Under Carriage swap?

[red]

lol i'd swap gears with you (i have 3.42's) but i've got a 10 bolt rear axle instead of a 14 bolt ff like you have.

 

[bk95td]

Nobody mentioned converting the rear suspension to air ride. Best of both worlds. Soft ride when you want it ,stiffer if you need it. As for the gear swap ,changing from 370 to 340 only drops the rpm 2-300. not worth the trouble. If you had 4.10 then it might be worth it.

 

[Veg_Out]

I have 410s. Sounds like a dirt bike at 70mph.

 

[GM Guy]

Do not downgrade axles! Because then you will get rid of the awesome 2500HD alloys you have now.

I would unload t-bars and modify rear suspension in some way, and get some LR C or D 245/75R16 (if that is the size you are running)

With the 4.10s, since you have low range on tap, 3.42s would not be bad. I cannot say the same with my half ton 2wd with a high geared manual and 3.42s!

 

[Bullseye240]

about the same price/difficulty as doing a solid axle swap as compared to upgrading to the 3/4 ton IFS, why not do a true upgrade?

That's the plan for my Blazer when I return from Italy in approximately 3.5 years. Gonna save up some money and buy all the parts (frt/rr Dana 60's prob 203/205 doubler transfer etc....) so when I return all I have to do is find the time. Might even drop in a rebuilt engine and tranny as these already have almost a quarter million miles on em allready.

 

[minisub]

about the same price/difficulty as doing a solid axle swap as compared to upgrading to the 3/4 ton IFS, why not do a true upgrade?

I have absolutely zero interest in doing an SAS, or having true 3/4 ton running gear on my 16' long, 1/2 ton Tahoe. I think there are some nice advantages to a FF rear axle, and having 8 lug wheels on both trucks would be cool as tires would swap. That's about as far as I have thought it through, and honestly, it is never going to happen.

At this point, I am thinking about getting lower, getting taller/thinner tires, doing some air damn work and other aero stuff and seeing if I can get into the 20+ mpg range consistently.

Anyone wants to swap a set of 3.73s for 3.42s let me know....:smile5:

 

[Acesneights1]

Good shocks. Possible to pull a leaf out of the rear spring packs....?

And as previously stated, make sure T bars are as unloaded as possible and tire pressure isn't maxed out (and you're are not running load range E tires....)

Aces - I've thought about the 8 lug swap myself, but got hung up on the complexity/cost of dealing with the front end....Your thoughts?

Virgin territory for me too. I did many one the old school straight axles but never IFS. It's gotta work. Question is do you change entire front Diff or can you just swap out the rotor/hub assys ? Rear should be bolt in.

 

[Acesneights1]

Pull the front drive axle - store it and the other stuff fer posteriority's sake - if the significant other starts bitchin', paint the stuff green and hide it in the grass..............

- pull the half-shafts, disassemble the outer stubs, reinsert back into the hubs, re-torque the nut - that secures the drive hubs in the steering knuckles

- pull the trans\xfercase, convert the trans to 2wd with the appropriate output shaft and tailshaft housing - reinstall with new TC and tailshaft seals (now would be a most excellently good time for a rebuild!)
- install the 2wd driveshaft
- (or, just leave the stuff in there, as is, xfercase adds only ~100lbs to gvw, saves full 2wd conversion, incl driveshaft)

- decrank the torsion bars to handle the lower front-end weight - if not soft enuff, get the 2wd torsion bars, or maybe the 4wd bars for the lighter 350 gasser (patooie!) engine

- install the rear springs from a lower gvw truck, or remove some of the leaves from yer bows

- install lower gvw shocks all around, which will noticeably improve the ride

- the truck is now sprung lighter, giving a better ride, and you will still have the hd braking of the original axles, no need to look for replacement tires and wheels to fit the lighter axles

- patch the xfercase shifter hole(s) in the floorpan

- run the min tire pressures for same size tires on a lower gvwr truck

- or sell the 4wd, get a 2wd - could maybe even work out a fair trade, no cash outlay on your part

:rofl: