Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Question about Full Size Trucks

I know Toyota makes the Tacoma in two wheel drive with locking rear differential. Are any of the full size truck available with locking rear differential? I realize I could get it put on after-market, just wondering if any brands have it as an option. Seems to me I heard Chevy had that has an option, just not sure. Thanks.

Chevy does, but its a limited slip (Gov lock) not a full locker.

Chevy calls it a locker, but it may on truth be a limited slip, I don't know.

i have a GMC 2500HD and the sticker reads ,locking read differential" but i am not a mechanic to know how far they can push that term?
My 1989 F150 would get stuck in wet grass on the level, i knew it didn't! thank heavens it had 4wd , actually 2 spin on opposite sides, it sucked!

Chevy "locks" when one wheel starts to slip. Not limited slip.

For 2011, Ford offered a true locking differential only in 4WD vehicles and a limited slip in both 4WD and 2WD. About 1/3 of the 2WD F-150s in SLT trim and above that I looked at on a dealer's lot in El Paso recently had limited slip rear ends.

Don't know about the GM Gov-locs, but the axles in the old military Chevys have real lockers, Detroits IIRC. One drive around a parking lot listening to the rear diff click and bang and the tires chirping will confirm this, it also confirms why no OEM will put a full-time locker in a truck. Most folks wouldn't buy it.

Don't care what others call them, but I've had GM's "locking rear differentials" in four S body 4x4 trucks and three full size 4x4s over the years. Going back to an '80 Chevy shortbed.

They all worked pretty damn well, because I've never gotten any of 'em stuck, in deep mud or deep snow. Including my '02 ZR2 S-10 that was into the spring thaw muck, up to the wheel hubs. Took awhile, but it came outta there eventually.

Sumbioch dribbled mud for a month afterwards, despite a small fortune spent in car wash quarters and being evicted from the first car wash, when the owner showed up. ;O)

Close enough fer me.

GM's Gov-Loc is most likely the poorest example of a limited slip differential ever made. They are biased very heavily toward comfort and "invisibility" to the driver. They are very much not a locker.

Chevy's I believe will not lock up above 25 mph!

The Gov-Loc is a torque sensing, clutch operated limited slip. There should not be a certain speed that it ceases to work, but they do not lock up very well regardless. They can be made somewhat better with some internal modifications, but they still suck.

One would be better off buying an open rear, and throwing a lunchbox locker in it.

Whatever? Like I said, they've worked fine for my needs with quite a few GM trucks, since the 80s, so no complaints here.

No rock crawling, mud bogs or sand pits. Just winter highways, work and hunting seasons in muddy and snow covered fields. You know, the conditions most of us buy 4x4s for? No complaints yet.

Yep, I have had good service from the g80 locker in gm trucks. Drive an open diff truck and you can really tell the locker is working when you get back into one with the locker.

No denying the Gov-Loc is a definite improvement over an open rear, but there are far better options. Ford's Trac-Lok is a much tighter limited slip, and whatever Mopar calls theirs is also biased heavily toward performance as opposed to comfort.

Even better than all three are lunchbox lockers, like the Lock Rite. These are very affordable, and easy to install. They are not extremely strong, but for a stock tired, occasional off roader, they are strong enough. The next step would be a Detroit, or a selectable, like the ARB or E-Locker.

Another point is a non-selectable locker (not an E-locker or ARB air locker) will put you in the ditch faster than you can say "Oh-schit" when the pavement is slick from rain or snow. An ARB is spendy but likely worth the money.

I never wound up in the ditch with any of the non selectables I have had, but the majority were in full size vehicles. Light weight rigs can get a bit squirelly. I drove a J10 Jeep with a mini spool on the street for a couple of years, and never had an issue...you just gotta learn how to drive em.

The first vehicle I can recall driving, that had a posi rear, was an uncle's new '64 Chevy BelAir. 283 and three on the tree.

On wet blacktop, that thing would go sideways quicker'n you could react, if you got rowdy with it. On the other hand, you could drive it uphill across a cut hayfield and not sit there with one wheel spinning on dewy hay stubble?

There's a strip mall several miles from home, that we frequent quite often. The entrance/exit onto a side street, can get tricky when it rains. Twp. paved the street a few years ago and it's like ice in August, in the rain, due to the fine aggregate blacktop mix used.

Coming down the hill to the mall entrance, ya better slow down to turn right into the lot, or the ABS system employs. I've seen many non-ABS vehicles slide right past the entrance on rainy days.

Conversely, coming out of the lot and onto that uphill street, makes for plenty of wheel spin when the pavement is wet. Takes a bit of throttle control to do it without incident, but I've seen guys punch it and go sideways in the street.

The last three trucks I've had, all just go where I want 'em to there, with judicious application of the foot feed. ;O)

Limited slip is better than open rear, if you can find it and that is basically what is available from the factory. Have had trucks with both (Chevy) and the limited slip is better

The only full size truck out there with real lockers is the Dodge Power Wagon. It has both front and rear e-lockers.
Years ago, I had an old 66, 3/4 ton Dodge modified with a Detroit Locker. Never, and I mean never, had any trouble on wet or icy streets with it. You just learn to work a smooth gas pedal, and it worked fine. Off road, I could drive sand flats and sand washes as long as I didn't make any sharp turns. I put over a 100,000 miles on this old truck with that locker in it.
In no way do they compare to any limited slip performance wise. E

my '07 Chevy has the "locker" in the rear, and i must say it locks up good, now i had a fried with a late '90's with the "locker" that didn't work worth a damn, a buddy of mine had an '86 with the "locker" that just flat out sucked. my '93 ford i lincoln locked it and it held up as long as i had it