Uh crap. Wheel hub blew out (Integrated Wheel End, IWE)

[Squatting Dog]

seems odd they would use such a ****** system still.

I questioned Jamal about these "fuel saving" devices.. His response was "were do you draw the line at beefing up components?"

SD: how did you blow them out? While in use did they strip or was it during engagement/disengagement?

During my stuck event.. High wheel spin and then quickly grabbing traction. I literally felt the exact moment the passenger side let go. Then the "wonderful" torsen transfer torque/power to the driverside and shell that side out.. It was over several minutes where one side would slip and torsen transfer power to the other side, and back and forth till they both were shelled..

Damn Greg thank god your doing all the major breaking for us thanks buddy haha I had to replace one about a year ago after playing in the sand in El Paso.. Definitely interested in a better fix!

A big thanks has to go out to bigj and others that documented their issues/problems. That is what makes FRF so great members document their experiences/problems/solutions and the collective benefits.

-Greg

 

[6.2]

I questioned Jamal about these "fuel saving" devices.. His response was "were do you draw the line at beefing up components?"
-Greg

I doubt you're even saving much at all compared to a live axle. 98-00.5 rangers had vacuum hubs, halfway through 2000 they switched it due to issues with it. MPG's dropped maybe .5 mpg. 1mpg at most.

Which I'm glad I give up 1mpg for a much more reliable setup. As I'm sure raptor owners would to.

 

[Squatting Dog]

That has been the general opinion so far with everyone I have talked to.. Soon as I get back into normal daily routine I am going to tear apart the new one and see what it is going to take to make it work.. I am going to bring in Dylan from ICON for his knowledge and ICON's in house cad and CNC and make it happen..

-Greg

 

[pirate air]

I think you'd be chasing your tail building a stronger engaging collar. Money would be better off spent on a winch so don't have to resort to throttling the shit out of it when trying to get unstuck. Its one thing to try and eliminate the problems the iwe has that affects clean engaging, that's the problem you'll conclude with most iwe failures. But trying to make it bullet proof so it doesn't explode when you shock the drive train by going from high wheel speed to instant traction is just asking for the next, and most likely more expensive and labor extensive part to break. Like Jamal said, where do you draw the line? To the point everything's so beefed up you're ripping center sections out of the wheels or the transmission away from the engine?? The absolute worst thing you can do to a drive train is shock load it by wheel hop/keeping the throttle pinned when landing/high wheel speed abruptly stopped by traction. I've witnessed and worked on almost everything imaginable and I don't care who built it with what material to what extent of modification, in the end, something (the next, next, next, next, next, next weakest link) eventually breaks and usually by that stage, its in a high-energy violent fashion.

 

[Steele16]

I'm thinking about replacing both IWEs with factory new parts, then removing/capping the vacuum lines to the hubs permanently. What would this hurt besides MPG? It wouldn't be in 4wd until the transfer case was shifted...

 

[Squatting Dog]

I'm thinking about replacing both IWEs with factory new parts, then removing/capping the vacuum lines to the hubs permanently. What would this hurt besides MPG? It wouldn't be in 4wd until the transfer case was shifted...

Yes... This is correct

-Greg

 

[Steele16]

There wouldn't be any long term issues with doing that?