i was wondering if any body know who if any make a electronic or air locker for the front end on a 2012 gmc. I tried google and all it ...

i was wondering if any body know who if any make a electronic or air locker for the front end on a 2012 gmc. I tried google and all it shows are the rear one. Do they even make a locker for the front. of is that just on solid front axles??

thanks

Installing a front locker is not a very good decision in a daily driver, or vehicle that gets road use. The truck will not turn with the front diff. locked, not even the slightest bit. Every time you want to turn/steer, you will have to unlock the front difff. which leaves you with a regular 2wd truck.

The open front diff. in the truck is what allows you to turn by letting the wheels spin at different revolutions. The inside wheel in the direction you are turning has a tighter turn radius than the outside tracking wheel. With the front diff. locked that all goes out the window. When attempting to turn with the front diff. locked the inside wheel will be stressed because it's turning at the same rate the outside wheel is turning and will cause components to bind which leads to your front end parts breaking (it has happened to me off road several times). Not practical at all for driving on the street.

The ONLY place a front locker works is when being used hard core offroading and going in a straight line, without turning. With years of offroad experience, I would highly suggest you do not install a front locker. It is going to make the truck impossible to turn/steer and will be a waste of money.

thank you for all this info will not do it now

BlackZ71Silverado wrote:Installing a front locker is not a very good decision in a daily driver, or vehicle that gets road use. The truck will not turn with the front diff. locked, not even the slightest bit. Every time you want to turn/steer, you will have to unlock the front difff. which leaves you with a regular 2wd truck.

The open front diff. in the truck is what allows you to turn by letting the wheels spin at different revolutions. The inside wheel in the direction you are turning has a tighter turn radius than the outside tracking wheel. With the front diff. locked that all goes out the window. When attempting to turn with the front diff. locked the inside wheel will be stressed because it's turning at the same rate the outside wheel is turning and will cause components to bind which leads to your front end parts breaking (it has happened to me off road several times). Not practical at all for driving on the street.

The ONLY place a front locker works is when being used hard core offroading and going in a straight line, without turning. With years of offroad experience, I would highly suggest you do not install a front locker. It is going to make the truck impossible to turn/steer and will be a waste of money.

They don't make one for a 1500 just because of that reason. Things will break.

chevyheavy wrote:i was wondering if any body know who if any make a electronic or air locker for the front end on a 2012 gmc. I tried google and all it shows are the rear one. Do they even make a locker for the front. of is that just on solid front axles??

thanks

I would think ARB would make one. As stated above, unless you plan on doing serious off roading it's not worth the money.

BlackZ71Silverado wrote:Installing a front locker is not a very good decision in a daily driver, or vehicle that gets road use. The truck will not turn with the front diff. locked, not even the slightest bit. Every time you want to turn/steer, you will have to unlock the front difff. which leaves you with a regular 2wd truck.

The open front diff. in the truck is what allows you to turn by letting the wheels spin at different revolutions. The inside wheel in the direction you are turning has a tighter turn radius than the outside tracking wheel. With the front diff. locked that all goes out the window. When attempting to turn with the front diff. locked the inside wheel will be stressed because it's turning at the same rate the outside wheel is turning and will cause components to bind which leads to your front end parts breaking (it has happened to me off road several times). Not practical at all for driving on the street.

The ONLY place a front locker works is when being used hard core offroading and going in a straight line, without turning. With years of offroad experience, I would highly suggest you do not install a front locker. It is going to make the truck impossible to turn/steer and will be a waste of money.

One of the recent trucks I owned had non-selectable Detroits fore and aft, I daily drove it and used 4wd on slippery roads all the time...never had a single issue the entire time I owned it (four years and 150k miles) and there was more than one occasion that having locking diffs made the difference between being stranded at a jobsite or out of town, and getting home. While they do make handling a little different than an open differential, they are far from being unstreetable. That was in a 99 Dodge 2500 Cummins with a D70 rear and D60 front...I drove that truck cross country nearly once a month.

With that said, I would opt for selectable lockers (ARB, Electrac, Ox Locker) just so the OP can have that "factory feel" under normal conditions and full lock when needed. However, the front axle is a weak point on ANY vehicle (even the golden standard Dana 60 has its weaknesses), and any truck owner needs to understand that. Lockers are one of those things that you don't need but one time, and that one time can be a life saver.

I have probably more than 300k miles with locking differentials in various trucks I've owned, and I've never suffered a single drive train component failure from their use. And those trips were on anything from smooth interstate highway to some of the trails around Moab, UT. Point being, understanding the limits of your equipment goes a long way...some guys can twist off huge 1.5 inch Dana 70 axles with an open differential on dirt, while others can make a wimpy Dana 44 with a locker survive forever in the rocks. 99% of preventing breakage is the driver's finesse.