I am looking at buying a g-80 for my truck which has a open rear, is there anyway to tell if the rear end is working properly out of the truck?
thanks couldn�t find a thread on it being out of the truck.

 

If you are going through all the trouble i would upgrade to an eaton or true-track. The G-80 has a bad reputation even in a stock vehicle

 

I�m thinking I might end up doing that, everyone wants at least 500$ for a rear end around here.

 

Thats TruTrac money. Spend it wisely or not at all.

 

would the true track be better or equal in the snow and muddy roads than the g80?

 

Superior by a long shot.

 

looks like I�ll be doing that I assume my 2000 Silverado has the 30 splines?

 

The G80 (GM's universal RPO code for limited slip; not really a "part #" as such, but, almost as good if matched with an application) is an explosion waiting to happen. In trucks, it means an Eaton Gov-Lock. Exsqueeze me, a Gov-Bomb, Grenade-lock, ... yeah, that.

It was originally designed as a solution for military vehicles with underpowered very little gas-using engines in military off-road vehicles (thimk, an armored S-10 blazer painted olive drab camo with white spots because it's winter, with a ground-pounding 31 HP John Deere diesel) that were NEVER supposed to go onto pavement, but only on very low-traction surfaces (thimk, freshly shelled no-man's-land between the trenches in central / eastern Europe after the Russkis and Krauts and Frogs and Limeys and whoever else get through pounding it with heavy artillery for a few months, then it snows) hauling the wounded. It is NOT in any way a "high performance" part. It allows a very low-power low-speed vehicle to achieve maximum traction on very slick surfaces. It is NOT meant for pavement. (have I used the word "low" enough in this context yet?)

It has a "governor" (weights on a spinning shaft that sling outwards as they spin faster) that operate a set of dogs. The way it works is, NO POSI ACTION WHATSOEVER occurs (it's an open, i.e. unlimited slip diff) until the RPM difference between the axles exceeds some threshold, somewhere around 150 RPM; and at that point, it locks up SOLID. If this happens while ANY tires have traction, it results in a loud BANG. If enough power is being applied at the moment, it dissolves into shrapnel under the instantaneous stress.

Here are acoupla pristine examples of what happens next from the Interwebz. Pretty typical, in my experience. I kinda wish a had a photo of the one somebody complained about that shot flaming red-hot metal pieces through the rear axle cover and into his gas tank. I think he had to buy new underwear afterwards, and maybe even a new front seat cover.





Yes AFAIK the 8.6 rears in the light duty ones of these trucks have 30 splines.

 

Hey I just discovered, the forum won't let me post AFAIK!!! It's just like the abbreviation for Push Rod, which is PR!!! Must be a racial slur or some other politically incorrect something or other in some language I don't know. (didn't think there was any such thing... I know ALOT of languages, and ALOT of racial slurs in most of them, but AFAIK isn't in any of them)

 

you can hover over it or double click to highlight it to see it
odd

maybe b/c all caps /shrug