Can I leave my front hubs locked in the LOCK position all winter or will it damage anything. I went in water while it was warmer outside and now that its cold again they are frozen. The 4x4 works great, and they unlock from inside but I cant get the hubs to turn to the FREE position, and dont need to neither....

It shouldn't hurt to run with em locked, as that has been a post here many times. But on the other hand if your hubs are full of water and frozen... I'd get them apart and cleaned up  and repacked as soon as possible.

so u can run wit locked hubs in 2wd and its alright nothing will happen? so technically if thats the case whats better auto locking hubs or manual locking hubs?

                                 -mo

well i know it will increase my fuel consumption, but if nothing will get damaged if i run with them locked until spring then....

Autos are junk, I took one apart today,
I don't think Asine (sp) makes them, I
think sombody else does, they don't even
have the cone bolts

Autos are junk, I took one apart today,
I don't think Asine (sp) makes them, I
think sombody else does, they don't even
have the cone bolts

but can manual ones stand to stay locked for a few months with no futher damages other than fuel consumption?

yes, I forgot about mine once for like 3 months,
went to go wheeling and surprise, they were locked

yes, I forgot about mine once for like 3 months,
went to go wheeling and surprise, they were locked

and.....??......were they damaged or any signs of misuse?? or was everthing ok?

   Use a hammer and a punch, that's what I do !!!
   Make It Hert!!!
   LMS!!!

  Use a hammer and a punch, that's what I do !!!
   Make It Hert!!!
   LMS!!!

NO THANK YOU

and.....??......were they damaged or any signs of misuse?? or was everthing ok?

How should I know, that was 10 years and 200,000
miles ago    same hubs still, so I would say  OK

I always lock my hubs when there's snow on the ground, it says in the suzuki manual it's ok to leave them locked with the transfer case in 2wd. but dont' leave the transfercase in 4wd without the hubs locked or run in 4wd on dry asphault. SO. in short the only thing that it'll damage is gas milage and maybe alittle extra wear but nothing major. I would repack those hubs though if their frozen. it's a pretty simple procedure. I repacked mine with high quality axle grease. as long as the grease has a good temperature rating and it NOT long strand grease it should be fine.

-Mike

If you go on a good drive down the highway (60mph for 20 min).  The wheel bearing will warm up and melt the ice.  

When you get where your going, you can unlock the hubs.  If you wait they might freeze up.

i used to have to hit mine with a rock to get them to turn on my 89 sidekick although freezing wasnt the problem
i pulled the bad side off, cleaned it up a little bit and sprayed wd40 in there... PROBABLY not the right way to do it, but it worked out for me
thats my tip, and in my opinion auto hubs suck, and so do pushbutton 4wds... manual stuff re-assures u that your t-case IS in 4wd, and that it WILL be transferred to the front wheels... plus u gotta be pretty lazy to need the auto stuff
too many hassles
ive typed enough though
Andrew

i and so do pushbutton 4wds... manual stuff re-assures u that your t-case IS in 4wd, and that it WILL be transferred to the front wheels...

On the Jimny the 4wd light won't come on unless you are in 4wd, you still have the switches on the tcase itself. The pushbutton locks the hubs at the same time so you can't forget to engage the hubs - I suspect we've all done that  . Its an air system and if the pressure doesn't hold up then the 4wd light flashes to warn you. You don't get that with a frozen/siezed manual hub  
On the Vit my manual hubs are permanently engaged since one broke. They're not Aisin either - they're marked made in USA, I have heard that they are made by Warn.