GM gov-loc advice

[justn84]

I recently bought one of these units at a swap meet for 50$.I have been shoping for gears as of lately and every time i mention it peoples responses are "oh that peice of crap".so what is the real deal your honest opinion on the GM gov loc is it any good?



Thanks Justin

[lurch115]

some more details might be a little better.....are you talking about a locker from gov. trucks, or out of the police interceptor cars

[justn84]

not shure about it at all,I know gov stand for the method of oporation

It is one of the factory postrac units. its for a 10 bolt



looks like this

[cliffsta]

I've gathered from the general consensus around here that the GM Gov-Loc units are not that great. I think it has something to do with the harshness of the "lock" part of operation I would assume that if you are driving on the street and you don't have a high-performance truck, it would work fine.

[Russell]

The Gov lock in my 14 bolt has outlasted 3 trucks now, and still locks up just fine.

Thats a 14 bolt though, 10 bolts arn't quite as tough...

[edman87]

It is not the harshness of the locking that makes them junk, it is the lack of locking. The 14 bolt units are better, but not suited to harsh use.

[ElGracho]

The GM Gov Lok is a misunderstood piece by many people. It's not a locker at all and doesn't operate harshly. It's a clutch type posi unit that only actuates under a certain speed (around 30 mph but depends on tire size since the posi goes by ring gear rpm) (hence the gov or governor part of the name). They did this to prevent side slipping when a posi actuates with one tire on ice at highway speeds.

Just like other clutch type posi units, they do wear over time and lose the ability to hold torque. I've had a couple and had no problems with them. I talked to Randy's Ring and Pinion about them, they said the biggest problem with them was that when they failed, they tended to take out every other part in the differential. I think this is where they get their bad reputation.

GM still uses this design in their new trucks and even behind the Duramax so I don't think it can be all bad...

[hiway]

I agree with the "when they fail they take out everything in the diff" part. They will...I even ended up with a hole in the cover. Don't hot rod them or jerk them around to much.

[Captkaos]

The reason most people say that is because of hearsay. They knew someone that had one that grenaded, or they knew someone that knew someone.......
For a daily driver there is absolutely nothing wrong with them. They work just like ElGracho described and they work well.

They are designed to engage both wheels under slippage. They are not designed for full throttle assault (wide open throttle in a rock crawler, mud, snow, ice,…think finesse). They can be used for street fun but for a serious drag truck, you will need to keep an eye on it since as described once it goes bad, they have a tendency to come apart. For full on drag cars I wouldn’t considering one. In reality all diffs have a life expectancy, just like oil, shocks, springs, u-joints, etc. Most people drive it till it breaks down or fails.

[SSC's76]

Well then I'll chime in here. I had 2 gov lock setups in my camaro. I grenaded the first one 3 weeks after I got the car. I did not "abuse" it I came to a stop sign that had some loose gravel, got on the gas enough to break the tires loose got some clean pavment let off the gas and blaaclunk. The car screached to a halt. The second grenade lock let go at the track with a measly 165hp L69 putting the umph out.

The problem is when you do get traction with a gov lock the pins in the picture above break out of the carrier and boom.

[84 400]

i had a gove lock in it and it worked great with the 305 i had no wheel spin ever. in the snow it was a blast doing doughnuts in the parking lots. the only time it gave me trouble was when i was cornering slow and i could here it clunking. after changing the gear oil it was fine. i wish i had swapped it inot my 84 so i could get a two tire fire. this was not posi really it had an "I" shape bar in it and it coked up not like a limited slip.

[badpeanut]

I had a 4x2 with a 12-bolt Gov-lock. I drove it easy, but one tooth on the "Swiss watch" locking mechanism broke off when I was 100miles from home. Made it home under its own power, but chewed things up until the cover magnet caught the tooth. Even in a pickup treated nicely a 12-bolt Gov-lock WILL break--the question is just WHEN. A 10-bolt Gov-lock's performance will be similar. If they are free use them until they break, but don't spend money on them.

I have heard the 14-bolt Gov-locks are better, but I don't have any experience.

I like the idea behind the Gov-lock, but I replaced it with an Eaton which I'm very happy with.

[edman87]

a gov lock is OK at best and that is on a truck that sees nothing worse than a gravel road with stock size and traction tires in a 4wd truck. In a 2wd street truck, it is Ok for a stock truck driven easily. As said before, when it goes, it wipes out everything else too.

[Zoomad75]

They are called gov bombs for a reason. Kaos has a point that if treated gently they won't break. The problem is when one of us power hungry addicts starts hammering on one. It's only a matter of time before it blows up. The silly thing is they can grenade due to extreme punishment or just turning the corner in the rain, slipping and then catching traction under light throttle. For it to break in such light use might be due to previous beatings and finally letting go. From what I've seen, once you hear something snap, its too late. They rarely give any warning to thier impending doom.

[jimfulco]

[crazy longhorn]

2 words......TRASH CAN! the last pic should tell the story CrazyL