My Willys 3A and 3B Community

Rambling, Malarky, Rants, Etc. => Rambling, Malarky, Rants, Etc... => Topic started by: Carls_jeep on November 21, 2010, 01:17:16 PM

Title: Cutlas lock out hubs
Post by: Carls_jeep on November 21, 2010, 01:17:16 PM
I finally found a lock out hub that looks to be built like a tank and should be non destructible.

(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/yeathatshim/PB210001.jpg)

I got them off ebay and they arrived this week and I had a chance to tear them down to clean and inspect them. They are made of steel and cast iron and bolt on like the granade lock outs do but there is a knob in the center that locks and unlocks them and you would have to hit them with a sledge hammer to damage them. I will clean and lube them and put them on and let you know how they work out.

Title: Re: Cutlas lock out hubs
Post by: calvinhunt on November 22, 2010, 12:32:05 AM
Carl, you ought to be a salesman!  Yeah, let us know what you think of them once you put them into service.
Title: Re: Cutlas lock out hubs
Post by: rocketeer on November 22, 2010, 01:06:08 PM
Excellent! That's what Frances wears! �:)

Here's a PDF I made back when I refurbed mine in 2008. It's 3.2Mb. There's a couple of tips in it that might come in handy.

http://www.enter.net/~rocketeer/g503/cutlas_hubs_refurb.pdf

Larry
Title: Re: Cutlas lock out hubs
Post by: Carls_jeep on November 22, 2010, 04:53:39 PM
Larry, I found out today mine have a cast aluminum outer housing so I must have the Cutlas Bulldog model. These hubs look bullet proof. I took them apart and cleaned them up but they didn't as bad as yours did.

I had not searched for any info on them yet so I am glad you passed that pdf along to me. I think anyone looking for tough locking hubs won't go wrong with a set of these. I will put them on tomorrow and give them a test run.

Wow, I just saw they are official Willys Jeep parts. That makes it even a better find. I was wondering who made them.

EDIT: does anyone know when Willys started using the Cutlas lock out hubs? Larry, where did you find the parts break down on them? BobW, what do you know about them. Jeep Rescue, what do you know about them.

I did a search and found little about them. Mention was made about the plastic bushing in them as being a weak point but when you consider they have been used since Willys made the Jeeps they must be ok. In the set I have the bushings were just fine and the hubs could be 60 years old more or less.

I am not worried about the bushings because I can modify them with a little machine work if the bushing fails.

Title: Re: Cutlas lock out hubs
Post by: Carls_jeep on November 23, 2010, 07:57:23 PM
I have been searching about Cutlas Tool manufacturing co. and this is what I have found so far.

http://www.thefcconnection.com/ this is an interesting site about the FC jeeps. It also has other interesting info if you keep looking. The Cutlas hubs brochures are dated 1960.

http://www.willystech.com/wt/cutlasshub/cutlasshub.htm this is an interesting site but if he was searching for Cutlass he searched with to many S's but none the less interesting.

So, it seems the Cutlas hubs were a product of the late 50's and 60's. I thirst for more info. I have installed the Cutlas hubs and they work perfectly. Now I am not going to ram them against a large rock or tree to see if they fly off or hit them with a sludge hammer but as far as I can see they are keepers. They do stick out about an inch more than the Superwinch or Warn but they are very much stronger in design.

Does anyone know when the Cutlas hubs were adopted as official hubs by Willys jeep co.
Title: Re: Cutlas lock out hubs
Post by: Carls_jeep on November 24, 2010, 04:11:59 PM
Here's more to read.

http://home.md.metrocast.net/~gwpage/CJ2A/Warn.htm

See the Selectro hub at the very bottom of this site page.

http://www.milemarker.com/products/hubs.html

So far it looks like 1948 is the earliest a lock out or free wheeling hub is mentioned. Arthur Warn seems to be the first designer of lockout hubs.

Looky here.

http://www.warn.com/corporate/history.shtml

It looks like 1948 was the earliest lockout hubs were used or at least designed. I still wonder why they went from the more compact and strong hubs to the more fragile type they use today. The only thing I can figure is everyone expects a new and improved version every year even if it's NOT better than the early type.

A friend here sold Jeeps in the North West from 1957 for a few years and he remembers the Cutlas hubs but he don't know when Willys started using them.
Title: Re: Cutlas lock out hubs
Post by: rocketeer on November 24, 2010, 11:42:41 PM
Cutlas made three different lockout hubs; All-Steel, Bulldog, and Power-Lock.

(http://www.enter.net/~rocketeer/g503/cutlass_all_steel.jpg)

(http://www.enter.net/~rocketeer/g503/cutlass_bulldog.jpg)

(http://www.enter.net/~rocketeer/g503/cutlass_power_lock.jpg)

Larry
Title: Re: Cutlas lock out hubs
Post by: Matto on November 25, 2010, 07:49:48 AM
Just saw this CJ3A �on Criags list-Cape Cod MA. Looks like Cutlas Hubs. Also looks like a pretty good deal. Wonder if the wife wants to skip turkey day and take a ride :)
http://southcoast.craigslist.org/cto/2060141141.html
Title: Re: Cutlas lock out hubs
Post by: Carls_jeep on November 25, 2010, 09:55:07 AM
 :o wow, I wish I had found a Jeep like that here when I was looking for a Jeep. That's a steal.

What is interesting about the Cutlas hubs is they are a knock off of Arthur Warns design of 1948. The model called the Cutlas Power Lock is just like the Dualmatic lever hub. The Cutlas uses a wrench to operate it and the Dualmatic has built in levers.

Did Warn license the other makes or did his patent run out? Does anyone know a person that sold the CJ2 and 3 in the late 40's and 50's that knows when they started using the Cutlas hubs.