What would you do???

[Big Chief]

I am not happy. I found a 72 blazer with a near perfect body. I put in a new awesome motor, got it back and I can't drive the 4 speed. Before you call me a sissy, you need to know that I blew out my left knee in a motorcycle wreck and now (after 8 knee surgeries) I can't drive the clutch I drive my toyota 5 speed but it is a little different.

I have my 71 jimmy that is great with an automatic but it's body is not as nice as the blazer. I had planned on selling the Jimmy and keeping the blazer but now I don't know what to do. The blazer has the best, rust free body I have seen in a long time and now it has a new motor too, but I can't drive it with the clutch I don't know if I'm up for the labor involved with swapping the trannies between the two vehicles. I may just keep the gmc cuz at least I can drive it now while I fix up the body?? I have already spent a small fortune on these two trucks and I am trying not to go broke with them. I transmission shop said they would install a th 350 for $2500 but I am already in too deep with these "toys".

What would you do?

[vanislejimmy]

Keep them both, and sell the Toyota.... or put it all on a credit card.

[Critter]

You say that you can drive the Toyota which makes me think you can push in a clutch, just not the heavy pedal that the Blazer has. Maybe a hydraulic clutch conversion and a little adjustment could lighten up the K5 pedal???

[Big Chief]

I heard the hydraulic clutch conversion was more difficult than the auto conversion???

[tnblazerk5]

i would say swap trans and xfers and sale the 4 speed one
if ya was closer i would help ya swap them its not that bad to do just lots of time and heavy stuff

[Big J]

Keep the blazer, go to your local cheap tool store and buy a tranny jack 100.00 or so.... Swap them yourself. If your like me you have more time than money. It shouldn't take you but 2-5 days to do it all yourself. Its not a hard thing at all to do. If you get stuck or have a question the board is here to help. Basically you'd be swapping tranny/x-case from one to the other, steering columns, linkages, pedal assemblies, radiators and tranny covers. I think thats it. It should all bolt up from one vehicle to the other. The unbolting stuff and swapping is way easier than doing really good rust repair and body work.

[Jtrux]

Swapping the clutch pedal would be the hardest thing in the swap but I definitely 100% agree with the hydraulic conversion. I would not want to sell either of them if I was you but sticking with the one you can drive would be my choice but I would do the hydraulic conversion 1st.

[fun in dirt]

That would suck...all that work & then couldn't drive it!
Can you sell them both & have enough money to buy one nice one with an automatic?

[hgs_notes]

It's not that hard to trade tranny and transfer cases with a jack and some help. You could do it in a day easy. You could also just check with any local mechanic to do the swap for you, it would be cheaper than buying the new drivetrain to be swapped that you were quoted before.

[krue]

I would swap trannies myself.

[LUV2XCLR8]

Agree with most of the above, swap it out.

[71swb4x4]

$2,500 to swap trannsmissions and transfer cases? Buy me a round-trip plane ticket, and clear a place in the yard for my tent, and I will swap it all for you.


Have a board meet at your place. Provide everyone with free beer and food, and you might be surprised at how much gets done!

[Yukon Jack]

I put a hydraulic clutch in my 69 K20 and it is probably a bit easier to push the clutch pedal compared to the clutch pedal in my 70 K5 - but not a significant difference. Switching over to a hydraulic clutch setup is a bit involved, at least the style I'm using as I used the donor vehicles bellhousing. Maybe an aftermarket kit would be easier to swap in and maybe have an easier clutch pedal.

I'd sure lean towards switching to auto if I were you.

You really ought to see if some members in the Viriginia area would be able to help you out - an outlay of pizza and beer sure could get the job tackled.

[70rs/ss]

Why not just locate a 350/205 and only change one? I'd be willing to bet a decent core could be had from a wrecker and then have them gone through before install, from the sounds of it you want to keep it, so pony up the $$$ now and you won't have to worry later. Besides pulling and reinstalling two is a PIA, just once would be enough for me!!

[Big J]

Originally Posted by 70rs/ss

Why not just locate a 350/205 and only change one? I'd be willing to bet a decent core could be had from a wrecker and then have them gone through before install, from the sounds of it you want to keep it, so pony up the $$$ now and you won't have to worry later. Besides pulling and reinstalling two is a PIA, just once would be enough for me!!

I said "well duh" to myself when I read that, lol.... Just goes to show the different ways of thinking. All I was thinkin' is cheap, cheap, cheap. Sounds like your thinkin' less blood, sweat, and possibly tears.

If you could find the tranny and x-case along with the rest of the goods mentioned above cheap enough, that would be the way to go. Cost would go up but the work would be cut in half.

[ABLAZN]

Along the same lines, could he just leave the transfer case in place and just use a turbo 350 adapter. I know that Advanced Adapters is reproducing them again for the turbo 350/205 if he could not find a used one. It would be one less big heavy thing to remove from the vehicle if he did not have to take the old transfer case out.

[Big J]

Don't quote me on it but I think the auto 205 and the manual 205 have different spline counts.

[Blazer1970]

If it has a Borg & Beck (coil spring) type pressure plate in there now you can make it a lot easier to operate by going to a diaphragm type pressure plate. I don't know if that would be enough for you, but it is a hell of a lot easier to do than some of the other options.

[Big Chief]

Thanks for all of the replys so far! This is keeping me up at night. I like the idea of finding a decent used 350/transfer case combo and swapping once instead of two. The $2500 quote was for the whole setup totally rebuilt installed with a shift kit B&M shifter etc. Still more than I want to spend. I will see if I can find any good used 350 transfer case combos used around here. That way I can take the radiator- lines? etc too. My understanding is that the splines are different on the transfer cases. Yukon, thanks for the feed back on the hydraulic clutch. I have read alot of opinions on that conversion and there doesn't seem to be a consensus as to how good it is. I like the idea of beer and pizza wrenching day too!

[jaros44sr]

I spent 100.00 for a K-case TH350, 100.00 for a NP205! Do some searching they are out there...Can you say ROADTRIP, just bought my transmission jack, used it once and it more then paid for itself

Pick a date,LMK

[jb4short]

Originally Posted by 71swb4x4

$2,500 to swap trannsmissions and transfer cases? Buy me a round-trip plane ticket, and clear a place in the yard for my tent, and I will swap it all for you.


Have a board meet at your place. Provide everyone with free beer and food, and you might be surprised at how much gets done!

Free beer and food at Tri-Pro coming up....I have LOTS of parts to install

[70rs/ss]

If you don't wheel it a lot a 350/208 or a 700r4/308 from a newer chevy truck are also options. I wonder if a centerforce clutch with the weights (they claim more clamp less pressure) could be manageable? But a 350/208, or 700r4/208 are all over. I found a 208 with the 350 adapter on it for $75 ready to use, so I'd guess check your local papers or wrecking yards or the 73-87 and up parts board here.

[Long Roof]

70rs/ss suggestion about newer combos is right on. I plan on using a 86 700/208 setup in my jimmy. I have a running suburban to take it from and I figure that I'll only need to move the engine ahead the difference in tranny length. My jimmy is lifted so I won't have clearance issues. Basically if you think outside the box more options may be available.

[Big Chief]

Here is the update. Thanks for all the replys. I decided to sell the blazer and keep the gmc. I have already spent a small fortune in these two vehicles and I am happy to have one that I can drive. The Blazer clutch is just too hard on my bad knee. The gmc already has the cage and seats in it set up the way I want and I think it would really just cost me too much to swap cage, seats, trannys, etc. I filled all the holes in the floor in the gmc so it would be a night mare trying to reinstall the stock seats out of the blazer. I also like the gmc grill better. Check out the pics of the before and after on the GMC. GMC is almost ready for paint. It really just needs a new grill at this point. I tackled the body work on it myself and I am pretty pleased with the results. So I still need to decide if I should swap the guages. All of the guages already work in the gmc and I don't know if I want to deal with trying to mess with all of the wiring issues involved with swapping them???? I do like the new guages better though. I just posted the blazer in the sale section and I am going for a ride in the jimmy with the top down!

[Huck]

I have a complete np205 with matching Turbo350 available if you change you mind. Huck