[Your41Plague12]

Originally Posted by Greenlee

They are all good. However, I would avoid the full time 4wd np203 transfercase that was available sometime in the 70's. My favorite year is 1987, because I like the throttle body fuel injuection that was only available that year.

If you want heavy-duty, look for one with the full float 14 bolt rear axle, and for really heavy-duty look for one with a Dana 60 front axle. However, the Dana 60 is hard to find except in millitary trucks and crew cabs.

Good advice, let me add to it a little bit. The NP203 chain-driven transfer case was available through the 70's in any 4x4 truck with an automatic transmission. If it was a manual transmission, it got the gear-driven NP205, which is the most sought-after transfer case for the 73-87 Chevy/GMC trucks. The axles you want (if you're looking for heavy duty) would be the full floating 14 bolt rear and the Dana 60 front, just like Greenlee said. The Dana 60 will be found in any 1-ton 4x4 truck from 76-87, and the 14-bolt full floating rear will be found in any 3/4 ton and 1 ton from 73-80, and any 1 ton from 81-87. If you're just looking for a truck to drive and not haul a lot with (or lift too high, for that matter), then a 1/2 ton should be fine for anything with 35" tires or under (or not towing too much). As for which truck to go for looks-wise, that's a matter of opinion. 73-80 had the round headlights and more squared-off front end, while the 81-87 trucks had rectangular headlights and a more tapered front end. The interiors differed from year to year, but to keep it simple 73-80 were mostly the same, 81-83 were mostly the same, and 84-87 were mostly the same.



Here's a picture of my 1983 K20. It has the quad headlight setup, whereas lower trim packages still had rectangular headlights but the turn signals weren't behind the grill; they were right under the headlights. Hope this helped!