I had three auto hubs fail in less than five years, on my 1995 Chevy 1500. According to a mechanic buddy at the time, they were a common failure.
Seems likely, and I bought that truck used off someone else's lease. It was clean, but who knows what a prior owner did with it. But the third failure was on my driving, and I never engaged while spinning rev's, when they were working properly.
Agree with you on the wipers. Plus, not everyone has the same level of (in)tolerance of a few drops on the windshield. As far as the hubs go, I like the ability to in and out of 4WD without having to get out of the vehicle to do so.
My wife is quite fussy about tidiness around the house, but when it comes to tools (especially gardening tools) it's a different story. Left out with the justification that she's "not finished with it", even though it may be days or even weeks before she gets back to it.
Manual hubs do not require you to get out of the vehicle to switch between 2WD and 4WD. Unlocking the hubs gives you better gas mileage and less spinning parts when in 2WD, but there's no harm in just leaving the hubs locked all winter, to switch between 2WD and 4WD using the transfer case shifter. As noted previously, I'd lock mine before a winter storm, and just leave them locked until the weather cleared up. Some just leave their hubs locked all winter.
