My friend has a 1999 suburban with four wheel drive. A week ago he was driving and both wheels and axles flew off in transit causing him to have to drag it in 2wd. Our junkyard usually has a shortage of suburbans that are intact. Is it possible to. Get the rear end from a 2wd suburban with five lugs and that all mesh up or would the gear ratios be off between the front and rear end? Is it possible for him just to get the axles axles off the 2wd and that interchange? Is there anyway to switch the hubs out between the six and five lugs?

 

Oh yeah guys and can I get any of these parts off another Chevy other than a suburban!?

 

I doubt the 5 lug rear would do you any good at all.


A rear from any GMC or Chevrolet of similar size would work as long as the gears are the same and the number of lugs is the same. It wouldn't have to be the same year as long as it mounted up the same way.

 

Yea he keeps saying the gear ratio is a huge issue. He wants to know how he can identify the amount of gears in it by numbers on the part or not having to deconstruct every last one at the junk yard. I work on engines so I really don't understand all of this but basically he's saying the gear difference up front being off in back would lead to two wheels turning at a different rate then the other two.

And I just thought lug differences meant he had to go with different wheels in back.

 

He can determine the axle ratio by turning the axle shaft 1 revolution and counting the number of revolutions the driveshaft turns. He would have to keep the opposite hub from turning while doing this.

 

No matter what you do you're going to have trouble. Just get a rear differential exactly like the one that came out of it (only healthier).
I never saw a 5 lug Suburban rear.
Go to: www.car-part.com. Fill out the required info and it will automatically find you anything that will fit. No matter what it was out of. I've been using this site for years with good results. It's the same site salvage yards use to find you parts across the country if they don't have what you want.
Good Luck.