2004 1500 rebuild???

[Scalloper]

I sold my son my 2004 1500 last year. It has a 3" body lift with 33" tires. It has a 5.3 with 255,000 miles. The truck also has a double roll bar it was/is a very sharp truck. He is in the process of completly rebuilding the whole truck. So far he has had a 4" suspention lift installed and body work done and the cab painted. They also replaced the frame from about 2 feet in frount of the rearend back to the rear bumper. The rearend in missing 5 teeth so that will need attention as well. The trany slips at times and he would like more hp so he will be installing a new or different engine as well. We are thinking a crate 5.3 or 6.0

So my question is.

We have thought about looking for a salvaged 3/4 ton with low miles that has a 6.0 and install all of the running gear,engine,trany,transfer case as well as the rear end? Or should he swap his 5.3 for a new GM crate motor and get the trany and rearend rebuilt?

I know it seems like alot of $$ to spend on a older truck but this truck has about everything the Rocky Road 1/2 ton does and its still cheeper then $50,000 LOL. So far the new paint and body work fender flares,frame job,suspention lift 35" tires and rims has set hib back $6300. And looks super at this point. Now we need to focus on the running gear.

Any sugestions would be very helpful. Thanks

[Chris]

I just had a 6.0 swap done. It ran me $3000 out the door in cash. Paying cash they waived the sales tax. That included engine, labor, fluids, gaskets, and dyno tuning. It dyno'd 325 to the wheels. With the 6.0's there are 2 different ones you can get. The 2500's had the LQ4. 300-325 in HP and about 340-360 in torque depending on year. Then there is the LQ9 high output 6.0 that I got. It was in Silverado SS's and Escalades. It put out 345 HP and 380 ft lbs of torque

 

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[Scalloper]

If he goes with a 6.0 can he use the same trany just rebuilt? Also, how much to would it cost (est) to trand the trany in for a GM rebuilt trany? Thanks

[Chris]

That I'm not too sure of. You can get a decent built tranny for about what it Costs to rebulid. I'm still using my stock transmission with the high output 6.0 with only a servo upgrade. I'm going to a mild performance tranny. But I'm going to supercharge my engine after I get a second car for a daily driver.

 

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[ruggedlife]

suggestion: remove the roll bar it's 2012 not 1990... more productive suggestion: if you can find a 2500 with the power train you want for cheap i'd deff pick it up and start swapping things

[Scalloper]

Will he also need to change the frountend and transfercase to match upto the 6.0 and trany?

The roll bar has been removed.

[Chris]

No the 6.0 is the same physical size as the 4.8/5.3. It can use the same transmission. If you want to go to a 4L80E you need to get a conversion crossmember

 

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