JamesT_SS

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. 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. Very very carefully measure and mark your frame arm. 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. 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. 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. So I cut the corner off. Here you can see the welded angle and the extra mounting plate I had to add to correct my error in measurement. 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.

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. 20160131_150741_zpslnybjma2.jpg 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. 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. If you were suitably accurate then you should end up with two holes perfectly lined up. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Now secure the tube really well and weld it in place on both ends. Test fit your IFS mount and see if you mounted it properly. If all is well go ahead and clean and prime the welds. Mount up your IFS Mount. Don’t torque it, just make it tight.

If you are reading this as part of the AWD/RWD swap then make sure you install the proper tail section. If you are going to RWD then you need the extension housing and install the vehicle speed sensor as well. For mine since I went from RWD to AWD, I installed my new transfer case adapter. On an interesting side note, now is a really good time to swap out them crappy factory oil cooler fittings and go to an AN line setup. If you look at the picture above you can see mine. You need two 1/4" NPS to 6AN adapters (NPS is the straight thread - people argue that NPT will work, but i've heard of issues where the NPT was cracking the case from going too deep or something). You can find them all over the place online. I ran those, with 45 degree fittings, 6 AN lines to an Improved Racing Thermostat (185 degree, with an fittings available), then you'll need 90 degree AN fittings for your oil cooler with 6AN adapters for whatever type of oil cooler you are using. i have the Tru cool max, so finding adapters was easy. Can't remember exactly what size, but i know that what i was told was wrong and had to run to my local speed shop to find the right fittings.

Install your 2-4 servo assembly. Install servo cover with new seal. Apply pressure and fully seat snap ring. Finally install either your extension housing or transfer case adapter with new seal and torque to 26 ft. lbs. Then lastly your bellhousing. Now I had to do some research online to find the bellhousing torque. Best I could find was 48-55 ft. lbs, and possibly use Loctite (I’d use blue). Hopefully someone can verify that?

Go ahead and recheck your input shaft end play and make sure you are still within spec. Pat yourself on the back, the hard part is done. The valve body is next. It’s easier done with the transmission horizontal. I just lowered my hoist carefully until my transmission was lying down on the floor (carefully). First install your one lone check ball into the case where the accumulator goes. Refer to previous pictures for check ball locations. The next part is that one important part regarding your accumulator. Depending on your setup/build it may have a number of setups. There are multiple spring colors, which can be used in either the 1-2 or 3-4 accumulator positions. Aftermarket ones may use a yellow spring and flip the piston. I believe the one RPM put in mine was the transgo mod. I would highly recommend anyone considering stuff like this to look into a lot of these performance parts before buying into them. I’ve read a lot of stuff put out by reputable builders (to include FLT) that would blow your mind about some of this crap, like the ole “corvette servo”. Anyway make sure your accumulator is properly assembled. Essentially it’ll be piston, 3-4 spring, valve body spacers, 1-2 spring, cover. In my case it was 3-4 spring, piston, valve spacers, 1-2 spring, cover. Pay attention to your setup. And don’t forget to replace that accumulator piston seal. Torque bolts to 8 ft. lbs. Go ahead and bolt on your valve body spacer support plate. Torque to 8 ft. lbs. Install all of the remaining 7 check balls onto the valve body with a dab of gel to hold them in place. While carefully reinserting the manual valve link, put the valve body onto the transmission carefully, making sure none of the check balls fall. Also be sure not to damage the protruding screens. Insert all of the valve body bolts (minus the pressure switch bolts) in the appropriate locations (VERY IMPORTANT). If your harness was held on by the bolts, finger tighten them only at this point and torque after installing the harness. Otherwise, torque the bolts to 8 ft. lbs. using the aforementioned pattern. Install a new o-ring on the lock-up solenoid and install into the case. Tighten the bolts to 8 ft. lbs. Install the left hand shift solenoid into the valve body and insert the retaining clip. Install the Pressure switch onto the valve body with the proper bolt orientation. 8 ft. lbs. (starting to see the trend?) Connect all of the electrical connections. Install the manual detent spring and bolt and tighten to 18 ft.lbs. Throw on the new filter gasket, filter, and pan gasket. Install pan and torque bolts to 9 ft. lbs.

Next up go ahead and install the anchor pin that you removed earlier. If you didn’t install the 2-4 band correctly this won’t go in. This pin needs to be just barely below the valve body surface. Next grab your Trans Gel/assembly lube and coat the inside surface where the oil pump resides. Install your new oil pump to case gasket. You can use a little trans gel to hold it in place. Make sure to align all of the holes. Flip your pump and apply trans gel to the pump bore where the o-ring is. You can apply gel to the orange ring to hold it in place as well. Align your pump with the housing and start to drop it in. As you are doing this there are pins that you can install to help. If you are cheap then do this. Grab a phillips screwdriver or equivalent and as you start to seat the pump, drop the screwdriver into a bolt hole until it goes into the casing as well. Let your pump ride it down til its near flush. Lightly tap your pump down until its seated fully. I used the rubber handle of my hammer. Make sure to do this evenly. Install new o-rings onto the oil pump bolts and install them. Torque all bolts to 18 ft. lbs.

REASSEMBLY: Alright at this point you have a few options. You have a new shaft/replacement shaft already and its ready to go in; carry on start reassembly. If you are in my position and are doing this for the AWD/RWD swap, you may have just pulled out your replacement shaft. Which means you now have to get to this exact same point on your good transmission. Repeat all above instructions as necessary until you have your unwanted shaft out. Grab your new/replacement shaft and slide it up through the bottom of your chosen transmission until it seats into the Internal Reaction Gear. Make sure your shaft is perfectly clean of dust or contaminates before doing so. Install the small snap ring on the output shaft to attach it to the reaction gear. Ensure the snap ring is seated. Seat your input sun gear onto the output shaft and input carrier. Rotate until seated. Next is your input housing and reverse input housing. Hopefully you didn’t disassemble this. This next part is interesting. You need to index everything prior to assembly. If for some reason your reverse input clutch and input clutch housings separated, you will need to line up all of the reverse input clutch discs so that they slide and fully engage over the input housings gear. Clutches on left aligned to seat over the gear on the input to the right. Now flip the whole assembly over (while maintaining pressure to ensure the two pieces stay together) and align the clutch discs inside the input housing. Three things need to be aligned at this point. 3-4 clutch plates indexed on the input ring gear, input sun gear indexed into the forward sprag inner race, and reverse input housing tangs indexed into the sun gear shell. Yeah that’s a mouthful. Basically once you aligned all those clutch discs above you will grab the input housing by the input shaft and very carefully slide it into the transmission until you feel it make contact with the sun gear or the input gear. Now wiggle it around until you feel the clutches start to engage the gear. And literally start wiggling the crap out of it back and forth until you feel it seat all the way down. Not kidding. If you don’t believe me google a video of someone doing this. Theres no easy way to do this. Just don’t be violent. Once you think its seated it should look like this. Notice the housing is below the oil pump seat. In fact look at it from the valve body side and look for this alignment. Good to go. Install the 2-4 band. Insert the backside slightly first, ensuring this alignment… Then apply a little pressure to the input shaft and pop the rest of the band down in to seat it.

If you aren’t so lucky, it’s because your output shaft is stuck in the reaction gear. It’s a bunch of parts down. Sometimes builders use an adhesive to lock the two together for assembly, but this is supposed to be temporary. Let me tell you, I couldn’t get mine separated in the case at all. I had to pull the whole thing out and press it out. You’ll need to carefully support the reaction gear to do this to avoid damage. Be careful. To get to this point remove the following. Remove the input carrier and thrust bearing (planetary and washer). Right below that is the input ring gear and thrust washer. Then pull out the reaction sun shell and reaction sun gear. Next up is the thrust washer on top of the low roller clutch inner race. Then the green arrow below is the snap ring holding the next parts in. Remove that. Remove the low roller clutch assembly, red and yellow arrows above. Below is the rollers. Be careful or it’ll come from together. Next up is the anti-clunk spring. This guy is real fun. Take note of location and orientation. Remove all of the low/reverse clutch plates. Keep them altogether and in order. Remove the Reaction Carrier Assembly. And FINALLY, the Internal Reaction Gear and output shaft. Press out your output shaft and reassemble these parts in opposite order. If you are reusing this transmission, you can insert your output shaft now to aid in assembly of all of the low/reverse clutch parts.

Now finally you are at the output shaft. This part may or may not be a pain. It should be noted there is a special tool that will hold your output shaft in during the next step, but if you just hold the shaft while you do it, that will suffice. Down on the output shaft, inside the planetary, there is a snap ring. This is the tool you will need to remove it. These are Lock Ring Pliers. If you are lucky, your output shaft will come out at this time…..IF. I got lucky on one, not so lucky on the other. Go figure. If it did come out skip the entire next section and go to reassembly.

At this time you will be moving up to the Oil Pump. You should take end play measurements of your input shaft if you are so inclined. It should be between .015” and .036”. If you want to be safe, take this measurement as a comparison for when you reassemble to make sure everything is proper. Remove the O-ring seal from the end of the input shaft. Remove the 7 Oil Pump bolts Remove the Band Anchor Pin. Technically you are supposed to do this after the Oil Pump removal, but I popped it out prior as it was holding my pump up. Remove the Oil Pump by pulling upwards. There is a special tool that grabs it for you. Its called your hands. Seriously though there is a tool (J39119). If you are cheap like me though you can VERY carefully pry the pump up with a hard plastic tool, making sure not to damage the mating surface. Next grab that input shaft and pull the input housing and reverse input housing out together Remove the 2-4 band assembly that you can see sitting near the top in the above picture. Make sure you are inspecting all these parts for damage. You can see some damage on this one, luckily this is my donor transmission. Account for your input sun gear. It should be in the bottom of your input carrier housing, but may be in the bottom of the case.

Remove the 5 bolts from your pressure switch assembly, then the pressure switch itself. FYI these bolts and all the other valve body bolts are specifically sized and in specific locations for a reason. Do not mess this up. Make note of where they go. Remove the bolt holding the manual lever detent spring on, then the spring itself. Remove all the valve body bolts. Again remember the position of the bolts. Oh, and the built transmission I had didn’t have the yellow arrowed piece, which is a dipstick stop. Odd piece but chevy added it for a reason, so I stole it from my donor. And if you didn’t listen about the bolts, here you go. Position and torque sequence. Your welcome. Next parts a little tricky/fun. Before you remove your valve body, take note that there are detent balls that are free floating underneath between the valve body and the gaskets/spacers. Get ready to catch them if you have your transmission vertical. They should stay in thanks to fluid friction, but just in case. There are 7. (note this picture is of the backside of the valve body). Also the valve body is attached via the manual link/valve so you will need to maneuver that out. Once the valve body is clear and you have accounted for the check balls, remove the 3 bolts and spacer plate support plate. Remove the 3 bolts holding the 1-2 accumulator on. Get ready for some more trans fluid. This part is important. As you remove all of this pay attention. First, there is another check ball under here. As you pull the accumulator off take special note of orientation, order, etc. This is variable among models, years, and aftermarket/factory. Put it back the way it came out. In my case I had a factory transmission from an 04, and a built transmission for an 06. I had differences. This is only half the assembly. You’ll see in the assembly portion. Remove spacer plates.

First off you will need a few parts for this. T50 Plus Torx Bit - This is not a normal torx. DO NOT TRY AND USE A NORMAL T50 TORX. Tailhousing/Tcase Adapter seal Servo cover seal Accumulator Piston seal Transmission Filter/gasket kit Input shaft o-ring seal Oil Pump to Case bolt o-rings Oil Pump to Case Seal and Gasket Oil Pump Bolt o-rings Possibly more depending on the state of your transmission. First clean up the transmission well. You don’t want any foreign material getting into it. A good transmission builder will do the build in a dust free environment. Make sure your work area is really clean and closed up (i.e. don’t do this with your garage doors open). Remove the tailhousing or transfer case and adapter, whichever one you are working on at this point (new seal needed). Then grab your T50+ and a breaker bar and remove the 8 bellhousing bolts. They are in there pretty tight, but don’t use an impact. Next remove the bellhousing. Now using either a bench mount or in my case an engine hoist, get your transmission vertical. If using a hoist, make sure you have a lot of chain so there is enough room to remove the oil pump later. There are two lift loops in the transmission case to hook to. This part is really messy, so have a bucket or pan ready to catch the transmission fluid as it drains out the rear. Roughly 11 quarts is going to drain out. Next you will be removing the servo cover. The manual calls for a special tool to compress the cover, but just grab a block of wood and a mallet and carefully give it a whap until you see the cover depress in a little. (hitting the wood here, not the cover) It won’t take a whole lot so don’t slam it. Once you pop it in a little you will remove the snap ring holding it in. You will probably need to maintain a little pressure against the cover; you can do it with your hand. Now remove the servo cover. It may be difficult to remove. Use a towel and some channel locks to grip it if you need to. You’ll get it out a bit and it’ll likely get stuck. Don’t fret, just grab and cut the seal holding it up. As you remove your 2-4 servo take note of how it’s all assembled. It’s fairly straightforward. Remove your transmission pan bolts and pan at this time. Next remove and toss your old filter (if you are feeling curious pry it open and check to see whats inside. This will give you an idea if there is something wrong with your transmission). Remove your filter seal. It’s a rubber neck where your filter inserts. It may be on your filter or still stuck in the tramission. Your filter/gasket kit should have come with a new one. Disconnect all of the electrical connectors. Be careful. Remove the clip holding the left hand shift solenoid in. Remove the left hand shift solenoid. It’s in the way of the next step. Remove the bolts holding the lock-up solenoid in place, then remove the solenoid. Once you do that you should be able to carefully remove the harness from the valve body. It may be bolted on, but in my case it was just slipped on. You can choose to remove the main wire harness plug on the outside of the case and pull the whole wire harness off, or just hang it carefully aside like I did.

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. 20160111_194129_zpszjrs9ufs.jpg 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.

Before I start this I should point out that I am in fact not a Transmission specialist. I am a general tech who just happens to dabble in everything and try new things. That being said, if any actual Transmission Techs out there want to chime in with pointers, correct me, add stuff, whatever...please do so. I'm not a genius and i'm also writing this up months after i actually did it, so i may have missed something or typed it wrong. I'm not going to cry if you criticize me, I care more that the correct info is out there for the people who need it. The following how-to is a step by step process of how to change out your transmission Output Shaft. This is actually part of a massive retrofit I'm doing over HERE to swap AWD into my RWD SSS. In case you didn't know, the only major difference between an AWD and RWD transmission in your SSS is the output shaft. The RWD has a longer Output Shaft because it has a tail housing going directly to the driveshaft. The AWD has a short "stub" shaft that goes into the NV-149 Transfer Case adapter, then T-case, which connects to the driveshaft. Anyone who has tried to put high HP into their truck knows that these transmissions are actually utter crap and can't handle power. Quick bit of history. The silverado used to use the 4L60E, but due to increases in power, especially with the SS version, they revised it into the 4L65E. A few revised parts here and there, and boom a transmission that can still barely handle the power being put into it. Most everyone has had their transmission go out or had a friend's who's did. 70,000 miles here...intake, exhaust, daily driver. Don't get discouraged though, a good reputable builder can build you a 4L65E that can last. Anyway back on point, one of the many weak parts in this transmission is the AWD output shaft. So the long RWD shaft while put under stress actually flexes a bit to help alleviate said stress. The shorter AWD shaft though does not, so when said stress is exerted, say hundreds of pounds of torque suddenly applied, the shaft will just straight break. Luckily you can find shot-peened, cryo-treeted, electrical induction treated, billet, etc shafts all over the internet. Now if you decided to tackle an output shaft replacement/swap you'll find that the ouput shaft is actually close to the back of the transmission and 3/4 of the guts have to be removed to get to it. A real pain, but not all that hard. Much easier than a full transmission rebuild. If you have a manual and patience this can be done in a few hours. For my purposes though i have to replace the RWD long shaft with the short AWD shaft for my build.

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.

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

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. 20160426_163125_zpskvc6kn2b.jpg 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. 20160426_170740_zpszlmp1rpk.jpg

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. Here is the RWD with the tail housing instead of the transfer case adapter below. 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. 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. 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. 20160110_112803_zps1revotou.jpg 20150531_132933_zpsc3djnbsh.jpg 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 20150531_173640_zpsuedoxljf.jpg 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. 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. 20150531_173634_zpsnz6jifzn.jpg And the axle mounted. 20150530_135226_zpsiuyr95in.jpg 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. 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. 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.

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: 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. 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.

No cladding left.

So you recently found out that your gmt800/900 doesn't have a cabin air filter. I know, its a huge shock since every other vehicle has one. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about it's a filter that is between your vents and the outside of your truck to keep dust and debris (and possibly foul odors) from entering the cab. Well it turns out Silverados used to have them...the year before the SSS came out. You can thank your friendly GM engineer for trying to save a couple bucks on production and later repairs for people not changing them out regularly. Luckily, enough people complained and GM made a retrofit kit...or at least offered the parts from previous years into one convenient package. Well fret no more, I will show you all how to do this. I know, I know (in a thick whiny nerd voice) "But there are other forums out there that already show how to do this". Shut up and sit down nerd, I'm going to write this up anyway so you don't have to dig through google looking for the one with pictures or one that makes sense. So first things first, before you order any parts or even decide to tackle this you need to take into consideration a few items: Do you have the tools required: Ratchet with 7mm, 1/4, 7/32 sockets (or equivalent) Dremel or other suitable cutting device, preferably with a 90 degree tool head Box cutter or suitable razor blade device Safety Glasses (safety first) Lots and lots of patience Are you comfortable making irreversible cuts into your trucks HVAC system with a high speed rotary tool? Are you at least slightly mechanically inclined? Are you ready to spend an hour swearing at one stupid screw? And most importantly do you know what parts you need? Thats easy. Go out to your truck and open the passenger door. Climb under the dash and using your 7mm socket tool unbolt the 3 screws holding the HVAC shield that protects everything under there. Looks like this: Before you unbolt those screws though I need to warn you (oh wait did you already do that? Well that will teach you for not reading the forum completely before tackling this job). The third screw is above the hump just behind the center console. It is a GIANT PITA. You can do this all without taking it out, but the shield will poke you and get in your way the whole time, and you may even end up breaking it. That being said, if you take this screw out, you'd better be prepared to spend some time trying to put it back in. I can show you a little trick to make it easier when the time comes. For this part only remove the 2 easy ones because you will need to put it back on until you get your parts. Ok so once said shield is out of the way, you need to determine which type of cover you need (and possibly which style filter). There are three types out there. Earlier years (2003-2004) may look like this (lets refer to as Gen1): Later years (2005-2006) may look like this (refer as Gen2): Or even possibly this (2007 and up - refer as Gen3): For the sake of this install we will use mine as an example. I have a 2006 so I've got the Gen2 picture above. So now that you have seen what style cover you have, you need to go online and place an order for the parts. Keep in mind there are two types of filters, a standard pleated filter to keep out dust and debris, and a carbon filter that will keep out dust, debris, and help filter out foul odors. (These filters need replaced yearly by the way) If you have the Gen1 'L' shaped bracket you will need: Cabin Air Filter Cover: GM# 52494070 2x Standard air filters: GM# 19257782 -or- 2x Carbon air filters: GM# 12489479 (this style uses 2 half filters side by side) If you have either the Gen2 or Gen3 style you will need: Cabin Air Filter Cover & Screw: GM# 22759208 Standard air filter: GM# 22759203 -or- Carbon air filter: GM# 23101674 (these styles use only 1 filter, although you can use 2 half filters as well) -or- Alternatively you can also use this complete Dorman Kit: Cover, Screw, and Standard Filter: 259-200 Cover, Screw, and Carbon Filter: 259-201 (I used this one – it worked perfect, and was $48 off amazon) All 3 styles are relatively similar in installation with minor differences so it is very easy to adapt these instructions to your style. So at this point you have received your parts and are ready to get started. Go back and remove that cover like before. Lay something on the floor to catch debris and plastic shavings. Next unbolt the Blower Motor Resistor. It’s the rectangular thing with two 7/32 screws directly to the right of where the filter(s) go. Looks like this: Either unplug both connectors or if you can’t get the PITA one in the back of the Blower, just unplug the one and tuck the Resistor up behind it. This will give you a little extra room to work. Now comes the fun part. Grab your rotary tool with a cutting wheel on it (a 90 degree tool head will make this a million times easier) and safety glasses and start cutting. This is where things vary a little. The Gen 1 you will be cutting an ‘L’ shape hole. This one will have the tab for the cover on the front and the screw post in the rear. Make it look like this: Gen 3 is really easy, just cut between the grooves. I hear it can be done with a razor blade. Gen 2 is somewhat more difficult. You will be cutting a 10.25” x 1” slot. I would recommend you hold the filter up to it so you can see about the dimensions you plan to cut. Just cut slightly smaller than the filter. Cut slow and carefully. This one’s tab is in the rear while the screw post is in the front. Now you don't have to do this with a dremel, but i'll tell you that it will make things easier. This is just a recommendation. You’ll notice that the ‘V’ cuts in the filter are there so you can bend the filter to make it easier to angle into the hole. You can also test fit your cover: Notice the 90 degree head. You won't be able to easily get the dremel in there without it. Alternatively if you want you can purchase the half filters and just cut a hole half the length (the length of one of the half filters). Make sure you bought the Gen2/3 cover though. It will still work with a half cut as it’s meant to sit on the outside of the hole. I prefer to do things right though. Once you get your rough cut look up inside. You will see the factory grooves for the filter that is no longer there (just like how there are screw posts yet no cover). You’ll also likely see years of nasty crap mashed into your heater core. Also take note of the inside dimensions. Just inside your cut you will see the vertical surfaces before it opens up to the heater core. Take your razor blade and very carefully trim your hole so it is even with said vertical surfaces. It will coincidentally be the exact size you need for your filter. Also on the front and back surfaces you will see grooves going vertically all the way to the top. Cut exactly to that center groove sticking out. You should end up with about 2-3mm of surface left all the way around and a flat opening with nothing to catch on the filter. Make sure you make this smooth, as well as the bottom surface where the cover mounts so you get a solid seal. Test fit your filter. It should slide in easily without snagging on burrs, and should stop with the bottom completely flush with the cover surface. Make sure the convenient pull tabs are on the bottom and the ‘V’ cuts are facing to the right. If you used the two half filters you will slide one up and then push it to the back, then slide the second one in beside it. Pull the filter out and use compressed air or something to blow the crap out of the heater core. Put the filter back in. Finally take your new cover and hook the back tab into the slot and set against the filter. Take your new screw and using your 1/4” screw the cover onto the screw post. It won’t take any effort. Don’t use a drill. If you have a Gen2, screw it in until the seal is lightly compressed and the tab should be making contact with the screw post. A Gen 3 will not make contact with the screw post. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN! Make sure you put your Blower Motor Resistor back in and plug it in. Clean up the area well and grab that HVAC cover. This is the fun part. If you unscrewed only two, good for you, screw it back on. If you unscrewed all 3, take a deep breath. Grab your 7mm, preferably a deep well. Put one of your screws in it and use electrical tape to tape it on, like this: Take the cover and note the PITA screw location. It has a screw well that if you look at the inside has a depression that conveniently will seat right over top of the screw post under the dash. Find said screw post and get your bearings. Take the cover and carefully seat that screw post into the cover’s depression. Now with the other hand take the socket contraption you just made and stick it up in the screw well and try and seat the screw. Once its seated the socket and screw will stay up there while you hand tighten the screw. Once suitably tight put your ratchet on and tighten it. Now pull the socket off. It should come off with the tape. Now tighten the last two screws. You just saved yourself an hour of swearing. Clean up and pat yourself on the back while you breathe in nice filtered air. And don’t forget, the next time you see a GM engineer, punch him in the junk.

All of the door cladding is spoken for, sorry guys.