Ls swap

[cbass91120]

Working on a 1984 k10 Silverado, machine shop just told me that the 350 sbc is basically not worth rebuilding. Buddy from work has a 2001 Tahoe he will sell me for pretty cheap that runs but Transmission won’t go into 4th gear. Only prob is that the Tahoe is a 2wd. When building a 4x4 k10 can my donor vehicle be a 2wd without to many complications? I’ve researched enough to know the transmission are slightly different but it looks like a can get around that with a some parts and some adapters. The Tahoe is just too good of a deal even if I can only use the engine but really not sure if I’m missing something or not.

 

[Drauka99]

beauty of GM is the bellhousing for the transmission in you K10 will work with just a bit of tweaking on the LS (one less bellhousing bolt and a different flywheel if its a manual transmission). main thing you will need is a tuner for the ECM/ECU or send it off with the necessary info for someone to remove vats and set it up for the K10 transmission

 

[Hunter79764]

No issues with a 2wd vs 4wd engine, just the transmission. To convert the 4L60 in the Tahoe to a 4wd, it will need to have the output shaft swapped, which is essentially the last item to be pulled from the transmission. When you have it rebuilt, it should not be a problem to have it converted over. There are a few things to be aware of on it, but in general, yes, it is a very feasible plan.
Buy the entire Tahoe, take everything you need, do the swap, and sell the rest of the parts after you are done. If the Tahoe is in decent shape, you should be able to do the swap for very reasonable money. Don't open up the engine unless you need to. "Freshening it up" is as likely to cause issues as it is to solve them, in my experience.

If you want to, you can use you K10 transmission, but a 700R4 is the most difficult to use with an LS and the easiest to swap with a 4L60e. If you have a TH350, you could use it almost as-is with just a couple minor tricks. Manual can be used as well, but I'm guessing you would have mentioned that if you had a stickshift.

 

[Camar068]

No issues with a 2wd vs 4wd engine, just the transmission. To convert the 4L60 in the Tahoe to a 4wd, it will need to have the output shaft swapped, which is essentially the last item to be pulled from the transmission. When you have it rebuilt, it should not be a problem to have it converted over. There are a few things to be aware of on it, but in general, yes, it is a very feasible plan.
Buy the entire Tahoe, take everything you need, do the swap, and sell the rest of the parts after you are done. If the Tahoe is in decent shape, you should be able to do the swap for very reasonable money. Don't open up the engine unless you need to. "Freshening it up" is as likely to cause issues as it is to solve them, in my experience.

If you want to, you can use you K10 transmission, but a 700R4 is the most difficult to use with an LS and the easiest to swap with a 4L60e. If you have a TH350, you could use it almost as-is with just a couple minor tricks. Manual can be used as well, but I'm guessing you would have mentioned that if you had a stickshift.

shouldn't he be able to cut the shaft on the 2wd shaft after removing the tail housing? Then get a trans adapter from a 4x4 4l60e.

 

[cbass91120]

shouldn't he be able to cut the shaft on the 2wd shaft after removing the tail housing? Then get a trans adapter from a 4x4 4l60e.

 

[Hunter79764]

There's situations where that is possible, I couldn't say for sure one way or the other on this in particular. But that transmission needs to be rebuilt, and swapping a 4wd output shaft shouldn't be too hard while it is torn apart.

 

[cbass91120]

I definitely plan to use the 4l60. The truck is bone stock as far as I know. It’s a little unique because the gas door says “diesel fuel only” which only makes since it came with a diesel from the factory. Not sure if that included a upgraded drive train or not