Turbo 400 to a 5spd

[coxfmly]

Has anyone ever put a 5 spd manual into a suburban? Did they come with one from the factory?I currently have a turbo 400 but I need more gears. I dont mind shifting and I'm sure I could find a strong 5 speed.
I looked into a gear vendor but at $3000 plus it's too steep at this time.
I also looked into the 700r4 but I dont trust them and the 4th gear wouldn't help when I hit the hills.

Thanks

[john8662]

GM didn't put a manual tranny in a Suburban, now I could be wrong, but I've never come accross one.

Tell you what, I just recently was snooping through one of my good friend's shop and he had a couple of auxillary gear boxes similar to what gearvendors uses.

I asked him about them and he told me they were only for 2WD TH400 tranny's, which I don't own. I have a 4wd 400 but nothing 2WD.

They were in need of some work, but all the pieces were there, I think one of them just needed a new bearing or two.

I'll try and call him tomorrow, or sometime later this week (he is busy) and see what they are and what he wants for one of them if you're interested.

[john8662]

Well I called and asked. He's not quite ready to part with them. I did find out what they were though. They are Doug Nash Auxillary units. He's keeping them for parts for his truck which is a Chevy with a Cummins in it. Anyways, he told me that he can't get parts for them any more because the company that built them was sold out to U.S. Gear, which now makes the unit. The problem is that since they re-designed the unit none of the parts interchange, so he's got to keep his older units.

But, as an alternative to Gear-Venders you could call these people up and see what they'd charge for their setup, Could be a little easier on the pocket book. I heard they're around 2k for their setup, but call them and check it out for your application.

http://www.usgear.com/dual_range.htm

From what I understand the U.S. Gear unit is quiet in comparison to the GV unit.

[azblazor]

I have seen several suburbans with manual transmissions from the factory. But never a 5 speed manual.

[dieselcrawler]

Factory or not, these trucks are all so much alike that it wouldn't be any more of a problem to swap a NV4500 5spd into your sub than it would into a truck... you'd need the pedals, and clutch linkages, trans, bell housing, and other parts, but it shouldn't be that hard to do.
If you're replaceing your TH400 with a NV4500, both a nice low first gear, and on the other end, overdrive.
Good luck

Greg

[doncannon]

hey coxfmly,
I have a 87 c2500 pickup. I recently bought a rebuilt nv4500 (5 spd) from a guy in the state of indiana and shipped to me (total was 1300). I still need to gather parts (clutch kit, bellhsg, shifter, slave and mstr cyls (not sure if I will go manual yet), pedals, etc). If you want I can look up his name and email you. Also, search for 5 speed conversion i think, there you should find where others have posted conversions.
Don

[G. Gearloose]

The 4.10/700R4 .70 overdrive combination is not as bad as you may percieve, unless your towing big weight or have > 33" tires.