Silverado2500 superduty axle swap and more

[Easemaster3000 [Veteran Member]]

Before I start let me just say I'm not the best at writing so bear with me. Alright after almost 3 years of sitting and gathering parts I've finally started putting together my 1999 silverado 2500. I originally bought the truck for the 6.0 and 4l80e which I put in my 2002 Silverado 1500(previous thread). After sitting for a few months I decided to build it into a "mudtruck". At first I was thinking going old school with a 454 and 400trans with a 10bolt front strait axle(also on a previous thread). I have since learned and gathered a good bit of information and done a lot of mind changing.
Here we go:
As stated above I'm starting with a 1999 Chevrolet Silverado Ext cab 2500. Here is my plan, I'll be going back with a 6.0 and a 2wd 4l80e. Why 2wd you may be asking, well the VSS sensors are in the transmission and I will be running a ford np205 tcase. In the front I'll be running a f250 superduty dana60 coilsprung of coarse, as for the rear will be a older model Chevy 14bolt. Matching 5:13 gears and also a Detroit locker front and rear.

Here is the truck the day I picked it up.




Here it is now with half a bodylift on it.


Picked up my 2009 f250 superduty dana 60 front with the driveshaft at a pretty good bargain. It came out of a truck that had not been wrecked so that's a plus. It has factory 35spline shafts inter and outer. Bigger axle tubes bigger brakes...I'm sure I'm missing something.



Its gonna make my 14bolt look like a toothpick

I rebuilt the ford np205 tcase Im gonna be using back in April while I had nothing better to do and put the 32spline input shaft in it that was needed to be ran on the Chevy 4l80e.


Taped up and ready for paint.


Might as well paint it red.


Finished product with 32spline input shaft and I also ground the shift rails to run a twin stick set up.


Picked up a set of 42x15x17 Pitbull Rockers from a guy in the neighborhood at a reasonable price. They've got a little rock rash on one side but they'll do. I want to run aluminum rims but it's hard to find a 17 with the offset that I want so rims are undecided at this point.


The next small project was to rebuild, drill and tap my steering gear box for hydro assist even though the rebuild kit I got came with everything I didn't need so I just put it back together as is. The insides didn't look too bad anyway.




A little paint and back in she goes.



I got the truck pulled up to the shop a few weeks ago to get the motor and trans in and decided to give the engine bay a good washing that was very badly needed because of an old powersteering leak the truck had.


After getting some acid degreaser after it


I purchased the new 6.0 and 2wd 4l80e from a friend, it's out of a 2006 express van. The 2wd 4l80e having the vss sensors in the built in I won't have to worry about the trans not shifting correctly or mounting sensors in the tcase. I'm eventually going to hop the motor up but for now I wanna make sure it's going to run right for now.


Motor and trans sat in the truck


My 4l80e to np205 adaptor from trail tech fab, there adapter allows you to clock the transfer case in any position desired. Then all you do is weld it into postion. Really nice guy and resonably priced.


Transmission side tacked.


I bolted half of the adaptor to the transmission so I could start the mounting process. We hole sawed a 4 1/2" circle into a peice of rectangle tubing and welded tabs for the DOM bushing from Barnes4wd.


I'll be using my factory transmission crossmember so what I did was modified it a little and cut the top part off an welded a plate then added in the tubing you see here with a 2" notch for the DOM sleeve bushings from Barnes4wd.


That's it for now I ran out of welding wire last night. I hope y'all like it so far feel free to ask any questions I'm sure I've left something out or didn't explain good enough, so until next time...

[Reserector [Veteran Member]]

It sounds like a GREAT plan to me. Should be strong. You've done a lot of work on it already. I'll be following this project, for sure.
Good score on those tires, too. I guess you are needing 8-lug 17s?

[Easemaster3000 [Veteran Member]]

It sounds like a GREAT plan to me. Should be strong. You've done a lot of work on it already. I'll be following this project, for sure.
Good score on those tires, too. I guess you are needing 8-lug 17s?

Yea I guess I've got a pretty good start. I've still got to wire the get the wiring harness on an get a radiator, starter, trans cooling lines small stuff like that. I was wanting to run a 43sx on 20s for a little more offset rim but I got these pitbulls so I'll make do. As far as the rims I'll be running wheel adaptors to convert the Chevy 8x6.5 to the 8x170 ford pattern. I would like to have swapped it all to Chevy pattern but the pattern on the front would have to be redrilled roters etc or run adaptors an I really don't wanna run adaptors on the front. The 14bolt is narrower so I'll run the adaptor on the back make it a little wider and I'm not as worried about putting the rear in a bind as the front.

[balage [Veteran Member]]

Nice.project!

[Brake Weight [Veteran Member]]

Looks like it'll be a fun one.

[Easemaster3000 [Veteran Member]]

This weekend i got some wire to finishout what i had to do on the trans crossmember.


I got it bolted all together. Im going to wait to paint it. I've still got to clean the side of the frame, then i'll spray it all with frame paint.


I'll probably get the wiring harness on next. Lifting the rear will come after that. I'll keep yall posted.

[balage [Veteran Member]]

Nice weld!

[Easemaster3000 [Veteran Member]]

Nice weld!

Thanks! Lots of practice to get there.

[81 CJ5]

[Cowboy [Veteran Member]]

Very nice work