Dave here: Seth and Roger both shared links to his Facebook post showing a Cutlas Automatic Hub, which is a rarity to see in the wild. That got me thinking that I’d never done a post about the different, early attempts at creating auto-engaging hubs, which appeared to generally be a failure (none ever caught on).

WARN INDUSTRIES Mid 1950s:

I believe the first commercial attempt at an automatic hub was Warn’s hub by that very name, the Warn Automatic hub. This hub appeared as early as 1954 in this brochure (from this post),  Willys Motors was promoting the hub as of October of 1954.

Hugo Vidal, through his Brazilian company, AVM, also produced the Automatic Model, an example shown below (from this post):

According to Hugo, the technology was never perfected and customers had problems, so eventually the hubs were pulled from the market.

THOR AUTOMOTIVE early-mid 1960s:

The next production hub with claims to being automatic was the Thor Industries Automatic hub, advertising for which appeared in the early-mid 1960s in Four Wheeler Magazine. While the company’s Electro Hub was sort of automatic, in that you could electrically engage it from the dash, the compass Automatic Hub claimed to be fully automatic. Over the years I’ve seen a few of these, but again this hub didn’t become popular, though I don’t have any reports as to why.

This Thor ad appeared in the July 1963 issue of Four Wheeler Magazine (front this post):

Ad from the July 1963 issue of Four Wheeler Magazine

Here is an example of the hub. Allstate also private labeled this hub, as can be seen at the top of this post.

CUTLAS ENGINEERING early-mid 1970s:

Around 1960, Cutlas advertised an “Automatic” hub, but it wasn’t actually an automatic hub, but rather it had ‘automatic axle positioning’, which I believe meant that it made engaging the axles easier (so don’t be fooled by this advertising)!

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Jeff posted photos of these unusual hubs to Facebook. I’ve never seen a set. It appears they are 10 spline, automatic hubs. The name Powr Matic is stamped in three spots on the hub’s cover. Google searches weren’t any help either. There is a PowrMatic company that specializes in HVAC products, but there’s no evidence that they produced any hubs, though the company was around in the 1950s and 1960s.

So, anyone know anything about these?

Josh is looking for a reproduction of the rare orange Warn dash sticker below, though his original one (damaged in a fire) was blue

Does anyone know of any reproductions or even a quality image that he could get reproduced? Josh explains things below ….

The blue one below is apparently similar, but, like the one above, his did not include a reference to “Warn MFG CO” at the bottom).

Link from this page: http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.php?threads/warn-locking-hub-dash-sticker.144960/#post-1613141

These are examples of M16 hubs (he has M18 hubs).

Josh wrote: “I’m hoping you might have run across a locking hub dash sticker like the one attached at some point. My 1956 GMC NAPCO 4×4 had WARN model WL-15828 hubs, which are more commonly referred to as M18’s. My truck had a dash sticker ( actually it was inside the glovebox door ) that was identical to the orange image I attached [ed note … the image at top], except that it was printed in a medium blue color. I believe this type of sticker to be the predecessor to the more commonly seen type with the illustration of the WARN style locking dial. This particular sticker that I’ve attached a picture of was in an NOS set of hubs for a heavy duty IHC that was dated from 1956 or 57, as I recall.

Anyway, I’m hoping someone has this sticker and I can get it reproduced. I believe it to be the correct sticker for any WARN model hubs that predate the addition of the raised stamped area where the “M” series model number is typically stamped. That was added some time around 1965 or 1966 as best I can tell. As an example, I’ve attached a picture of  what are typically referred to as M16 hubs, also a late 50’s NAPCO 1/2 ton application, but the one without the raised stamp area would have been stocked under the part number WL-54-21 originally.

My truck was severely damaged in a forest fire. Otherwise I’d go scan my own sticker and get it reproduced. Eventally I’d like to resurrect my truck, and this is a detail I want to be faithful to.”

This looks like the initial one-screw style of Free-Lock Hubs: http://www.ewillys.com/2021/09/09/free-lock-hubs/

View all the info on eBay

“Working on selling parts for my dad who is 82 years old. Is a bit tough to get information because of his memory. I will do my best. He says he bought these hubs for his 1946 Willys Jeep years ago. They seem to be in fine condition. He has had his parts stored for a number of years.”

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

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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UPDATE: Unlike the other Hub Lok hubs made for jeeps, this Hub Lok hub model was designed for early Ford Broncos. It is listed for $149 on the Bronco Graveyard website. I can’t confirm if these are rare or not.

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Originally posted on June 8, 2023: The seller of these Hub Lok hubs for jeeps sold the hubs with the original installation and operation instructions! The manual accompanying the hubs confirms that the Hub Lok hubs were sold by Dana and/or Spicer, which is what we thought, but lacked physical evidence as proof.

An original dash sticker? Probably not another one of these around!

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UPDATE II: This post was originally posted August 29, 2018:

Information about Husky and Dualmatic has been updated and more closely examined here.

Maury and I have been trying to determine how BestLok and EasyLok hubs are connected and how they are connected to Warn, Husky, and Dualmatic. The short answer is that we don’t quite know yet. But, below is what we do know. (Note, while Husky and Dualmatic are mentioned, it’s not a full history of either hub, histories I do need to address at some point).

In January of 1972, Richard Williams filed a patent, assigned to Warn-Belleview, for a new type of hub. Below is the image of that hub.

What’s curious is that there’s no documentation that Warn ever sold these hubs.

Even more curious, by July of 1972 this exact hub was produced and sold under the brand EasyLok, as advertised here, in the July issue of Four Wheeler Magazine:

Why these hubs weren’t sold nor branded under any traditional seller of the time is a mystery to us.

Earlier this year, Maury spotted a set of hubs with the Warn patented design that were manufactured in 1982. Maury managed to get ahold of photos that show the hubs were manufactured and warranteed by BestopDualmatic (a joined company formed when Wynn industries combined the companies around 1974).

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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.

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.

Thanks to Chris for selling me these NOS Free-Lock 27-spline hubs he got from a friend. He also included copies of the original documents that were included with the hubs. Since I have a Dana 30 on Biscuit, these will got on it once I start working on it.

This doc is one I posted last week:

I’m guessing the warranty is no longer any good, lol?

As I mentioned last week, this doc is the first evidence I’ve seen that Free-Lock became a “division” (whether actual or virtual) within Dualmatic. It is my belief that Selectro was another division:

Here is one look at the hubs:

And, a second look:

Thanks to Chris for publishing this information on a Facebook post … It appears I will be buying from him a set of model F-28 Free-Lock hubs sold by Dualmatic. These NOS Free-Lock hubs included documentation stating that by December of 1973 Free-Lock had become a “Quality Division” of Dualmatic Products Company.

So, I believe this confirms that Free-Lock was acquired by Dualmatic, so now the questions are 1) when did this happen and 2) why didn’t Dualmatic use the branding sooner than circa 1970 (there was a gap between the end of Free-Lock in 1959 and the re-emergence of the brand circa late 1960s or early 1970s).

This document suggests there were seven different models of Free-Lock hubs, which may explain why we have seen several different types of later-model Free-Lock hub styles. Given the emphasis on “A Quality Division”, this document *might* hint that Dualmatic was using the Free-Lock brand as a premium hub, perhaps hoping to clear more profit from them?

The fact that the top of the hub shows no branding suggests these instructions were intended to be distributed across multiple brands of Dualmatic-built hubs.

The date of the newspaper used to wrap the hubs is December 4, 1973: