g741.org

never thought of it like this but
The locking hub acts as a sort of a fuse
It fails instead of much more expensive and complicated to repair parts inside the axle etc.
Is that true?

To an extent: free-wheeling hubs usually are permanently lubed and should not fail under normal use. They prevent the front drivetrain from rotating when the truck is in motion and save a bit of gas mileage. The truck steers a bit easier as well.

As long as you check them to ensure they are in "free" mode, nothing should fail under normal use. I mention this because some kids like switching one to "lock" as a prank, so I usually do a walk around before moving out, or when returning to the truck when it's in parking lots, etc.
Gary

usually the freewheel hubs won't break unless they hit something like a rock or stump, i wouldn't count on them giving out before twisting off an axle.

I had one hub freeze up in the "free" position, making it so i couldn't climb out of the icy ditch across the road...lucky the winch was still working.

When I first got the ambulance.
One hub was super easy to turn and the other had normal resistance.
The sloppy one is the one that died