FWD/AWD Front Unitized Hubs

[CTX-SLPR]

Howdy folks,



Looking at pricing for unitized front wheel hub bearings pointed me to something interesting. For a RWD/AWD sedan (say Infiniti M35) the front hubs are almost half as much from your local auto parts place and 2/3rds from someone like Rock Auto for the AWD version vs. the RWD version. While there is a slightly larger application cross reference for the AWD parts I think a fair bit of this might be that the AWD hubs are simpler to make since there's the half shaft (CV shaft in common parlance) constraining the axial load. Doesn't seem like it would be anything wrong with taking a set of junkyard half shafts and just cutting them down so you're left with just a spud in there and use them in a RWD application. I think Jeep actually did this with the RWD Commander/Grand Cherokee early on before they decided it wasn't worth it. As long as you left some feature to lock the spud in place while you pull the hub nut off shouldn't be an operational concern either I wouldn't think.

Thoughts?

[protour_chevelle]

Ive converted awd TBSS to rwd but just chopping the cv shaft like you said. Have also confirmed you need the CV axle spud / nut to keep the wheel bearing in lol.