Now I'm not a expert on this but I remember Pathfinder88 making a comment about that the night we were out there. He said that the auto hubs would only disengage when not under any kind of load. Obviously when spinning the tires when stuck they would be under a load. So perhaps that is the answer to your theory.

But then he may have been talking about something totally different.

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Benny
2000 SE, 4x4, auto
Solar Yellow