Recommendations for locking rear differential?

[86burb]

Hello:
I am new to this forum and it looks like a great information resource.

I have an '86 Suburban, 3/4 ton, 4x4, with 14 bolt 10.5" rear end. It has 3.73 gearing and does not have limited slip. It's use will be 85-90% street and dirt roads here in Vermont, with the balance being mild off road. We also get a fair amount of bad weather up here (like today). I drive it about 7000 miles/year.

I'd like to know the members recommendations for a locking rear diff, or for a limited slip.

Thank you,

[1976K5CHALET]

For mild use a limited slip diff will be just fine. And being a somewhat locking diff there will be a learning curve on its effect on how the vehicle responds in different terrains and conditions. For light duty 4 wheeling like a two track to the lake and such they are great...and depending on brand they can grip enough to go where they (you) shouldn't. Speaking from experience i started out years ago with a Auburn pro series diffs in the front and rear of my 79 K5 while we swapped up to 4.10 gears. It was great for what it was intended for until i started to push the limits a bit as can be seen in the March 03 issue of Offroad....K5 vs. waterfall....thats me stuck on my rock sliders in the winching article. However i was impressed when the front LS twisted my drivers side shaft up and spit some u joint caps...and btw when you twist a shaft they are a bear to get out of the knuckle. Once i had overcome the LS and grown to 35's i went back to a stock diff and a and a lock right or as i now call them a pop right. Course i have to give the lock right some credit as they do list max tire height as 31". And 35's...rocks and some wheel spin handily break the pins in the pop right which are replaceable...but by that time the side gear surfaces are kinda screwed at that point. A cheaper solution than a LS...easily installed in place of the stock spider gears but...it has bad street manners and in your winter weather i would not advise you try that. Next up is the detroit locker...a full time locker as the pop right that costs in the neighbor hood of 5-6 hundred dollars and has the ultimate in traction....currently that is what is in the rear of my 12 bolt in the 79 for another couple of weeks anways after close to 5 years of 90% street driving and 10% true offroad use...and the offroad use was hard to extreme with out any failures at all and for the desert southwest of phx it was fine for a daily driver and had believe it or not better street manners than a pop right. Next up we have what is known as a selectable locker...more expensive than the other options...but acts like a normal open differential when not engaged. I just installed an ARB locker (air operated) in the front gm 10B my 79 K5 has...since we discovered 2 years back at EJS that the front end wasn't pulling it was time to due something about it. If this is a way you want to explore then your luck is pretty good as ARB has just introduced a air locker for the gm 14B rear end...there again more cost but more traction when you want it with the flip of a switch.


I'd say go with the LS unless you can afford the ARB for the rear and then you will have traction like a detroit with a flip of the switch.


Another place you can try for brand specific info is CK5.com....my second home i think sometimes....lol. Great place and they have an annual gathering called Blazer Bash in Moab Utah....been lucky enough to attend all of them and this year i won a brand new soft top for one of my blazer projects!


Doug Wright

[JIMs70GMC]

I liked the power-lock I had in my 70 GMC, but it was nothing compared to the detroit locker I had in my 70 Chevy. Those trucks are gone and now I have my burb with a gov-loc in the 14BSF, but I have a 14BFF also with a gov-loc I'm going to install. gov-locs in 10B are week, but the general consensus on CK5 is that the gov-loc in the 14BSF and 14BFF are up for moderate wheeling/tire height.

[86burb]

Thanks, Guys.

I'll probably go with the factory type limited slip in the rear --- the eaton gov loc, I think. That would do it for now, with the idea that an ox locker could go in the front (10 bolt) in the future. That way, if I needed the front locked, it'd be locked, but if on the highway it would be open and the back would have okay manners. A lot of snow/ice up this way for half the year, anyway.

Any other thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks again.

Bill

[1976K5CHALET]

I would tend to stay away from the OX locker as one they have allways had cable problems....and the company has changed hands a few times over the years. If you want a LS i don't recommend the gov bomb....an eaton with clutch plates or a auburn with there cone design seems to last longer and they are a rebuildable unit. With an eaton you can change out clutch plates to rebuild it and auburn gear has a factory rebuild program. My auburn is in a box currently....but i don't know how much auburn charges for the service...if it was affordable i'd give you my core but i think your 86 10B shafts ar 30 splines compared to my older 10B with 28 splines.

Doug Wright

[86burb]

Thanks for the heads up on the ox locker, etc. Where is the least expensive place on the internet for buying Auburns and Eatons??

Bill