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This how-to is going to address the process involved in taking a 2006 Silverado SS with Rear Wheel Drive and convert it to All Wheel Drive. I know, I can already hear you all asking me why anyone would ever do that. Well, everyone with an AWD wants a RWD and vice versa. The good news is that this write-up will actually explain how to go either direction. It’s a very similar process, albeit a little easier to go RWD. Whatever your reason, whether you want the all-weather drivability of AWD or the tire melting burnouts of RWD, you've come to the right place.

 

Before I get started, let me first address the elephant. This is a complex process. It will not be a simple bolt on application. Anything done to your vehicle is at YOUR OWN RISK. That being said, unless you have significant automotive experience, money, time, and patience then don't even bother attempting this. I am simply going to show you how I did this to my truck. I did this to a 2006 SS. Your year/model may have differences. I don't have a 2005 so I can’t vouch that the frame will be the exact same as the 2006. You will be cutting your frame. You will be welding things to your frame. You will be rebuilding drivetrain components. If you can’t do these things comfortably, or the person you are having do this can’t, then you have no business attempting this. Now if you are feeling brave, or just have nothing better to do, then read on…then re-read it…a few times. Make some lists. Get under your truck and make some measurements. Now let’s get started.

 

 

Ok, so first off a little background. I love my truck. It’s my daily driver. I tow, haul, travel, and everything else except take it offroad…because if it ever touches mud or snow, I’m all over the place or stuck. So when I slid off the road twice during a blizzard (at 25mph, going straight no less, with snow tires) I decided it was time. After a lot of research online and finding essentially nothing but people talking about how they think they would do it, I decided the best thing to do was just get a salvage SS and figure it out. I found a 2004 SS locally at an insurance auction and bought it. I then spent the next couple months tearing it apart piece by piece to retrieve the parts I needed, then ordering a whole lot more. If you are going RWD to AWD this is about your only option….unless by some fluke your truck came with the proper mounts (you’ll see later). Remember, if you get a salvage, make sure it starts and drives. Large impacts can do serious unseen damage to the drivetrain, even if it wasn’t touched.

 

So you got your donor truck. You are going to need to strip it down to the frame. I recommend you do what I did and sell what you don’t use to recoup some of the cost of buying it. There are plenty of people who want/need parts, especially the cladding. Here is what you need:

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NV-149 Transfer Case

Transfer Case Adapter

AWD Transmission (or just an AWD output shaft)

Front IFS (8.25”)

Front IFS Mount

Front Constant Velocity Axles

Intermediate Driveshaft

Front Hub Bearings

Engine Support (2-pieces)

Transmission Support

Transmission Mount

Frame Mounts (cut out the whole frame sections)

Primary Driveshaft (see below)

 

Some things that you need to do/consider:

Rebuild the transfer case and front IFS. It doesn’t matter what the mileage is. These are probably halfway to junk. They may have even been rebuilt once already. Don’t trust that.

Consider replacing or repacking the CV axles. Probably a little contaminated by now. I rebuilt mine just because I’ve never done it before. You can see below how contaminated they get. Its fairly easy to do, but getting the right dog ear clamps is a giant pain (online) and the clamping tool is not easy to find. New axles aren’t that expensive. Lesson learned.

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Consider replacing all of the universal joints. Consider the mileage they have on them.

Consider buying new Hub bearings. None of this is mandatory, but why not. If you are about to put a new drivetrain on your truck you should probably build it to last.

Primary driveshaft. You will need to either have the AWD shaft shortened or a custom shaft made. The reason for this is because of the Rear Axle. The 2003-2005 has an 8.6” 10 bolt piece of crap (a great reason to stick with the 06’). The 2006 has a 9.5” 14 bolt. The 9.5 is slightly longer (front to back) which will result in the old shaft being slightly too long.

New Ring Gear: This is up to you how you do this, but the AWD has 4.10 gears while the RWD has 3.73. The front and rear axle must match. Either put a 4.10 in your rear or a 3.73 in the new front…or something else in both. Choose your own adventure. I went with the 4.10 in the rear because I was already rebuilding it and I wanted the low end for the extra weight I was about to add. The easiest way is to just change the front axle since you should already be rebuilding it (hint, hint).

Transmission Exterior Seal Kit: This can be a slightly misleading name. It is going to contain some important seals and gaskets that you will need during the transmission rebuild; more on that later.

Fluids: you will need the following

Transmission: 11.2 quarts of Dexron VI – brand/synthetic or not is personal preference

Front Axle (IFS): 1.5 quarts of 75w90 or 75w140 (severe service) Gear Oil. I (and many others) recommend the 75w140. These axles are a bit weak.

Rear Axle (if necessary): 2.75 quarts of 75w90/75w140 gear oil. Same as front.

Transfer Case: 2.22 quarts of either Dexron VI or AutoTrac II. This T-case is also a bit weak so don’t skimp. Some will swear by one while others swear by the other. Your choice.

Coolant: 16.7 quarts Dex Cool GM 50/50

Freon: R-134a – enough to get 24-45 psi low side (dependant on temp/humidity). Or just have GM refill it.

With the drivetrain fluids it isn’t necessary to go with synthetics, but with how crappy this AWD drivetrain is, you might want to go the extra mile. I went with Amsoil Synthetics and Autotrac II (ACdelco PN# 88900402). Now you know why everyone wants to convert to RWD. Also go ahead and double the gear oil and t-case amounts as you will need to do a break-in fluid change at 500 miles.

Anaerobic Sealant: You will need this to rebuild your IFS and T-Case. Any brand will work. This stuff hardens in the absence of oxygen. DO NOT USE SILICON SEALANT! I will show you why later.

Transmission Assembly Lube/Goo: there are multiple types and colors. You won’t need much.

Tools: There are some specialty tools you will need as well. I will try and address them as I go. I also recommend the factory service manuals for torque specs and reference, but you can probably find a lot of the information on the internet if you look hard enough.

Edited by JamesT_SS (see edit history)
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Before we get into it let’s look at the parts and see why you need them. Obviously some parts just aren’t there, like the axle and transfer case, but there are a couple that you will need to swap with the AWD version. For starters, the Transmission Output Shaft. Everything inside the AWD and RWD transmissions is the same, save for this one piece. The RWD has a longer shaft to extend through the tail housing versus the AWD’s short shaft that goes into the transfer adapter and then the transfer case. If you are running high hp or just beating the crap out of your truck, consider going with a 300M shaft. The longer shaft flexes under high hp, while the shorter shaft just snaps. I have a daily driver so I just went with the factory for now. If you are smart, and you got a donor truck that means you now have a spare transmission. Way to think ahead. :thumbsup:

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Here is the RWD with the tail housing instead of the transfer case adapter below.

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Transmission Support/Mount: Below you will see the obvious differences in the two. The AWD has an indent to allow the intermediate shaft to go over it as well as a shorter profile to accommodate the larger transfer case. The mount itself is a two bolt versus the RWD’s one bolt.

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Engine Support: This is very important. Not only is it like the Trans support where it allows clearance for the Intermediate shaft, but it is also part of the mount for the Front IFS. The AWD’s is a two piece with the LH side being welded to the frame, while the RWD’s is a solid one piece. Keep your RWD’s for materials later.

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Carrier Bearing Mount: The RWD has a carrier bearing for the 2 piece steel primary driveshaft. This is a necessity for a two piece shaft in order to keep it straight obviously. Well the AWD’s 5 inch one piece aluminum shaft will not clear the carrier bearing mount. You will need to cut that off.

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Front Axle Frame Mounts: This is one of the harder parts to deal with. There are two separate frames from 1500 silverados, a RWD frame, and an AWD/4WD frame (again I can only say for certain on the 2006 SS). They are almost identical save for a couple differences. The above mentioned carrier bearing mount for one. Then there are 4 mounts for the front axle welded into and on the frame rails. You will see them all circled. Note the 4th is actually the engine support. These are not available from GM. You will need to cut these out of the frame of another truck if you want them. I recommend you Sawsall or band saw the arms off completely for ease of work, plus extra materials. These are all the mounts you will need

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The Passenger arm has these two inside the rail. One is a tube while the other has a bushing in it. Use a cutting wheel or something similar to cut the welds only. I destroyed the rear tube in the process, but as it turns out the two tubes directly beside it for the motor mounts work perfectly. Cut one of them out and to length, then ream the interior dimples out. Look down the tube, you’ll see them. Yes you will need to cut holes into your frame to weld them in. Here’s how they mount the axle.

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Here is the Driver arm. This has two as well circled. Something I will explain later, but the engine support mount is welded to an arm that is welded to the frame rail. This arm is actually different between the RWD and AWD. If I’d have known this earlier, I would have considered actually just cutting that entire arm off and welding that on instead of what you’ll see me do. Something to think about.

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And the axle mounted.

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Also note, when you cut these mounts off you will need to cut the frame rail off the upper mount. A cutting wheel will split this right apart.

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Mounting Plates: Here is some advice. When you cut the passenger mounts out if you are careful you should be left with these handy locating plates that you can set on your frame to help locate where you need to cut your holes. Very helpful.

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Speedometer Sensor Wire: The sensor in the transfer case is essentially the same as the sensor in the tailshaft. The connections are as well. In fact the reluctor in the transfer case is the same as the reluctor on the RWD’s output shaft. 40 teeth. The difference though is that the sensor on the AWD is further away than the RWD’s. You will need to add some wire to this to make it reach.

Rear Axle Yoke: The 9.5” rear end uses a 1355 yoke and u-joint. I believe the 8.6” rear end can use either a 1330 or 1355. Make sure they are the same or change one to match the other. A custom shaft will easily resolve this. I went with a 1415 since I was already in there.

Primary Driveshaft: As mentioned before. My custom shaft was 72, 1/8” long. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you don’t take my measurements as rule. There are many factors that can change this measurement. Ride height, yoke size, etc. Measure it out yourself just to be sure. This measurement has to be done with the truck sitting on its wheels, so it will be the last thing you do. A good drivetrain shop will have a handy measurement sheet to fill out. I used Driveshaft Specialist. The result was perfect.

Front Wheel Bearings: The suspension itself is the exact same. Same upper and lower control arms, same Hub Flange. Since you will be adding front cv axles though you will need to toss your sealed bearings for AWD/4WD Bearings. I’m a fan of Timken myself. Also grab the axle nut caps while you are at it.

Edited by JamesT_SS (see edit history)
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AWD to RWD

This will require less parts. For this you will only need the following:

Driveshaft – Without a T-Case the shaft will be longer, plus since you have an 8.6” rear it will be custom.

Carrier Bearing Mount – You will need this if you do a two piece driveshaft. I’m guessing the length for the RWD is too long for a one piece aluminum. Torsional effects and what not. Honestly I don’t know.

Transmission Support and Mount – The AWD’s will not be tall enough for the tailshaft to sit properly.

RWD Transmission Output Shaft

RWD Transmission Tailhousing

Sealed Front Hub Bearings – You can probably get by with the AWD’s but you might as well do it right.

 

That’s it. You can keep your two piece Engine Support. I think GM went with the 1 piece for added rigidity, but I can’t imagine it makes a huge difference unless you are putting a ton of HP through your drivetrain. If you decide you want the one piece you will need the entire driver arm from a RWD since it is wider and has the mounting brackets. You will need to remove your transfer case, adapter, front IFS, intermediate shaft, and CV Axles. This is the proper way to do it. If you leave your transfer case on and disconnect the intermediate shaft you will hump your VLSD. (google if you don’t know what that means) Plus you will have a few hundred pounds of dead weight. That’s like 4 dead hookers in the truck. No one wants that.

 

 

FYI, if anyone is looking to do this, I have the carrier bearing mounting plate, transmission support and mount, output shaft, VSS, and tailhousing if anyone would like to buy them.

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EDIT: I"m not actually sure if I still have these

 

For anyone who wants to do the RWD to AWD i'll give them the locating plates i made if they pay for shipping.

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Edited by JamesT_SS (see edit history)
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Transfer Case Rebuild

Ok, so you have all the parts you need hopefully. Lets get started. First we need to prep the parts. That means rebuilding them. Seriously, rebuild them. We’ll start with the Transfer Case. I’m not going to go through step by step on this. There are plenty of places online to find that. Here are some solid ones:

Transfer Case Disassembly

Transfer Case Assembly

Transfer Case Cleaning and Inspection

 

I would like to point out a couple things here though. Here is a prime example of why you need to rebuild these. My donor had 140,000 miles. The transfer case had been rebuilt at least once. How did I know? Because the a** clown that built this one used RTV sealant to put the case halves together. When this is done the excess RTV squirts into the case and hardens (metal to metal surfaces need very little sealant to fill imperfections), then mixes in with the oil, then gets sucked into the filter…and clogs it. That starves the components of oil. The result = broken crap. My planetary was mauled. The pinion bearings destroyed themselves. See below. The pinions should not move up and down.

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Make sure to test the Viscous Coupling in the transfer case prior to removing it from the truck. It’s really easy. You need a special tool, J 45382(or makeshift something). Transfer Case Viscous Coupling Test

 

I got all my transfer case parts from Americanpowertrainwarehouse.com They have everything you will need to rebuild it, including extra parts for broken things. For example if your VLSD is bad they have it. They even have autotrak II and Transgel. The manual won’t say to use it here but you should to lube up some of the moving parts.

 

I highly recommend you get the Transfer Case Saver. DO NOT LEAVE IN THE CRAPPY GM CLIP. Pull that crap out and get one of the case savers. The SONNAX kit uses polymer clips to buffer the metal parts from rubbing a hole in your soft magnesium case. This will happen eventually. Check your case for wear. If it is too bad either plug it or replace it. You can even find an aluminum replacement online.

 

Don’t bother buying the expensive GM Output Seal Driver. Just grab a Beer Glass and a Rubber mallet and gently tap it in.

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This whole assembly is pressed together piece by piece so make sure you have a press and a bearing tool.

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Here you can see the case saver clips, as well as the chain and bearings I had to replace. Inspect all of your parts for any kind of wear. You will also notice the anaerobic sealant used to seal the case halves. This stuff will stay in liquid form inside the case but harden in between the halves. I cannot stress this enough. You aren’t so good that you can completely avoid getting RTV into the case. Its simple physics. Also you can use the transfer case adapter as a stand to level the case during assembly.

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The case halves are actually different materials so they are held together with special nylon coated bolts to prevent galvanic corrosion. These are no longer available and were replaced by bolts with silly cup shaped washers. Just coat the bolt threads and washers in PTF thread sealant. I recommend painting the case halves as well to further prevent salt related corrosion if you live up north.

 

Before:

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After:

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Great write up. I always wondered what it would take to make a rwd, into an awd, and know I know ?

PS that 6.0 is in my truck and runs great. It does have a healthy cam in it.

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Oh this write-up has barely begun. I'm actually in the process of creating a completely separate one for the transmission because of how big it is.

 

Glad to hear the engine is working out great. Glad to help. Figured that thing was cam'ed with it's idle.

Edited by marodda (see edit history)
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Transmission Rebuild

For the sake of how big this write-up is, i've created a separate write-up for the output shaft swap HERE.

 

This is a bit of a complicated one and if you’ve never done an automatic transmission it can be a bit intimidating. Fear not though, you are not actually rebuilding the transmission. You need to swap the output shafts. If you are going to scavenge the shaft from a donor then you can do a practice run on the donor transmission before tackling yours. This might also be a good time to get a built transmission and just ask for the AWD output shaft instead. If you are lucky the donor’s tansmission is in great shape, in which case just swap the entire transmission and skip this section. In my case, I already have a performance transmission and the donor’s is a beat up factory replacement with unknown miles, so I went ahead and swapped the shafts. I don’t like taking chances. I can’t vouch for the quality, but it has lasted 30,000 miles (35k as of this post) so take that as you will. And remember, with a donor you now have a spare. I plan to rebuild it to my specs later, assuming my current one will go out eventually as well.

EDIT - 12/18/2021:  This transmission was crap.  It lasted about 50,000 miles (20,000 less than the factory transmission).  It's not because the builder did a bad job, it's because it's almost entirely stock.  They threw in a corvette servo and a couple other minor parts, but nothing that actually affected the transmission's strength.  I kept the donor transmission from this swap just in case this happened and finally rebuilt it myself last year.  Almost every piece of the donor was worn down and I ended up replacing 95% of it with hardened/upgraded parts.  Shame on the guys who I bought my last transmission from for selling me a "performance transmission" that was pretty much stock, and shame on Chevrolet for....all of this. 

For this part I would recommend you get the transmission manuals, but if you are feeling cheap I will try and put every detail you need. You will only need one special tool. A Torx 50 plus. This is not a normal Torx bit. DO NOT TRY AND USE A NORMAL TORX. You will strip out your bellhousing bolts. A T50 plus is a thicker more stout bit. These are hard to find, I had to order them from the UK, so I bought 2 in case I broke one.

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If you are doing a donor swap then you will simply follow these instructions twice, but the process is the same. Go ahead and pull the transmission from the truck. You will be disassembling your truck significantly for the rest of the build so set it up for a big teardown.

 

 

Edited by JamesT_SS (see edit history)
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I did not even realize it was missing the mounting points you pointed out.

 

I just assumed the frames were the same minus the lower cross brace. Thanks for the heads up!!!

 

Your documentation is Phenomenal!!!

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Front IFS Frame Mounts

For this part you will need to do some serious disassembly. The transmission is out already, so go ahead and strip your front end. Remove the hood, bumper, and fenders completely. Next remove the core support and everything on it (radiator, transmission cooler, a/c condenser, etc). I originally tried to do the rest with the engine in but ran into space and fitment issues. Because of that driver arm you will need a lot of room to work. Go ahead and remove the engine at this point. Again I’m not going to walk you through this part. It is fairly simple.

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You will also need to remove the torsion bars, hub bearings, and at a minimum the driver lower control arm and passenger upper control arm. They are probably a pain to work around. I was replacing all my ball joints and bushings anyway so I stripped everything off. It makes everything easier.

 

Next you will need to strip off all of the undercoating where the 4 mounts will go. You will be welding in these areas so get them as clean as possible. Brake clean will loosen and melt the coating well enough to just wipe off. Be liberal with how much you strip. I ended up stripping most of the undercoating off of this truck so i could reapply the entire undercoat.

 

This next part is where your locating plates come in handy. I started with the forward passenger mount as it is easy to accurately mount and will act as a starting point for the rest of the mounts. Take the outboard locating plate and clamp it onto your frame. There are enough grooves that it should settle right into place. The three punched holes will also help you line it right up. Remember, measure 5 times and cut once. Once you do this, there is no going back. Screw up your frame and you are boned. Clamp it very tightly in multiple places.

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Take a 1 ¾” hole saw and very carefully cut a hole into your frame through the existing hole in the locating plate. This is why you were careful to cut the old mount out.

 

Next mock up and clamp down your inboard plate. This one is a bit more difficult as you don’t have the holes, but the groove will help. Cut a 1 7/8” hole through this one.

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If you were suitably accurate then you should end up with two holes perfectly lined up.

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Clean up the frame again, and use something to get all that loose debris from the inside of your frame. You may need to remove the tow hook and run a magnet down the rail to get it all. Test fit your forward bushing mount. It goes from inboard to outboard. The outer is slightly smaller so it will only fit one way.

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Pull the bushing back out and prep your surface for welding. I used a MIG welder without gas. If you are not a welder then I recommend you do a bunch of test welds on your excess donor frame material to dial in your machine and get the settings right. Like I said, you get one shot at this. I personally like using copper primer for my welds when going gasless. It results in a much cleaner weld with almost no splatter. This part is IMPORTANT. You are welding a mount with a rubber bushing. If you weld it all in one shot you will melt the bushing. You will need to do a bunch of quick stitch welds.

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Yes I know these welds are crap. I’m not a welder and like I said you have to be very fast. Moving on. Go ahead and wire brush the welds to clean them up. Apply a primer for now.

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Next we will move on to the passenger rear mount. For this one go ahead and mount up your IFS mounting bracket to your newly welded mount.

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Line up the rear mount bolt to the inboard of the frame to verify alignment. You will notice that your frame has a raised + on it. If you did your initial mount perfectly then your mount bolt should line up right with this. How convenient. If you want to be certain go ahead and use your inboard rear locating plate.

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Now drill a 1” hole into this spot.

 

Next the passenger rear outboard. Mount it up and clamp it down. In the picture if you are wondering I was just using that wire wheel to stick into a hole and keep it lined up. Drill a 1” hole into the frame here.

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Clean the debris out from the frame and clean up the frame. Copper prime it if you please.

 

Take your makeshift tube now and test fit it into the holes. Remember that piece that i cut out of the donor's motor mounts? This is that piece. This part is a little tricky. The tube has to protrude from the frame perfectly. Below you can see the measurements but just to be sure I mocked up the IFS mount to it and made sure that it cleared the lower frame rail and maintained close to my measurements. Don’t worry it doesn’t need much clearance, just make sure it doesn’t contact it.

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Now secure the tube really well and weld it in place on both ends.

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Test fit your IFS mount and see if you mounted it properly.

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If all is well go ahead and clean and prime the welds.

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Mount up your IFS Mount. Don’t torque it, just make it tight.

 

Edited by JamesT_SS (see edit history)
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This is where things get really interesting. If you take your (empty) IFS case and mock it up to your IFS mount you will most likely see the problem I ran into. Nothing lines up. The IFS will impact with the driver lower frame arm.

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After some measurements I saw why. The two arms are nearly identical, but the RWD Frame is about ½” wider than the AWD. If you want to make things easier on yourself, you can cut the entire donor arm off and weld the new arm on. Unfortunately I had already destroyed the arm so I had to do it the hard way. I had to do some cutting.

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Very very carefully measure and mark your frame arm.

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You are taking the difference between the two arms off. Here is where I messed up. I took off 0.606” plus another 11/64” because you will be welding an 11/64” plate on. Somehow I messed this math up. No worries, its an easy fix.

 

For some reason I took off exactly 11/64” too much and had to weld a small 11/64” plate on top of my new plate.

 

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Also you need to cut the engine support arms off of this arm completely. The rear outer mounts need to be completely flush so the engine support mount can be welded on later. The inside arms need cut off so the IFS mount bolt can go through there. The forward outer arms don’t have to be taken off, but I just took them off anyway.

 

Here you can see the plate I made out of the old engine support.

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Interestingly it still didn’t fit though. It was impacting with the arm. The reason for this is because I welded a square angle, whereas the original arm was sloped, so the IFS cleared it. I ended up cutting another corner off where it impacted and welded in a new angle. Just FYI, the RWD engine support has all the material you need to make these plates. They are the exact same alloy and thickness as your frame.

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So I cut the corner off.

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Here you can see the welded angle and the extra mounting plate I had to add to correct my error in measurement.

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You will likely need to grind down some of the welds for clearance. Also you will need to drill a hole into the face of the mounting plate for the IFS Mounting Bolt that will feed through. The old plate will locate it for you or you can drill it by mocking up the IFS later. I used the plate.

 

In retrospect it would have been smarter to cut an extra angle at the top of the initial plate instead of a corner, like so.

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg493/mjtnismo/Silverado%20AWD%20Swap/20160127_191651_zpsplmghzyr.jpg

 

 

Then again replacing the entire arm would have been easiest.

 

 

Edited by JamesT_SS (see edit history)
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For this next mount you will bolt up your empty IFS case to the passenger IFS mount, as well as the hole in the newly welded arm. Don’t worry about the engine support yet. Take your Upper Driver Side IFS mount and attach it to the IFS Case. Tighten all all but the upper driver mount so everything stays still. Now you can align your upper mount. This will take a little work, but should be fairly close if your other mounts are right.

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As reference make sure the oval hole in the rear of the upper mount lines up with the engine mount bolts and that nothing is touching. The oval hole is there for clearance. It will be close, but as long as there is no physical contact between the bolts/nuts and the mount you will be fine. Having your engine mount on at this point is important.

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You’ll notice mine shifted a little and I had to widen the hole a bit. Clamp this mount down really well. Hit the mount with a few good tack welds to hold it in place, then remove your IFS so you can do the full weld. Weld all the way around where you can. The side against the engine mount will only allow you to do a couple small welds. That’s fine, that’s how it was from the factory. I mimicked all of the factory welds on this. Primer welds.

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Throw your IFS case back on for the final mount.

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Put your engine support on. You can see below the orientation. Lightly tighten the support to frame mounts on the passenger side, but allow it to move a little with effort. Hand tighten the two center bolts holding the separate pieces together. Same with the bolt going through the IFS mount and frame arm. Once these are all mocked up you should be able to get the driver side of the engine support lined up and clamped down fairly easily. Make sure all of your bolts are wrench tight now, and loosen the IFS mount to frame arm bolt. Ensure the IFS can rotate in and out with little resistance. If it can't you will need to slide the driver side of the engine support over just a tad. If your clearance is fine, throw the IFS case back on, tack the mount, re-verify your IFS clearance by removing it, and finish your weld

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Verify a good weld by reattaching your IFS case, remove it again and primer your weld. Grab a beer and admire your work. That was literally the hardest part of this whole swap.

 

Once you are all ready, strip/clean/ prep your engine compartment where you want (I did the entire thing since I undercoated the whole truck again). Grab some underbody undercoating. I used the 3M stuff that comes in the aerosol can. It goes on very well.

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Now throw your Passenger IFS mounting bracket on and go ahead and torque it down. 70 lb/ft. Note that the forward fixed bolt goes towards the outside while the rear bolt goes in from the outside. It’s obvious.

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At this point you can throw your engine back in. Throw your IFS case on one last time to verify clearance between the case and the engine, and you are done. If you did everything correctly then you should have just enough clearance. It'll be close, but again, as long as it isn't touching you will be fine. Just make sure there is a tiny bit of space for bushing shift.

 

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Edited by JamesT_SS (see edit history)
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Front IFS Rebuild:

 

Again I’m not going to go into major detail about this because you can find a ton of walk-throughs online or in the manual. This is a fairly easy process. Like I already stated, don’t assume this is good. I pulled mine apart and found damaged bearings, a shredded inner shaft housing (which is why you’ll see a nice new aluminum piece in the above pictures), etc. Also if you are taking the easy route you can change out the gear ratio in your front IFS now. Since I was changing my rear instead, I kept the factory 4.10 gear in the front, replaced all the bearings (and that inner shaft housing), checked all the specs, and painted the housing all nice to match everything else I rebuilt. Also make sure you are rechecking your preload and backlash. The front’s is fairly simple to do.

 

On another note, a sad turn of events, you will notice that your front differential is open. Sadly for this 8.25” IFS, there are no other options. This front axle is pretty weak so it can’t survive an LSD. I did see a build where a guy put a 9.25 in his K1500, but that’s a lot of fabricating. The easiest is to just rebuild your 8.25” with quality bearings and use a good fluid. Oh and make sure your IFS has the updated vent hose connector. The right one is white. It’s an important fix, as the older style was deteriorating with synthetic gear oil, which you should be using in this axle.

 

You will need a couple tools here. Obviously a dial indicator with magnetic base for preload. More importantly an OTC-J-36599-A which is a tool used to adjust the side bearing adjuster nuts. There is another style of tool out there that is cheaper, but i got that one too and it sucked. In fact 3rd picture down below this in the very bottom left corner you will see both tools. The crap one is the disc shaped one with the 3 dimples. It impacts the locks so it doesn't work. Regardless of what anyone on the internet tells you, use anaerobic sealant on your case halves as well here. As a general rule, if you are ever putting two metal surfaces together where there is an oil inside and it has a suction style oil pickup or sensitive moving parts, use anaerobic (unless the MANUFACTURER specifically calls for different). Yes it isn't cheap, but rebuilding something because your silicon sealant jammed things up is a lot less cheap. (All you silicon users, just save it. I don't care if you got away with it and your build was fine. The RIGHT answer is to use anaerobic)

 

IFS straight out of the donor.

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Bearing damage as expected.

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Everything cleaned up and painted.

20160208_201035_zpsav1qtkzv.jpg

 

You’ll notice I even replaced the old mount bushings. I don’t do things half way.

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Don’t forget to check that preload and backlash.

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All done.

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Now go ahead and install that Front IFS onto your truck. Your truck is now halfway done. Torque the Inner Shaft nuts and the Driver IFS mount nut/bolts to 75 lb/ft. Don’t worry about filling the Front Axle with fluid at this point, you’ll want it on level ground to do that. Let me tell you, it’s not fun. More on that later.

 

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Edited by marodda (see edit history)
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Install Transmission and Transfer Case:

 

This part is pretty standard. Install the Transmission to spec. The only real difference here is that you will be using the AWD Transmission Brace so make sure your Transfer Case adapter is bolted up and torqued to 37 lb/ft on the Transmission. This is important because this adapter has the mounting location for the Trans Brace in place of the old extension housing. Once you get the transmission bolted to the engine, you’ll install the brace, but just slip the bolts into it for now as I found it was easier to install the transfer case later with it removed.

 

20160206_181716_zpsusdabnjo.jpg

 

If you are wondering, that’s a cast aluminum B&M deep transmission pan. I’m not a fan by the way, but my factory pan didn’t have a drain plug and I wanted the fins for added cooling. The B&M requires you shorten the filter neck of your transmission gasket for the pan to fit. Yeah that makes no sense. For now I’m using it until I build my 2nd transmission and can find another pan solution. And it’s also so big that without a lift it won’t slide under the truck on a transmission jack, so you’ll slide it under the truck, then put it on the jack….easier said than done.

(edit: the ARH header mid pipes won't fit around the pan either. I had to grind off a corner of the fins for it to barely clear)

 

Heres the Transmission Brace. Obviously the depression will be on the driver side since it is for the intermediate shaft to clear. Another side note take a look at the bottom of the brace, you’ll see 4 punched holes just under the Transfer case. I’ll touch on this more later, but that’s for the transfer case shield.

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Also after you put your transmission in, don’t hook all of the wiring up yet. You will be routing your wiring slightly differently now, but you also will have to extend your VSS wire once the transfer case is in.

 

Go ahead and grab your newly rebuilt transfer case and go ahead and install that. Again, pretty standard. Take note that it will not sit flat. It’ll be canted about 30 degrees. It’ll seem unnatural but I assure you this is normal. Getting it to clear your Torsion Bar brace is a pain, but hopefully you unbolted it and slid it back a little. Also bolting the Transfer case to the adapter is such a PITA getting to the upper bolts. You’ll need some wobble or swivel extensions to do this. Torque these to 37 lb/ft as well. Don’t forget the gasket between the two.

 

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Some things to note below. See the cant? Also you’ll see the VSS to the left of the rear output shaft. Your RWD VSS harness will hook right up to it, but you’ll need to extend it to reach. More below.

20160207_160246_zpspn2bda43.jpg

 

At this point just torque down everything related to the above.

Transmission Brace (Crossmember) Bolts: 70 lb/ft

Transmission Mount Bolts (to adapter): 35 lb/ft

Transmission Mount Nuts (to brace): 30 lb/ft

Edited by marodda (see edit history)
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Extend VSS Wire:

 

Pretty simple operation. If you scrapped a donor then you’ll probably have some extra wiring lying around. Probably even the right colors if you want it to stay factory-ish. If you aren’t so lucky then really any wire will do. I want to say 18 gauge, multi strand. You’ll need about 12 inches of wiring but go 18 at first. Here’s the harness you want.

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Basically take this wire, go to about the middle of it and cut it. Basic wiring stuff here. Strip the ends connect your wire to the harness side, personally I recommend you use uninsulated wire crimps, then solder them, then heat shrink them (remember they are under your truck). Make it look kind of like this.

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Plug it into the T-case, run the wires to the cut wire, check your length, leave extra space for routing to the wire holders along the frame. Cut your makeshift wire to length, crimp, solder, insulate. Tape it all up for good measure, cover with some extra wire loom if you have it, tape that up, and you are done. Remember, under the truck. Water, salt, corrosion, etc. Don’t halfway this. End result will be like this.

20160207_182629_zpsykwhcnpc.jpg

 

Routing is a little tricky. The original wire actually was clamped to the Transmission brace but your new brace doesn’t have those provisions. There is however a metal bracket bolted to the case halves, if you put it back together properly. That’s where your wire will go, as well as the breather hose. Most important thing is make sure it won’t interfere with the intermediate shaft. They will be occupying very close to the same space. If you’d like to see what it’ll look like routed, I can take a picture.

 

Don’t forget to hook up all the other transmission connectors at this point. Again don’t fill the transfer case yet. You need the driveshaft and be on level ground first.

 

If anyone is wondering about the VSS signal, don’t worry. Both the old output shaft (which had the teeth for the VSS on it) and the Transfer case’s reluctor ring have 40 teeth which both sensors will read the same. Just make sure you are using the AWD sensor here for mounting purposes. You’ll see the slight difference. I went ahead and installed a new one just to be on the safe side.

Edited by marodda (see edit history)
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Modify the Carrier Bearing Mount:

 

As I said before this is going to be in the way of your single piece driveshaft. With all of the other modifications you’ve done, you can easily reverse them and go back to RWD. Once you do this next part you are kind of committed unless you want to fab up a new one. For those of you going to RWD, you will need to either cut one of these off of a current truck or just fab up a plate to weld. I imagine it wouldn’t be that hard to do. Here’s the factory plate.

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Just grab a sawsall or rotory cutting tool and carefully cut it off without mauling your brace.

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And don’t forget to re-primer, and undercoat afterwards. Easy peezy.

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