Sinking Creek 4WD Association

My obnoxious front differential thermal linear actuator (1995 Suburban) has finally gotten annoying enough that I'm considering spending $200 for what amounts to (correct me if I'm wrong) a manual choke cable connected to an adapter that goes into my front diff.

Is there another brand that I can get for any cheaper? Anyone have any experience rigging one up? I can get a choke knob and cable and run it down there, but mine isn't as simple as just making a fixed pivot point and adjusting the slack out...the actuator on my truck mounts into the differential, so I've got to break it apart I assume and use pieces of it to make anything work.

Anyone have any thoughts? Apparently these things go bad with some regularity on this year range of GM trucks, so maybe someone's been here before? This truck doesn't make it down too many trails, but it does lug its way down the beach with some regularity and pull a boat up slick ramps with even more regularity and neither of those things is made any easier when 4wd is a 50/50 proposition at best.

None that I'm aware of. I'd just go to Advance Auto Parts and drop the $70 on the new factory actuator. The posi-lok has it's advantages, but I'm not sure they are worth $200...

Didn't the design change sometime around 97? I am pretty sure that mine isn't the expanding gas design, but more of a mechanical actuator. I have had no issues with mine ever.

jac6695 wrote:Didn't the design change sometime around 97? I am pretty sure that mine isn't the expanding gas design, but more of a mechanical actuator. I have had no issues with mine ever.

Yeah, there is an updated one, but it requires a dealer sourced changeover harness and when it is all said and done, I was looking at like $300 at the stealership. I could check on trying to get a newer mechanical actuator at Advance or something and then just get the harness or see if I could splice the wires appropriately, but that's more what I was looking for was to see if anyone had had any experience or luck in rectifying this problem without either spending $200 on a choke cable, $300 on dealership crap or just replacing the thermal actuator as they break. Also, from what I've read, the 2500's are/were a little different in terms of what actuators fit what truck.

As an aside, with the posi-lok, I do like the idea of 2 lo for moving the boat around the yard and ramp.

Only difference I can think of with 2500's is the light duty 6 lug 2500's used the same front diff as a 1500. I have a factory service manual with wiring diagram so if you need to check wring I can help with that.

Just FYI in case someone searches this...advance auto does sell the "upgrade" actuator. It is $112 and requires a $48 harness...so it really isn't much cheaper to go that route. The stock actuator is $98.

Can't imagine the harness being worth that. I bet it is the same as a newer harness, and like you said, you can just modify yours.