1500 Suburban 8 lug conversion questions

[chevyracer8262]

hi, I have a 99 Gmt400 style 1500 suburban that I’m thinking about beefing up a bit and have some questions. I have the 1500 burb and a 99 Gmt400 style 3500 single cab pickup given to me and I been thinking about pulling the entire suspension and rear ended from the 3500 and installing it under the burb if it’ll interchange. Does anyone here know for sure if that would be possible? I have both complete trucks minus the engine/trans but I do have a brand new custom built 383 stroker that makes over 500ftlbs of torque and a built 4l80e sitting in shop waiting to go into something.

 

[98chevy2500SS]

Its a lot of work, your best bet is to get a 14 bolt SF 6 lug out of a heavy half truck, that will gain some towing power, since it will have 3:73s, bigger brakes, etc. Its just a stronger axle in general, compared to your stock 10 bolt.

@df2x4 did the 4L80E conversion on his truck, which will also gain some more pulling power and will outlast a 4L60E. It doesn't seem to be too difficult, you'll just need to get the computer re-programmed to make the 4L80E work correctly, and modify some other things on the truck to make it fit. Is the 3500 usable or not? If it is usable, I'd just use it as-is, I wouldn't mess with it. Plus, I think one tons are more different than the half-tons and 3/4 tons if I am not mistaken.

 

[chevyracer8262]

The problem I have is I need a family vehicle that can haul 9 passengers me my wife and our 7 kids, plus I need something to be able to tow my racecar. Both trucks were given to me by my uncle and I also have a 4wd 99 Tahoe and 02 Avalanche 2wd for parts. I don’t mind the work at all me and my kids love to do that work and I’ve done many 3/4 to 1/2 and 1/2 to 3/4 tin conversions on the 73-87 c10 trucks. I’ve thought about converting the 5 lug burb over to 6 lug using the 2500ld rotors and a 6 lug 14 bolt with disc brakes that I already but that would give me the same sized rotors and calipers as I have now and I’d prefer to beef up the braking a bit for the weight.

 

[98chevy2500SS]

The 14 bolt SF gives you bigger brakes, the rear end in general is beefier than the 10 bolt. It would almost be easier to swap to 6 lugs, or just sell it and buy a 3/4 ton Burb. Swapping to disc brakes would help with stopping. I have pulled a couple of car loads of wood before with my 97 with the 14 bolt 6 lug pulled it just fine, and stopped fine.

Some good info here: https://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/threads/swapping-a-10-bolt-rear-for-a-14-bolt-semi-floater.40609/
https://www.gmt400.com/threads/10-bolt-12-bolt-14-bolt.40121/page-2

 

[chevyracer8262]

Thanks for the input, after some research I’ve decided that I’m going to invert it to 6 lug using the 02 avalanche rear disc brake setup on the 3.73 geared 6 lug 14 bolt using the 3500 leaf springs and shockes our bak then using 2500ld 6 lug rotors up front along with the 3.15” piston 3500 calipers and police Tahoe pads up front with the hydro boost and master cyl from the 3500 as well.