2wd tranny vs. 4 wd tranny

[bigkennye]

I need a th350 tranny for a 1981 k5, any info or anyone with a tranny, please respond. I also have a question, what is the difference between the th350's in 4wheel drive vehicles than in 2wd vehicles? All the junkyard I check with tell me it is a different tranny and wont work with a 4wd, why is this?

 

[bigkennye]

basically, why cant i take a th350 out of a camaro or impala (basically any chevy) and use it in my blazer? I keep hearing from the junkyards that it is a different transmission.

 

[divorced]

The output shaft is different. It's one of the last things to come out if you replace it, meaning since you need to tear it down completely to swap shafts you might as well just rebuild what you have. Th350's are fairly cheap to rebuild so I don't ever use a "used" transmission. The amount of time, labor, and cost of a case of transmission fluid isn't worth the risk of a transmission of unknown condition going bad shortly after I put it in.

 

[bigkennye]

gotcha, btw cool avatar.

 

[divorced]

Thanks.

I think I read something else posted by you about Aamco... how old was the trans you heve now? It kinda sucks if it wasn't very old and went out already.

 

[bigkennye]

yea, the tranny only got to see about 20k, The Previous owner showed me the paper work on it, he parked it for about i guess 3 years i think it was before he sold it to me, he was an old friend of mine I helped him do the engine swap and then he had a kid, parked the truck and i kept asking him about the truck, finally when he found out he had a second one on the way, he sold it to me, said he couldnt afford the kids and the truck, he is more into whatever his kids like these days, we dont hang out drinking beer no more, lol. So he gave it up and passed it on to me. Yea it does suck, but thats what happens, plus I was tearing the truck up and that probably didnt help any, being jarred around after all those years of sitting has wrecked havoc on many parts,lol, but hey thats what its for. BTW I found a tranny, thanks ck5 and all everyone here for being so helpful, i am going to send for my membership, this site is priceless when it comes to these k5's.

 

[R77K10]

4x4 th350:

6" tail 2wd th350(69-72 trucks, and all cars:

now do you see why they are different ?



housings are totally identical, well at least before 77 anyways
in 77 the truck cases got beefed up and are called the K-cases- basically meaning 4x4 cases


in all there were four lengths of the th350 trannies, all due to different tailshafts only

there was:

3" for 4x4

and then 6", 9", and 12" for 2wd apps

ive seen and had billions of all these lengths except a 12"

only have ever come across one 12" tail th350 in my life and that was a couple years ago out of a 77 caprice wagon

its a crazy looking th350, i can tell you that, will never forget it, the visual is in my head forever

 

[meanboyjr]

Cool pics, R77K10! Thanks for the info (I'm going through similar problems regarding the tranny in my '76).

 

[bigkennye]

yea, i was looking at as the only difference was in the nose, i thought i could just remove the nose from a reg tranny, but i came to find out it was alot more complicated, as you said, the housing is heavier.

 

[R77K10]

yeah its not just the tailshaft housing, its the shaft too, length difference, 4x4 one is the shortest