88-91 Burb Brake Swap

[dave2953]

I think I remember reading that 88-91 Burb front ends can be swapped to our trucks. Is this right? My neighbor has a Burb that I can get the parts off of. Also, when doing this swap will the Burb pitman arm fit my factory manual steering box? Thanks in advance!

[rlm316]

I swapped in a crossmember from a '91 into my '70. Everything that I did was for a 3/4t. I swapped out everything, even the steering box. Someone told me that it was a turn faster and I had it so why not? Everything bolts right up except for 2 holes on each side of the crossmember, but they are not hard to deal with. If you are only going to do a partial swap I know with a 3/4 the upper and lower control arms will bolt right in. Not sure on the 1/2t. I am still in the process of plumbing in the brake lines but I have the set-up figured out. Let me know what way you are going with this and I will pass along anything that I have already been through. Good luck, Lane

[dave2953]

Thanks for the reply. I was planning on just swapping everything except the crossmember, that is if the a-arms will bolt to my existing crossmember. What type of vehicle did you get the brake lines for? The factory lines are too short, right?

[rlm316]

Here is where it gets tricky. I can tell you what I used for my truck but you will need to tell me more info on yours. My set-up is a '70 C20 with original power drum, upgraded with a complete crossmember and steering box from a '91 3/4t suburban. When I rebuilt the front end during the swap, I used only the correct replacement parts for the '91. During this I found out that most of the parts are interchangeable. A big problem for this swap is the brake line routing. On the '67-'72 trucks the brake lines pass under the frame, on the newer model they pass through it. I also have a '85 gmc that I could use as a referance. What I am doing on my truck is using the '71-'72 power disc/drum kit with a slight modification on the front lines where they transition into the flex lines. I used the '91 calipers so I had to use the flex lines for that as well. The way that these lines travel is across the front side of the upper control arm. The easiest way to deal with this was to run the end of the line thru the oval hole punched in the frame just ahead of the crossmember. The flex lines are threaded on the outside so they will bolt down with a 5/8x 18 jam nut. Then all that is needed is to rebend and shorten the ends of the hard pipe at each wheel. Sounds harder than it is, most of the work was trying to figure all this out. As soon as I get every thing else bolted on and I figure out how to post pics I am planning on posting all of the info on this swap for everyone to use. Good luck and let me know how you make out. Lane

[grayw0lf]

Originally Posted by dave2953

I think I remember reading that 88-91 Burb front ends can be swapped to our trucks. Is this right? My neighbor has a Burb that I can get the parts off of. Also, when doing this swap will the Burb pitman arm fit my factory manual steering box? Thanks in advance!

I'm thinking I read somewhere that you'd need the lower control arm & ball joint from a 67-70 3/4 ton.

Do a search, I'm pretty sure there are some good threads on this.

[rlm316]

The steering stops on a drum lower control arm are different than for a disc lower control arm, so the arm needs to match the spindle.