Front lockouts or Yukon spin free hubs discussion

John Middleton

John Middleton

TJ Enthusiast
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Dec 13, 2017
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145
Location
Missouri, United States
03 Rubicon, MC 3.5 shortarm, UCF Tummy, 1” Mm & BL, Adams Rear DS, new Mopar trans & motormounts.
So, after fighting a drivetrain vibration issue for over a year including rebalancing front DS, return & reinstall Adams ds, harmonic balancer replaced on TC, tires balanced, & running issue by two Jeep shops; I could unhook front DS and vibration would disappear.
I pulled the trigger on a Yukon front spin free hub conversion and have fallen down a rabbit hole. First Yukon gears sent wrong inner driveshafts, then a bad ujoint had to be swapped out. Today, after I got the kit installed, I realized the inner hole in my oem front Moab rims were too small to accommodate the lockout hub hub (but I repeat myself!) This was never discussed in product literature or install instructions.
To make it work, will need to auger out center of rim to 2.77”. anyone else crossed this bridge?

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That sucks you were unaware of the center hole requirements. You will like the smooth vibration free driving. I like my kit.

I see Amazon has the kit on sale for $1k.
 
Yes, you need to bore out the center hole in the rims or get aftermarket rims. Unfortunately you are a victim of Yukon’s poor execution of the product. The hubs do solve a problem but Yukon’s poor way of handling the kit leaves a lot to be desired.

Also, you need to ditch those axle tube seals for multiple reasons. The most important reason being, the hub kit screws up the pivot point for the axle shaft u-joint compared to stock, which will have the inner axle shafts swinging slightly (the u-joint pivot point is no longer lined up with the ball joints). The tube seals will limit that movement. Won’t end well.

Those tube seals are an unnecessary product in search of a problem that doesn’t exist anyways, so install them into the garbage or into someone else’s possession.
 
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Wow. The last kit I installed had a U-joint with missing roller bearings and one wrong outer stub axle. Personally, I'm not a fan of boring out the smaller bolt pattern stock wheels. You end up getting to close to the lug nut holes for my liking.. Because of that, and other reasons, some of us have switched to JK or JL/JT wheels. Of course you can always go to aftermarket wheels 5 on 4.5 wheels, with the correct hub bore.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...-with-the-yukon-spin-free-ya-wu-07-kit.60898/
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machoheadgames said:
Yes, you need to bore out the center hole in the rims or get aftermarket rims. Unfortunately you are a victim of Yukon’s poor execution of the product. The hubs do solve a problem but Yukon’s poor way of handling the kit leaves a lot to be desired.

Also, you need to ditch those axle tube seals for multiple reasons. The most important reason being, the hub kit screws up the pivot point for the axle shaft u-joint compared to stock, which will have the inner axle shafts swinging slightly (the u-joint pivot point is no longer lined up with the ball joints). The tube seals will limit that movement. Won’t end well.

Those tube seals are an unnecessary product in search of a problem that doesn’t exist anyways, so install them into the garbage or into someone else’s possession.
Click to expand...
 
So, what are you suggesting for the outer end of the inner axle shaft? I’ve never been impressed with the OEM discs. May still have a few hanging around.
My take on the tube seals is; worst case scenario; if the axle shaft pivots farther out, it will just eat the seals.
Yukon product support sucks a Big one!
 
John Middleton said:
So, what are you suggesting for the outer end of the inner axle shaft? I’ve never been impressed with the OEM discs. May still have a few hanging around.
My take on the tube seals is; worst case scenario; if the axle shaft pivots farther out, it will just eat the seals.
Yukon product support sucks a Big one!
Click to expand...

I’m suggesting you remove the tube seals and reinstall the axle shafts with no tube seals. They are metal and will want to impede your axle shaft from moving how the hub kit will want to move it. The OEM inner axle seals at the diff are all you need.

Tube seals are bad anyways because if you have a diff seal leak, they will hide it.
 
John Middleton said:
So, what are you suggesting for the outer end of the inner axle shaft? I’ve never been impressed with the OEM discs. May still have a few hanging around.
My take on the tube seals is; worst case scenario; if the axle shaft pivots farther out, it will just eat the seals.
Yukon product support sucks a Big one!
Click to expand...

Stock never used an outer axle seal. That plastic disk was to aid in installation. Most of us with non stock axle shafts have never run an outer seal or an installation disk.
 
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Understand Your concern. But the actual “seal” is rubber which is smaller than the metal seal housing. I’ll check tomorrow on how much free space between seal (or OD of axle) & metal part of seal. Also, because axle is now not turning in 2wd, keeping debris & water out of axle housing would be more desirable.
machoheadgames said:
I’m suggesting you remove the tube seals and reinstall the axle shafts with no tube seals. They are metal and will want to impede your axle shaft from moving how the hub kit will want to move it. The OEM inner axle seals at the diff are all you need.

Tube seals are bad anyways because if you have a diff seal leak, they will hide it.
Click to expand...
 
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Gollywomper said:
That method probably helps protect the hub from big hard things?
Click to expand...

We shall see. The reduced stick out was an unintended potential benefit. In my case the move to 17" JK wheels was multi faceted. I wanted a certain backspace, a sustainable wheel size for future tires, and a boring looking wheel.
 
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John Middleton said:
Understand Your concern. But the actual “seal” is rubber which is smaller than the metal seal housing.
Click to expand...
No, I don't think you really do but when you cycle the knuckle lock to lock and see how much the axle shaft moves back and forth in the axle tube, it won't be long after that you finally do understand the concern. What you are missing is there is a needle bearing in the back of the spindle and it won't live long if even the rubber seal is exerting a side load on it because it can't fully follow what the stub shaft is trying to make it do.

That said, what is that thing? Something you did or something that came in the kit?

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machoheadgames said:
Yes, you need to bore out the center hole in the rims or get aftermarket rims. Unfortunately you are a victim of Yukon’s poor execution of the product. The hubs do solve a problem but Yukon’s poor way of handling the kit leaves a lot to be desired.

Also, you need to ditch those axle tube seals for multiple reasons. The most important reason being, the hub kit screws up the pivot point for the axle shaft u-joint compared to stock, which will have the inner axle shafts swinging slightly (the u-joint pivot point is no longer lined up with the ball joints). The tube seals will limit that movement. Won’t end well.

Those tube seals are an unnecessary product in search of a problem that doesn’t exist anyways, so install them into the garbage or into someone else’s possession.
Click to expand...

The latest in the very long line of their abhorrent quality control is they are sending out mismatched sets of bearings. So far we have one kit with 4 inners, no outers. 1 kit with 4 outers, no inners. 1 kit with 3 of one and 1 of the other. Fortunately, I keep a full set here but it shouldn't be this hard.
 
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