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[Precise1]

I hear you on this. It's definitely a trade off for sure. I'm as lazy as the next but being able to put the truck in 4 low and not lock the hubs will give me 2 low (with some very bad gas mileage). I can't express how many times I've wanted a lower main gear while on the trail. However I play in the rocks and other things that I shouldn't if I want my truck to last and I've on two occasions heard my driver side hub pop really loud. It didn't break but it scared the hell out of me. I think the popping is coming from the hub not being fully engaged. So basically I'm wanting to sacrifice my lazy tendencies to have 2 wheel low and a little more security. Also I still have that tempting desire to weld up the front diff, not sure if I will but it's tempting.

The only 3 reasons to keep the auto locking hubs are convenience, if you will never use them and zombies. Seriously, with zombies you don't want to get out of the truck!

 

Some of the reasons to switch them is that they are inherently more reliable/stronger than auto hubs and you have the 2wd lo option which could be handy in several scenarios, especially front end hop. They look bette, and with them periodically on sale at 4wheelparts.com for about $80-90 it's not like a major expense. Obviously with an R50, it's a no-brainer to replace the drive flanges with manual hubs. The auto hubs would fit an R50 with minor modification to the end of the spindle too.

 

I'm not trying to convince anyone to swap them out, just stating my opinion. I kept the auto hubs on my first WD21 and put Warn Premium on my second one and have not wheeled it yet.

My view on the convenience factor is that if they ever let you down and leave you stuck (at best), that inconvenience will be far greater than the sum of the manual locking hub inconvenience.

 

B