98-2000 Hubs for Spotage (Where to sell)

[rosebrady]

Hi,

I have a question I replaced my 2000 sportage vacum hubs with manual hubs.

The Kia mechanic told me to list them on e-bay, but I have no idea what to list them for or if they are even of any use to anyone.
Does anyone know what to list them for?

They were only used 3 times and the vacum system went out again on the drivers side so I put warn manual hubs on. But the vacum hubs are brand new and cost quite a bit. Any suggestions?

[Damkia]

Originally Posted by rosebrady

Hi,

I have a question I replaced my 2000 sportage vacum hubs with manual hubs.

The Kia mechanic told me to list them on e-bay, but I have no idea what to list them for or if they are even of any use to anyone.
Does anyone know what to list them for?

They were only used 3 times and the vacum system went out again on the drivers side so I put warn manual hubs on. But the vacum hubs are brand new and cost quite a bit. Any suggestions?

No one in their right mind would buy them, even most dealers will not replace them these days (will go for mechanical autolocking or full manual hubs) It is a faulty design that never worked properly, as you have found out for yourself (or soon would have....)

There is one thing constructive you can do with them but it is a bit fiddly. On the back of them release the flat circlip (watch your eyes and fingers, very fiddly to do) and carefully unpack the innards. You will see there is a "honeycomb" like spring that presses against a brass sliding ring, place that spring on the other side of the brass ring and reassemble (yes, that damned circlip again...).

What you have done is to make an "always locked" hub so that if one of you new hubs ever decides to curl up its toes at in inconvenient time (is the ever a "convenient" time???), then you have a spare hub you can fit to get you out of trouble (5-10 mins work with a 10 mm spanner x 6 bolts). This is only really recommended for a couple of hundred miles, and the other hub must remain locked to prevent overheating/wearing out of the internal bits of the front differential (specifically the side gears and spider gears). 2WD/4HI/4LOW can all still be used as usual, but you may notice ~1 mpg worse fuel economy from the extra drag of the front diff being spun ("overrun") on the back of the gear teeth instead of being driven on the front of the gear teeth. Keep the speed down to ~50 mph max (again heat issues assoc. with front diff being "overrun")

[velian]

How can I check what type of hubs I have - vacuum or mechanical autolocking?

[mre_powers]

what year do you have? i think pre 98 were auto locking and post 98 were vaccum

[velian]

2001 2-door soft top

[velian]

Actually I forgot to clarify. The person I bought the vehicle from said that he had done some work on the 4wd but I can't contact him anymore to ask exactly what kind of work that could be

[mgbgt1972]

Fastest way to tell on a 2001 is, is there a cutout in the front wheel cover that allows you to see/touch the hub if so does it say kia on it? If you have both these you have Cam locking units, which are re-badged warns, if the wheel cover is solid and you can't see/touch the hub whith the wheel on you have vacuum units.

If you live in Canada and the kia was serviced at a dealer under warrenty there is a good chance the vacuum units were switched out with the cam units in 2003-4 as there was a recall on them Canada wide.

[velian]

There is actually no wheel cover. Just a center cap. It is small and solid and it says Kia on it. it is the same all around. It looks like this:

[mgbgt1972]

If it solid the chances are you have vacuum units!

[velian]

You know..now that I'm looking at this..how do you even take the center cap off? There are no bolts or anything like that. Does it come off with the wheel and what is underneath?
Blah..too cold outside to give it a shot but it bugs the **** out of me now