Locking rear on 3/4 ton pickup

[zbrian1]

Need some opinions from the long time truck owners in the group. I'm planning on buying a 2004 Silverado 2500 Crew Cab 2WD (my first pickup truck). Is the locking rear necessary if I'm not planning on driving in any significant snow? I am planning on towing a 6000 lb. travel trailer. Any thoughts?

[2002azblazer]

Originally Posted by zbrian1

Need some opinions from the long time truck owners in the group. I'm planning on buying a 2004 Silverado 2500 Crew Cab 2WD (my first pickup truck). Is the locking rear necessary if I'm not planning on driving in any significant snow? I am planning on towing a 6000 lb. travel trailer. Any thoughts?

Hey,
I might be too late but it is a good idea to have a locking rear end in the truck. Chevy uses a rearend called a gov-locker. It only lockes up I believe under 30 or 40 miles per hour. I mostly is like an open rear end untill you loose traction on one of the wheels. When the wheel starts turning forward or reverse, it tightens against the clutch packs and forces both the wheels to turn together so that the wheel that has traction will help push you along. Then when the torque equals out it disengages back to normal. This helps prevent tire excessive tire ware like you get with lockers and limited slips. If you want to have fun go test drive two trucks, one with and one without. The one with the gov-locker will go much farther than the other.