and the hub went tick, tick, tick, tick....

During our weekend camping trip we somehow broke the front right hub. And to me the manifestation was quite strange.

The front left hub would start ticking, akin to a fast ratcheting sound, at speeds over ~18 mph. Back up, the front-end would sound like I was engaging 4x4 in a forward motion and the ticking would stop. Back up again, the ticking would start.

Got it to the dealership yesterday and received the call later in the afternoon. Warranty is a wonderfull thing - they said it shouldn't break doing what the truck was designed to do.

Question: Do hub breaks usually result in a ticking sound in the oppostie hub?

The diff can cause the axle shafts to rotate in opposite directions, and cause one hub to attempt to engage opposite of rotation.

That would cause the ratcheting sound, but only if the transfer case is in 2Hi.

Yup, from the ESM:
"In most cases, the “ratcheting” noise sometimes heard in auto-lock free-running hubs occurs when one hub is locked and the opposite hub is unlocked. The noise is heard in the side opposite to the locked hub. For example, if the noise is heard at the left front wheel, the right front hub is still locked and is not unlocking. This condition may be caused by a mechanical condition in one of the hubs or by incorrect operation on the part of the vehicle driver, for example by not backing up in a straight line to unlock the hubs, by not backing up enough, or by shifting into 4WD at too high a vehicle speed, etc.
The ratcheting noise does not necessarily cause damage to the good hub. If the noise is caused by incorrect operation, counsel the driver of the vehicle. If replacement is necessary, replace only the defective parts. It is not necessary to replace auto-lock free-running hubs in pairs."

Once again the ESM comes in handy.
Brent

But it probably did.

Here's one of my good hubs.


And here's my bad hub after 2 "ratcheting noise" sessions.



It wore the tooth down pretty quick.

Everything was fine after coming out of the wilderness; got to the gravel road, unlocked, and drove into town. After we got gas the truck started ticking. My backing & unlocking procedure was not out of the ordinary, but who knows, something happened. We made it home safe & sound.

And now I know to press for them to check to ticking hub. Thanks for the info.

Brent,

ESM? E Service Manual?

Markk

Yep, that's the electronic service manual.

Electronic version of the FSM (Factory Service Manual).

I've had problems with moisture freezing inside auto-hubs, lending them useless (in a Jeep, not an X). Therefor, the first mod I made was manual hubs. Rarely do they have a problem.
Rock on!

I've had that experience too (with a Trooper). That's why if I leave the X with the hubs locked overnight in really cold weather, I'll run with it that way for a couple of miles till everything warms up before trying to unlock.

This is why I am buying and installing manual locking hubs on my X this summer....