Traction Control: Deafeats the purpose G80

[Shawn T]

So I pulled out of the driveway yesterday and we had a little bit of frozen rain over night, yea I know Colorado weather is ever-changing.  Any way, I started out on a patch of ice, under one rear tire only.  Before the spinning tire produced enough centrifugal force to engage the G80 clutches, the traction control engaged the rear brakes on that particular wheel, basically stalling the truck out by fighting brake force against engine torque.  Question:  So the G80 locker design is to overcome the one wheel spinning open differential age-old problem and provide traction to both wheels and get you off of the ice correct?  If traction control does not allow the spinning wheel to reach the proper RPM to engage the locker, what is the point?  I can't imagine trying to climb a hill or slog through heavy mud and snow in four wheel drive and have this act up.  I realize you can disable it, and the stability control re enables on it's own, and causes other issues, I have tried to just "tear" through the snow in 4 wheel drive and all of the "safety" enhancements really just drown out that fact that these are still designed for some off road capabilities.  Also, being and engineer I realize that these safety feature, while not fun do serve a purpose, most of the time.  Back to my question, is there really any value to the G80 anymore while traction control is enabled? 

[SierraHD17]

Yeah there is.  If you are actually stuck you will disable the traction control with the button and use the G80 to move.  If you deleted the G80 all you are relying on is that your rear brakes have enough clamp to constantly shift power back and forth while getting no wheel speed and moving nowhere. It works in light duty situations which 90% of people encounter just fine..... kind of like the G80 itself.  

 

But.... you can notice a difference with the other brands over GM which you are correct about.  Take Ford... the rear end is locked solid when the e locker is engaged so even if the rear tires spin it's always going to be both so the brake operated limited slip won't try and engage.  Same with Ram as they use a cone gear mechanical limited slip when such optioned.  

 

GM on the other hand uses a centrifugal operated kind of locker and it fights the traction control system when it attempts to engage.  GM just refuses change and touts the G80 like it's some marvel of technology that Eaton released back in 1973 and it hasn't changed one bit all the way to today.  I am not a fan... hence my 17 is getting a real locker installed sometime in the next 2 weeks.

[SierraHD17]

A proposed solution would be GM modifies the programming on the G80 equipped trucks and reduces or eliminates the brake operated limited slip within the window the G80 operates.  I am willing to bet the ratio of trucks sold with the G80 option is greater than 5 to 1 for those that don't so it would only make sense.  But making sense would be the issue there and thus you get this instead lol.

[Shawn T]

2 hours ago, SierraHD17 said:

A proposed solution would be GM modifies the programming on the G80 equipped trucks and reduces or eliminates the brake operated limited slip within the window the G80 operates.  I am willing to bet the ratio of trucks sold with the G80 option is greater than 5 to 1 for those that don't so it would only make sense.  But making sense would be the issue there and thus you get this instead lol.

Yeah that would probably be the best solution, I have always liked the fact that the G80 did the "locking" for you over having to disseminate whether you should lock up or unlock now because you may not need it,etc.  I have owned 6 GM trucks, all had G80's for the exception of one, my first, a 1972 K10 short box with a "limited slip" option, using the same principle.  Loved them all except my 2015 because it does not allow itself to lock without turning the traction control off, may has well be like the Ford or the Ram, you have to "activate" it now, and it's totally not an "automatic" locking rear differential any more.  I realized this long ago when I bought the truck in 14' just griping about it now.  Yeah, and I kick myself every day that goes by that I sold my 72 K10.  I sold it to my little brother who was turning 16 (I was only 19 myself), he still has it to this day, and will not let it go.  I upgraded to an 88' 1500 4x4 short box with the G80, it was a 4 wheeling motha!

[redwngr]

G80 is standard on current 2500/3500.

 

On 1500 it is standard on LT Z71and all LTZ and HC.

 

On lower 1500 trims it is included on    
 - Included with (Z82) Trailering Package. and  (NHT) Max Trailering Package, (PDA) Texas Edition, (PDU) All Star Edition 

[4wdriver]

I noticed this early in the ownership of my 16 hd when I almost got hit pulling out at an intersection in the rain. I was expecting the same performance as my 02 hd instead my truck did what feels like stopping half way out into the intersection. I now turn off traction control often. To bad driving nannies are pushed on us, why do I have to turn off nannies instead of turning them on when they are actually needed? That’s not a real question because I know why I just don’t like it. 

[MNorby]

That was one nice thing about the ecodouche , the electric rear locker. I have contemplated on installing a 40 spline arb locker on my rock crawler and putting the 30 spline one into the tow rig. 

[Chebbyfan]

On ‎1‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 11:50 AM, SierraHD17 said:

Yeah there is.  If you are actually stuck you will disable the traction control with the button and use the G80 to move.  If you deleted the G80 all you are relying on is that your rear brakes have enough clamp to constantly shift power back and forth while getting no wheel speed and moving nowhere. It works in light duty situations which 90% of people encounter just fine..... kind of like the G80 itself.  

 

But.... you can notice a difference with the other brands over GM which you are correct about.  Take Ford... the rear end is locked solid when the e locker is engaged so even if the rear tires spin it's always going to be both so the brake operated limited slip won't try and engage.  Same with Ram as they use a cone gear mechanical limited slip when such optioned.  

 

GM on the other hand uses a centrifugal operated kind of locker and it fights the traction control system when it attempts to engage.  GM just refuses change and touts the G80 like it's some marvel of technology that Eaton released back in 1973 and it hasn't changed one bit all the way to today.  I am not a fan... hence my 17 is getting a real locker installed sometime in the next 2 weeks.

I am trying to find one for my 15 as well.  I would be interested to know what you decide to install.

[SierraHD17]

38 minutes ago, Chebbyfan said:

I am trying to find one for my 15 as well.  I would be interested to know what you decide to install.

Detroit locker.  Already have it.  Big build thread in the accessory section in here.

[Chebbyfan]

I actually came across your build thread after I commented here, lol.  Thanks.

[KARNUT]

I’ve spent my working career on pipelines and utilities ROWs. I’ve driven all the brands with different 4WD setups even used 2WDs in mud,snow and mountains. I’d never had a problem with traction control defeating my 4WD making my truck unable to move. I’ve turned it off to do roster tails or donuts playing. Maybe it’s worked as designed saving people from themselves.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[j-ten-ner]

From my owners manual:

 

"When the transfer case is in 4LO, the stability system is automatically disabled, the StabiliTrak light comes on, and the appropriate message will appear on the DIC. Both traction control and StabiliTrak are automatically disabled in this condition. "

 

I'll bet it's the same for your truck. And that's when you really need the G80.

 

so long

j-ten-ner

[Bhurt]

So I tried this last night, I park on a grader snow pile at home and when I went to leave the traction control just blinked and the tires spun slowly and I didn't move.  So remembering this post I shut the traction control off and gave it some throttle and it crawled out effortlessly.  Like the difference was unimaginable.  I couldn't believe that the traction control would have that much affect on the rear end locking up.... 

[redwngr]

As your example shows, traction control can help on a slippery surface, but it will hinder in deep snow/sand/mud. 

 

 

If it's just slippery, best acceleration is when tire tires at or close to the point of slip and TC can help achieve this,  in deep material tires often need to spin and TC prevents this from happening. 

[Cosmic Charlie]

as others have said - try driving up a long hill thats icy snowy with trac control on - no way to get up without turning off trac control ...