Looks like they borrowed parts of a twin engined inboard boat to make that goofy setup!..
I see many Astro 4x4 GM vans for sale around here,but hardly any G series full sized older ones (even normal 2WD ones are getting scarce here now)...I have seen a Dodge Caravan that was a factory 4x4,it appeared all they did was add another PTO shaft to the transaxle and put two gear boxes at each rear wheel,and the rear axle looked like the typical "trailer" axle all of them used..
I wouldn't mind having an Astro 4x4 van,I no longer need a full sized van,never did like backing my G-10 up parking it (more often than not I'd hit something!)..but I know the Astro's suck to work on ,everything is stuffed in so tight and hidden any engine repairs are a real ballbuster..
My G-10 isn't too bad,most of the things you can get at by removing the dog house are a piece of cake--doing a water pump in it sucked though--I had put a rebuilt pump on the 307 I put in it so I wouldn't have to do it "in the vehicle" and it started to leak about 3 weeks later!..
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I could swap a transmission in my G-10 in about an hour--the bell housing bolts can all be removed while your sitting in the front seats with the dog house off,and the cross member has two thru-bolts that are like pins,you just slide them out and you can lower the transmission with the cross member bottom half still in place,then swap it over to the replacement transmission and jack it back up and bolt it in..wish every vehicle was that easy..(and should be!)..
I see many Astro 4x4 GM vans for sale around here,but hardly any G series full sized older ones (even normal 2WD ones are getting scarce here now)...I have seen a Dodge Caravan that was a factory 4x4,it appeared all they did was add another PTO shaft to the transaxle and put two gear boxes at each rear wheel,and the rear axle looked like the typical "trailer" axle all of them used..
I wouldn't mind having an Astro 4x4 van,I no longer need a full sized van,never did like backing my G-10 up parking it (more often than not I'd hit something!)..but I know the Astro's suck to work on ,everything is stuffed in so tight and hidden any engine repairs are a real ballbuster..
My G-10 isn't too bad,most of the things you can get at by removing the dog house are a piece of cake--doing a water pump in it sucked though--I had put a rebuilt pump on the 307 I put in it so I wouldn't have to do it "in the vehicle" and it started to leak about 3 weeks later!..
.I could swap a transmission in my G-10 in about an hour--the bell housing bolts can all be removed while your sitting in the front seats with the dog house off,and the cross member has two thru-bolts that are like pins,you just slide them out and you can lower the transmission with the cross member bottom half still in place,then swap it over to the replacement transmission and jack it back up and bolt it in..wish every vehicle was that easy..(and should be!)..
