[454HO]

Couple other things I forgot to mention. I assumed you have not lowered your truck with a flip kit. If you have, then there is an extra step of unbolting the springs at the rear shackles. Also, there are 2 sizes of drum brakes. Easiest way to identify is to measure the width of the brake shoes. Light duty bakes have 2" wide shoes, and heavy duty brakes have 2-3/4" wide shoes. You cannot mix and match the brake parts because the drums are also slightly different diameters.

In my case, the original rear end had light duty brakes. The 3.42 rear end that I swapped came from an '88 Suburban and it had the heavy duty brakes. I used the parking brake cables that came with the new rear, so I don't know if the originals would work or not. The larger heavy duty brakes do have more stopping power and are desirable if you have them. So if your original rear has HD and the new rear does not, you might consider swapping them.

And one last thing... I highly recommend removing the rear cover on the new rear to drain the old gear oil. Make sure it has never had water in it, and inspect the gears inside for chipped teeth, rust, etc, etc. I passed up several rear ends when I was looking for one because they had water in them.