Hello,

I'm wanting to know what the wheelbase dimensions are of a '67-'72 3dr Suburban? Also, I am wanting to know how crazy I am, I would like to put the body of a 3dr on the chassis & drive train of a '02-'06 Chevy Duramax diesel 4x4.

The reasoning for doing it is because I love the looks of the older vehicles and I need a vehicle that will easily pull my toys to the desert and be able to use as a daily driver. But the price of gas is pushing me away from a big block gas engine to a diesel that has a lot of pull power and gets better mileage. The diesel will also allow me to run bio-diesel. I have a couple of friends that have the Duramax trucks and they can pull a house flying down the road and still get good gas mileage. But they've paid nearly 50K for their trucks and I don't have that kind of money or desire to have a truck that looks like everyone elses!

Has anyone here done this conversion/swap? What do you all think, am I crazy for considering it?

Thanks.

Im pritty sure the wheel base is 127 (same as the longbed),,, as far as the duramax I think is a great idea!!! I dont know what you would need to do as far as a computer or what truck would have the same wheel base but it sure would be cool .. I bought a cucv truck over the winter and so far I love the deisel and its just a pos 6.2L good luck

Drop a diesel in? Yes. Do a full body swap? I don't know that it would be worth it as you describe. The frame and suspension/steering of the 67-72 can be made to perform like a new truck. Swap a truck body onto a new vette frame/susp... Now that's justifiable! My 2 pesos. There are guys on this board running diesels though.

Frizzle Fry, I like your suggestion of dropping the power train into an existing suburban, but I was told by Bully Dog (the diesel performance company) that the suburbans frame and suspension would have to be reinforced to handle the weight and power of the Duramax power train. My wife would kill me if I spent all the money involved to do a power train transplant, just to find out the frame can't handle it. Any suggestions of how to know if Bully Dog is correct or just don't want to be lieable for ok'ing the transplant?

So reinforce the fame.

Duramax Diesel 6600 entire engine weighs 836 pounds

The Allison 1000 Series transmission weighs approximately 330 lbs. This is approximately 90 lbs. heavier than the 4L80-E used for the 6000 V8

Chevy Big Blocks weigh about 685 lbs

So you’re looking at an extra 240 lbs if you go with the Allison. The 565 ft/lbs of torque is pretty high, but guys drop built big blocks in these trucks without issue. You could box the frame, run big block or custom front springs, ¾ or 1 ton suspension, etc. and it would handle it.

I think the body swap is a cool idea in concept (I’m doing one), but in this case it might be more work than needed to meet your needs.

Let’s see some more opinions…