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Did I mess up???

C

chaka454

1/2 ton status
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Nov 13, 2001
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Location
California
Hey guys I just bought a 14 bolt, with an eaton posi, or a gov lock, well the guy I bought it from told me that a gov lock was an eaton posi is this true? damn can you guys tell that I dont know much about 4x4s, I like'em tough I've been reading that a 14 bolt open differential is better than an eaton or gov lock, if I do have an eaton posi or a gov lock why should I want to get an open carrier? or how can I tell what I just bought? any #'s I should look for that would tell me what it is, an eaton, a gov???please help me before I spend the money and time to install the 14 bolt that I have right now? thanks for the help and sorry for the dumm questions.
 
Gov Locks are stock posi units. They are not the strongest piece according to this board.

Everyone wants the 'open' carrier so they can upgrade to whatever they want (usually Detroit Locker).

The 'open' carrier will allow other lockers to be installed but the GL will not.
 
Hmmmm I see, I guess I'd better sell the one I have and look for an open huh? before I do any changes.
 
If it is in good shape you can buy a carrier and gear set for it.

I would consider this if the diff you have already has the perches in the correct place and if a matching open is hard to find.

An open carrier will have four 'posts' visible as you spin through a full revolution. I think the gov lok only has three. Also you can see the spider gears on the open.

What ratio are you looking for?
 
This differential has 4:10s, I'm thinking of running 35's, I'm gonna have to look inside the differential when I get home to see exactly what I bought.
 
HUGE difference between 10 bolt and 14 bolt gov locks. fine is just fine and i run 38" SX's. just make sure you use 14 ozs of posi lube and not 7 like i did, then wondered why only one tire was spinning!! it does take i think 3 turns of the tire to engage it (maybe off on this) but when it locks, it will stay locked until power is removed. in fact, i can lock it up at a stop light, and when i make the corner it will chirp..chirp...chirp... just like a full locker.

14 bolt gov-locks ARE NOT WEAK!!!

BTW- IYAAYAS!!!
 
Oh man see now I dont know what to do? ok let me ask you guys this, would it be better if I keep my 12 bolt posi in the back just how it is and just fix it, cause the posi unit is broken, and than regear the front to match my 4:10s in the back that way I dont have to convert anythig to 8 lug and I wont have to buy a new driveshaft, what do you guys think about this, I do have the money to do the swap and the conversion but if I dont have to spend it I wouldn't want to any help please what would you guys do?
 
It just depends on what you are going to use your truck for. I w4ent ahead and did the 8 lug conversion because I plan on using my truck hard. Now many people use the 12 boltbut for strength and reliability...go for the 14...It just takes some patience and work..I have the gov lock too on my 14 and so far have had good luck with it...It is a hard decision though...
 
Well the question is how big are you planning to go? My wifes 79 has the Gov in a 12 bolt and even when we trail rode the truck we enver had a problem. It had 2 things going for it. I'm not a throttle junky and we only ran 32's.
If your planning on going to 35's 36's ehhhhh not to hard to blow a Gov out. They are rebuildable but they did earn the nick name Granade locker. They can come appart in 10's and 12's to the point of breaking the axle housing.
The 14 Gov lock is a lot more stout. If your planning on going big I would keep that 14. Run it for a while and see how it does. Open carriers do show up from time to time on the forsale board for pretty cheap. So upgrading from the Gov is not difficult. you will have to check the backlash and possibly adjust that when changing out the carrier that you would have to do when your adding a Detroit to an existing open carrier.
 
Just like Grim said, it all depends on how big your gonna go. And your driving style. If your a throttle junkie, then I'd say go with the 14 bolt. When I blew my 10 bolt out, I only had 33's and I still installed the 14bolt. I had guys giving me $h!t cause i had overkill with 33's and a 14bolt. But little did they know that less than a year later I would be running 37's. So definately plan ahead.
 
Oh ok, hey guys guess what I just found a dana 44 with 4:10s and 8 lug also so now I'm defenetly going to 8 lug, now I dont have to regear the front differential and I dont have to convert the front to 8 lug cause it's already an 8 lug, $200 takes it is it a good deal, freshly rebuilt, even the rotors turned.
 
i would say so....i paid that for mine because it had the gears i needed (4:10's) but it also needed just about everything else.

IYAAYAS = If You Aint Ammo, You Aint $#it its from my Air Force days. i was a loader, and when i saw that stomp was an Ammo guy i figured i would mess with him a little!! After all, it IS there little saying even though our career fields are "sisters".

later rob
 
Just gotta get my 2 cents in here- You are located in California where you'll probably be climbing rocks often. Given that, I would not trust a gov lok to propel me up a steep incline. Yea, my 12 bolt chirps too around corners and will break both tires loose on a burn out but when you start getting twisted up and loose the weight of the vehicle on BOTH rear wheels the it is prone to slipping. I don't expect a gov lok to propel me forward when most of the vehicle weight is on one rear tire. Now out here where we have lots of mud and few rocks a gov lok may suite your needs because we're never getting REALLY GOOD traction anyway so both tires will always spin. In my opinion mud is a lot more forgiving on a gov lok than rock crawling.
 
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