Chevy & GMC Vans

Sat in downtown Cleveland, waiting about an hour for a tow Friday... 96 Safari (work van) started making noise when I pulled out af a customer driveway and about a mile later.... at a red light, engine was running, but van wouldn't move forward..... but would back up...

drive shaft spinning when in forward gears...

so now I have to decide what rearend to put in.... silver 88 shorty with rear drive only or scavenge the awd rearend from the 94 Astro (sd2brv)

any markings on them as far as gearing.... or model year differences that would make either less desirable....?

I think all of the rearend codes are on the right side axle tube. If your van is AWD make sure the gear ratios are the same, both front and rear, when you swap. The only way to be sure about the gear ratios is to remove the cover and take the numbers from the ring gear.

the safari was originally an awd, but front hasn't worked since I got it.. so matching drives shouldn't be an issue

In that case I'd use the one with the least mileage. Although, you might want to pull the covers and check for excessive wear on either one.

just wondering about gears in rear end... since I haul more weight (carpet cleaning equipment) and more city driving than freeway, for the most part, at least until I move next year

did the additional weight cause the rear end to give out, or at nearly 200,000 miles, was it just time... the level was just checked at Lube stop, was fine.... not sure about condition of fluid, since I didn't have them change it.

dealing with the weight, would one set of gears be better than the other

I think it may be that they are just too small. Our vans weigh 4000lbs empty. These rears are only 7.5 inch ring gear. In all of my years of driving and having probably 100 cars with all different accumulated mileages I've never had one just wear out. The rear in the "Smilie Van" went away last May on our way to a balloon event in N.Y. It had 190,000 on it. I have since learned from a friend that owns a salvage yard that he buys Astros and Safaris just for the rearends. He says he sells every one he gets his hands on. I replaced mine with a full custom 12 bolt. It was an expensive mod ($1000) but it's a done deal. No worries anymore. The rest of the van will rot away before the rearend.

That stinks. ](*,) Since you are hauling extra weight I would recommend a rear with 3.73's or 4.10's. If you only have a 3.23 or 3.42 available, definitely go with 3.42's.

Another thing to think about is that the 94 rear will be a slightly beefier 7.625" ring and 28 spline axles.

I was hoping the 88 would be better, would rather steal parts from it than my Hopefully someday to be rv.. I don't know the gears of any of them yet.... took the long weekend off, figured I'ld start on it Tuesday.... not much work scheduled this week, most can be done with my portable unit and my wife's van if necessary. but knowing the 94 might have a beefier rearend *as well as awd like the 96,, it's looking more like I might be pirating parts from it. and replacing them with new or better parts on the by then maybe rv...

Seeing as the 94 will be used as an RV in the near future, I would grab the rear from the 88. Check the ratio first though by pulling the cover and looking at the numbers on the ring and count pinion teeth.

I have some 3.42's out of my '99 if that is any help..........

kind of wet here today, so don't know how much will get accomplished... at least both vehicles jacked up and supported, and spray everything with brake fluid to loosen up everything, with the hope of doing more....

rear end is nearly off the 88, only thing left is emergency brake cable and rubber hose coming off the rear end (vent?)

I don't know what gears it has yet, after I roll it out and clean it up a little, I'll change the fluid and check which gears

switched the wheels from one van to other already, Astro's back end is up on blocks, trying to find my second jack stand, I know it made it to the knew house, just seemed to have disappeared, like socks in the drier....

thinking it might be a good time for new shocks and spring helper, while I'm under there............

Smiliesafari wrote:...Our vans weigh 4000lbs empty...The rear in the "Smilie Van"...had 190,000 on it.

Wow, I would never have guessed that these vans were that heavy. The ring and pinion in my van munched itself at about 185,000 miles so it seems that's about their expeted life span.

6spd_monte wrote:

Smiliesafari wrote:...Our vans weigh 4000lbs empty...The rear in the "Smilie Van"...had 190,000 on it.

Wow, I would never have guessed that these vans were that heavy. The ring and pinion in my van munched itself at about 185,000 miles so it seems that's about their expeted life span.

that's a scary thought for me i'm at 193000 miles [-o<

6spd_monte wrote:

Smiliesafari wrote:...Our vans weigh 4000lbs empty...The rear in the "Smilie Van"...had 190,000 on it.

Wow, I would never have guessed that these vans were that heavy. The ring and pinion in my van munched itself at about 185,000 miles so it seems that's about their expeted life span.

so If your nearing 200,000 miles, you might want to keep your eye out for a goods parts van (or two) in addition to replacing a few things that most likely are due for repair (tierods, torsion bars, ball joints, universal joints, bearings, rotors)

a lot of people (most, most likely) only fix things when they're broken and I know it doesn't make a lot of sense to fix something that's not broke (something that I'm definitely guilty of, it's almost a theme) but, sometimes it's nice to work on something when its convenient (when you have the weather, the time and money) instead of when its necessary and needs to be on the road as soon as possible....