front end conversion??

[joe1982]

whats the easiest route as far as doing a front end swap? i have an 82 swb with single lights. can anyone who has done this post some pics. what 80-87 is the easiest to do it with??

[3r!c84]

good luck
i never realy liked that grill

[Driveway Dreams]

What is your goal with a diiferent grill? The fenders & hood will be the same for you, just change the grill, lights, & radiator support to the one you want.

[lowchevytrucks8503]

I would try to do an '84 under. I have an '85 and tried to put a '84 core support on mine, and I had problems with not enough slots at the bottom where the rubbers for the radiator go. My may have been a fluke i'm not 100% sure.

[joe1982]

Originally Posted by 3r!c84

good luck
i never realy liked that grill

i know man! i cant stand it!

[joe1982]

Originally Posted by Driveway Dreams

What is your goal with a diiferent grill? The fenders & hood will be the same for you, just change the grill, lights, & radiator support to the one you want.

im not too sure what grill i am going to go with, i think double lights and a chrome grill would ook good. or maybe a chromed stock grill. i am not a fan of the phantom grill.

[Driveway Dreams]

I just did an 89-91 set up on mine. To swap yours out, the supports from the newer body style trucks should all bolt right in as far as I have seen. Your best bet would be to find a donor truck and take the whole set up out of it. You will also want the front end harness to tie into your stock one, so your lights and stuff work. The filler panels are different under some of the grills too so get that while you are at it. You will need a 1/2" for most of the bolts. And 2, 3/4" tools to pull the support from the frame (one on top to hold and a breaker bar on bottom). There are a few other misc. sized bolts that hold little stuff in but that should help. PB blaster is a good friend with this too.
-->I have a tube style grill that was on it. If you go to an 86 style, and are interested you can have it cheap.

[joe1982]

Originally Posted by Driveway Dreams

I just did an 89-91 set up on mine. To swap yours out, the supports from the newer body style trucks should all bolt right in as far as I have seen. Your best bet would be to find a donor truck and take the whole set up out of it. You will also want the front end harness to tie into your stock one, so your lights and stuff work. The filler panels are different under some of the grills too so get that while you are at it. You will need a 1/2" for most of the bolts. And 2, 3/4" tools to pull the support from the frame (one on top to hold and a breaker bar on bottom). There are a few other misc. sized bolts that hold little stuff in but that should help. PB blaster is a good friend with this too.
-->I have a tube style grill that was on it. If you go to an 86 style, and are interested you can have it cheap.

sweet thanks man, very helpful response. i am going to have to say thanks and pass on the grill. for some reason people around here dont like square bodies. the junk yard 3/4 of mile from my house is littered with them. i think i might just pull one off from one of those. BUT, i would love to take those rally's of yours of your hands whenever you get tired of them. could you elaborate a little more on the wiring harness? i only have 4 more weeks left in iraq, so as soon as i get home i am really going to start getting my hands dirty.

[Driveway Dreams]

Thanks for the compliments on the wheels. And, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. I have a couple friends over there right now too.
As for the harness, I would just cut it off of the donor truck shortly after it exits the fire wall (that will give you more than enough to tie into), then when you put the new clip in, you just plug all the lights in and match up the colors with your harness. For instance on my swap I had to connect my trucks 1 dark blue wire into 2 dark blue wires on the clip harness. That is an example for you. The different clip will have all same wires, it is just a matter of how many of each it has.

[Driveway Dreams]

Oh, and when you tie your harnesses together...dont do all the connections in the same place. Stagger them out a little so they fit back in the split loom easier. (I learned this by not doing it.)

[N2TRUX]

If it were me I would just convert it to a dual headlight set up.

[72 CustomCamper]

Originally Posted by lowchevytrucks8503

I would try to do an '84 under. I have an '85 and tried to put a '84 core support on mine, and I had problems with not enough slots at the bottom where the rubbers for the radiator go. My may have been a fluke i'm not 100% sure.

81-87 is the same core support. Only difference is for 2 or 4 headlights...


Chuck

[Damien]

Make sure you get the bumper too. The '83 and newer trucks move the turn signals to the grille.

[Driveway Dreams]

Or set up your blinker openings as air inlets.

[joe1982]

Originally Posted by Damien

Make sure you get the bumper too. The '83 and newer trucks move the turn signals to the grille.

thanks man, i had not even thought of that.

[joe1982]

Originally Posted by Driveway Dreams

Or set up your blinker openings as air inlets.

sounds good. hey man i just ordered some shirts of that link.

[ECU PIRATE]

Originally Posted by joe1982

thanks man, i had not even thought of that.

thanks. It's hard to find these on the East Coast. I have only seen one 81-82 truck in the local pick and pulls and it was the owner's truck...............

[Driveway Dreams]

Originally Posted by joe1982

sounds good. hey man i just ordered some shirts of that link.

Cool. Tony_SS on here does them. He is great and his service is awesome!

[powerdriver 1958]

I know a lotta guys don't like this swap but I do, went from 84 to 89

[truckfan]

i love your truck. you need radiator support and headlite bezels. changing to 85-87 and 89-91 burbs was cool when those trucks were newer. but now older is better. i'd stay 81-82 and go double headlites

[ortega]

personally, i like the 89-91 front. thats what i have on my 77 blazer and my 85 c10. the light harness thing is very simple

[mentlmidget]

finding the headlight buckets is a pain in the arse for the 91 suburban headlight system. Not the composite, i am talking about the individual buckets.

[77"kroper323]

i have a 77 silverado .. i want to change the front to a 90/91 front end of a surburban... should i or not.. is it goint to be difficult..

[JW76]

I had to change the nose on my 82 dump truck after a collision. The nose was a single headlight. I changed to a double headlight nose off an 84. I took the fenders core support, grille, headlight assembly, and the complete wiring harness which I simply unbolted from the firewall. I used the 82 body mounts and everything bolted up perfect and then I simply unbolted the old harness and bolted the new one in. It is plug and play. I didn't have to splice any wires. Good luck

[nekkidhillbilly]

84 single headlight looks best imo