jek700

I am seriously considering free spin hubs. My question is; How far do the hubs stick out? I saw a Ram yesterday with the hubs and stock steel wheels and they stuck out obnoxiously. I have the hummer wheels, does anyone have a pic of the hubs with hummer wheels? I am thinking about Spyntec or EMS. I know the Dynatrac has a shorty locker, but they are proud of them.
Any thoughts?

Skyd Ram

I don't have any pics with Hummer wheels but here are pics of a Dynatrac kit with the Warn Premium hibs and another with the Dynalocs. I'm pretty sure that EMS isn't currently selling their own kit and is selling the SpynTek kit right now instead.

mjf6175

Well I have the upgrade Dynatrac Free Spin Kit which is called Dynaloc's and is about 3/4" shorter than the Warn's. Yes more $$$. So my pics below may not be exactly what you are looking for but maybe it will help give some useful info for you......

jamesbfishin

what kind of center cap is that on the front, modified GMC cap? I have the same wheels and have been looking for caps that look good

jek700

Thanks for the pics. The dynalocs look great, they don't seem to protrude beyond the tire. Guess I'll just have to keep saving. Both of the rides look good

mjf6175

Jim....yes they are GMC caps. You can see the letters in the center on the rear one's, have not gotten around to spraying over the letters. For the front I drilled out the center to slip over the Dynaloc's. Other than that there is no other modification to the caps. You can use GMC/Chevy caps easily with the H2 wheels. The "secret" is to use lug nuts for GMC/Chevy HD's from the late 80's-early 90's BEFORE GM switched to metric lugs. These lugs fit the Dodge wheel studs and the lug also has the thread on the outside of them so you can screw the black plastic nuts onto them. If you need more just let me know.

etn550

What kind of mpg gains has anyone with manual hub conversions seen?

jamesbfishin

[QUOTE=mjf6175;2748602]Jim....yes they are GMC caps. You can see the letters in the center on the rear one's, have not gotten around to spraying over the letters. For the front I drilled out the center to slip over the Dynaloc's. Other than that there is no other modification to the caps. You can use GMC/Chevy caps easily with the H2 wheels. The "secret" is to use lug nuts for GMC/Chevy HD's from the late 80's-early 90's BEFORE GM switched to metric lugs. These lugs fit the Dodge wheel studs and the lug also has the thread on the outside of them so you can screw the black plastic nuts onto them. If you need more just let me know.[/QUOT

Thanks for the info, thought that the caps would fit without mods, but didn't know about the specific year of lug nut required, thanks. Time to hit up Ebay

Where did you get the caps and lugs from, and what size are the lugs?

mjf6175

Got the caps from a GMC dealer, part number 9595870. You can get the identical cap, but with the Chevy logo on it, from a Chevy dealer #9595868. A decent price is about $125 for four if I remember correctly.

The lugs I bought on ebay. Here is a link to the same lugs but sold by "Gorilla". You will find all the specs on the lugs:

http://www.brandsport.com/grla-96198gm.html

Raspy

I have not noticed any MPG gain with mine. There probably is just a bit, but it's not significant and no where near as much as driving a bit easier.

jamesbfishin

Awesome thank you. My brother has a set of GMC caps from his 99' they need to be cleaned up but they also have some ridges between each cap that i dont like much, yours are smooth and much cleaner looking, going to look into the caps like yours. thanks for the lug info, theres a few sets on ebay, in the size I need.

mjf6175

Jim...be careful in shopping the GMC caps. Some are for steel wheels and others are for aluminum, they don't interchange. There are MANY variations of these caps. Some may even look the same but they really are not. NOT ALL GMC/Chevy caps fit the Hummer wheels. I researched which ones by lurking on some Chevy/GMC HD trucks sites and reading threads where people put on Hummer wheels on their GM HD's.

etn550

I'm thinking the free spin hubs would help mpg in the colder weather shorter trips. Three vehicles I've had, including this Dodge, that turn the entire driveline seem to suffer on fuel economy more than others when cold.

You're right though, as my highway mileage when fully warmed up does seem about the same as my other Cummins 2wd.

I think it would be a good mod for three reasons. 1. Save expensive chain case and front end parts wear. 2. Rebuildable and regreasable hubs. 3. Use 2wd low range for creeping with trailer. Those are good enough reasons for me. But I'll probably wait until my front end needs some work just to get some more life out of my existing u-joints and do some repairs all at once.

isu elvi

I have a set of the EMS offroad kit, put on about 2 years ago and 30k ish miles or so. Don't know if you can see in the pictures, but they do stick a fair amount, about 2 inches or so on 285/16's. (sorry for the backside shot, just don't show your gf) As for MPG, I would say that any gain is still within the treshhold of error from my fat fingers pushing the little keys on a calculator. I changed for the exact reasons that etn550 did, and I just always like stuff I can do my self, i.e. hubs, tranny, etc. So far very happy, just have to convince the wife that she has to get out and lock her own dang hub, but she's gotten used to it. If its real nasty out, they might stay locked in for a few weeks, but they are nice to unlock when on the Highway, it seems to quiet the front end down a little, and you don't get the knuckles fighting you on a tight turn when back a trailer or in the field. You will hear a little "rattle" with the hubs on gravel roads, especially on washboards, but you have to have the window down and going slow to hear it, so its a non issue.

Rotating or removing tires can also be a pain, the hub must be that much bigger that the stock rims tend to stick. I usually have to spray them up with penetrating oil and give a good pop with a sledge to get them off. I was always going to chuck up a stock hub cap and machine out the centers but I guess I haven't found the time in the last 2 years.

Cujo_07

Here's my dynatrac kit on the stock rims with the upgraded dynalock hubs. Came from George at 8 Lug Truck Gear, great vendor.

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