My 10 bolt gov lock cracked pretty bad just after I bought my truck. I hadn't even gone wheeling yet, very possible the po knew it was cracked when he sold it (idk). Anyway, I stopped at the store on the way home from work about 3 weeks after changing the fluids and a full tune up on the rig. Pulled out of the parking space at the store, BANG, it sounded and felt like I was rear ended. Got out checked everything visually, thought to myself ....Oh sh*t, here we go. It got me home and to the shop. Dropped the cover, cracked almost in 2 separate pieces.
From what I have read and learned about them, the idea is really good, just the fact that they have cut the size down so much to fit into the 10 bolt housing, takes too much strength away from the structure during the shock loads. And as stated, the shock load is tremendous if beat or abused. Somefolks swear by them due to the nature, but you have to drive them knowing what you have under you. They won't lock up until they see 10 mph difference or 100 rpms difference or something like that, wheel to wheel. Then it's LOCKED HARD. No gradual clutch mechanism, just open to locked in a split second.
I threw in a 1 ton 14bff because I had a friend that had one. My goal with this rig when I bought it was to "restore" it, or resto-mod. Try to keep it stockish with some improvements where necessary. This is definitely one area I won't go back stock. Maybe back to a 10 bolt, but not with a gov-lok in it.
