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Kelly Manufacturing Self Locking Hubs

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: , This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE:  This post has been updated with more pics. Also, there is currently a Kelly Hub brochure on eBay.

In May of 1957, DA Ruben L. Beck filed a patent for a new hub design. Beck was a dreamer and like many dreamers, some saw him a genius while others thought him just plain crazy. Beck’s goal was to create a simple, but effective, four-wheel-drive hub.

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Beck had already made an early impact in the jeep world, when he founded D.L. Beck Manfucaturing in Middleport, Ohio, a company that made hardtops (see Beck hardtop history here).

1954-beck-all-steel-cab-brochure1Beck sold his hardtop company to Hubert A. Kelly, in the 1950s but Beck and Kelly remained in contact. The date of the sale, thought once to be 1951, is less clear after this document hit eBay in 2014. It indicates Beck was still selling hardtops in 1954.

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No matter when the sale occurred, Hubert took control. It wasn’t long after the patent filing that Mike Kelly, Hubert Kelly’s descendent, remembered seeing the hubs for the first time. He thought that was about 1958. I asked that he review the patent and Mike sent me the following notes:

“The Kelly Self Locking Hub I knew a was little different than the one pictured in the patent drawing. The housing was larger in diameter and had reliefs milled along the outside to allow clearance for the mounting bolts. The internal parts looked very similar to what I remember. I’m pretty sure the final Kelly product was a Beck design. I don’t recall anyone else working on it.

The hubs were manufactured in Charleston West Virginia. We already had an large machine shop there on Broad St. So moving production from Ohio to West Virgina was only logical. I know the assembling the hubs could be “interesting” if you weren’t watching what you were doing. Putting the internal workings together with the ball bearings being under spring pressure woke up more than one man who wasn’t paying attention.”
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Set of Warn WL-2 Locking Hubs Commack, NY **SOLD**

• CATEGORIES: Parts • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $150.

Original box, too!

“Selling (2) two Willy’s Jeep WL-2 Locking Hubs–Warn Mfg. Co.
In original box; asking $150 for the pair.”

2-wl2-warn-hubs-li-ny

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Sears Allstate Locking Hubs

• CATEGORIES: How To This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

With Steve’s help, I have obtained some rare images of the disassembly of a Sears & Roebuck Allstate Locking Hub.  Accompanying them is a rough guide.

Here, the bolts are being removed:

Here the bolts have been removed.  Now, the big ring must be removed.

You need to get a hold of the ring and flexing it inward to get it out of the channel.

Here is the cap being pried out:

The ring holds in the four rectangular blocks that engage in the cams inside the cam to switch from locked to unlocked. After that, you’ll need snap ring pliers to remove the ring with the two small holes that you can see in the center around the spline.

Here’s another angle:

Here the parts are getting cleaned:

Shows a box with all the parts from both sides (two assemblies):

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October 1954 Willys Welcomes Warn Hubs

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

I wasn’t aware that Kaiser Willys put out a series of Commercial and Jeep Sales Bulletins, but I now have examples of at least four of these that I will publish over the next week or so. It’s unclear how many were published or how long this lasted.

This particular example, dated October 08, 1954, welcomed Warn Locking and Automatic hubs to the Willys Special Equipment Line. To the best of my knowledge, it was the first time Willys included hubs in its Special Equipment line. As of 1954, Warn was likely the largest producers of hubs. Free-Lock quickly became the second largest producer of hubs, but that wouldn’t be until 1956 (See Free-Lock Hubs history for more info). To the best of my knowledge, Free-Lock was never added to the Willys Special Equipment Line.

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NOS Spicer Hubs on eBay

• CATEGORIES: Parts • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

David shared a link to these recently listed hubs. They are the nicest example of these hub that I have ever seen. They are currently listed at $999.

View all the information on eBay

“New Old Stock
Spicer 10 Spline Locking hubs in excellent new condition.
Hard to find.
Comes complete with gaskets, sticker, and instructions.”

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Demo or Counter Display Hubs For Dealers

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This post originally highlighted Paul’s Warn hub counter display model. Now, this post will highlight several different demo or display hubs with sections removed for dealers. Anyone seen images of other examples?

1. Cutlas Selective Hub: You can see a brochure for this early Cutlas hub here.  This was on eBay (last priced around $450), but sold away from eBay. See more pics of this here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/175866727203
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2. Dualmatic 2-lever Watson-style Display Hub: This hub has a Dualmatic sticker, but is the type sold under the Watson brand (Watson-branded hubs & Dualmatic hub lever variations). This display hub was also on eBay, though I don’t remember the price. It probably sold off ebay as a package with the Cutlas hub above. See more pics here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/175866718846

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F. E. G. Hubs

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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Bill Falconer scored a set of extremely rare “summer”-type hubs that are stamped F.E.G. Even better, he was able to get the original box that accompanied them, which included some additional information.

When I first published the post about the various Summer Hub models, I included a photo of an F.E.G. hub, but the only reference I had was that photo. I could finding nothing else about them. Thankfully, the New Hampshire Fish and Game, which owned these hubs originally, bought from a Willys dealership in Colebrook, New Hampshire (which has since been bulldozed), kept the information it had. So, now we know a little more.

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According to the Box’s information, these summer hubs were $20. F.E.G also offered a locking type for $65. Unfortunately, the part showing how to order the hubs was torn from the box.

So, what does “F.E.G.” mean? In researching these, I found a company called F.E.G. out of Mexico that has a subsidiary parts maker, HOWEVER it appears the company wasn’t around in the 1950s. Thus, I am at a dead-end on the company’s history. I suppose it’s possible that F.E.G. are just someone’s initials.

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Hub Loks Hubs Whiteville, NC **SOLD**

• CATEGORIES: News This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $175.

These are very hard to find hubs which I believe were manufactured by the Dana-Spicer Corp

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“Original vintage late forties – early fifties Willy’s Jeep Locking Hubs
10 Spline Dana 25 Axle
Appear to be in working order.
Will need good cleaning, lubricating, and new gaskets.

Have been in my garage in dry storage for more than 25 years.
I’m cleaning up and they need to go.

I have a Paypal account and will ship if you pay shipping.”

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Allstate Branded Hubs on eBay

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

These hubs have seen some serious wear on their faces. Evidence suggests it was Husky that private labeled this hub for Allstate (more on Husky history here).

What is interesting to me is that the back side of this hub looks identical to the backside of the early Husky, Dualmatic, and Free-Lock hub, too. I don’t have enough information to compared the eternals of each of these, but I suspect that some of the Husky and Dualmatic hubs reflect evolutions (or copies) from the early Free-Lock hub.

View all the information on eBay

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Bottom of an early Husky hub (with more splines, but same underside design with the lock ring):

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This version of the Husky hub, also appears to be identical on the backside (also private labeled with Allstate). See the rebuild of this hub here:

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Allstate Hubs of CJ-2A Lebanon, OR $65

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

They look like a good price for a vintage set of Husky produced and Allstate branded hubs.

https://corvallis.craigslist.org/pts/d/lebanon-willys-cj2a-locking-hub-pair/7378170580.html

“Surplus to my needs are a set of 2 matching Allstate locking hubs that came off of a 1947 Willys jeep flat fender. I do not know much about them other than the brand shown on them. They appear to need some cleaning, but I assume they work as they are supposed to. You be the judge of that.”

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Sears-branded Selectro Hubs on Ebay

• CATEGORIES: Parts • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

These Sears-branded Selectro hubs have the smaller ribbed style.

View all the information on eBay

“Aftermarket Sears Manual Locking Hubs Taken Off Willys MB Fits CJ2A GPW Jeep CJ. Condition is “Used”. Used take offs for rebuild or parts. D-bubba-ing my 1945 MB and finally got around to removing these off the front axles. As is condition. The Jeep has not run since I acquired it and therefor these are untested in driving conditions. Mounting bolts are not included.”

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Free-Lock Hubs on eBay

• CATEGORIES: Features, Parts • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: These Free-Lock hubs are still available.

(11/18/2020) This ebay ad for Free-Lock hubs provides the most detailed pics I have for this version of the hub. These are 27 spline, which means they were produced after 1972? If that’s the case, then for some reason the Free-Lock brand that was abandoned circa 1959 was resurected for these hubs.

View all the information on eBay

“Vintage Free-Lock Locking Hubs Jeep CJ CJ5 27 Spline – Warn 9062 – 27 Spline (Wanted: new old stock locking hubs in small or large quantities)
Used
Engage and disengage properly
Same application as Warn 9062
Heavy duty hubs
6 Bolt
27 Spline”

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Imperfect .. Perfect Circle Branded 10-Spline Selectro Hubs **SOLD**

• CATEGORIES: Parts • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.

These are imperfect Perfect Circle hubs as a cam is broken (see broken part in pic one). However, there are some useful photos of these Perfect Circle-branded 10-Spline Selectro Hubs.

“Selling the used locking hubs in the pictures. These are aftermarket and called Perfect Circle. We don’t know much about these hubs. My husband said he removed these from a 1971 Jeep truck that was in a junkyard. He thought they were neat and brought them home. Of course they are the special 10 spline hubs. These appear to be complete, but the “cam” piece (#8 in the schematic) seems to be broken on at least one hub. Look closely at the pictures and determine if they are something you want. Maybe just a little eye candy for the bench area. These are being sold for parts or not working. Hopefully there are enough good parts here to allow someone to complete their project. These are very clean and ready for a new owner.”

selectro-perfect-circle-hubs01

Lower left part is broken.

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As you can see, the Dualmatic schematic is similar to the Perfect Circle Schematic, though, surprisingly, the casting of the base is slightly different. I’m betting the cams are the same though.

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More pics of the Perfect Circle hubs.

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NOS Dualmatic Hubs on eBay

• CATEGORIES: Features, Parts • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Scott spotted these NOS Dualmatic hubs on eBay. I am not as familiar with the red stickers, but this looks to be a later version of these lever-activate hubs, solely based on the style of ribs.

View all the information on eBay

“NOS Dualmatic Locking Hubs Willys Jeep 10 Spline, Willys Mb, GPW, CJ2A Cj3a M38. New in the original box, I’m guessing from the 1950’s, or 1960’s. Some storage wear. All mounting bolts are there. Shipping $16”

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Cutlas Selective Drive Hubs Viroqua, MN **SOLD**

• CATEGORIES: Parts • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $100.

These 10-spline hubs were called the Cutlas Selective Drive Hubs. Some has the indent through the middle like this set, others did not.

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“For sale is a set of vintage Cutlas 10 spline locking hubs for Willys Jeeps. These were removed from a 1951 M38 with 20,000 original miles. The hubs were added after its Military duty so they are very low mile and in fantastic condition inside and out. Photos were taken as they came off the M38, clean as can be inside. Only reason im parting with them is because I returned the hubs to Milspec/factory configuration.

Should fit DANA 25/27 Willys MB/GPW, CJ2A, CJ3A, M38, CJ3B as well as some Willys wagons.”

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Sears Selectro 19 Spline Hubs on eBay

• CATEGORIES: Features, Parts • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

These appear in good shape. You can learn more about the Selectro history here.

View all the information on ebay

“I don’t know if Selectro made these for Sears? But the Selectro ones look like these. You don’t see many with the Sears name, I believe they are 19 spline. 3″ across bottom gear. Need cleaned up and greased.”

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Dana 25 w/ Dualmatic Hubs Long Island, NY $125

• CATEGORIES: Parts This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Steve spotted this combo for sale.

https://longisland.craigslist.org/pts/d/west-babylon-willys-dana-25-with/6959417267.html

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“Dana 25 from a parts CJ-2A I bought many years ago. I dont know the gear ratio but I can check if you really want.
I think I have the drums for it too, they’re 10″, not stock size.
Dualmatic locking hubs.”

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NOS Chrome Dualmatic Hubs **SOLD**

• CATEGORIES: Parts • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE **SOLD** Was on eBay.

Starting bid is $300.

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“Up for auction is a pair of NOS Dualmatic locking hubs. They are Chrome and in excellent condition. Comes with instructions and original decal, bolts, and locking clips. Unfortunately I do NOT have the parts catalog so I can NOT ID these by make and model. But I can give you dimensions: 4.375 overall diameter, 3.125 long, 10 internal spline, 3.750 bolt hole pattern center to center. The dualmatic # 80. I am selling these as is as described. Please be sure they are what you’re looking for before bidding. Please email with any questions. High bidder pays$16.50 for S&H.”