am assuming, of course, that you are referring to the blower for the cabin air, and not something else?

Click to expand...

cheers mate, yes I mean cabin blower. I will see if i can find the resistor. Mine has digital controls for the heater with lcd display etc, so not sure if it would still use resistors in the air flow or if the voltage is digitally controlled.
I have just looked at the workshop manual and apparently there should be a blower relay somewhere so I will try to find that too.

tweak'e said:

get rid of the auto hubs. they are a pain. not sure if D21 will fit, depends on what axle splines are used. however AVM etc are available off the shelf.

i wouldn't weld the diff. i would rather go auto locker than welding. trying to do tight turns offroad with welded diff will be a major pain.
check what diffs you have.

no idea on fan.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I was hoping someone would agree with me on using manual hubs.
My thinking was that if I weld the diff i can just keep the front hubs unlocked and only engage 4wd and the hubs when i really need it.
At the moment if i engage 4wd one front wheel spins and one rear wheel spins (rear diff is limited slip but seems to be all slip and no limit)
As far as im concerned this is pointless as it is the wheels with least resistance spinning, which are the ones that are stuck or in the air.

I know air lockers are probably the best solution but i cant justify spending 600 quid on an air locker when i only paid 500 for the truck!

Basically I want some form of locker as cheap as possible. I will have a look at my diffs over the weekend to see what sort they are. What should i be looking for?

Old.Tony said:

No clue about the diff, but may be able to help with the fan.

In the airstream (for cooling purposes, so somewhere BEFORE the heater) you'll find a small plate with a plug on it that is screwed into the air chamber. If you undo the screws and pull this out, you'll see a few coils of wire. One or more of these may be broken/burned or the circuit board could be damaged. These are sometimes expensive little suckers, so repairing it will feel a lot nicer on the hip pocket nerve.

Basically the unit is an air-cooled resistor to adjust the fan speed. Sometimes only one speed is lost, sometimes the whole thing fails.

I am assuming, of course, that you are referring to the blower for the cabin air, and not something else?

Click to expand...

I found the resistor, its not in the airflow but it is near the blower motor. Its fine anyway, I have traced the problem to the blower motor itself.
It still works on all 4 speeds but you need to give it a bit of help to get started by spinning the fan.
i have tried to pull the motor apart to check brushes etc but it seems to be a non-servicable moulded plastic unit.
I cant seem to find a replacement, its made by calsonic kansei, and it has the numbers 3C630 and 12v 010219 on it.
Does anyone know how to fix these or where to get a replacement?

Cheers
Si

You can try what's worked for me in the past. WD40 make a "Silicone Lubricant", and it comes built-in with a long nozzle that flips up nowadays - perfect. Aim that sucker at the metal shaft and let it run into the bearing/sleeve. You might want to get both sides.

The spray shouldn't damage anything, although it stinks a bit. However, if it frees it up, who cares?

simon said:

Basically I want some form of locker as cheap as possible. I will have a look at my diffs over the weekend to see what sort they are. What should i be looking for?

Click to expand...

The R series diffs have been used pretty extensively in motorsport over the years. Regardless of if it is an R180 or R200 you would probably be able to get a mini spool for it to lock it up. That has the advantage of being able to be removed later if you wanted to.

Yeah, don't weld your front diff. If you did, whenever you locked your hubs you would lose a LOT of steering capability. When you are going real slow in low 4 it isn't so much of a problem, but believe me - would be a pretty big issue on faster dirt tracks where you might be getting along at a decent pace in high 4.

If you want to understand what I mean first hand, I'm sure there is someone with a manual front locker that can take you out for a demonstration. Maybe a 4wd club in your area or something? My patrol had twin air lockers - basically would quadruple the turning circle when the front locker was engaged.