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Not sure if this has been covered before but I recently learned something new that I thought I would share with all you clowns.
Back in 2010 I swapped in a used NV4500 into my K10. As it turns out that used trans had major 5th gear issues and I needed a trans fast as we were a few weeks away from our annual desert trip. Luckily, I found NOS NV4500’s on EBay from a seller in Texas that had purchased a truckload of overstock transmissions from GM’s Pontiac East Assembly plant. The NOS trans was a deal too at $1000. Anyway, I never liked how the shifter stick was so long on this NOS trans and noticeably taller and goofy shifting compared to the other NV4500 I had just pulled out. Hell, I felt like Ratfink with the shift lever taller than my head (okay, not quite that tall but you get the idea). Meanwhile, the NV4500 shifter stick in the Suburban had a nice low stance and felt to have cleaner gates to boot (the NV4500 in the Burb is the original one that was in the K10. It was rebuilt before going into duty in the Burb). After doing some research I found the NOS trans I got was actually a GMT880 (Silverado/Sierra 2500HD/3500) unit which uses a taller shift cover and taller shift tower to make up for the 2” body raise GM used on the 2001 and later HD trucks. Between the HD truck unique shift cover and unique shift tower the entire shifter raises over 1.5” to 2” depending how you adjust the jamb nut at the base of the stick. This is not an issue if you want to run a custom shifter stick but I like to use the OEM shifters and didn’t like reaching up hill to grab the shifter like some biker with Monkey Bar handle bars on his hog.
I have not seen any pictures to compare the standard and HD truck shift covers and shift towers before so here ya’ll go! Hope it helps someone down the road. BTW…..If anybody is interested in the taller HD truck shift cover and shift tower let me know. $200 takes it, including the ride. Probably work pretty well for those running a body lift. It only has about 20,000 miles on it and even the shift pads look like brand new still.
1995-?? Low shift tower on the left / 2001 – 2006 HD truck shift tower on right
1995-?? Low shift tower
2001 – 2006 2500HD/3500 truck shift tower Over ¼” difference!
Low shift cover on left / tall on right. Hard to eyeball the height difference from this angle
A little easier to notice the difference in this pic
I sure like the shifter stick location and geometry much better now with the shorter cover and tower
The shifter is back in the location it was back in 2010
I didn't take any pics of the shift lever with the HD truck bits and pieces but the lever was way up high and even with the steering wheel. I like it much better now back in the lower location!
Back in 2010 I swapped in a used NV4500 into my K10. As it turns out that used trans had major 5th gear issues and I needed a trans fast as we were a few weeks away from our annual desert trip. Luckily, I found NOS NV4500’s on EBay from a seller in Texas that had purchased a truckload of overstock transmissions from GM’s Pontiac East Assembly plant. The NOS trans was a deal too at $1000. Anyway, I never liked how the shifter stick was so long on this NOS trans and noticeably taller and goofy shifting compared to the other NV4500 I had just pulled out. Hell, I felt like Ratfink with the shift lever taller than my head (okay, not quite that tall but you get the idea). Meanwhile, the NV4500 shifter stick in the Suburban had a nice low stance and felt to have cleaner gates to boot (the NV4500 in the Burb is the original one that was in the K10. It was rebuilt before going into duty in the Burb). After doing some research I found the NOS trans I got was actually a GMT880 (Silverado/Sierra 2500HD/3500) unit which uses a taller shift cover and taller shift tower to make up for the 2” body raise GM used on the 2001 and later HD trucks. Between the HD truck unique shift cover and unique shift tower the entire shifter raises over 1.5” to 2” depending how you adjust the jamb nut at the base of the stick. This is not an issue if you want to run a custom shifter stick but I like to use the OEM shifters and didn’t like reaching up hill to grab the shifter like some biker with Monkey Bar handle bars on his hog.
I have not seen any pictures to compare the standard and HD truck shift covers and shift towers before so here ya’ll go! Hope it helps someone down the road. BTW…..If anybody is interested in the taller HD truck shift cover and shift tower let me know. $200 takes it, including the ride. Probably work pretty well for those running a body lift. It only has about 20,000 miles on it and even the shift pads look like brand new still.
1995-?? Low shift tower on the left / 2001 – 2006 HD truck shift tower on right
1995-?? Low shift tower
2001 – 2006 2500HD/3500 truck shift tower Over ¼” difference!
Low shift cover on left / tall on right. Hard to eyeball the height difference from this angle
A little easier to notice the difference in this pic
I sure like the shifter stick location and geometry much better now with the shorter cover and tower
The shifter is back in the location it was back in 2010
I didn't take any pics of the shift lever with the HD truck bits and pieces but the lever was way up high and even with the steering wheel. I like it much better now back in the lower location!
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