When I bought my '98 Sidekick Sport last month, I noticed the hubs did not work.  A mechanic took them apart while I was talking with the salesman.  The dealership then agreed to replace the hubs, but that would have required me to spend a day and travel 300 miles for them to do it after they got the parts.  We settled on a price with the understanding that I would take care of the hubs.  New Warn hubs arrived today.  The installation instructions show a retaining ring, spacer and cap screw at the end of the shaft.  There is no groove in my shaft for the retaining ring, so I am sure that does not belong.  However, the end of the shaft is threaded, but there are no cap screws and spacers on my axles.  My newly-acquired Chilton shop manual does not show them, but I don't have a lot of confidence in it.  What have you experts in the real world noticed?  Did the mechanic leave out some parts when he had it apart?  If so, I will have to substitute something.  What are the approximate dimensions of the spacer?

If I remember correctly the Chilton's instructions are incorrect.  They're for a Samurai or something.  I had to replace the hubs on my 93 Tracker and ended up literally throwing the Chilton's manual out of the barn it was so useless.

Assuming you aren't assembling the hubs themselves along with simply bolting them on, here's the basic installation proceedure.

1. Remove old hubs and any gasket/RTV material...this should comprise removing 6 bolts and some quality time with a scraper.
2. Put RTV or gasket on hub.
3. Place hub against rotor and tighten bolts down.  I use a star pattern similar to tightening down the lug nuts on a wheel.
4. Ummm....you're done.

If your worried about them take them back and get a good used set of stock hubs. the stock hubs seem to be good if not better than warn.

AJMBLAZER:
I second your evaluation of the Chilton manuals.  Someone here likened them to comic books.  I bought this one because I have been unable to find factory manuals.  It has been of some use, but it hasn't repaid the $15 it cost.

I put the hubs on yesterday, basically doing as you said.  Minor differences--the '89 hubs use an o-ring instead of a gasket behind the hub.  That saves the quality time with the scraper.  Had to install a gasket between the hub body and outside cap.  My concern was  that on other vehicles I have done this there was a retaining ring on the end of the shaft.  The zuki has no provisions for it, but does have a threaded hole in the axle, tho mine had no hardware in it.  Guess it is not a problem. The way the hub is built I don't think there is any way for anything to come loose.


mrfuelish:
The stock hubs are undoubtedly stout enough to do the job.  I had mine apart to clean them up and make them work temporarily.  They were badly rusted and springs were broken and missing.  When the Warn hubs arrived I took them apart and compared them with the stock hubs.  The Warn hubs appeared to me to be better designed.  I would expect them to outlast the rest of the vehicle.  A good set of used hubs probably would have served me well, but I found these first, so they are what I will use.

are the mounting bolts the same on the warn's as the stock ones? conical washers?

are the mounting bolts the same on the warn's as the stock ones? conical washers?

Nope - no conical washers on the Warns.  And that will cause you a never-ending quest for "better" hub bolts, that will not end until you have cone washers again.

I grabbed a spare set of manual hubs from pull a part several months back.  Someone had already pulled almost everything off it except the hubs.  I made sure to get every conical bolt washer thingy while i was there.  There was another kick that had been stripped and surely enough, under the rotors, there was a couple of extra bolts.  Dem dam tings is gold round hear!!  I'm still using the auto hubs that came on my kick and until i find that they're giving me problems, i'll probably stick with them.  I might clean up and lube the manual hubs just in case...

I reckon the stock Aisin hubs are about as good as you'll get. Apart from corrosionn if you don't bother to look after them they seem to go forever and don't have the problem with bolts undoing like the Warn's. Cone washers are good.

I agree with cj the stock type lock outs are the stronger hubs.  stan

I grabbed a spare set of manual hubs from pull a part several months back.  Someone had already pulled almost everything off it except the hubs.  I made sure to get every conical bolt washer thingy while i was there.  There was another kick that had been stripped and surely enough, under the rotors, there was a couple of extra bolts.  Dem dam tings is gold round hear!!  I'm still using the auto hubs that came on my kick and until i find that they're giving me problems, i'll probably stick with them.  I might clean up and lube the manual hubs just in case...

No $#it.  When I put the Aisin manual hubs (off of a '93 Tracker) onto my Grand Vitara the PITA was that the guy didn't send those bolts or cone washers.

Local bone yards weren't to firm on if their stuff would have them or not...
Local Suzuki dealership's parts guy told me straight up there were NO washers on the hubs on these things.  Of course the dealership didn't exist when Suzukis could come with manual hubs so I can't blame him too much.  Bet he was reading from a parts manual...
Local Toyota/Nissan Dealership could get the Toyota studs and nuts that would work but oy, at $5 a pop (x12!  ) I wasn't quite ready to go that way.
My last resort was Marlin Crawler that could get the stuff for around $3 each.
Then right after I placed my order a guy in Kentucky from ORC/Suzuki sent me everything I needed off of his parts Sami for free.  Wouldn't even take money for postage and handling.  Luckily Marlin Crawler was good enough to cancel my order.

I think when we go Tracker/Kick wheel shopping at the junkyard I'm going to keep my head on a swivel for more hubs and associated bits.

I reckon the stock Aisin hubs are about as good as you'll get.

The stock sidekick/tracker hubs are Aisin?? I thought they were just on the sammi's.

Yep.

Those, Nissan, Toyota, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Mazda, and a few other Japanese maker 4x4's all wore Aisin hubs at one point or another.

Yep.

Those, Nissan, Toyota, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Mazda, and a few other Japanese maker 4x4's all wore Aisin hubs at one point or another.

The one's on my 92 tracker don't have the label, but the sammi ones do. That's why I wasn't sure. I need new hubs and I've been trying to find sammi aisin hubs, but I will now have better luck looking for tracker hubs.

Yeah, they swap fine.  I actually put Sami hubs on my Tracker when I had it.  The only real difference is that the Sami hubs look a bit more "old school" while the Tracker/Kick hubs have a more rounded and curvy shape.

I was actually looking for Sami hubs to put on the GV but found the Tracker hubs I ended up buying.