well, looking around on pirate, i saw a comparison between factory 4.88s and a normal v6 third with 4.88s.  the factory setup looks stronger -- the ring gear on the normal v6 third is THICK!  which makes the pinion a lot smaller.

however, the more important thing in the picture was that the factory setup had a spool installed!  so i'm guessing it is possible.  the nice thing about the V6 3rd is that lockrites are cheap!  $198!