stricker76

If your talking about the C2500 14-bolt swap than you will have no problems. I did the swap on my 95 a few years ago. The hardest part was getting a u-joint to mate the 1500 driveshaft to the 2500 rearend, but even that was easy, just took the driveshaft and rearend to a drivetrain shop and they matched one up. That was only because i couldn't get the driveshaft out of the donor truck....then it would have been a straight swap. E-brake cables as well as everything else bolted right in, no problems at all.

IndyZ28

I have that light duty 2500. It came with a 305, 4L60, 14 bolt 3.73 w/6lug rearend. If u need me to take some measurements of it, it would be no problem.

jamespeek

hey indy,

thanks for the reply. i wouldn't mind knowing the spring perch center to center and shock center to center measurements along with outside of drum to outside of drum, but am really leaning towards getting a 99+ disc brake rear end and cutting the spring perches and shock brackets off and getting new ones welded on at a shop with the right measurements, but i gotta measure the drum the drum distance to make sure my wheels won't look silly. i also thought it was a 12 bolt, not a 14 bolt. if it's the 14 bolt rear end, i might lose too much horsepower trying to turn a heavy duty rear end. i only intend to make about 320hp even after my new engine build. only making the stock 205hp right now.

thanks alot

bowtieguy79

iTrader: (1)

Your Truck is sweet.....

IndyZ28

I seem to have lost track of this thread. I have to climb under my truck today and track down a leak, so I'll grab some measurements for you if you still need them.

jamespeek

Ok, I've purchased my SS wheels. Found set of 4 that were pulled off and stored right when the truck was bought. Hopefully they will clean up ok, but you can tell they were stored. Got em for $500, feel very lucky. Tires are like new. Goodyear 275/55-20 all the way around. They are more like 10 inches wide than 8.5, but I know how you are supposed to measure the rims, but I just felt like mentioning that they seem larger than my 17x9.5 Torq Thrusts that are on the truck right now. The 275/55-20 is definitely 2 inches wider than the 275/60-17.

I found a rearend from a '96 Chevy 4x4 with 6 lugs and drum brakes. I wanted a new disc setup, but I got lucky (I think) and found this 10 bolt 4x4 rearend off said truck and it has all the same measurements as my '91 Sierra 5 lug 4x2 rear end, EXCEPT the 4x4 rearend is 2 inches wider. Perch to perch and shock to shock are the same. Appears it will be a direct bolt in replacement. I measured it 3 times with someone more experienced than me helping me out before I bought it for $400. It's a 10 bolt 3.73 rear end with 6 lugs if anybody else wants to try to find one, it had RPO code GTY. The GTY means 'wide track' apparently.

http://www.c2e.info/rpocodes/gmrpocodesGthroughM.html

I've got Belltech spindles for the front, for the big brakes, and will use 2500 rotors. The calipers will supposedly work, but I am prepared to upgrade my brakes if needed. The Belltech spindles will push the wheels out 1 inch on each side to match the 2 inch wider rear end. The SS rims are 8.5 wide with approx:

8.5 wide / 2 = 4.25 (center) + 22mm (about 1 inch) positive offset = about 5.25 inch backspacing, so 3.25 left in the front.

My Torq Thrust II 17" rims are 17x8 with 4" backspacing in the front and 17x9.5 with 5.5" backspacing in the rear. So, both have 4" left in the front (0.75" inches more than the SS rims, so the 1" change by spindles will only be 0.25"). However, I must account for the wider tire width of the 20s and may wind up purchasing DJM spindles to bring the front tires back in a little. Hopefully, the SS rims will tuck in the fenders well enough, and all this engineering (haha) I'm doing will turn out to be helpful. There is nothing I can do for the rear end. The rear wheels will just have to be a little bit further out than the front, but considering the lines of the body, I think it will turn out ok even if that happens. I will only lower it 3" in the front and 5" in the rear. Photos will be posted when I'm done, with measurements and recommendations if you want to do something similar.

As a side note, if you have one of these OBS trucks with the first ABS brakes, get a master cylinder from a pre-ABS C1500 and swap it, then you will be able to stop your truck when you want to instead of when the crappy module lets you.

BigRedChvy355

iTrader: (4)

Any update on this, I wish I would of known about the 2500 rotors and rearend swap so I could of used some 6 lug rims?

jamespeek

i am in the army and had to go somewhere for a month. just got back last week. i was trying to do this before, but now i am moving and helping my dad move. so i won't be able to start until tuesday at best. i have 2 months off though, so i can make it happen. i will post pics when i'm done...

however, here is something else to chew on. the 2500 spindles (belltech#2500 and 2500 chevy truck, same thing) have a 4.5" spindle shaft and the 2400 spindles for 1500s have a 4" long spindle shaft, not only that, but the 2500 rotors are .25" thicker than the 1500 rotors. so, if your **** about backspacing and tucking without fender rolling (like yours truly) you really need to pay attention to what your doing and maybe even go somewhere to look at all the spindles next to each other and make the measurements and comparisons. i'm going to summit warehouse in mcdonough ga in my uhaul on the way back to moving my stuff to my mom's from college. i am going to ask to see the DJM spindles for 1" and 1.25" rotors, the Belltech spindles for 1" and 1.25" rotors. Then I'll measure them all and report what i find here. I'll be looking to stick something through the to ball joint holes and measure from the center to the end of the spindle shaft as best i can and see how far the wheels are pushed out, generally... cause i want to leave my options open to going with a 4/6 drop later on if i want to get some more front springs

1LowC-body

i got 2" DJM drop spindles on the front of mine. Bought them for my truck specifically 1991 c1500 2 wheel drive reg cab from stylin trucks. Fit just fine. I have tires a little wider than stock, and i did have to roll the fenders just a tad bit it and cut a little out underneath on the bed fenders because its stepside n its fiberglass. The DJM stuff i have has held up pretty well so far and i was happy with how everything fit. Also have 3" drop springs so i have 5" drop on the front of my truck and 7" on the rear with DJM's flip kit, c notch, and adjustable rear hangers. Would like to know what you find out tho just in case i start having issues with anything (hope i don't) but who knows with my luck. Heres a pic of how low mine sits. I did have to cut the support off the bottom of the bed cause the diff was smackin it when i hit a bump. Still tryin to figure out a way to stiffen up my rear end. I have to much squat when i take off especially with my new 383 motor. Prolly gonna get stiffer shocks and traction bars or something. Anyone else had this issue with these trucks? I have nitro drop shocks. Anyway man good luck on everything hope u find some axles, theres a guy around here that did the swap if i see him out ill ask him about it. Heres a few pics.

jamespeek

1low-cbody, thats a nice truck and thanks alot for the info and pics. this helps, me and alot of people, cause there do seem to be some differences in the final result caused by using different spindle brands. but, what is the backspacing and width of your rims? are they 15x8 with 4" backspacing on the front? that's what it looks like. and also what is the tire size? looks like 235/60 or maybe 245, possible 255? if they are 15x8 with 4" backspacing, then the DJMs definately do a better job of keeping the stock width from tire to tire... whereas the belltechs def make the wheels stick out a little, about an inch.

but, for me, that's good... i'm using 5.25" backspacing wheels, and i'm looking for that

for others, i'm finished with the rear of my truck. i'll post photos when i can. i don't have my own digital camera, but my new cell phone has one, it's in the mail, on the way

the rear of my truck turned out PERFECT, and exactly as planned. Using SS rims, 20x8.5 with 5.25" backspacing. Dropped the rear with 4" belltech leaf springs. They are dead on. The stock 275/55-20 tires fill up the wheel well almost 100%. And it has just the right amount of room left to drop it another inch or two, with a little work, if desired.

I had to return my spindles, cause I bought the part number 2500, but they had 2400s in the box. Funny enough, the other box of pn 2500 spindles also were stamped 2400, but the spindle shaft was longer and bigger around, so I'm hoping the 6 lug rotors and bearings will fit them... will post when they do, but autozone.com cross referencing uses the same bearing SET3 and SET5 inner, outer for both the C1500 with heavy duty brakes and the C2500 with the 7200GVWR brakes... so, things appear to be on track. can't wait to share some photos, cause the truck looks really, really good..

Oh, and 1lowcbody, how did you drop the rear of your truck? if you used shackles to drop the truck, that would def cause the rear to have too much slack, the longer shackles do affect it... if you can, you'd be better off using hangers only and a stock shackle, or even a lift shackle which would be shorter than stock