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I MIGHT have a REAL Locker?

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I have a '77 K5 with about 110k on it. The RPO codes show a Gov-Lok. It has a 12-bolt rear and 10-bolt front. 2.73 gears. It has had 33's on it for at least 3 or 4 years, probably longer.

I've owned the truck for about 2 years now, and the locker has worked flawlessly both on and off road. has never spun a single rear tire. I hear it locking and unlocking on the street exactly as it should.

Does this sound right for a 27 year old Gov-Lok? Of course not. It should have either grenaded 20 years ago or be now functioning like a completely open diff by now.

The clincher was last weekend when I was participating in our Friday night ritual burnout contest in the office parking lot at work, I tossed common sense to the wind and put it in lo-range 2wd, and let the 33's smoke! This was on harsh pavement in sunny heat. It never slipped a single tire. If I had a Gov-Lok, shouldn't it have spun one tire just a bit before locking???

So now I'm curious and need to pull the cover and see what's really in there... But first I thought I'd submit a poll, as my Poll Whore status has been falling lately, and I'm wondering if anyone else has had this experience...
 
I had a buddy who had a lock-rite in the front of his zuki, he busted the pins and somehow it lodged together forming a spool... lucky him.
 
If everything was working the way it was supposed to you should never feel or see a spinning tire before the other engages, and it should smoke both of them.

The "delayed reaction" gov bombs are the ones that blow up all the time.
 
Well, my Gov Loc worked the same way, have video of me wheeling. Worked well around corners too, a little tire wear though. I thought I'd never break it. Well 3rd year I owned my truck, and I wheel it often, my Gov Loc grenaded on the street, almost lost my c-clips, but the broken stuff kept the pinion shaft in . My buddy has a good one on my workbench, took it out because it takes too much wheelspin to lock it /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
I had a buddy who had a lock-rite in the front of his zuki, he busted the pins and somehow it lodged together forming a spool... lucky him.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have him replace the pins. Sounds like the clutch plates are stuck on the pinion shaft. When they come loose, all the slop will lock/unlock the unit often and under power it could snap an axleshaft /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif
 
I've driven MANY vehicles with Gov-Locks, and the only time they make noise is when the friction modifier wasn't put in after the lube was changed.

No wait a second... they make a ton of noise when they blow up too /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif /forums/images/graemlins/rotfl.gif

Also done brake stands with Gov-Locks. On nice dry pavement, two-tire fire is not a given. Still end up one-legging it 50-60% of the time.

If you don't have a real locker in there, you're lucky you don't have an exit hole in your the diff cover /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif

I had a 12-bolt (open) shoot a spider out the diff cover. My Bro had a Ford 8" (also open) in a '68 Cougar that was pretending to be a locker. All the brake stands had taken its toll. The crosspin had worn itself a SLOT in the diff case and the spiders only had 2 or 3 teeth left. So when he loaded it up, one wheel would slip a 1/4 turn before it "locked" (jammed /forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif ), and then roast both tires /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif. He beat on it like that all summer before it finally let go /forums/images/graemlins/rotfl.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
I've driven MANY vehicles with Gov-Locks, and the only time they make noise is when the friction modifier wasn't put in after the lube was changed.

No wait a second... they make a ton of noise when they blow up too /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif /forums/images/graemlins/rotfl.gif

Also done brake stands with Gov-Locks. On nice dry pavement, two-tire fire is not a given. Still end up one-legging it 50-60% of the time.

If you don't have a real locker in there, you're lucky you don't have an exit hole in your the diff cover /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif

I had a 12-bolt (open) shoot a spider out the diff cover. My Bro had a Ford 8" (also open) in a '68 Cougar that was pretending to be a locker. All the brake stands had taken its toll. The crosspin had worn itself a SLOT in the diff case and the spiders only had 2 or 3 teeth left. So when he loaded it up, one wheel would slip a 1/4 turn before it "locked" (jammed /forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif ), and then roast both tires /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif. He beat on it like that all summer before it finally let go /forums/images/graemlins/rotfl.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I've blown up about every type of diff that GM has built since 1978... But never something in a 12-bolt.

I had a 1979 2.93 7.5" posi behind a 406... It actually did blow chunks, grind like a blender for a bit, then manage to bind up the chunks into a mass in the center that worked as a spool long enough for me to drive about 30 miles home... Every once in a while it would slip a bit and rearrange the chunks, but I made it home. I actually reused the 2.93's.

I had a Cadillac with an 8.5" 10-bolt open diff, and it exploded, split the center pin in half, and drove/ripped a gash through the diff cover as half of the center pin exited the rear of the diff.

Had two '88-'89 S10 4x4 7-5/8" Gov-Loks grenade and actually split the case, letting little tiny clock-like internals scatter everywhere, creating enough debris to destroy everything inside the diff.

Grenaded the front diff on an '84 4x4 S10 Blazer (size unknown, definitely way too small) when I was driving it on the front diff only with a 240 hp V8 and beating it relentlessly. Case was aluminum. After trying to climb a rock staircase and ramming it as hard as I could, bouncing the front end off the ground beneath the weight of a V8, the front diff literally grenaded, the diff split completely open in several places, the internals scattered in all directions, and by some miracle, one front wheel still drug me around under power. Most of the parts were still contained by the skidplates under the diff.

Never had a 12-bolt in anything though. Whole new world of potential grenades for me... I'm not really planning on upgrading my 10/12 bolt axle combo, but when one completely becomes disabled I'll go for full D60/D70 combo and 38" tires with a 6" lift.

So I guess we'll see how much abuse the 12-bolt can take... I should be able to pull the cover tomorrow sometime...

Paul 'X' /forums/images/graemlins/peace.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
I dont think there are clutch plates in a lock right

[/ QUOTE ]

That is what the piece in between the pinion shaft and drive gear is called , at least in my Quic Loc manual, which is so simillar to Lockright. I WASN'T meaning the little shims/discs/clutches in a conventional posi . /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif
 
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