Toyota LC HJ60 Freehub Problem

[ThisRoad]

I'm currently driving a 1990 Toyota Landcruiser up South America. We managed to destroy one of the freehubs (bearings and all) through wind-up; hands-up, our fault. We got it fixed over a week ago. However, the other hub has just gone whilst driving in 2WD with the freehubs engaged. Presumably this is a delayed failure caused by the earlier injury. The questions are:
1. Why would the second hub take so long to follow suit?
2. Is there really enough stress in the hub whilst in 2WD with hubs locked?
3. Is there a larger problem at work here, which others are aware of?

P.S. Anyone know a good mechanic in Lima, Peru?

[Niva Say Never]

Hi,
There shouldn't be any stress at all (or very very minimal at least) driving with hubs locked in 2wd. It does sound like a strange one.
Is it a totally standard front dif? No locker or anything?
How has the hub failed? Sheared the splines/bearing collapsed?
How are the CV joints, could they be binding at all?

It does sound like a delayed reaction to the initial failure, which is entirely possible, but check everything carefully when the second hub is replaced.
I'm certainly not aware of any regular problems with TLC freewheeling hubs.

Good luck
Sam

[moggy 1968]

I run mine with the hubs locked in 2wd all the time, have done for 90000 miles with no problems.
sounds like excess stress due to the wind up, or inadequate lubrication

[m37charlie]

Maybe the simplest fix in Peru would be to replace them with the original steel flanges. That would be like having permanently locked hubs.

Charlie

[ThisRoad]

Turned out to be the bearings themselves which had gone. The freehubs seemed ok. I don't think the bearings had been happy for a while.
Anyway, we've replaced them and hopefully that should be the last of our wheel problems for a while!
Thanks for the advice.

[moggy 1968]

unusual chain of events for bearing failure. the bearings on mine need changing reasonabley often, mainly due to the gaps caused by the pitted swivels. when travelling I just jack the front up and give the wheels a wobble every now and again as a full on bearing failure is (as you have discovered!) bad news.