Complete drive train swap

[DrivelineDave]

Hey everyone! new to gmt400, but Im excited to be part of the community!

So lets get started..... I work with some really rad guys! I recently crashed on my motorcycle and have been hitching rides to and from work from my loving fiance, anyways, one of the elders at my shop offered to give me a 1994 Chevrolet k2500 diesel suburban! Awesome offer, but there is always a catch! There is no drive-train in it now, was bought to do a Cummings swap, but had a gas engine in it when it was last on the road. From looking at the photos it looks to have all of the wiring loom still intact, being a broke 22 year old in Santa Cruz, the first thought i had was s*** a drive train is gonna cost as much as a car... but i have that all figured out as well! Now to the twist, I have another elder at my same shop, that has a 1996 Chevrolet k1500 with a 350 and a 5 speed, with severe frame rust. (coming from Pennsylvania) He has given me an offer to buy the truck off of him for a price I cant say no to! So here is that magic question....
Am i just insane for wanting to swap the running gear over from the k1500 to the k2500 suburban? I mean i know its an insane amount of work. (but i think a no smog, 5 speed, 4x4 suburban would be worth the work!) I am in the maintenance department at my shop and I've been wrenching for awhile now, but has anyone done this before? Any advise other than "don't do it"? Thanks for any and all input! I will be putting pics up very soon so you guys can see what I'm looking at!

quick recap of the vehicles in question!
Donner truck:
1996 Chevrolet k1500
350
5 speed
complete and running well
sever rust damage.

Receiving truck:
1994 Chevrolet k2500 Suburban
Diesel chassis but was converted to gas.
no engine
most likely was a 4l80e
no trans
no transfer-case
complete, clean title and straight otherwise.

thanks to anyone willing to give their two cents!
Dave

 

[gstubbz]

Ahh! I already dig it because you can tell Cali to shove it since the Suburban is a "Diesel" and I like 6.5 titled trucks just for this reason.

I'll provide info for what I know, and bolting in a clutch pedal is easy. I cut down the brake pedal to fit a manual pedal cover. The clutch pedal bracket "requires" a piece that is welded on the firewall, but I avoided plasma cutting one off and ended up cutting the hole in the firewall for the master cylinder, bolting up the bracket, then drilling two holes in the top of the bracket and through the firewall, then removed the black piece around the wipers and was able to drop two bolts in and the bracket is pretty secure. There is already a hole in the floor that is stamped for a shifter (even in Suburbans).

If you're going to go through all that work, you might as well swap the steering column, dash, all the heater components, and finding a door wiring harness and rear door panels that match a 96-99 suburban to keep power windows. The dash in the 96 has a bracket for the passenger side and the steering column that will need to be cut off and welded on the suburban. So essentially you have a 96 K2500 Suburban with a 350/5spd.

People may ***** and say go NV4500 but over here on the west coast they are A) Impossible to find and B) If you find one they are like $1500 minimum and I personally think a NV3500 will work out well if you don't hotrod it everywhere.

Another note - your driveshaft should be fine since the 5 speed and 4L80 trans both have 32 spline output shafts and I believe the length between a NV3500/NP241 and a 4L80E/NP241 is close enough you can reuse it. Front driveshaft should be no problem.

Another note now that I think about it - that suburban has hydroboost brakes, so You'd need a power steering pump from a hydroboost truck (Suburban 2500, C/K3500, or any 6.5 truck) so you don't have to bother doing all the work to change it for a brake booster.

I've never done that much work, but I would imagine if you put 8 hours into it each day you'd probably have it completed in two weeks or less. If you weren't 6 hours away maybe I'd be willing to help you a bit!

 

[DrivelineDave]

This is the exact reason I joined up! That is awesome info! I haven't done this much work either but I'm excited to give it a try! 6 hours is not to far! (yes it is!) but when the truck is all out together there is a place called Hollister Hills just south of Santa Cruz for 4wheeling and camping so, that's something to plan when its up and running!

 

[SierraDully]

Did you buy them?

 

[Chewy1576]

I have a K2500 with a 383 and NV4500 that would be an awesome drivetrain for your Suburban.

 

[DrivelineDave]

Hey guys! its been awhile, but I am taking delivery of the burb tomorrow! Ill be driving the doner truck home on Friday! I will post photos as soon as I can. I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and a good new year!