NV3500 to NV4500 moved from the 88-98 Forum...need advice

[bad68bowtie]

My buddy has a '98 Z71 with a 5.7 and an NV3500 backing it up. He's been hearing a lot of racket from the transmission as of late (the truck has a little over 165,000 miles on it) and has been trying to prepare for it to go out on him. He and I were talking about it and figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to swap in a NV4500 when the 3500 finally kicks the bucket, if it's possible to do so.

So my question is, does anyone know what it would entail to swap in an NV4500 in place of an NV3500? Did the two transmissions use the same transfer case? We were figuring that unless there's a bunch of crap to deal with to make the 4500 work, the money and time would be better well spent to go ahead and step up to the 4500 as opposed to just rebuilding the 3500.

Any input y'all could provide would be much appreciated, thanks.