1977 Silverado Crew Cab.

[bowtieguy79]

Wow that is a great shine!!! Looking great!

[OutlawDrifter]

fantastic job! it's turning out very well!

[MTCK]

Www.73-87chevytrucks.com is the web site.

[y5mgisi]

Ordered all my stuff up! Hope to get it all installed over Thanksgiving weekend.

[Front Range]

How many gallons of red did you end up using?

[y5mgisi]

Just one. In fact I still have to paint the tailgate and I have enough red left over from doing the truck to still paint the tailgate and the dash.

[77K10Silverado]

Originally Posted by y5mgisi

Ordered all my stuff up! Hope to get it all installed over Thanksgiving weekend.

What all did you order?

Care to come paint my truck? lol

[y5mgisi]

Door seals, channel felts, window seals, auxiliary seals, I think that's it?

[y5mgisi]

I wish I could come to paint yiur truck! More over, I want you to do it yourself! Mine turned out pretty nice for a first time paint job. I'm sure you could do the same!

[y5mgisi]

Taillights in means one step closer to having it back on the road! The little things are still exciting!

[440marv]

Great first paint job. What brand paint and clear did you use?

[y5mgisi]

Thanks! I used Wanda for the base coat and southern polyurethane for everything else including the clear. Great products!

With any luck I'm going to be picking up this truck in a couple days pilfering the Dana 60 front end and the th400/205 combo and selling the rest to a friend.

[MTCK]

Looms like a good deal! Do it!

[y5mgisi]

Working on it! At this point the only thing holding me back is my financier. All my money is tied up in my kitchen remodel. So my buddy who will be taking the body and frame from me is loaning me the dough!

[justcuz]

You going to keep the 205 or convert the newer t-case to the 400?
Although the 205 is beefy, I would personally prefer the gear reduction of the newer case, especially since the first gear in the 400 is not as low as a 700R4/4l60E.
Also spring mounts for your chassis and cross members, aftermarket or wrecking yard sourced?
I'd be tempted to run B52's up front with factory shackle mounts and factory 4wd front mounts and a flip kit in the rear. Maybe even sneak some 1 ton 64" late model springs out back.
Paint job looks great buy the way!

[y5mgisi]

This will be mine on Saturday!




I'm going to sell the th400/205 combo and run a th400/241. The 241s are plenty strong for me and just seem to run smoother down the highway in my experience. And the extra low range compared to the 205 certainly won't hurt! For 4x4 mounts, I'm going to fab my own stuff I think. Although I will buy the rear shackle hangers for the front Springs from diy4x4. For the rear, for now, just going to do a block. If my calculations are correct, a standard run of the mill 4" block in the rear will get me level. I'll just be using stock front Springs.

[justcuz]

If you use the 3 leaf 1 ton front springs you may get by with a shorter block.
Ford has a selection of blocks in their F250/350 trucks that are possibilities and also capture the inner part of the u bolts. Depending on the GVW the Ford blocks I've seen range from 2,3 or 4 inches.
I'd have to go measure but I don't think Chevy 4x4 spring mounts are 4" taller than 2wd, or did you already measure the Suburban rear spring mounts compared to your crew cab (2wd) rear spring mounts?
I like the fact that except for the front axle, your drive lines on both vehicle will be the same.

[justcuz]

Have you installed any of the seals yet? How do you like them and who did you get them from?

[Dieselwrencher]

94-02 2500 and 3500 4x4 Dodges have a 4" cast block in the rear of them as well. The only problem you might run into might be the ford and dodge springs are wider than the older chevy ones. I almost went with a 241 for my 76. I still might if I can find a core at a decent price.

[68Timber]

I like the 241 idea. The TH400, adapter, and 205 can be flipped for good coin and the 241 is more than adequate for normal use.

[NastyBuzzard]

Following closely! You are doing to yours what I want to do to my 88 GMC crew! I also have a donor 1 ton w/ the dana 60 I need to swap over.

[y5mgisi]

Originally Posted by justcuz

If you use the 3 leaf 1 ton front springs you may get by with a shorter block.
Ford has a selection of blocks in their F250/350 trucks that are possibilities and also capture the inner part of the u bolts. Depending on the GVW the Ford blocks I've seen range from 2,3 or 4 inches.
I'd have to go measure but I don't think Chevy 4x4 spring mounts are 4" taller than 2wd, or did you already measure the Suburban rear spring mounts compared to your crew cab (2wd) rear spring mounts?
I like the fact that except for the front axle, your drive lines on both vehicle will be the same.

The 2wd mounts are 3" shorter than 4x4. So I plan on using the 3 leaf front Springs and just doing whatever block makes the rear level.

Originally Posted by justcuz

Have you installed any of the seals yet? How do you like them and who did you get them from?

I have them all installed. Near as I can tell it doesn't matter where you buy them from. I think I have bought seals from three different places over time and all of them look identical. So who knows. The seals are all pretty good. Can't expect perfection and they aren't perfect. The things of note that come to mind are on the window track seals you have to trim the lip that holds them in place everywhere where the door skin is attached or there will be bunched up tight points every few inches. Also with new door seals, I have yet to have them not suck as far as having to really slam the doors to get them to shut.

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

94-02 2500 and 3500 4x4 Dodges have a 4" cast block in the rear of them as well. The only problem you might run into might be the ford and dodge springs are wider than the older chevy ones. I almost went with a 241 for my 76. I still might if I can find a core at a decent price.

I have just had better luck with highway operation of 241s than 205s. Those are the only two transfer cases I like. And if it's a truck like this that will spend 95% of its time in 2wd on the highway, it's the right choice in my eyes.

Originally Posted by BRUISER

I like the 241 idea. The TH400, adapter, and 205 can be flipped for good coin and the 241 is more than adequate for normal use.

Exactly. I have put my 241 in the burb through a good deal of hell over the years. If it can put up with what I have done, I have nothing to worry about.

Originally Posted by NastyBuzzard

Following closely! You are doing to yours what I want to do to my 88 GMC crew! I also have a donor 1 ton w/ the dana 60 I need to swap over.

Yep! I'm following yours too! Sadly the 60 swap won't start for a good couple months as I am remodeling my kitchen starting right after Christmas... Yippie!

[NastyBuzzard]

Well then! Mine will be starting not in the far distant future I just have a lot going on right now with a couple of fbody's. I want to have the front end stripped from the 4x4 before the end of the year and the 350 tbi in the 88 needs a head gasket. Still trying to decide where I plan to get my 4x4 swap parts from.

[y5mgisi]

I would get the spring mounts from diy4x4 and the cross member from either totally naked auto or off-road design. However , I'm thinking I'll make my own front mounts and buy the shackle mounts from diy4x4 and the crossmemeber probably from TNA.

[jott_06]

I'm not sure what those crossmembers or spring mounts cost but I was able to use all factory parts on my swap. The factory 4x4 engine crossmember only took a little bit of tweeking to fit in the 2wd frame. The frames are very similar but not exactly the same. I found that the 2wd frame was around 3/8 of an inch shorter in height at the engine crossmember area.