rear diff lockers

on my 1984 blazer 4x4 6.2 diesel, do they all have governed lockers in the rear? and if so can they be removed without changing the gear set?

Not sure if the 10 bolt rear is open carrier or posi. but the gear set will not matter with ether one.

They all came with the gov lock. To remove you would have to swap carriers.

how does the governed locker work? how does it control the vehicle?

bodiman said:

how does the governed locker work? how does it control the vehicle?

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How does it work? Very poorly!

A gov-lock uses centrifugal force. The spider gears have a small clutch pack in them as well. But once the carrier/ring start rotating at a high enough rate, a flyweight is flung out causing the locker to engage. In theory it sounds great. But the truth of the matter is that that flyweight typically engages the locker at the worst time possible. When a single axle is spinning much faster than the opposing one. (Or not spinning at all!)

There's no means of "easing" into this engagement. That's the problem. Broken bits result due to this. (I've got a jar of broken gov-lockers guts out in my shop!) It's almost the same as if you had a vehicle with a manual transmission and you revved the engine real high then tried to slam it into gear without a clutch. You might get lucky and it simply lunge forwards making a terrible noise and causing undue wear to the transmission. But sooner or later, you'll be picking up transmission bits off the ground.

bodiman said:

how does the governed locker work? how does it control the vehicle?

Click to expand...

Our rules request capitalization.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCxqUJCZGNU

bodiman said:

how does the governed locker work? how does it control the vehicle?

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Here is an excellent explanation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftyJvIO0DZ8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

phil2968 said:

Here is an excellent explanation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftyJvIO0DZ8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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The govlock has a lot of small parts and most of the time something goes wrong, the parts end up getting chewed up in the ring and pinion.

That video really shows those small parts! Springs and weights and a small shaft.

steve6x6x6 said:

The govlock has a lot of small parts and most of the time something goes wrong, the parts end up getting chewed up in the ring and pinion.

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They make really cool snap-crackle-pop sounds when the ring and pinion chews them up. Well, before the teeth get smashed...

If you look hard enough(especially on the internet) you can find horror stories about anything.

I've owned several Gov-Lock diffs and even a couple Ford Pintos, none of which ever exploded.

Y'all hush with all the carnage talk! I'm leaving tomorrow in the M1009 for Georgia. Just north of the SSGR site. The gov locker needs to stay together for the ride.

doghead said:

If you look hard enough(especially on the internet) you can find horror storries about anything.

I've owned several Gov-Lock difs and even a couple Ford Pintos, none of which ever exploded.

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I've owned a few as well. My luck just hasn't been as good as yours. I'd like to say it was due to tires in one case (36's) and power in another. But I've had them bust in a stock truck with 29" tires as well.

Whatever you do, always make sure you're NEVER in a position where the slipping wheel is on a slick surface and the non-driving wheel is on pavement/concrete. That's how the stock one blew up on me. Backed off a driveway and slipped into a muddy water logged section of earth with my nose pointing uphill. Wasn't "gunning it" at all. Just padding the throttle when it caught. Shock loaded the locker too much in that situation.

Eaton makes a great clutch type posi. unit that is much better. Used to change them out all the time back in the 1990's.

patracy said:

They make really cool snap-crackle-pop sounds when the ring and pinion chews them up. Well, before the teeth get smashed...

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Yeah, snap-crackle-pop.............BANG!!!!! Followed by clunk-grind-clunk-grind-clunk.........rattle, rattle rattle........... As you roll to a stop along the highway. Sigh.

Gov-locks are good for what they are designed for- a simple and cost effective locking rear diff that acts nicely in most situations. 10 Bolts are not the toughest rear ends anyway but with big mudders and getting up in the air causing a free spin to lock up conversion with massive torque loads they do have a tendency to snap. For the average driver they work grand= hence GM put them in darn near all C/K's for a long long time.

the 28 spline axles are another weak point in that rear.

IF you gov-lock is going on you there are lots of options out there. My rear was going south (side teeth were chewed on= never seen that!) so I took the opportunity to get a Detroit in the rear and a Truetrac front whilst changing gears to 3.73.i've taken it off-roading in some slush/sand a couple times and with the locker in the rear I can do things that most 4x4's with posi rear/open front have trouble on. 4x4 engaged and my truck doesn't seem to care where I point it. In the snow with no weight my blazer does as expected in 2wd- goes sideways easy with the torque on the rear wheels but 4x4 and she goes easy as all get out.