Chevy & GMC Vans

Hello Everyone,
We recently purchased a 96 Astro AWD with 290,000 kilometers or about 200,000 miles for a poultry sum of $800 Canadian.
I have to admit I just wanted something practical for my wife and kids so she wouldn't be driving my Titan any longer and since it's a Chevy I figured I could probably fix most of it. I never dreamed that I might actually get excited over this thing but I honestly love it. This is the first vehicle I've owned since the days of VW beetles that I feel makes a great project vehicle. There are so many ways to go, cool and low or way up in the air. I have been reading some of your posts and have already found a lot of useful info. I found your site when I was looking to see if anyone had swapped transfer cases in the Astro. Well low and behold complete with pictures someone shares his knowledge on how its done, a NP231 in a van with shifter all out of the wreckers.(Freakin' Pinch Me)
I hope to eventually do a 4" lift on it and change out the transfer case since the AWD is going anyways. My wife is all for it which makes it easier and I hope to do this as a rolling project,when we need the suspension done, we'll do the lift, when the transfer case has to be done, the swap goes in. That's the plan anyway. I'm sure this is going to take me a while and I'll be calling for help I'm certain, but I feel much better having touched base here.

Thanks
Bear

Welcome Bear! Sounds like you are heading the right way....up!

Welcome aboard the board. Jim

Welcome to the site, Bear. There's lots of good people here. And lots of info. Got questions? Just ask. Someone here will have an answer. By the way..........we like lots of pics.

well hello my fellow calgarian , i was born and raised in calgary, these vans are great.

Thanks for the welcome everybody,
tbhager94 I too am a long time, born in the Town of Forest Lawn, Calgarian. That's dating myself for sure.
LiftedAWDAstro I believe it was your string of text I was following when I came to this site.Thanks.
I'll send some pics once it's not covered in snow and dirt. As tbhager94 can testify we got our share of snow this year.

Welcome. And yes, you are right: This is the place.

IrBear wrote:Thanks for the welcome everybody,
tbhager94 I too am a long time, born in the Town of Forest Lawn, Calgarian. That's dating myself for sure.
LiftedAWDAstro I believe it was your string of text I was following when I came to this site.Thanks.
I'll send some pics once it's not covered in snow and dirt. As tbhager94 can testify we got our share of snow this year.

oh then youll get a laugh out of this, my dad grew up in bowness and my mom grew up in forest lawn, now thats oppisite sides of the city, i went to high school at jack james .

tbhager94
I get a drive out of the fact the best fine arts programs in Calgary is the Drama classes at Forest Lawn and Literature at Bowness. My youngest will go to Jack James next year. We aren't far from there.
I don't want to digress too much so I'll ask a van related question. I apparently need to replace the bearing carrier for one side of the front end (found it during safety inspection) I don't feel it and the mech said I could wait a little but they say the part is $785.00. Anyone know where to get them cheaper? Are there aftermarket parts? I mean for this money I could put a live axle out front but I didn't want to go radical right a way.

Thanks again,
Bear

Hello fellow Calgarian,

You can check out RockAuto for ideas on pricing - use the catalog under Astro - Brake/Wheel Hub - Axle Bearing and Hub Assembly - should get some ideas on pricing etc. I also recommened Bowness Auto - they seem to have fair prices - you probably have a similar smaller non-chain store over in Forest Lawn area that might offer good prices.

Thanks tbhager94,
there's some light at the end of the tunnel and it's not a train. I checked RockAuto and they were $510 cheaper. I'm going to have to go back to the shop I use and tell him. He used to be very reasonable when he was starting out but now he has someone else running the front desk. I'm a long time customer and I'm not impressed.
We should move to the other discussion que since my wife wants to know how you liked Jack James when you were there and I don't want to miff the moderator.

IrBear wrote:Thanks tbhager94,
there's some light at the end of the tunnel and it's not a train. I checked RockAuto and they were $510 cheaper. I'm going to have to go back to the shop I use and tell him. He used to be very reasonable when he was starting out but now he has someone else running the front desk. I'm a long time customer and I'm not impressed.
We should move to the other discussion que since my wife wants to know how you liked Jack James when you were there and I don't want to miff the moderator.

my last year there was 1997 so i bet theres not many teachers still there from my time there, but it was a good school when i was there, they have good shop classes, i basically lived in the auto shop lol.

if you have any more q's just ask .

IrBear wrote: We should move to the other discussion que since my wife wants to know how you liked Jack James when you were there and I don't want to miff the moderator.

No need to worry...this is your thread. You can talk about pretty much anything you want. Just leave out the hard-core religious, political and porn!

For any technical questions, post them in the proper section and we'll be fine.

Great!
tbhager94,
my daughter who up until now hadn't shown any real interest in cars was very intrigued when she got in the heavy shop and saw a Jetta on the hoist with most of the front end off. It was the first time she really had seen the inner workings of an automobile and she was drawn to it. She is autistic, specifically she has PDD (Pervasive Developement Disorder) but is high functioning. We had considered Calgary Quest School, which is really a wonderful School for Gifted Children but I thought maybe her case wasn't as extreme as others and I'm happy she will attend Jack James. She has slight cognitive and speech problems but not so severe she can't fit in with most of the motor heads I know. Looks like I may have a helper when I'm ready to do the Astro up.
LiftedAWDAstro,
thanks for the guidance, that's good to know. I've come across your van on several occasions now and I must say I like the way it turned out. I especially like the way you got the 4x4 cotrols to look like a factory install. The little plastic panel that houses the buttons looks like it was always there.
I followed the string about putting a left side disconnect differential into the Astro and I'm not sure if I'm understanding the advantage. Is this simply to free wheel the front end so your not spinning the drive shaft or am I missing something here? A friend of mine who was a service manager for a GM dealership said he did like the cable lok system that you were using to engage the diff. He explained they used to call the factory actuator a Donkey D_ck and explained how the tube fills with fluid then forces outward engaging the diff. Sure doesn't sound like the best idea to me and I can see where you would want something that felt a little more positive that that.
I won't even bother hitting the pick ur part till spring due to the weather and the fact I no longer fit my insulated coveralls, but that gives me time to sort out the details. Could you clear me up on a few things?
Does the 96Astro have a VSS for the speedo? If so then I want to use the 231 transfer case but I'm thinking about getting a rebuilt one from one of the off road suppliers like offroaddesign or TRI county. Maybe even somone up here can handle it but I do think I'd like to get the short Slip yoke eliminator kits installed. There in lies my next question. Have you gone this route and if so did you lengthen your drive shaft or is there some different year part that will swap in? Either way I believe this is the way to go just due to the narrower case dimension the angularity at the U-joint is going to be reduced improving it's durability.
This is getting long so I'll sign off,
Bear.

The 96 vans do have a VSS in the tail shaft of the t-case. If you get a 231 from an S-10 the VSS will be correct. Plug-N-play basically. Going with a SYE kit is really not needed. The rear drive shaft is so long already that the added lift from a 4-5" lift will not hurt the angles much at all. It is more important to verify the u-joint angles are the same and you will get lots of years out of the joints.

Changing the right side axle to the S-10 style disconnect is done to reduce possible vibrations and to allow the front end components to free wheel and not spin all the time. Should net a mpg or so and a little wear and tear.