1997 Manual Hubs
 

I'd like to see if anyone out there that has done the manual hub conversion on a '97? I called Warn & they flat deny having an application to fit. Now discussing this with a friend he called around the Mount Vernon / Burlington area until he found a guy that had done several. As the mechanic put it " common back in the day ". I called him & he gave me the P/N's for the spindle nuts & hubs (which were warn hubs). By his explanation he said that the spindle nuts were produced by a 3rd party that warn wouldn't endorse. So with no "official" spindle nuts, no hubs would fit. Like to hear from you all.

you would have to completely rework the whole 4wd system. the 97-03 used a CAD. there are no hubs to lock in / out.

now the pre 97 trucks it wasn't uncommon at all as the auto hubs were junk

Thanks djfllmn. It just seemed to me there was more to it than this story. Don't mean to be "thick" but what is CAD?

Center Axle Disconnect. rather than hubs at the wheels you have a disconnect on top of the front diff. That is where the magic happens when you select 4wd.

Correct, - you swap out vacuum (actuator) for cable. Cable runs to the inside of the cab within arms length.

Manual hubs
 

That thingy called a front differential cable lock kit? that'll be good for my '97?
Says it'll give 2 wheel low range. Is that true?

Yes, - makes that option possible.

Wish they had manual hubs
Be worth at least a MPG or 2 versus having the damn differential and CVs turning all the time.

I never found that locking manual hubs on my old Jeep was a problem, unless I stupidly waited too late and was ankle deep in mud... Or water.

OK. I just pick up a differential cable lock kit. Could I in essence just disconnect the power to the 2 solenoids without pulling the vacuum lines?
Or would it be best to do both?