I was at the junkyard today and saw an tranny on a EA82 GL with something like a diff lock. I think this is what I want for off-road, but still don't quite grasp what combinations of transmisions and rear-ends I can put together. I peeked up under the car and it had an LSD rear-end, which I know I want. This looked like a 5-speed transmission with DR, and a button that locks something. Does this lock the rear diff, or lock the front to rear or what exactally?

 

I also saw another car with what looked like a 5-speed DR with some sort of full time 4wd button. What is that, and is that better for off road than the one on the GL?

 

I know this info has been somewhat gone over, but any help with this would be really appreciated.

 

- James b

I have never heard of a GL with a D/R (5spd? You didnt say) with LSD and the button you talk about is a diff lock. Its usually in a Turbo car. The LSD will most likely be a 3.7 ratio, so your tranny needs to match. Or you can convert the diff to a 3.9 too.

If you want to offroad your car, you need the D/R. Its the best tranny for it. The one you saw with the button on top is a single range.

If you see a center diff-lock button or switch then you are looking at a 5spd full-time 4wd dual range transmission, which isnt much good for serious off-road, due to the tall ratios. A normal 4 or 5spd dual range is already effectively locked center anyways, so you wouldnt be gaining capability. But grab that LSD quick you lucky bas#### you may have to swap diff gears to match the ratio in your transmission though.

 

**if there is a red button on the shifter, its a single range pushbutton, which is crap.

If you see a center diff-lock button or switch then you are looking at a 5spd full-time 4wd dual range transmission, which isnt much good for serious off-road, due to the tall ratios. A normal 4 or 5spd dual range is already effectively locked center anyways, so you wouldnt be gaining capability. But grab that LSD quick you lucky bas#### you may have to swap diff gears to match the ratio in your transmission though.

 

**if there is a red button on the shifter, its a single range pushbutton, which is crap.

 

I'm driving a single range pushbutton on my 85 DL now. I disconnected the vacuum actuator and fabricated a linkage and shifter after it stopped actuating the 4wd. I took it up to 9000 feet and tried to drive up some packed deep snow at about a 30 degree angle. It couldn't drive out of it's own tire tracks, and I smelled clutch. Good thing I had a shovel to dig out. Anyway, I will pull the LSD and get a non-full time 4WD D/R transmission. Winter is about over here, so I can afford to have this strewn about my garage for a month while I work on it and drive my 2wd truck to work. Thanks for the info.

 

- James B

I have a D/R GL, and I honestly don't use 4WD Hi offroad at all. I've tried it, but for anything other than just gravel/dirt, it's just too high. I imagine it'd be great on road in the snow, but we haven't had snow since I got the car. For offroad, in the mud, 4WD Lo seems to work a lot better.

 

-=Russ=-

I have never heard of a GL with a D/R (5spd? You didnt say) with LSD and the button you talk about is a diff lock. Its usually in a Turbo car. The LSD will most likely be a 3.7 ratio, so your tranny needs to match. Or you can convert the diff to a 3.9 too.

If you want to offroad your car, you need the D/R. Its the best tranny for it. The one you saw with the button on top is a single range.

 

I think this was a turbo GL 5-spd D/R. It was close to closing time at this place, and I was just wandering around looking at cars to see what they had. Sort of wished I had written down some notes. Do you know which D/R transmissions (for EA82 era) have a 3.7 ratio besides the one in this GL?

 

thanks

James B

for manuals, all the cars with d/r AND center diff lock were 3.7. It gave the car a higher cruizing speed. The plain D/R's and pushbutton ones wrere 3.9, but there are hardy any LSD ones of 3.9. I't isn't hard to convert it too a 3.9, but if you don't want it, I do.