Looking for a little guidance on a 2004 LB7 into a 2001 2500 Suburban. I have the motor, and have sourced a wiring harness out of a 2003. I need an Allison as my tranny is a 4l80/5 E , what year Allison will work with my 04 Dmax? Also, are the main harnesses year specific or does 03+ up all interchange (there is a harness with ficm on engine, just need engine bay harness). I have read through a ton of great posts on these forums, but I can't seem to get all this figured out. Going with a NV263xhd manual as I am not so hot with all the wiring stuff. Still need an ECU and don't know if there were two different ones in 04 as I have come up with two different part numbers. First is: 12210729 and the other is 12244189. Also, do all the allison TCM's interchange from 2000 and up or are they year specific ? Are the 2001 2500 suburban axles strong enough for the Dmax with 4.10 gears or do I need to change the axles too ( it originally came with an 8.1)? And finally last question, once I acquire all these parts and set the duramax in place, do I use the factory motor mounts and location and relocate the transmission crossmember or.........? Thanks for any and all guidance here.
LB7 into 2001 suburban complications
- Thread starter bigburb
- Start date
My first recommendation is to NOT MIX 01-02 and 03-07 electrical parts.
You are creating hundreds of unnecessary headaches for yourself. What could be a plug-and-play/no cut-and-splice swap turns into a wiring nightmare the second you interchange the two totally different electrical systems.
If I were you I would find the wiring harness from a 2001-2002 LB7.
ben
You are creating hundreds of unnecessary headaches for yourself. What could be a plug-and-play/no cut-and-splice swap turns into a wiring nightmare the second you interchange the two totally different electrical systems.
If I were you I would find the wiring harness from a 2001-2002 LB7.
ben
Ben is right.
But, as great as this site is for Dmax performance, theres not all that much info here on transplants. Member "thefermanator" is about the most knowledgable here.
I would also suggest going over to Diesel Place and looking up members boisebiker, TDIguy and gr8gnzo...among others. They have all done this swap (in TDI's case...a LOT of them) and will know all the obstacles/issues you are bound to come across.
Also, look in their Transplant area as there are many threads concerning Dmax-Sub swaps. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=374
Good Luck. Have fun. Take your time.
But, as great as this site is for Dmax performance, theres not all that much info here on transplants. Member "thefermanator" is about the most knowledgable here.
I would also suggest going over to Diesel Place and looking up members boisebiker, TDIguy and gr8gnzo...among others. They have all done this swap (in TDI's case...a LOT of them) and will know all the obstacles/issues you are bound to come across.
Also, look in their Transplant area as there are many threads concerning Dmax-Sub swaps. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=374
Good Luck. Have fun. Take your time.
Where did you get that he was planning to do this?
He just said he has an '04 engine with an FICM and engine harness on it already and maybe an '03 harness located and was asking about ECM P/N's. Sounds like a pretty good start to me. bigburb, if it was me I would try to get an '02/'03 or an early '04 LB7 ECM to match that harness and the TCM I believe from '02 - '04 should be the same even if the P/N's are different. '01 to '04 transmissions are also the same. LLY 5 speed trans have different size fittings for the trans cooler lines IIRC but other than that they will bolt up to LB7 engine no problem.
I say avoid the '01 stuff because some of the ECM's were a bit twitchy from what I have heard and seen and there are more parts around for the '02 - '04 LB7. Henry should be able to run the P/N's on those ecm's for ya and see what is what.
As The Bac said, THEFERMANATOR would definetly be a good dude to chat up here as well.
Good luck!
Ahhhhhh you could be right. I would think no matter what you did you would be splicing and messing around to get your BCM, instrument cluster, and other components to work. I was thinking more along the lines of a stand-alone set-up........no existing body stuff to tie into.
Carry on.............:thumb:
Carry on.............:thumb:
with an 01 sun the 01-02 duramax harness is pretty much plug and play. nothing has to be done except I believe 1 or 2 wires need to be swapped. there is a few things on the 03 up that are gm lan and will give you issues with running a 03 up harness on an 02 or prev. Im not saying it cant be done, but i am saying its not gonna be a fun job.
Thanks for the info guys.......I will look at the other link/s you recommended and try to get in touch with those users who may know. Any advice on axles or is the stock setup with 4.10's OK for the duramax allison setup. I am not going to be turning this motor up and don't plan on doing any rockcrawling or mudding as I have done all that with another vehcile long ago. I just want to build a very reliable traveling vehicle that can pull a +/- 5k boat up and through mountains with no problem as my current vehicle 5.3L just doesn't cut it. I also plan to run a pto generator off that allison as I need remote power, however, if that is too much work there is always room to take a genset.
If your burb came with the 8.1 it should have the 14 bolt full floater rear end. in your application it should work jsut fine. Definitly look at gettin a 01-02 wiring harness. Will make your life so much easier
Why are you against keeping the 4L80/85?? It'll bolt up to the Dmax & should handle a stock or slightly modified Dmax.
Because he clearly said "I have sourced a wiring harness out of a 2003" in the second sentence of his first post?
Vrabel clued me into that 5 posts ago but thanks anyways tips.
I wouldn't, not with as heavyt as the BURB is. Teh vans at 250HP can tear one up fairly easily, so why chance it at 300HP? DEFINATELY find an 01-20 harness as it will make your life ALOT easier. And the 4.10 gears would not be reccomended with even a stokc 265/75/16 tire. If you plan on running some 33 inch + tall tires keep em, otherwise I would swap out for some 3.73's or better yet 3.42's. The 14 bolt 10.5" diff will hold up fine, I have put some pretty good power through mine and it has taken it in stride. As far as ECM and TCM's go, pretty much any LB7 ECM or 5 speed TCM will work, you'll just have to have an 01-02 OS flashed into the ECM(02 is MUCH better) and an 01-04 LB7 TCM OS into it.
My BURB came with an 8.1 mated to a 4l80 or 85E and a NP8 ( I think) tcase to clarify. Are you guys telling me that even though I have a 2004 duramax with its own engine wiring harness, I can still use an older 2001/2002 body harness to connect up to it? What years of Allison 1000 are compatible with this setup and to qualify, yes I know that any year allison will bolt up, but is there a problem with a 2004 or 2005 plugging in to the earlier harness or not. I would like to use a newer ally, but don't know if there are year and wiring constraints on that as well. Is anyone against using a 263 XHD tcase for any reason?
use the NP263 case out of the duramax. There is NO WAY the auto-trac xfer case will stand up to a duramax. Considering the auto-trac case barely holds an 8.1...
Did the 2500 Burbs with autotrac have 14-10.5 or 14-11.50 rears? My '00 had the 10.5 and did not live well after the swap.
Thats not what we're saying.
In 2003, GM changed the entire electrical system on the GMT-800 trucks. The 1999-2002 systems just wont communicate with the 2003-2007 stuff. You would have to use a 2001-02 ENGINE harness in order to facilitate your swap and connect to the Burb's electrical system. I know Eric at Merchant Automotive has a few "new" 01-02 engine harnesses up in his parts room, so give him a call. IIRC, you may have to move the oil pressure sensor because it was located in a different spot (up front instead of by oil cooler on the 01's), otherwise it should be a straightforward harness swap. PLEASE ask the other guys I mentioned who have far more real-world experience first.
X2 on Ben's recommendation about the 263 Tcase. IMO, Id just move the entire Dmax drivetrain over.
I am not sure on the rear end yet, I hope it holds up though as this swap is getting expensive quick. I would have gone with the NP263XHD, but wanted all manual so I sourced a 261XHD instead. Originally I thought the 263 was the manual case, but finally figured that out as I don't like pushbutton 4x4, As far as the harness, I found a 2001 body harness and a 2003 body harness. The motor is an 04, so I guess I will get another engine harness out of an 2001 as well. One way or another this is going to work. Thanks for the info on the oil pressure sensor as I didn't know that. I did find some interesting info that I would like to share with everyone about the allison 1000 I bought. I want to run a PTO generator and some allisons come from the factory with a tone ring and some come with a pto gear. I have heard rumors that all allisons from 2000 to 2004 have the PTO gear, but come to find out that the gear only comes in the 3500 duramax trucks from the factory. All the 2500 trucks unless special ordered had the tone ring. Best way to be sure is to call allison and their techs will run the serial number on the tranny and tell you instantly which you have.
every 2001-2003 allison Ive torn down had a PTO gear, regardless of whether it was a 2500 or 3500. 2004 is hit or miss. 2005+ no, only if special ordered on a 3500 cab/chassis
I am still running the 10.5 14bolt in my burb with a dmax but only have about a 90hp tune loaded right now and Plan on swapping it out but not because I dont think it will do the job but mostly because I plan on using the 10.5 on my standard cab shortbed duramax truck that I will be starting on soon. the driveline needs to be about 3 " shorter for the 11.5 and I have a few of those anyway and Have been using 10.5s in my wheelers for years and really the week link on a 10.5 is the axles which are the same spline and diameter as the 11.5 so go figure. j
Anyway one more thing you may already know and that is the 263 case and 261 case use a different harness and may be able to modified so that the manual case position sensor still activates the front diff. You may already know this and I did not read all of the Posts so it may already be covered but I have played with all of these harnesses alot exspecially the 02 which will make your swap a WHOLE lot easier which i know has already been covered several times. I do love my duramax burb and it turns alot of heads when someome heres the rattle and notices the badges. Good luck
Anyway one more thing you may already know and that is the 263 case and 261 case use a different harness and may be able to modified so that the manual case position sensor still activates the front diff. You may already know this and I did not read all of the Posts so it may already be covered but I have played with all of these harnesses alot exspecially the 02 which will make your swap a WHOLE lot easier which i know has already been covered several times. I do love my duramax burb and it turns alot of heads when someome heres the rattle and notices the badges. Good luck