Chevy & GMC Vans

I picked up this truck a couple of days ago to use as a donor 6.5L turbo diesel to swap into my suburban... It is not the swap I wanted to do, I was really looking for a cummins setup but I need a truck to make money so with a quick decision I went to check it out with cash in hand... the price was right, advertised as a 95 Chev 3500 extended cab, 510,000Kms at $1600. So I get there and to my suprise it is a dually (hoping to eventually do a dually conversion on the burb) The major issue with the truck is peeling paint, and not so immaculate body and the transmission is stuck in second gear, but that is not of importance to me since I got the same transmission in the suburban rebuilt days before the 454 siezed up. The hood would not open so I gave the guy $1300 bucks and drove 70KM/H 4 hours home...

so now for my dillema... should I just throw the transmission from the suburban in to the dually and use it? maybe through a little paint on it? that way I can just beat on it.. and not worry about scratching it or denting it, I would still like to do the cummins with a heavy duty trans in the burb all clean and properlike... this motor was just going to hold me over for a bit... It would take alot of work to make this dirty rusty old 6.5 look good in my spotless rust free suburban anyways..

The only downside to this is that I will have a 98 3/4ton suburban just sitting taking up space, as I am sure I will not have the time to get to it untill atleast the fall if I do not do it now...

Pics..







Anybody have experience insuring a dually? I have heard it is hard to do for "personal use" or expensive? I guess a quick call to my broker could answer that

Why even mention that it's a dually? Just tell 'em it's a 3/4 ton and be done with it.

As for choosing what to do, I'm the last person to ask. Money evaporates while in my bank account, that's how well I administer money

If the frame is in decent shape and if the brakes and tires are good, I would throw the tranny in the truck and run it as a tow rig and beater. Then once the burb is done properly, sell the truck as a running/working dually.

Wow! For a short guy, Deano sure has some good ideas..

Man I could use that truck to haul my race car trailer . Since my safari is smooshed, that is.

yeah.. drive the pickup until you are ready to swap the rear end into the burb. nothing i love seeing more than a slightly lifted dually burb... they are danm sexy ... just lookit that azz... *drool* (play: sir mix-a-lot ' I like big butts......)

peter wrote:Wow! For a short guy, Deano sure has some good ideas..

Thanks Petey!

The problem with a dually isn't insurance but the payload / towing capacity. Soon as you throw a trailer on it your pretty much over the 4200KG limit that makes you commercial no matter what you are towing unless it's a tiny tiny trailer or camper. Remember the MTO goes by the Gross weight ratings of the combined truck and trailer not what you currently have on em............ My buddy just got screwed that way because he was moving an empty dump trailer with his half ton but the gross rating on the dump trailer put him into the commercial range and his truck wasn't reged commercially so he got fined big time....... It's even harder to keep under that 4200KG with a 3500 dually as the payload IIRC is already over or damn close to 4200KG. Then with a 3500 you can get into A class towing range as well which makes it a touchy one for registering for personal use without getting screwed.


We just went through a butt load of training over this at work as part of the operation uses trailers and cvor trucks.... The MTO officer we had in was telling us all about the little ways they can screw with ya like how they go by the manufacturers sticker on the door instead of the registrations weight so on and so forth.


Also where int he hell do you find these deals....... I look and look and I can't find anything with a diesel that cheap anywhere....... Ok I did find a 94 dodge 2500 with a CTD for 2K but it was sold faster than I could make the drive to look at it.

Wait, so in Canada a privately owned dually pulling a privately owned 5th wheel camper is a commercial vehicle? I hate government, too many stupid rules/laws.

ihatemybike wrote:Wait, so in Canada a privately owned dually pulling a privately owned 5th wheel camper is a commercial vehicle? I hate government, too many stupid rules/laws.

motor homes and campers don't count. but a freaken utility trailer with a 900KG gross limit ( guessing) would pretty much screw ya.

Also those rules only apply to Ontario not all of canada......

I find the rules in ontario simpler than some of the ones I've heard of or read of in the some the states... Here it's over this weight your commercial under your not... Pretty simple in essence.

Youve got a point there potskie.. they are getting pretty strict around here on towing/MTO stuff in general... that media whore cam wooley is really trying to bring in the bucks for the OPP.

I may just register it as commercial so I dont have any problems... I will have to look into it a little more, I am not to sure on the rules with hte little yellow sticker and all that stuff... but I could not imagine the insurance being more than double because of it and I can handle that.. my insurance for personal use is only $80 bucks a month... even if I have to pay $200 it si worth it if the truck is making me money...

I am working on putting the trans from the burb into along with a quick paint job... or partial paint job anyways. I figure I can beat on it for 6 months or so and when I am done with it I will still have the dually parts for the burb, that should make it so I can take my time and build this burb slowly and properly.

as for the deals, I stay on top of the classifieds almost daily... when you call and it is sold it is because I already bought it! I was installing a lightbar on a tow truck yesterday in my driveway when another tow truck pulled in and asked If I worked on tow trucks... He said he is parting one out... dually diesel GM... did not get to much info on the truck.. but may be picking up a $1500 wheel lift, just have to check into the legalities of the whole "not for hire" thing and how it will affect my insurance