I spent the day today pulling the differential unit and gears from an 88 4x4 Blazer. It had 3.43s and a g80 gov lok differential. I undersand the g80 unit is weak, but if i was going to spend a day pulling 3.43s I might as well get a posi out of it, besides $50 for the whole deal is a great bargain to me. I got home and decided to really check the diff out and at first it appeared to be fine, the I noticed some of the smaller spider gears (the one not connected to the clutches) were chipped some at the tips of the teeth. The whole unit appears to function fine, no problems at all, as if nothing was wrong, but the little bits of metal missing worry me. The magnet of the differential cover caught the pieces so there isn't any other damage. Will it still function properly? Is it shot or is it okay to use? Can I repair or get a new spider gear? Remember I currently have the stock open differential so anything with traction control is better than nothing. Thanks for any help in advance.

 

U could make it work, but I personally wouldnt recommend the mixing and matching of gears once they have worn or have pieces missing. Your playing with fire.

Save the time and effort in getting it setup when u have enough to buy new pieces instead or find a complete working rear to bide your time.

later
Jeremy

 

That might be true; however, that Grenade-Lock is neither "traction control", nor better than a one-wheel-peel unit.

It's weaker (more prone to breaking in half) than an open. It provides no traction control whatsoever, until AFTER one wheel starts to spin; at which point it locks up with a bang. If it does this on pavement with some traction, pieces come flying out when it does that. Somebody here has a pic of one that exploded so violently that one of the fragments of shrapnel actually punctured his gas tank.

Throw that thing in the trash; use the gears if you want, but keep looking for a carrier. Even if it was new and in perfect condition it's still trash.

 

As of right now I dont have enough money to buy a new posi and the junkyard doesn't have any posi vehicles that will fit my rear end. All of my money is going toward a 350 swap and I though this would be more of a weekend project. I only plan on pushing a little over 300hp. Should I just put it in for now until i have enough money for a real posi? AKA is it better than nothing?

 

No you should not put it in.

It is GARBAGE. It will disable your car when you least expect it; possibly catastrophically.

Sell it to some "greater fool", maybe from the S-truck community; and make part or all of your money back. Continue to save. Exploding your rear end won't get you any closer to your goal of a 350.

 

to update everyone i am selling it and buying a "real" posi...anyone want it $50...lol

 

I sold one on ebay that came in a rear that I bought and got $150 for it.

 

I bought one of these for $15.00 bucks. Had it installed with a 3.73 gear and love the way it works.

But its still a grenade lock.

It locks every time, with 2 even tire patches, absolutly no noise, chater, or banging at all. I love the consept, but it sucks that they are so weak.

The reason why they are weak is in how they work. They work like an open rear until one axle spins around 20-30 (or so) rpm faster than the other. Then the centrifical weight opens up and catches on a latch and engages the ramp plates which put psi on the clutches, effectivly locking the rear.

The amount of power you have determines how much psi will be applied to the clutches (to an extent). Too much power in combination with an instant lose or gain of traction on one wheel causes the clutches to engage so hard, that they push outward (toward both wheels) on the carrier with so much psi that it litterally will blow the carrier into 2 or more pieces and usually explode your housing too.

This would be the catastrophic failure mentioned above. If driven sainly they last. But no burnouts, break torques, going around corners and kicking out the rear end, or any other insain (and FUN) behaivior is aloud, or you stand a really good chance of exploding it.

As for the chips in the spider gears, I wouldn't worry about them because the only time it could possibly matter would be under power with one axle spinning faster than the other, but there again, with this carrier, that shouldn't happen because it should engage the clutches before the gears move too mutch. I can get mine to engage with the car off the ground just by grabbing one wheel and quickly giving it a jolt one way or another, and it instantly locks in less than 1/8 to 1/5 of a turn or so.

It is not really a locker, but it works just as well as a locker in a straight line only in a controled equil traction environment like the track. But they break there too.

 

The only thing a gov lock is good for is off road traction, sand, mud, snow, etc. I have one in my 04 Z-71. It works great for beach running, but it's down right scary on the street with wet roads.

 

Yea, I am with you on that one. I wish I had known what it was and how it worked before I bought it and installed it. Cause I would have explored other means.

My 97 2wd Silverado had one and it was a PITA to get it to go up the hill from the stop sign near my house when it was slick out. I think that is just a posi thing in general though.

 

That's the best thing to do with one of those units. There's lots of fools on ebay that pay way too much for the "grenade-lock" units. I saw one sell on there recently for $217! I pulled one from an 85 camaro at the yard complete with 3.73 gears for a measly $25. I'm hanging onto the gears, but the carrier is definitely bound for ebay!