Outer Limits 4x4 Board

One more point from the axle disassembly. When I pulled the manual locking hub inner (the part with the 4x4/4x2 dial) out on the passenger side, the grease was murky and had evidence of water. The locking mechanism had 5 of the 6 springs that hold the keyed ring broken so the ring dangled limply once disassembled. The rest of the mechanism seems fine.

There's a possibility that the remaining spring stubs would be enough to space the ring from the section that rides the worm gear when locking the hub, and thus position the ring in place to lock the hub. I imagine there's little chance the one remaining spring would be enough to pull a grease packed ring away from the locking slots when unlocking the hub. I'm thinking the fact that this hub may have been locked for a long time is a factor in the failure of the diff (where the spider and side gears lost most of their teeth).

What would you do in this case? Splash out for an entire new manual locking hub? Attempt to fix it? Deal with it and "manually" undo the cap to ensure the hub locks and unlocks? Seems so trivial a failure to warrant purchase of an entire manual hub. Don't suppose anyone knows where to find just the outermost cap bit I'm talking about?

had the same problem with my gq. thought i fixed it real gooda but ended up stripping the splines off the outer axle. costly exercise. best bet is to put something in the wanted section of OL and see what you come up with. might be a cheaper repair than you thought. i'm sure someone will have a spare hub they could part with.
funny toyota problem for ya - mate of mine has a 75series ute. kept stuffing hubs completely. put brand new ones on it and they lasted him approx 3 weeks. ended up going to see a 4wd freak mate of mine and he came to the conclusion that the diff was bent. pulled it out and there it was. a bent front diff.