Hi all.. firstly, I'm new here, per the 'introductions' forum. I'm a pretty competent shade tree mechanic (though the rest of this post may make you think otherwise ), but my experience is mostly with old Volvos.

Any event, I took on a '91 Mighty Max, 6G72, 5 speed, 4wd. 147k original miles. Needs a good bit of work, and was therefore cheap.

First order of business is the horribly bad U-joint at the rear of the driveshaft. No biggie there. But, figured with driveshaft out, waiting for a new joint on order, I'd see if I can diagnose the 4wd issue. So, I just started the truck, put in 4wd, and in gear. Then looked underneath. Sure enough, the drivers side CV joint just sits and spins.

Bad hub. As expected. Of course, I'm thinking manual hubs will be the way to go (any recommendations?)

But, in the mean time, I would like to get the 4wd working. Here's where the hack comes in. Is there any way to permanently locking the offending hub? And, I'm not adverse to using power tools, such as a welder... I can only assume the hub on the other side works, but of course, I can't be sure about that either.

Going to try to get the truck home tomorrow, our driveway is steep and muddy... so the 4wd might be needed just to get him home.

Thanks for any thoughts!
Matt