spool or mini spool

[88chevy]

I have an 87 chevy with a 14 bolt ff, with i believe a gov lock and 4.56s and im running 38s.  I want true posi and was wondering which is better a spool or mini spool?  The truck is my mud truck but i drive it sometimes on the weekend probably around 50 miles on pavement.  Just wanted to know which would be better?

[chevystudz7105]

if your truck has the gov loc the only route you can go is with a spool.  no locker or anything will work with the gov loc. if i were you id pull your cover off and find out exactly what you have.  jsut because it posi's all hte time doesnt mean you have the gov loc.  one of my old 10 bolts in my grey truck was an open diff and it got posi all the time.   if you have an open carrier just pick up a detroit locker like i am.  i cant seem to find spools on ebay cheap.  cheapest i cna find them is 250 i think.  and even then its going to cost you 350+ becuase you have to get a bearing kit for it .  so if you have an open diff in my eyes your better off gettin a detoirt locker becuase it just replaces your spiders and thats it.  you dont have ot have your rearend reshimmed or anything like you would if you go with a spool.

[Mudbuster]

a spool and a mini spool do the same thing the only difference is a mini spool replaces the spider gears and a spool replaces the whole carrier. If you want something street friendly then get a locker like the other guy said but also like he said you need to be sure what you have right now because if you do  have a govlock then you will need a whole new carrier.  If you just want cheep then pull apart your carrier and weld the spider gears and that will work no matter what carrier you have.

[88chevy]

Ill rip off the cover in the morning and see what ive got

[Norm Henderson]

i would go with a full spool.......lest parts, and there stronger

[just one more]

you do not want to run a spool on the street, it will not allow your tires to differentiate, which will cause your outer tire on a turn to drag, if you ever plan on running it on the street get a locker,they are super durable and lock up as soon as you put power to'em.

[chevystudz7105]

he sent me a few pics but as some of you may know pics ona cell phone arent the greatest but from what i can tell im almost positive he has an open diff in the truck.  so  i think he would be best just tossing a locker in there.  costs a lil more then a spool, but if you think about it the price the spools are going for on ebay  plus a bearing kit and shims he would have the same if not a lil more into it then he would with a locker.  i priced out both ways to do my 14 bolt ff and sense i couldnt find a cheap spool online it was going to cost just as much as a detroit locker.  plus both him and me run our trucks on the road also  so i think the locker would be the best choice for that.

[Bowtie972]

If your just puttin a mini spool in you dont need bearing kit or shims...........the 14Bolt FF has threaded cones on each side with a retainer wire keepin them from turnin.   you take out the bolt that holds the wire, mark the position of the cone and thread them each, left and right into the housing, carrier drops out , put the spool in, put carrier back in and thread the cones back out to where they were. Done.  I bought my spool off ebay for $150............A detroit locker is a better choice for street drivin though and extremely tough, but more expensive.

[chevystudz7105]

yea the detroit is more expensive but i been searching ebay for some time now and i have not seeing a spool go for that cheap.  as for my truck im puttin the detroit locker in cuz i run it done the road and i think he should do the same thing cuz he drives on the road just as much as i do

[MR NASTY]

i got my spool from just differentials for 150 no install kit needed

[chevystudz7105]

i assume that was a mini spool you have?  i just checked that site and see a mini spool for that price

[88chevy]

ok nevermind i found out i already have a detroit or a locker already in it.  But thanks guys for all the advice