Conversion-gas to diesel, or 2wd to 4wd

[KenZ]

I have an old 83 4wd gasser that has been parked for a few years--terrible gas mileage. I need another project like a hole in the head, but I found an 83 2wd with a 6.2 diesel. both have 700r4 trans.

Without thinking this out a lot, I though I would put the question out there. would it be easier to change the two wheel drive diesel to 4wd, or to move the diesel over to the 4wd gas truck?

thanks for your thoughts!
Ken

[trbankii]

I'd be looking at the frames and comparing them. Unbolting the front axle, bolting it back on, and swapping trans and t-cases without getting into wiring issues, plumbing, and all would be easier if it was a direct bolt up. If the frames are different it might be a toss-up.

[DieselCrawler]

My opinion, put the diesel motor in the 4x4... converting a 2wd frame to 4wd takes alot of rivet grinding, hole drilling, measureing, and ......

Swaping the motor over would be a bolt-in affair. Made that much more easy when you have the whole donor truck sitting there to take every bracket, bolt, etc off of when you need it. Take the diesel tork converter as well, they are diffrent than the gasser ones. Not sure about the sending units in the fuel tank, you might swap that too... or the whole tank.
If you want to go all out, swap the wiring harness under the hood and dash, factory glow plugs and dash lights would work then... I've done this before, it's not that hard...

[KenZ]

Thanks for the responses. After looking at the trucks side by side, I think an engine swap is probably the way to go. I see a few other minor issues such as the diesel has a hood emblem and the gasser doesn't. I guess I will swap the hood as well. Diesel hood seems to also be insulated, where the gas is not--I guess for noise.
Diesel is also a "High Sierra" where the 4wd is just a "Sierra" Anyone know the difference between the Sierra and High Sierra?

Ken

[Yukon6.2]

Hi
Differace between the high sierra and the sierra is options and trim.It's like a silverado and a cheyanne.Same truck under the frilly stuff.
Have fun Thomas

[DieselCrawler]

Diesel will likely have more fire wall insulation too... might be worth swaping over for sound deadining... I found this on a '84-'85 truck, a hard plastic faced, insulation backed, bolt/screw on panel, fit on the engine side of the fire wall... couple pieces, had to trim a bit, the truck it came off had A/C, the one it went on did not... in the process of a simular swap, donar truck was a diesel 3/4 ton 2wd, building a dump out of a '86 gasser 3/4 ton 4wd, been on hold for about 2 years now... motors in the garage on a stand, turbo system in a box under it, trans and transfer case on the floor beside, truck chassis is outside getting cussed at every time I mow around it... dump cradle is so far back in the weeds I've not seen it in months...

Good luck with your project...

Greg

[KenZ]

Again, thanks for the info and comments.


Greg, I'm afraid my project may end up like yours. My 83 has been in the weeds since 2001 when I got my new Silverado/Duramax. All it really needed was a starter. Tires were brand new. Now they are flat and cracked. I went to clean my Silverado out a couple of years ago before hunting season and I found receipts that were almost 3 years old! Where did the time go--kind of scary! I may end up with two trucks in the weeds instead of one!

Ken

[KenZ]

Just another note to add. I pulled the beds off the trucks to get a closer look at the frames and do some rust prevention before I started on the engine swap. I found that although both trucks are half tons, the 4wd frame is 1/16 inch thicker. The two wheel drive appears to be 5/32 on the frame and the 4wd is 7/32. So swaping the engine is definitely the way to go.