'97 Chevy 2500 advice

[un2xs]

Background... my '98 Yukon has one year on a transmission rebuilt with heavy duty parts. Mostly decent otherwise, but engine bearings now going out. Sticker shock on used vehicles.

Saturday I bought a '97 Chevy 2500 heavy duty extended cab with full bed and 10 ply tires. Basically paid just over scrap price. It's got a 5.7 that I am pretty sure will drop into my Yukon. The guy let it go cheap to clean up his work yard. It was parked for a year because an employee told him the tranny had trouble shifting.

I am going to change oil. Then a transmission drain, new filter, pan gasket, and new fluid. Then see how she runs. (I did not detect shifting problems driving it the several miles to where it is now parked.)

What else should I do/check? Should i put something like transmission medic in or not?

And, if the truck stays a driver, do I look for another engine for the Yukon or just cut my losses? Any other considerations?

[akpaintballer98]

I would do as you said drive that pickup around a bit open it up and see how it shifts. What kind of mileage is on the 5.7 you picked up? If it’s reasonable it would be awesome to pair that 5.7 vortec with your recently rebuilt transmission.

If that 5.7 has over 120k miles on it I would seriously consider doing the intake gaskets. Every one I’ve had eventually leaked coolant on top of the pistons “mystery coolant leak”

[un2xs]

The truck's odometer has a tad over 220K.

How hard are the intake gaskets to replace? Is this a do it sooner than later kind of thing? Should I shoot thus past a trusted mechanic for his thoughts?

[akpaintballer98]

I would do them for sure at that mileage.
It’s a pretty in depth repair but very doable.
I would absolutely run it by your mechanic in my opinion if you want to keep the rig long term you might as well do the head gaskets while it’s tore down that deep. Once you’re at the intake gaskets it makes sense to do the heads also so you don’t have to do it all twice if a head gasket fails. If it doesn’t loose any coolant at all currently
You might be alright to put it off awhile but I would closely watch if your coolant level goes down often.

[Cunha]

Intake manifold gaskets yeah it’s kinda the one thing that sucks about those things. Otherwise maybe timing chain wear if it’s like a zillion miles

[Tarsun2]

i would not put in trans repair-in-a-can.
fluids, filter, and gasket and see how she runs.

but dang, if the price of used cars shocks, wait till you calculate the MPG on the beast. lol

does that use the 4l60 trans? they were a dime a dozen at one point. dont know what they go for now though.

[un2xs]

Beast is correct. It has 10 ply 16" mud and snow tires on the ground. This thing defines "rides like a truck."

How do I tell which tranny is in it? A YouTube video stated that most of these had transmissions that had either 16 or 17 bolts. Is there any other way to tell? Does the VIN usually tell you the factory transmission? So far I have not noticed any shifting problems. But I have not driven it enough to stir up the crud that may be lurking in the pan.

I dropped a can of Seafoam in the tank and filled it up. It only took a little over 13 gallons, so I am thinking about 2/3 of the fuel is a year old.

I need to put in both inside door handles. The outside ones work ok for now.

[Tarsun2]

im not too familiar with older American vehicles but typically they have the newer 4l60 and 4l60E or the older TH350 and TH400.

[Tarsun2]

quick google search looks like 4L60E.
pre-pandemic they were all over the place. dont know what the market looks like now though. and you should still confirm what you got.

[un2xs]

I did some more digging... it looks like some of these received the 4L80E. They put it in the heavy duty pickups. The 4L80E has 17 bolts while the 4L60E has 16. The 4L80E is a more robust tranny and was recommended for heavy hailing or towing. Looks like there were just those two, so it's time to slide under and count bolts.

[Shane-O]

Intake manifold gaskets yeah it’s kinda the one thing that sucks about those things. Otherwise maybe timing chain wear if it’s like a zillion miles

That is good advice. A timing chain and new intake gaskets would be what I would do. If the head gaskets are not leaking I would not change them myself. On the transmission, I would bite the bullet and have it rebuilt while its out. There is a few parts that are replaced to fix the weak spot of 4l60E. Most good builders upgrade the sunshell, and will up the line pressure so they shift better and less clutch wear. If you are pulling the motor and trans yourself, its much cheaper to get it rebuilt. Otherwise, I would change the fluid and filter, throw in new high mileage fluid and half a bottle of Lucas for transmissions. It wont hurt, and may help.

[un2xs]

Scrunched under the truck this evening... tranny pan has 17 bolts, so 4L80E it appears to be.

There is an awful lot of oily road gunk under there. Would outfit tge front end up on ramps for a pressure wash under the engine and tranny hurt if I am going to drop the change the tranny filter and pan gasket?

[Shane-O]

Shouldnt hurt, just dont focus the spray real close to the starter or electrical connections. Use some sort of degreaser or engine foam spray.

[un2xs]

Update: I have no evidence yet of any transmission problems. Been driving it this week, but only live about ten minutes from work so it's not real taxing. I am starting to trust this truck, but need to drive it out on the highway a bit more. I will probably sell the Chevy 1500 I agreed to buy just before I bought this one. (I have two project trucks that I would rather have going again.)

Oil change and transmission filter change went fine.

Went to bleed the brakes and broke a bleeder off. Took truck to mechanic for brake work. $500 and a new master cylinder and I now have good brakes.



Put I new interior door handles. Went ok, but I know that at least the drivers door panel has been off before... the handle rivet was missing.

it appears only one speaker is working o n the radio. Do you guys put salvage yard speakers in a daily driven beater truck or buy new ones? Any particular way to tell if it's the speaker or the wiring?

And while I probably won't do it, my brother found an auction site that sells off the new beds pulled frommew trucks that are getting flatbeds or utility beds. Looks like a new bed could be purchased for under $200. Just something to keep in mind for later.

[Pumpytrilly1]

buy new, i think soundstream speakers ones on ebay were like 20 shipped and sound okay

[un2xs]

A photo was requested: https://www.mcarterbrown.com/forum/m...tte#post402303


Karma was balancing yesterday with today. I found a set of five tires mounted on Dodge rims cheap on Marketplace today. I need one more 8 bolt GMC 16" wheel to swap them over. Only the spare has seen the ground... basically five year old new tires. (I shredded a front tire at 75mph on interstate yesterday. Going to swap them all out so I know what I have.)