SO I recently got my 1991 Camaro RS, this car isnt stock, it has a 6.6L 400ci small block and a t5 5-speed tranny, this car was semi-restored a few years ago so the car is in beautiful shape for how old it is, it originally came from Missouri so its a southern car, but all things a side, me and my good friend did a rear end swap and we're not expert mechanics so something went wrong which I do believe has nothing to do with us improperly installing it.

The original differential was a open-diff 2.92 ratio and I picked up a GM 10bolt 8.5" 3.73 Locker for $600 from a Camaro shop in my area (Full axle setup, gears, drum brake setup) and it took us 11 hours to swap it all out and the teeth where meshed good and everything seemed fine. Now two days later driving back from a Camaro shop in my area, I start to hear a really bad grinding noise in the backend I though maybe something with the driveshaft but when I took the dif cover off and drained the fluid, there was small rods bent and chunks of metal stuck to the magnet and I looked closer to see it was what I believe to be an anti reversal latch and/or counter weights for the locker mechanism.

Now what I want to know is is this mechanism essential to the locker operating in the way it should? (Both wheels locking) or would it be fine to remove all the damaged parts and leave it how it is. Or do I need to get new mechanism before its okay to drive, if thats the case, please inform me on what they are called because im very new to all of this and I dont know what they are called so I have no idea how to look for new ones to buy.

 

sounds like you discovered why that carrier is called the gov bomb, it just failed. It will no longer lock up so your best bet is to replace it with a clutch style diff.

 

Ended going with a Eaton Detroit Locker, thing works amazing and handles the torque with ease