• Welcome to The Truck Stop! We see you haven't REGISTERED yet.

    Your truck knowledge is missing!
    • Registration is FREE , all we need is your birthday and email. (We don't share ANY data with ANYONE)
    • We have tons of knowledge here for your diesel truck!
    • Post your own topics and reply to existing threads to help others out!
    • NO ADS! The site is fully functional and ad free!
    CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

    Problems registering? Click here to contact us!

    Already registered, but need a PASSWORD RESET? CLICK HERE TO RESET YOUR PASSWORD!

What are the differences, for sure?

SnowDrift

SnowDrift

Ultra Conservative. ULTRA!
Messages
3,263
Reaction score
4,314
Location
Central Ohio map dot
I've been looking for a '95 K2500HD 6.5TD EC/LB with a 5 speed manual to do a transmission swap. I had planned to swap them out and then resell the automatic donor truck or just keep it for a beater. I am wondering if I would be fine to look for additional years, as well. I've done swaps before and also know that the newer the vehicle is, the more challenging it can be. Can anyone say what the certain differences are?

I know it can be pieced together, but I'd like to try to eliminate that and have them both sitting side by side and just swap out everything I could and swap back over without having to come up with a bunch of extra parts.

Here's what I am aware of to date as differences from my current 1995. What else is different?

1) '94 - dash - square vs. rounded
- column?
2) '96 - OBDII - mine is OBDI
DRL indicator on instrument cluster?
3) '97+ - ?

I had also thought of buying a gasser to increase my odds of finding one. Flywheel and ECM would be different. Anything else to watch for?
 
one would think that OBDII would be different than OBDI, but the 6.5L is full of suprises, so I would not rule that out.

now the gasser, I would avoid. wiring is sure to differ.

I would stick to 6.5L. IMHO, cab and box configuration shouldnt have much to do with the engine and dash harness, nor the harness that goes back to the transmission. so I wonder if a RCLB would work, or an ECSB, or even a CCLB.

or secret option # 3, finsh the honey-do list, and then do some convincing to let you find and buy the nicest creampuff of your dreams out of TX, NM, or AZ, but to find that would be hard, and probably costly, so I will keep an eye out. (AFAIK, the local 94 is still for sale, if you want parts, or another rig! :) )
 
I was looking to find a twin due to the drive shaft, as well and possibly the cross member for the transmission/transfer case. On the gasser thing, what wiring would there be on the transmission that I would have to address? I would have thought the ECM would have been the issue, alone on that. Not so?
 
I was mainly thinking the engine and dash wiring would differ, but as far as just the trans. wiring harness, I doubt it would differ from gas to diesel
 
The gassers mostly had 4L60Es, so you would have to find a 7.4L gasser most likely to get the 4L80E for sure, and I think the 7.4L shared the same torque converter but not sure.

But you want to take a manual out and put your auto tranny into the donor? It may not have the wiring at all in that case.
 
any HD 3/4 ton or 1 ton gasser will have the same 4l80 the only difference is the torque converter. Wiring is all the same to hook the trans up.

Just to clear things up are you switching your current truck to a stick or an auto? I know a gasser HD3/4ton and 1ton have the same nv4500 tranny but i'm not sure if the clutch and flywheel are different though. The only variable left for changing to a NV4500 is the different low gearing availabe in older years.
 
On my 94 when I swapped in a NV4500 her are a few things I got into. The NV4500 is about an inch shorter. No problem if you have a carrier bearing on the drive shaft there is a enough room to slide it, but the carrier will have to be moved to. I made a plate that went between the crossmember and carrier. The front shaft on the 4wd will need to be compressed completely, sometimes this difficult due to IFS never "exercises" this joint. The back up lamp switch on the auto is on the column, where as the manuals is on top of the trans case. About the biggest head ache is getting the bracket for the pedal assembly up in behind the gauge cluster. It is a L shaped bracket that is spot welded from the factory onto the cowl. not really that hard to find but digging thru the dash to get in there to weld is fun. Good luck on your project. We are here to help for sure.
 
Yeah, I'm planning to take my 4L80E out and put in a NV4500. After looking at a couple comments you guys have made, I'm thinking I might wimp out and find an exact match donor truck, as I originally planned. The thought of buying a bunch of pieces to finish the project sounds like it could get more expensive than I want this to be.

I'm going to have to look up under the dash to see if the mount is there. Since mine's a '95, maybe it's already in place? Upper console pieces were in place, to my surprise when I installed it a few years ago. I found a K3500 regular cab, but I think he's high on the price. Probably worth what he's asking, but not worth it to me.
 
I got some of my parts from a boneyard down by you actually. I don't remember the name of the place but it was on the west side of Columbus, across the river from campus. They had quite a bit of late model gm truck stuff. Sorry I didnt think of this sooner.....
 
ah, no biggie. Did you post up a thread on yours? If not, do you have a picture of that bracket under the dash you had to weld in?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top