trans swap article in Petersons 4wheel offroad

[01maroonz71]

whos seen it. i just got the issue tonight, and im trying to find online where it says their mileage HP gains, but i can't find it anywhere on the site. it's a swap that i am very very interested in doing. they go from a TH400 to a NV4500.

 

[iwaxmyjimmy]

Got the issue today and they didn't report them. Horsepower gains aren't gonna be that much, but milage I'm sure they will see another 3 or 4 mpg on long hauls.

 

[01maroonz71]

that is exacly why i was planning on doing it. so i can cruise up to NC or TN like i like to do every year.

 

[iwaxmyjimmy]

800 miles to and fro......... you must love it up here.

 

[ryan22re]

What is/are - "mileage HP gains"?

The truck they did the swap to is a 6.2 with a banks turbo kit. I would expect they did the OD swap so they could drive the thing faster than 60-65 mph. IIRC the truck has 37's and 4.56's. I would bet that with a diesel, the mileage gains were minimal, and would hardly be offset by the swap to a 4500.

Same goes for a gas engine. Unless the thing is about to self destruct on the highway because the RPM's are too high. You could put a lot of gas in the thing for the price of a rebuilt/new 4500 and swap adapters/driveshaft work.

tRusty did the exact swap on his 6.2 blazer except I think he used a NWF doubler.

 

[01maroonz71]

i meant mileage/HP gains...like either or, and yeah, i make the 700mile trip once a year to visit some family. we take a week or two and take my 4wheelers and just lay back and get er done. i want the OD for cruisin. i used to drive my 01 z71 on 37's(4.88gears) and got 13MPG the whole way, goin about 78 or so...not bad, better than the 10MPG i got in my current truck(see sig) with my 3.73's and 38's...i know if i regear this truck, like i plan on....it will only get worse, unless of course i had a few more gears.


***edit*** if my mileage went from 10mpg to 13mpg, i would be saving about 100bucks a trip, which would pay for itself in a few years, not to mention around town im normally goin about 60 or 70MPH, so that would help also....plus a 5spd is just THAT MUCH MORE FUN TO DRIVE!!!!! ******

 

[01maroonz71]

in the old truck(z71), i was going 78MPH @ 2400RPM.


this truck(83 k10) travels at 70MPH @ 2500RPM, but the mileage is not as good, so i would like to drop down into the teens as far as that goes.

 

[ryan22re]

I would say that a 4500 swap would run at least 1500 bucks, maybe two times that. That'd be at least 15 years.

Not trying to talk you out of it, but I doubt that you could increase your mileage by 3 mpg by just swapping your tranny. Especially with a gas engine. That would be a 30% increase. That is assuming your current tranny doesn't slip and functions properly.

 

[01maroonz71]

good point, i see where your coming from....but compared to the cost of an aftermarket overdrive...i say this is a better way to go, b/c i still get to drive the wee out of my truck every day(5spd) im not saying im going to jump into this, but it's just a thought, and is on my to-do list. my built up th400 could probably be sold to recoupe some of the money, and i have an entire parts truck with a muncie in her that i could part some of the parts from, so i think i could do this relatively cheap. i dunno. you may be right though. thanks for the input ya'll!!!!

 

[uao85]

I would love to swap an nv4500, but will be beefing up a 700r4 instead since I only have a stocker 6.2. Plus I have a good friend who has rebuilt quite a few 4l60e and 700r4 transmissions without one failing under 75k miles as of yet. Maybe later on when I beef up the motor, I might either pick up a bowtie overdrive unit or an nv4500.

Remington

 

[01maroonz71]

...so im not alone i see...

 

[stoney126]

I read the issue and went to their website and didnt see anything as far as MPG gains. I was thinking of doing this to my blazer. Would like to see the reults.

 

[protechk5]

with a diesel ive read from people on here, with that swap to see up to +5mpg