It was bound to happen. The Eaton G80 locker that came stock with my 1990 Suburban finally puked. To those familiar with this differential it will come as a surprised to hear it lasted 24 years. To those that have no idea what I am on about, just Google it and you should find nothing but pain and suffering.
It is well known that the G80 is a cheap and flawed piece and can barely handle its intended deign. First signs of problems are when the locking feature refusing to work no matter how fast a tire spins. As far as I remember it has not functioned correctly since buying the truck three years ago.
A brief overview of how the locking feature works; when a wheel beings to slip one side of the spider gear assembly is spinning faster than the other, the centripetal force causes a cam to actuate and lock both sides of the differential together. When this ceases to function problems are on the horizon because something has broken. Main reasons for early failure of any part usually boil down to inferior materials or machining processes. On top of this if a steel part is not designed correctly it will suffer from premature failure due to fatigue. In the specific case of a differential, if a part where to break off and get stuck in the spider gear arrangement, catastrophic damage would occur.
A brief overview of how the locking feature works; when a wheel beings to slip one side of the spider gear assembly is spinning faster than the other, the centripetal force causes a cam to actuate and lock both sides of the differential together. When this ceases to function problems are on the horizon because something has broken. Main reasons for early failure of any part usually boil down to inferior materials or machining processes. On top of this if a steel part is not designed correctly it will suffer from premature failure due to fatigue. In the specific case of a differential, if a part where to break off and get stuck in the spider gear arrangement, catastrophic damage would occur.
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| Detroit Locker TrueTrtac |
Specifically what events transpired to cause the damage seen below I cannot determine. To remedy the situation and never ever have this problem again I chose to spend a large sum of money and purchase a Eaton Detroit Locker TrueTrac limited slip differential. This is based off the Torsion flavor of transmitting power and works wonderfully while being pretty much bulletproof as long as the oil it sits in is maintained. All told I will have about 5 days time in labor and about 850 dollars in parts. Apparently this is how my truck thanks me after giving the engine a tune up the day before.
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| Ring Gear and Carrier Damage |
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| Carrier and Spider Gear Damage |
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| Dropped Axle Out of Truck |
