Just saw this thread - it's a duplicate of what I ran into when I went to swap auto hubs for manuals on the '97. Did left side in about an hour, spent about 10 hrs on the other side, bought "better" magnets, used fishhooks, try to find 'sweet spot' etc etc, no joy.
Finally took it to shop I trust and they said somebody hammered the key in upside down and it was jammed in there. True or not (as to the key being asymmetrical), they had to drill and cut and charged me 2 hrs ($240) but they did it. They key is hardened steel so good luck trying to drill it, I tried a little of that with no luck. And with the manual hubs, you should have no key because the arrangement is completely different. The manual hubs are cheap, and just the wonky key arrangement itself to me would be a reason to go with the manuals, then you never have that issue again.
I like the manual hubs because if you're off road and you're doing a k-turn those auto lock and unlock every time you reverse and I just don't like hearing noises of it. I'd rather have them either on or off. For me it's fine because the only time I use them is off road and there are often other things you might do like air down/up so it's not that big a deal plus if you did forget to turn them off it really doesn't hurt it to drive with them on (but 4x4 not on) - well - for a distance anyway, it'll wear stuff more than it has to (so I'm told) if you leave them on all the time (even though Ford says it's ok). True I had to get out in the rain to turn them off so there's that, but to me a small price to pay.
I've been told you can also turn on 4x4 but just turn on one hub if you're in a situation where the binding of the 4x4 is an issue in the particular terrain.
I guess the only thing I don't like is without stud clips, which I didn't put on, I worry about people making sure the 0-ring is seated properly if someone else takes them off, but if you trust your shop/inspection.... or check them after.
So either you or someone else is probably going to have to drill/grind things until you can destroy things enough to get it apart. The $240 was an unanticipated hit, but compared to all the time and frustration I had in it, I considered it well worth it.
I used them the other day and with the new K02 31" tires it was great. Being used to front wheel drive in cars for, um, 50+ years (drove Saabs 1971-2022), I really like having the pull of the front wheels especially with all that weight on them. You could probably disconnect the rear driveshaft and go fine with just front wheel drive (I wouldn't, but just saying).
Get the thing apart however you can and put in the manuals then when you have to do bearings or rotors or whatever it's just a matter of torquing the 2 respective nuts correctly (the one that seats the bearings is like 16 in-lbs and the lock nut is like 150 ft lbs). If you are grinding and cutting you will want to clean and repack your bearings before re-assembly.
Some people prefer the auto hubs and nothing against that, just depends what your use is.
Couldn't have got manual hubs or manual xfr case in my year without getting manual trans, but nothing prevents switching to the hubs, xfr case operation swapping to manual would be harder and as long as it's working ok not a big concern for me.
Also if you broke a hub and had a spare, putting new hub would be very easy and quick. I don't know if that ever happens, just mentioning it.
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