'62 Suburban winter project

I'm starting my winter project. Here's the deal: My '62 Chevy Suburban (2 wheel drive, 283, 'granny gear' 4-speed) is mostly stock. Went through & freshened the 283 a while back, and upgraded it with an Edelbrock "kit" (intake, carb, cam & lifters). Runs great, but... The low gear in the rear end (high numerically) has the 283 spinning at about 3 grand around 60 MPH (even with tall 265/ 75R15 tires). My choices: a) install a ring & pinion with something like a 3:70 ratio, or -my main question- b) is there a newer truck 4-speed-plus-overdrive trans that will mate to my hydraulic clutch bell housing? What's the more elegant solution? Am I opening up a can of worms with things like spedometer hook-ups and drive shaft mods if I go with the tranny swap? I'd like to drive on a freeway once in a while without hearing the engine screaming...

 

Sorry I cant help with your trans/gearing question but a 62 suburban along with your other rides listed in your profile sounds interesting.
Got any pics?
This will at least give you a bump up so someone else with more exact info than I could give, might chime in with a solution.

 

The Sub is pretty grimy in the pic- we'd just gotten back from a hunting trip. The Impala is stock, save for a 'sleeper' hy-po 327 hooked to the original cast-iron powerglide. Don't have any pic of the '39 on my computer- I'll have to scan some in.

 

62 is the last year for that rear. The gear you have now is likely a 390 or maybe an optional 411-ish. The lowest gear ratio was 336 or 338. It still won't cure it.

You have the last year of the X type center frame. I think there should be room for other transmission types. There is a somewhat hard to find Chrysler based, but Chevy made, 4 speed standard with 4th being overdrive. Someone like Squirrel knows what years chevy pickups had them. This would be a look-alike to the Chrysler muscle car 4 speed.

there was a thread on those, but i don't recall it all. I "think" it was said that some of these Mopar/Chev 4 speeds used the mopar bell/trans pattern and some used the chev pattern bells. Don't quote me on that, though. If it were me, I'd do that swap rather than a rear swap. Not less work, but I think it would be better in the long run.


As a last resort, it would be a rear end swap. you'd need a late 70s to late 80s K10 4X4 rear with the somewhat rare gears of 2.76. The 4X4's had the 6 lugs, and 2WD had 5 lugs. The rear will be 1.5" wider which actually looks better in those deep wheel wells. Swap your perches and the bracket that holds the panhard bar. welding req'd. Easy swap IMO.

 

Cool rides!

 

or you can go with a car 3spd with o/d like i did in my '64 panel. it's a 6 cyl so it has low gears (4.11 or so) and in o/d i run 2000 rpm at about 70mph with 235/75r15's. if you use a trans from the later 60's (sync 1st gear) you'll need to either modify the shift arms or the shift rods (i did the arms), i believe the older trans (non sync 1st gear) was a direct shot for the shift rods. you'll need to shorten the front driveshaft, run nuts/bolts in the lower trans holes (see second pic), install an extra relay, get a o/d cable (also toggle switch) and lengthen the speedo cable.

 

I'd think about swapping rear ends. Would a late model Chev/GMC full size pickup rear be too wide? The have long legged (low numeric) gears, that would probably work well with your little 283. Which is what the 4.8L small LS engine is BTW...

 

Thanks for all of the input. The selection of ratios for the original '62 rear is pretty slim- there's a much greater ratio selection for the later ('64-'66) trucks. I'm thinking that the quick & dirty choice would be to locate one of these rears in the ratio I need and swap it in...

 

'63 was the last year for the X frame ...mine is running a 350-350 th. out of a 76 camero .. great top end ,, but needs taller rear end gears to boost up the mpg ...getting somewhere around 9-12 mpg ...
BUT ... i can carry around 8 people ,, and tow a 18 ft. flat bottom boat up the grapevine at over 100 miles per hour ..
AHHHHHH ,,,,, to be young and stupid again ...........

and your right about it being hard to find a rear end to fit ... its narrower than the newer trucks ...
i also lucked out ,, power steering and power disk brakes from a junk yard bolted right up ..

 

The 64 to 66 won't be a bolt in. As I said about the 60 through 62 having a different frame, the angles and placement of the rear perches on the axle tubes need to be swapped and relocated.
62 was the last year of the boxed X frame.

63 is a one year only rear...forget it, as axle shafts can't be found if needed.

The best gear that was in the 64 to 66 was 307.


So, if you need to swap perches anyways, might as well step up to the late 70-late 80s 4x4 rear with 276

 

My daily driver is your truck...

'62 Suburban, originally with a 283, Granny 4spd. I think I even have the same tire size. And I use it for hunting!

I put in a 350 crate engine, because the 283 was already .060-over and tired.
Here's what you need to know;
Frame: '60-'62 used the X-frame with torsion bar front suspension. Love the ride quality, hate the rebuild price.
The rear of the frame is different. I have HEARD the angle of the trailing arm mounts is different than the later trucks. I do know that the mounting pads are different.
The panhard bar on the '60-'63 is longer than the '64-up.
'60-'62 Chevy used a drop-out center, round-back cover rear that is very hard to get parts for.
'60-'62 GMC used a Dana 44 that is dead easy to get parts for: They're still made, and gear sets and difs from new Jeeps drop right in. The GMC Dana bolts in, and I have a new Jeep limited slip with 3.42 gears on it.
'63 Chevy went to the truck 12-bolt. It will NOT bolt in to the '60-62 without changing the perches. The later rears used the shorter pan-hard mount, etc.
Optional HD rear suspension on the '60-62 GMC was leaf springs, same on the Chevy. So you MIGHT find a GMC or Chevy leaf-sprung rear.
After that, the GMC came standard with leaf springs. (I BELIEVE this to be the case... if that's not correct, someone please tell me).
The GMC is also 6-lug, so brakes and wheels will stay the same.

I did all the math with the Granny 4spd and different rear gears to find a highway cruising rpm, and then did the math with the 4spd manual OD trans. It was a almost a toss-up. I didn't like the jump from Granny 1st to 2nd, but it could be done.

TRANS:
'81-'87 Chevy 1/2-tons had an optional New Process 4spd Overdrive trans. 1, 2 and 3 were a standard 3spd trans, with 3rd being 1:1. 4th gear is overdrive at .73:1.
This trans is based off the Chrysler A833 4-speed. It runs 3rd gear through what would normally be the 4th gear position, and then put a new gear cluster in to what is normally the 3rd gear set, but now run that one as the new 4th, coming out overdrive.

There are two main cases: One has the standard GM mounting flange, and will bolt up to your bellhousing. The only think you will need to do is turn the O.D. of the bearing retainer cover down .250-inch to fit it in the pilot hole of the bellhousing, and you'll need to use allen bolts to put the cover on, as hex bolts won't clear.
The other main case uses one of the Chrysler ears, and requires a specific aluminum bellhousing that Chevy tooled up. This one could be made to work if you put side motor mounts on the block, and install a trans cross member, doing away with the stock bellhousing ear mounts.
The aluminum bellhousing comes with a hydraulic clutch slave mount, so that makes it a little easier.

The tailshaft housing is interchangeable between the two main cases, but it is unique to the Chevy A833. It is neither Chevy or Chrysler. It DOES use a TH350 yoke, seal and speedo drive gears.
It came with either a Hurst or Inland shifter (copying the Hurst design), and the shifter mounting plate, mounting bolts and shifter arms are unique to this transmission. The Hurst arms I have are much beefier than the Inland arms.
Chrysler had the 833 4spd OD in trucks, vans and Dusters, but that shifter, though a Hurst, will not interchange with the Chevy 833. I've tried.

The Granny 4spd has a slip yoke built into the driveshaft, as the yoke is solidly mounted to the trans, so you'll need a new driveshaft made, but fortunately it's a 1-pc shaft, unlike the later trucks that had the carrier bearing 2pc driveshaft.

I have over 35,000 miles on my engine and trans, and something less than that on the brand new rear end. All in all, I'm very happy with the combination. If you can rustle up one of those transmissions, you'll be very happy. Same with a GMC Dana 44.

-Brad

 

One thing on the old truck 4 speeds.... I did have a 66 GMC here to redo, and it did not have the creeper 1st gear. It was "according to the owner' a drivable first gear.

I did drive it on the road and it was what he said. You absolutely had to start in 1st, and going to 2nd was as normal as a car 4 speed. Never found out what trans ID number it was.


But, I'd rather have that Mopar/Chev OD trans. Sounds like the best option.

 

I just sold my 55.2 Chev pickup that had an upgraded rearend from a late 60's truck with a 3.54 diff and a posi. With 30x 9.50 tires it turned a little over 2500 at 65 mph with the stock granny 4 speed, no overdrive. Another option I was looking at, but never got to was the overdrive built by Ranger. It fits between the engine and transmission, so it's popular in the 4x4 circles. Seeing as how it's a seperate unit, it can be engaged in any gear, which would help considerably with the wide gear spreads the SM420 and SM465 have.

Devin

 

My old 61 Apache 10 swb had a 265/305 4bbl midrise with T350 in it when I bought it and it got 17 mpg on the highway, the rear which appeared stock was a 12 bolt with 3.73 posi, one side had a longer axle that I had cut down and resplined when I did the 5 bolt conversion on it.
I had a 700R4 for it but the X frame wouldn't fit the rear mount pad without serious mods, so I kept the T350 which the previous owner mounted with a piece of 3" C channel notched to fit on top of the frame rails - kinda lame but it worked.
Agree with the torsion front suspension - rides nice but a pain for headers etc.

 

One more thing on your truck--when you pull the trans, plan on pulling it out from THE TOP. I couldn't figure out how to get it to clear the torsion bar mount... then realized the trans tunnel unbolts. It slid out easily through the top. They did away with the removable floor in subsequent years, so I'm thinking that bolt-in floor is for trans removal and installation.

-Brad

 

Yes they did away with the removable floor later if it had the 3 speed or auto. The 4 speed trans trucks, that I had here, still had the cover.

The earlier trucks had two different covers: short for A/T and 3 speed, and tall cover for truck 4 speeds. If you ever swap from tall or short covers, you also need to drill out and swap the spotwelded front firewall adapter piece.

more trivia on covers: A big truck cab had a flat floor cover, with a totally different firewall-to-cover adapter piece. So if you ever want to use a big truck cab on a pickup, you also need to swap both pieces. The adapter piece spotwelds drill out with not too much effort.

 

Love your Sub! These guys gave you some great info. Good luck with it!!

I've got the Delivery version......'66.

 

THANK YOU!!! All of this input is priceless! I've got to throw out one more question, though: Patrick's lists a truck 3:55 ring & pinion, but the info. is confusing-it fits through to '54 or '62, depending how you read it (I haven't tried calling them yet). The more I think about it though, the more I like the New Process trans idea, and possibly upgrading the rear later.

 

I would not do the 3.55 at what it will cost, but also, it still will rev on todays highway speeds. It is just not enough of a percentage change in ratio. I am positive on that.

Try that trans that Brad uses, it sounds like the perfect swap.

 

The trans swap sounds like a plan! Thanks again to everyone for the advice- now its time to get dirty...