Offroad Trailblazers and Envoys

LockRight Front Locker Installed

G80, GU6, GT4, GT5, WTF? This section is for gearing and driveline stuff.

by Jon A » Fri Dec 31, 2010 2:19 am

Well, I "went and did it." The install wasn't bad mainly because I didn't end up completely removing the diff housing:

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All I really did "extra" is undo the belt and unbolt the AC compressor so I could push it out of the way a bit. Now I don't have the swaybar running through the frame, those of you who do may be SOL for this method as it would take up valuable working space.

Don't get me wrong, it probably takes a good 45 minutes extra to get at all the bolts to the diff cover and some extra skin off your knuckles but I think I spent more time than that merely thinking about how to get the entire diff out, much less doing it. Since I wasn't changing gears which is a fair amount more complicated, it didn't seem necessary once I got the cover out. I found Alex's pics of the front diff here: http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php?t=42226 helpful in locating all the cover bolts.

Anyway, when you get the cover off the carrier will literally fall right out (be careful). Stock:

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I found this thread very helpful for putting the LockRight in: http://www.zr2usa.com/mboard/lofiversio ... 14974.html . I pretty much just followed his procedure and pics as they were easier to follow than the LockRight instructions. I didn't replace the carrier bearings, I'm not sure why he thinks that's required as what's inside the carrier doesn't affect them in any way. But other than that I just copied the steps.

The LockRight:

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It's surprisingly simple.

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All done.
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by fishsticks » Fri Dec 31, 2010 2:55 am

Well done sir! You beat me to it!


Washington State represent! :mrgreen:


Edit: Damn you, I'm buying one now. If I can't be the first, I'm gonna be the second! :finger:
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by BigAndyS » Fri Dec 31, 2010 9:13 am

I have thought about doing a front and rear locker. With the front, is there any major concerns about blowing the diff to pieces? Well, any more than normal?
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by bartonmd » Fri Dec 31, 2010 9:22 am

Awesome!! Good to see that there's a way to do it without removing the engine or something!

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by janesy86 » Fri Dec 31, 2010 9:30 am

Nicely done and Thank you sir!! Can't wait to hear some results! :cheers:
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by Zero » Fri Dec 31, 2010 10:20 am

how does your new front locker work compared to a g80? does it also lock after a difference in wheel spin? it didnt look electronic or air powered to me in the pics.
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by Gordinho80 » Fri Dec 31, 2010 10:33 am

Wow! You and your rig came out of the blue with a full head of steam. Nicely done on the locker! I can't wait to see whats next.
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by janesy86 » Fri Dec 31, 2010 10:42 am

Zero wrote:how does your new front locker work compared to a g80? does it also lock after a difference in wheel spin? it didnt look electronic or air powered to me in the pics.


Lockrites are always locked once in 4x4. Nothing fancy at all. And there will be a ratcheting sound that comes from it as well, which is normal.
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by Hpimichael02 » Fri Dec 31, 2010 11:47 am

what model number did you use??? where did you get t from ?
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by fishsticks » Fri Dec 31, 2010 3:49 pm




That's the part. You can find it cheaper. Best place I've found while looking is at http://www.rocky-road.com/lockright.html.
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by Hpimichael02 » Fri Dec 31, 2010 5:33 pm

i love you , just ordered mine :))))
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by janesy86 » Fri Dec 31, 2010 6:47 pm

Hpimichael02 wrote:just ordered mine :))))


Cool!! At least now we will have more feedback on how its working out! Really want to know how the aluminum diff will hold up.

But thanks for being pioneers... :cheers:
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by DmccartneyFF2TB » Fri Dec 31, 2010 8:17 pm

Awsome work!!!
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by DJones » Fri Dec 31, 2010 11:34 pm

Nice work! Waiting for the results...
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by Jon A » Sat Jan 01, 2011 12:19 am

I've got about 150 miles on it now and the housing is dry as a bone and it's working perfectly so it seems to be a successful install. Today I took my wife and kids up in search of some deeper snow for a little afternoon sledding/picnic. Here are a few pics:

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So far, I love it. While the above wasn't remotely a challenge, it was certainly enough to get a feel for the difference in traction. And boy do you feel a difference. You just really don't spin the tires anymore, relatively speaking. It just pulls. There were a few deeper spots where the road switches back in the timber and it had drifted over a bit (and where the guy who went up before us had some trouble) and it just drove through like nothing.

One of the things I was worried might be more difficult was turning around, which can often be a challenge on roads like that when there's snow. This too was easier. Though I didn't crank the wheel as sharply and was easy on the throttle, the added traction makes the whole thing easier--no worries that if you drop one wheel in the ditch too far you'll get stuck. There's no spinning one front and the ditch dictating which way the vehicle points as the front is dragged around, the front just pulls the way you point the tires with no drama. Getting the vehicle stuck would be so much more difficult you can do such things with less worry.

Had I continued up that road and gained 1000+ feet elevation I'm sure I would have run into a challenge eventually but with the wife and kids along it wasn't the time to push it. I may go up alone looking for deeper stuff sometime in the next couple of days (interested in a long drive north Fishsticks?).

So far I've been pleasantly surprised with the whole "difficult steering" issue. It's certainly there but not as bad as I had imagined. That road at lower elevation before the snow got deep was glare ice for a while so I got a good feel for how it reacts on that too. While if you use too much throttle (especially on ice, but on snow too) it does want to go straight, but if you're being reasonable with the throttle the front still grabs and steers well, even on ice.

I can't say there are no situations where it could be a problem, such as a steep icy sidehill or similar where you might rather have an open diff, but so far it doesn't look like it'll be much of an issue. Even on glare ice where I could easly spin all four really fast when I put my foot down, with moderate throttle it still turned fine. You do have to turn the wheel a bit farther and you do feel resistance to turning the wheel, but it'll go where you make it go. Now that's just at offroad/gravel road type speeds, not highway speeds. There was some ice on the highway going up there but I just left it in 2WD for that.

One of the bigger surprises was how easily the wheels will ratchet apart from each other when there's no torque on the front driveshaft. I was thinking once the disconnect is connected, the wheels would be locked together so hard that steering issues would be the same for Auto 4WD and 4HI on something like ice because there wouldn't be enough traction to ratchet the wheels apart.

Not so. They spin very freely when there's no torque. If you jack up the front and put it in Auto 4WD so the front disconnect is connected but there's no torque on the driveshaft, you can spin each front with your hands independently. The ratcheting action is easier to activate in the locker than it is to overcome the inertia of the other tire and make it spin. Very easy and more quiet than I expected. Of course when you put it in 4HI, the fronts are LOCKED together solid.

What this means is the steering in Auto 4WD is largely unaffected much of the time. I was assuming the days of using this mode on mixed condition city streets (where I have used it a lot and find it very helpful) would be over with this installed but I don't think that's the case. It seems to turn about as well as it does in 2WD on ice making it very drivable under light throttle. Now when you spin the rears and the front kicks in, it KICKS IN. It will jerk the wheel (trying to straighten it out) and your steering angle will change. But as mentioned above, it still seems to turn OK with the front locked as long as you know what to expect. But boy does it pull!

In 2WD you can't tell it's there. Not at all. The driver's front tire spins the driveshaft which simply freewheels I presume, the right front spins nothing due to the disconnect obviously, they both spin freely without any clicking. So unlike more aggressive diffs/lockers, etc, in the rear, there is no noticeable downside or change of any sort in daily driving in 2WD for this modification.

Those are my thoughts on it with the very limited experience I have with it so far, I'll update as I try more things with it.
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by Jon A » Sat Jan 01, 2011 12:56 am

BigAndyS wrote:With the front, is there any major concerns about blowing the diff to pieces? Well, any more than normal?

At this point I'd have to say yes. There are certainly situations where it will increase the chance of part breakage. There are other situations where it should decrease the chance of part breakage. On balance, it's hard to say and I don't think we'll know the correct answer of how big an influence it is either way until a bunch of us have spent some time with them installed. But the safe money for now is to expect it to be harder on things and have some spare half shafts and tie rods handy. Hopefully the halfshafts will break before the diff case, but right now we just don't know. Of course most of us here are on 32's & 33's, I think with significantly bigger it would be quite a bit more risky. But that's just a gut feel guess.

As with most things however, I think sensible use of the right foot is as big a factor as any, if not the biggest factor. You don't want to spin and bounce the tires, spin them where they can grab traction suddenly, use a lot of throttle with the wheels turned sharply, etc. Just some common sense stuff may be the best guard against broken parts.
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by Jon A » Sat Jan 01, 2011 1:09 am

Zero wrote:how does your new front locker work compared to a g80? does it also lock after a difference in wheel spin? it didnt look electronic or air powered to me in the pics.

From an offroad performance standpoint, it's WAY better. As soon as you ease into the throttle and put a little torque on the driveshaft, the tires are solidly locked together. So instead of spinning one tire up to 7 MPH (which usually isn't desirable) and then kicking the other in, you don't spin at all, the tire with traction moves you forward with no drama. Now with it in front and the G80 in the rear, the G80 is like an open diff nearly all the time--I need to spin all three of my other tires before it wakes up and kicks in the 4th. That's OK in slow speed snow or mud, but not what you want in rocks. Also the G80 shuts off at 20 MPH, so if you try and get up a big snowy hill that you need to hit with some speed and/or your spinning the tires faster than 20 MPH (which really isn't very fast) the G80 is no better than an open diff. So that'll be the next to go.

However, the G80 is very "streetable" in that it acts like an open diff almost all the time on the street. Lockers like the LockRight or No Slip or Detroit, etc, are locked anytime you apply torque which will change 2WD driving characteristics on the street (when installed in the rear).
Last edited by Jon A on Sat Jan 01, 2011 1:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by fishsticks » Sat Jan 01, 2011 1:19 am

Did you have to pull your intermediate shaft? Or were you able to pry the diff off of it without any drama?

In your opinion, is there enough room in there to pull the pinion out the back as well? How about getting a dial indicator in there? If I can do my gear swap the same way it sure would be nice.

I'm up in Seattle at least once or twice a month for work. Everett isn't a huge deal. I'm just short on free time right now... I need to get out there and take my truck apart. I literally have parts piling up that need to go on it.
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by Jon A » Sat Jan 01, 2011 1:47 am

Yes, I pulled the intermediate drive shaft through the oil pan before unbolting the diff. It was pretty easy. I got the GM tool (J-45104) to connect it to a slide hammer. But before I even connected the slide hammer I figured I'd give prying on it a try and it popped right out easily. A bolt in the end would have worked just as well.

I'd say there is room to get the pinion out. You can get a dial indicator in there but I'm not sure how you measure anything with a clamshell housing like this. You can't see the gears and nothing is held in place unless it's all bolted together. I'm probably not the best person to ask as I don't know what all is involved setting up gears in a housing like that. I can say if you need to split it apart and bolt it back together again multiple times, it's probably worth it to pull the diff out. Getting all those bolts out and back in once is enough of a PITA, if you have to do it multiple times you might go nuts.
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by bartonmd » Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:33 am

Very cool!

The only thing I'll add is that it more than likely spins the front prop shaft in 2WD, which gives some parasitic loss, which will affect fuel mileage, slightly...

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