I have an '85 suburban 1/2 ton that has a bad transmission. I was originally going to do a rebuild on the original tranny but then ran across a working transmission at a swap meet for $25. Here's where the question comes in. The transmission I bought was from an '86 pickup. This transmission has the electrical connection for the lockup torque converter. My '85 does not have that connection. Will installing the '86 transmission without hooking up the lockup cause any problems? What torque converter should I use? Should I use a lockup converter or will the standard converter work OK. Any help is appreciated.
Need info on tranny swap
Sep 18, 2006
3 Replies
By the way, this is a turbo 350 transmission.
In my opinion, if the old one was a T350, then this should be a fairly simple swap, providing the length of the tranny is the same (the tail shaft housing sections can come in various lengths). Without the lockup working, it will just run as a 3 speed. I would go with the newer converter as it's probably/maybe better that the one you have.
Thanks. I appreciate the input.
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