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| Did I spin a hub? 1-piece vs. 2-piece Axle? |
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| 1) |
Why do you think this? |
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Why is it that you think you spun your hub? Did you hear a loud bang upon acceleration? If so,
then you are in the correct place.
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| 2) |
1-piece vs. 2-piece? |
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What does it all mean? Well like most things, the words that are used to describe this are
exactly what it means. It is nice when it works out like that.
A 1-piece axle is one that consists of 1 piece. Along those lines, a 2-piece axle consists of 2 pieces. Back
when your Jeep was produced, Jeep designed the axle in 2 pieces. The outer piece presses onto the inner piece.
This was done for a variety of reasons I am sure. Cost, ease of use, assembly, who knows, but the main thing
that people complain about now is the fact that you can spin these.
The 2 pieces are joined together by pressing the outer onto the inner. It has a series of tapered grooves and
ridges that allow the 2 to be together. Because of this, it can also twist and spin under load. Bigger tires
and bigger engines usually cause this. A heavy right foot and more rubber to spin are too much for this
engineering marvel from Jeep.
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| 3) |
How to fix it? |
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The fix for a "spun hub" is to replace the 2-piece setup with a 1-piece setup. There are a
ton of vendors out there and the cost is more then that of the typical 2-piece setup, but you get a far better
design that won't spin on you.
Now this is where you have to be a little careful. All 1-piecers are not created equal. Some are forged, some
are welded. The welded ones are not as strong and can fail under extreme load. Check into the manufacturers
themselves and what they offer.
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Conclusions |
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So the conclusion here seems to be that in stock form, the axles were made I suppose to save on
cost. Also, when they first started producing these axles, I would imagine they never thought that they were
going to have to push 33", 35" and 37" + tires.
As with all things, Jeeps evolved. They wanted bigger tires and more power. This causes breakage and thus
better solutions are pushed forward. A 1-piece design is far superior to a 2-piece setup. Bite the bullet and
spend the money and you will never have any other hub issues.
cb (07/12/07)
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