Another Gov-Loc Bites the Dust!

[HarryH3]

The rear end in my S-Jimmy started clunking on the way to work this morning. On the way home tonight it was getting louder by the mile! Popped the cover when I got home and found major carnage inside. It appears that part of a spacer block in the Gov-Loc broke and then got tangled up with the ring and pinion. There's an entire tooth ripped off of the pinion gear and several chipped teeth on the ring gear.

So I'm on the lookout for a 3.42 ratio rear-end for an S-10!

This one lived for 124,322 miles. I hope to find an open one so I can drop in a lunch time locker with minimal fuss.

<font color=black>HarryH3 - '75 K5</font color=black>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com>http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com</A>
It's a great day to be alive...

 

[tRustyK5]

Just shorten up a 14 bolt FF!

Sorry to hear about that man, gov-locks suck. My old S-10 had a C-clip drop out and I almost lost the axle on the way to work one day...
Good luck finding one.

Rene

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://jules.coloradok5.com>http://jules.coloradok5.com</A>

 

[HarryH3]

I'm LOL!

A 14-bolt, even a shortened one, would be a pretty hefty weight penalty for the sad little 4.3 to move around.

Not to mention how bad the ground clearance would be with 30x9.50 sneakers!

I took out a 2-inch-long pinion gear tooth that had been sheared completely off! What an impressive display of physics!

The bummer is that I had thought about replacing the guts of the Gov-Lok with the new locker from PowerTrax. They have one that slips into the Gov-Loc case, but I didn't want to spend $400 for it.

I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning how much a JY rearend is going to set me back.

<font color=black>HarryH3 - '75 K5</font color=black>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com>http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com</A>
It's a great day to be alive...

 

[tRustyK5]

Sucks when yer 'daily' bites a big one...good luck with it. Shouldn't be too hard to find one.

Rene

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://jules.coloradok5.com>http://jules.coloradok5.com</A>

 

[dyeager535]

Sorry to hear about that! I too had to do the rear axle swap in my friends S10 Blazer, 3.42's, Gov Loc. Can't remember what his problem was, besides I know it was the gov loc of course!

Cost him $125 for the complete assembly out of the wrecking yard, but its because they were so dumb they didn't know that wheels turning the opposite way could still be a gov loc.

Try and remove the pinion shaft retaining bolt BEFORE you buy it. I can't stress this enough..I got the axle for him, took it home, tried to remove the bolt to get the axles out, and the thing was already sheared. I took it back to the 'yard and they tried to say that that isn't their fault, that I did it, etc., they finally gave in after I took three other ones apart in the yard and ALL of them had the sheared pin as well. They footed the bill for having a machine shop drill it out, since they didn't want to refund his money.

The S10's, AFAIK, came with two ratios...3.42 and 4.10's.
In the Blazers (and I assume Jimmies) 3.42 was standard with the 700R4 (apparently his is originally a 2.8 truck) and 4.10's were standard with the 5 spd manual in the pickup(and probably blazer) version. HTH.



Dorian
My K5 and Chev/Olds tech/links page: <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.dorianyeager.com/index2.html>http://www.dorianyeager.com/index2.html</A>

 

[tRustyK5]

Most of the 4 cyl trucks came with the 4.10's as well...

Rene

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://jules.coloradok5.com>http://jules.coloradok5.com</A>

 

[HarryH3]

$125 is a smokin' deal! The yards around here want $500 for one. Guess I'll have to keep looking.

I'd love to go with the 4.10's, but then I'd have to mess with the front end too. According to the Hollanders books, the only replacement I can use has to come from a '91, '92 or '93 S-truck. None of the others will work. That makes it even tougher to find. Guess I'll keep letting my fingers do the walking!

I've seen the "bolt sheared off in the cross shaft" before. Not a pretty problem to have.

<font color=black>HarryH3 - '75 K5</font color=black>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com>http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com</A>
It's a great day to be alive...

 

[Emmettology 101]

Check some rearend places, you can usually get a factory open case, brand new for around $60...

Mike - <A target="_blank" HREF=http://emmett.coloradok5.com>http://emmett.coloradok5.com</A>

 

[HarryH3]

But then I also need gears, bearings, etc.

It's usually cheaper to just find an entire working rearend. Plus I can swap the whole thing out in a couple of hours. I'm going to check with Reider Racing to see just how much it would cost to get all new parts. I'm sure it'll be scary...

<font color=black>HarryH3 - '75 K5</font color=black>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com>http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com</A>
It's a great day to be alive...

 

[Emmettology 101]

Just from past experience:

Gears - $150 or so
Bearings(carrier) - $100 or so
Carrier - $60 (well from ORU for a Spicer 44)


Mike - <A target="_blank" HREF=http://emmett.coloradok5.com>http://emmett.coloradok5.com</A>

 

[dyeager535]

What year is yours? I assume they changed the axle splines or ABS has something to do with the change?

Find out what the difference is between older and newer, you might still be able to use the older differential case, innards, and ring and pinion. Neither of my Hollanders includes a differential case interchange that includes any GM RWD vehicles....

Not common for Gm to change stuff very often, the 7.5" that was installed in a 78 car is the same center section as a new S10 if you look at them closesly. Bet yours looks amazingly similiar to the 7.5" on this car eh? : ) http://www.dorianyeager.com/index2.html

 

[HarryH3]

It's a '91. That was the first year for 4-wheel ABS. It was standard ONLY if you bought a 4-door, 4WD, with auto trans.

I never liked the ABS anyway. The light has been on for a few years now. I just leave it that way since the ABS tended to release the brakes just when you most needed to stop! It really needs to have some kind of speed sensor to disable it under 15-20 mph.

The center section is the same as some of the the cars. BTW, Reider Racing has a smokin' deal on Torsen diffs for the 7.5-inch rear with the 3.42 ratio right now. I guess that particular part wasn't moving well. Instead of around $400 they're blowing them out the door at $165.95. It's very tempting to grab one of those for the S-Jimmy! They're supposed to be excellent on snow and ice but I don't know anyone that's actually had one.

<font color=black>HarryH3 - '75 K5</font color=black>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com>http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com</A>
It's a great day to be alive...

 

[dyeager535]

If you haven't setup a rear axle before, you might not be interested in swapping everything over.

I'm thinking now that the ABS trucks had different flanges on the axle tubes, and the backing plates therefore don't interchange. So if you were willing to set the rear end up, and did a little research, I'd bet you would find that the carrier and gears are interchangeable.

Car diffs aren't much of an option, since the only 7.5's that got the 3 series carrier which you have (3.42 and numerically higher) were the Monte SS's with 3.73's, and you aren't going to find many of those for cheap. Otherwise the car axles are even cheaper than the S-10's generally.

Dorian
My K5 and Chev/Olds tech/links page: <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.dorianyeager.com/index2.html>http://www.dorianyeager.com/index2.html</A>

 

[HarryH3]

It looks like for about $400, plus labor I can get all new gears, bearings and the Torsen diff. I just found out that SLP engineering has take-out Torsens that they remove from brand new CamaBirds, for $75 each! I just can't pass that up. So if I don't find a decent priced rear end locally, then I may just go that route and install the Torsen at the same time.

I figured that there probably is some difference in the ends, to accomodate the ABS. Otherwise I could use any year axle and just swap parts around to end up with the right stuff under there.

<font color=black>HarryH3 - '75 K5</font color=black>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com>http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com</A>
It's a great day to be alive...