Front hubs (4wd) not locking

Hi all, first post.

Bought a 1992 super custom 4WD camper late last year and loving it. Will share photos once I am allowed to post a link to an album on Google Photos.

My immediate problem is that one of the front 4WD hubs won't go into "lock", so it is freewheeling. Mechanic said it's not doing any damage, he popped the hub dial bolts, out came the spring and it's just old, he said. Need to order a kit from Toyota, said it's the same as an 80 series cruiser.

I want to try to do it myself, as my first mechanical repair (and I suspect not my last).

I searched the forum for "hub" and "lock" but nothing came up.

I will need a parts manual and tips on where to order online. I would like to use genuine / quality parts if possible.

Searching online for 80 series hubs gives me parts and a full overhaul kit (not sure I need to do a full overhaul though).

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

GW (gone wild)

PS am located in Queensland, Australia

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the post and the link to the pictures. They help a lot.

If you’re relatively new to the Hiace thing, do see the short post here:
https://hiace-super-custom.forumotion.com/t4468-part-numbers

It shows quite a few valuable resources, link to online manuals and other helpful places to look at parts and exploded diagrams etc. It has most of what you need to learn a lot about your van.

One of the main things to do is to look at the build plate under the passenger seat and input these details into the EPC (link to that in the parts link above).

I think you’ll find that your van is a LH119V-x, which is the same as mine. Take a look at my ‘show us yours’ page:
https://hiace-super-custom.forumotion.com/t4317-my-lh119

If it’s the same as mine (a LH119V-x, with the x being the options code on the build plate) it’s not a ‘Super Custom’, which I understand was a trim level on the vans with seats. Yours looks much more like a Custom Wagon, but the trim levels and terminology are all a bit sketchy but that’s no issue.

If you’ve got a camper like mine then you’ve lucked in!!

Anyway, to the problem you came here with the front hubs. Good news is that these are a very standard AISIN locking front hub and used on very, very many Japanese cars, vans and light trucks of the same era (to ~2010).

There are loads and loads of great YT videos on how to service these. The most common problem is failure to correctly orientate the spring on reassembly so they either fail to these engage or fail to disengage. If everything is properly aligned, orientated and greased there really should be no issues and these work well until they fail. Even then, being really common there are plenty of rebuild kits and parts available.

If you want to stay OEM, then check the EPC (or any of the other sites in the top link) for Toyota parts and part numbers. There are also loads of aftermarket equivalents that will be available from any local parts store in QLD.

Main thing is that these are not a Hiace-specific part and you will likely drive past hundreds of vehicles with the same hubs every day.

Good luck and HTH!

Awesome, thanks LH119.

I have an LH119V (I was reading the frame no, the actual model number has a "V").

When I get back I'll be downloading manuals and getting into the hubs.

Thanks again.

Hi again, LH119, I have a follow up question.

Before I pull the hubs apart and clean them to establish the problem, I found the exploded parts diagram for "front axle hub" on the EPC site (here).



But it seems to be missing the large spring that I know is inside mine (and which I see in the youtube videos). Am I missing something?

Cheers.
Tom

And 2nd question, about the local AISIN website (Driveline Australia - here)

I found the freewheeling hub part, but how do I see what it includes and place an order with them (if I want to)? Here's a pic of the site and what I found:




I'm just curious as to how their site works in case I need to order stuff. Or am I better just going into a Repco etc?