83 chevy 1/2 ton posi front axle

[rayfinseats]

My 83 chevy 1/2 ton had a posi 10 bolt from the factory. I was wondering if the front end would have been posi also? Can't check right now because it's across town in storage and cold out. It still has all the codes on the glove box door. Posi option.

[BIG V]

not that i've ever seen. I havent seen it on anything gm unless it was a 1 ton forest service truck or a military 1 ton.

[LONGHAIR]

I have heard claims that they existed in the 67-72 generation, but have never seen one personally.
As far as 73-87? Not that I am aware of, except for COPO type trucks, Forrest Service, Millitary, maybe some other large fleets that had that abitity.

These trucks were intended for street (winter) and light farm use, not extreme off-roading....and a posi unit in the front is not the most friendly thing. Even one in the rear of an un-loaded truck can be tricky for a novice.

[bark]

I put a posi, diff in the front and a locker in the rear of an 84 1/2, it worked awesome, all 4 tires did what they were supposed to do, and had no issues driving it at all. Mind you it did have locking hubs on the front. So just cause it wasn't factory doesn't mean it can't be done

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by bark

So just cause it wasn't factory doesn't mean it can't be done

Of course -

...but we chose not to release a front locker due to customer pleaseability issues ("crabbing" at low speeds) and durability concerns, because the front diff is slightly smaller than the rear diff.

We did have some factory released front lockers for some other models in later years, like H3, and air lockers are available in the aftermarket for pretty much everything.

But just because it can be done doesn't mean the factory should do it (to flip your phrase around - lol). The constraints of warranty cost and production volume tend to make OE manufacturers a bit more conservative. We used to have a saying: "...at Chevy, you don't make one mistake; you make a million of 'em".

To answer the original the original question more directly - no. The G80 option gets you a "non-open" diff in the rear, only. Front axle was not affected.

K