I read about individuals changing their hubs to manual locking Warn hubs.

What benifit does this provide?

thanks

Myself not having them, but from my understanding: When you are in 4wd with auto hubs, when you go from forward to reverse (or vice versa), the 4wd disengages then reengages. If you have manual hubs 4wd is engaged all the time, there is no break in 4wd.

Well-hashed here:
http://www.xterraownersclub.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000277
http://www.xterraownersclub.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000176

I will answer it for you. With the manual hubs you have to get out and lock and unlock them. When unlocked they are like regular auto hubs unlocked and spinning. When you lock them it is the same as the auto hubs all locked up and wheeling.

The only real difference is you have to get out of the vehicle to lock and unlock and they are a bit stronger than the autos...

No links to have to follow and shit to try and decipher.

Decipher?

Anyway, every time the question of manual vs. auto comes up, someone tries to say the autos unlock or won't lock in certain conditions and manuals are the way to go. Not necessarily true. Those links were pre-emptive, and pretty easy to follow.

Sorry auto spellcheck fixed that one......

I never said the links were not useful just easier to answer than to search, find a few that came close to covering the topic, and then pasting them in a reply.

how hard is it to brake auto hub?

So say it is easy where others say they are solid. Mine have held up to everything I have thrown at it including two trips to Colorado, several offroad parks, and various other adventures...

You don't want too much strength in your hubs, better for them to break than something more expensive and considerably more difficult to replace. That's why some prefer the Milemarker brand manual hubs, they break fairly easily. The Warn "hub fuses" that are marketed as a "weak point" (that are supposed to sacrifice themselves before something more important) are perhaps still too strong for IFS applications, a solid axle's u-joints are quite a bit stronger than our CVs and the hub fuses would fall somewhere in between.