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Did I make a mistake?

AbramJ

AbramJ

1/2 ton status
 Premium
Joined
Oct 1, 2011
Posts
812
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311
Location
Tempe, Arizona
So while I was in the Army Guard one of my buddies and I talked trucks a lot. I told him I was always on the lookout for a 3/4 ton Suburban I could restore/make into an expedition type truck. A couple of weeks ago he texts me telling me a friend of his has a 1978 3/4 ton 4x4 Suburban he's looking to get rid of. He bought it to take the drive train out of so he didn't care how the rest of the truck was, but then life/plans changed and its been sitting in his backyard. No front clip, front doors, or engine, but its got a TH400 trans which he said was recently rebuilt (we'll see), NP208 transfercase, 10 bolt front, 14 bolt SF rear. I looked at the pictures and it is 99% rust free (just a small spot behind the passenger side rear wheel. We negotiated price and it was delivered today. The tow truck driver helped me get the truck in the garage and after he left I took some time to look it over. That's when I noticed some strange things. First the front of the frame doesn't look like the front on my '76, second I realized there was no transfercase shift lever in the cab of the truck. I pulled the carpet up and looked under the truck and there's no hole at all. I checked the VIN plate on the drivers side door jamb and that's when I see it says "CC". So I've got a 2wd truck that someone swapped a front axle into. That is ok, it looks like it was factory/professionally done, so that's why I didn't notice it in the pictures.

I decoded the VIN and came up with this:

C-Chevy
C-2WD
S-454 Engine
1-1/2 ton
6 - Suburban
8 - 1978
F - Built in Flint

Did I make a mistake buying this? Now I'm a little disappointed that I didn't actually get a 3/4 ton 4x4 Burb like I wanted. I feel like I should not let this deter me from doing a build, though, since guys have done 2wd-4wd swaps before with no problems. (I guess you could say that hard part is already done for me.) I haven't looked to see what the axle ratios are yet.

Other than the front the truck looks all original. At this time period was the 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton frame different on the Suburban?

What will I need to use the 4x4 correctly? The front axle has WARN hubs, and I think I saw the shifter lever tied to the side of the transfercase under the truck (which side would it be on?) I'll need to get a front driveshaft too. The transmission hump floor pan as well?

My plan was to cannibalize the trucks and build one good one using the '78. Should I go ahead and stick to that plan?

Here's some pictures:

IMG_20161110_132940034.jpg

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IMG_20161110_133023772.jpg

IMG_20161110_133050494.jpg

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IMG_20161110_133217980_HDR.jpg

IMG_20161110_133459486.jpg
 
The body might be a 78 but the frame is definitely an 81+, I'd imagine the axles, trans & tcase belong to the frame as well (both the rear axle and tcase are 81+ items).

Since you're looking for a truck to build and not restore, I don't think you made a mistake.
 
nvrenuf said:
The body might be a 78 but the frame is definitely an 81+, I'd imagine the axles, trans & tcase belong to the frame as well (both the rear axle and tcase are 81+ items).

Since you're looking for a truck to build and not restore, I don't think you made a mistake.
Click to expand...

Interesting, so you think they swapped the body onto a newer frame? Where would I be able to find a frame stamped VIN? I saw some numbers on the passenger side frame rail under the front door. I'll go look at them again.

*edit* here's a picture of said numbers. That whole section looks like someone took a sanding wheel to it, to clean it perhaps?

IMG_20161110_144612346.jpg
 
AbramJ said:
Interesting, so you think they swapped the body onto a newer frame? Where would I be able to find a frame stamped VIN? I saw some numbers on the passenger side frame rail under the front door. I'll go look at them again.

*edit* here's a picture of said numbers. That whole section looks like someone took a sanding wheel to it, to clean it perhaps?

View attachment 219112
Click to expand...

Depending on vintage the partial VIN is located on the top of the frame rail near the steering box, or on top of the frame rail under the drivers side seat. Need a mirror to read it there.

I don't know particularly when the frame VIN locations changed. Based on my experiences the '81+ frames had the number under the drivers seat, older were next to the steering box, but I don't know what specific year my '81+ frame is. I've got two more '81+ frames laying around I could check, but that really isn't going to help much, since I don't know their exact years either.

AFAIK however, a partial frame VIN isn't going to tell you anything, as it's going to be the sequence number of the VIN, not the first part you'd need to ID what it came from. That frame was not assembled at a factory with that body, so it's not going to match no matter what.
 
Last edited:
Agreed. The "14..." you can see on the frame is a part number, if you can get the complete number (probably 8 digits) you can narrow down the year range but it could very easily be a multi year span which wouldn't help either.

The frame is no doubt 81+ so if you really want to narrow down the possible year look at the tag on the tcase for a date and then pull the axle covers for the dates stamped on the ring gears. If those 3 numbers have similar years, I'd say from the frame down was all one truck.
 
Well, knowing the frame and running gear probably really are 3/4 ton makes me feel better. Knowing it's an 81+ is good too.
 
T-case looks to say '84, frame swap would explain the "clean" 4wd conversion. If no rust and not looking for a show truck you did good.
 
If you were looking for a building project anyway, I don't see any downsides to what you bought. The body conversion may or may not be well done, but that'll be pretty easy to figure out. Considering you bought a truck with no engine, no front doors, and no front clip (at least, not installed), for that kind of project I really don't think it matters. You'll have pieces from multiple trucks before you're done, even if the body did match the frame.
 
I agree with the year diagnosis, too. 81-84 is my bet. If you find the 8 digit VIN stamp, that will tell you the year, plant, and S/N of the chassis. If you care about that. :dunno:
 
I don't think you made a mistake. I agree with everyone here, that is an '81-88 3/4 ton frame/drivetrain that has had a pretty clean body dropped on it. I'd build it, but the registering of it might be interesting. I know here it wouldn't be a problem, but where you live it might be more involved?

Anyways, good score!
 
in arizoa they do like nevada and run the frame numbers and make you register the chassy not the body, its a pain in the butt. thats why i say run the numbers before you spend a bunch of money.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. The title I was given is for the 78 and is a clean Arizona title. I would start looking for the frame numbers, but I fell ill last night and haven't really been able to get out of bed. Dang stomach bug.
 
Kain said:
in arizoa they do like nevada and run the frame numbers and make you register the chassy not the body, its a pain in the butt. thats why i say run the numbers before you spend a bunch of money.
Click to expand...

Do they inspect the vehicle? And then actually crawl underneath to check the frame number with a mirror?

That sounds 100% wacky to me. But I've never had to deal with vehicle inspections of any sort, my opinion probably doesn't matter here.
 
The only issue is the title he got would be for a 78 2WD Suburban. They may not care, or even check, but it's an issue I'd try to find out about.
 
I've never had them look at anything more than the vin on the door jamb when I've gotten vehicles emissions tested and registered.
 
if it is out of state yes they inspect the vin number,the reason i say check is there are people that bought cars and or trucks that they didnt know it was stolen and out thousands into it. and when the law finds its stolen your out all your investment. and sometimes the previous owners didnt know it was stolen
 
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