Suburban salvage

[SquareBodiesRule]

Hello all and thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

I currently have a 1978 K20 Suburban project truck. It runs and drives but has issues in places. I also have a 1986 K10 Suburban that served me well but the body/frame rust has forced it into permanent retirement. I am trying to get the 78 ship shape as quickly and cheaply as possible so I have started scavenging things from the 86 to make this happen.

First example: Steering column. Both trucks have tilt wheel but the 78's has become unsafely slack, even creating neutral safety switch issues depending on what angle it is parked. I hate the steering wheel on the 78 anywat so I figured I woukd yank the whole column out of the 86... Which I did. Upon close examination when I went to remove the column from the 78 I noticed it has a splined end where the 86 has the slip DD end. I think I can get around this by using the 86's old bar with rag joint to connect to the gear box.

There are other interchange questions I have and cannot find any real answers. Are the brake boosters interchangable they look by eyeball to be exactly the same save for the master cylinder itself. Is the steering gear the same? The 86's has less than 500 miles on it while the 78's is leaking.

My 78 also has the cruisemaster cruise control module and 2 broken/worn out speedo cavles which I cant find. Can I just replace the system with a single 92 inch cable?

I apologize I have so many questions.