Hi, I'm looking at buying one of these ex-UK military trucks to use as a drive train donnor, but I don't know what gearbox / transfer / axles it has. I'm planning to go and view some of these trucks in a couple of weeks, so will be able to get more information and pics, but in the mean time all I know is:

These Chevrolet/GMC trucks came into service in 1998/1999 as the 'Tavern' armoured personel carrier, mainly for use in Northern Island. It's got a 6.5 chevy turbo diesel, auto gearbox and is 'AWD'. It appears to have the Chevy HD chassis and 10 bolt wheels. It's obviously RHD and I think it is 14,000 to 15,000 GVW.

Photos:

http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq338/plasticbadger/tavern1.jpg

http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq338/plasticbadger/tavern2.jpg

http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq338/plasticbadger/tavern3.jpg

http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq338/plasticbadger/tavern4.jpg

So, who can take a stab and what bits it should have? 4L80? Dana 80 rear?

http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq338/plasticbadger/tavern2.jpg


My guess for transfer case would be NP241 by looking at the shifter....

I would guess a turbo 400 or 4L80, NP241 and a Dana 70 front with the front shackle leaf springs.

Sounds pretty good for a donnor then, especially at about $1000 :grinpimp: Would 10 bolt wheels be right for this though? I figured it was Chevy 3500HD based, but didn't they only come in 2WD?

yeah the 3500HD came in 2wd from factory but there were places out there converting them.

looks completely 3500HD based and i believe they have the dana 70 rear axle. i wish i could find that for $1000 here in the US.

With the 10 lug wheels I would think it is a 4500 but I'm not sure they made them in 98-99 but the grill is the same as the commercial 3500 and there were 4x4 3500s then. according to my NADA book it is likely a commercial chassis 3500 it doesn't show a 4500 or 5500 for that year but the big wheels lead me to believe its bigger than a 3500.

I think the 3500 ha came 4x4 too. As you said it may of been aftermarket but there are 2 county fire trucks by me that are 3500 hds with 10 lug 70s up front and they look bone stock

Drivers drop Dana 70 and Dana 80 rear. Grab it!

Could possibly a Marmon Harrington Front axle, don't have any specs on it. Have seen quiet a few 90's Ford F-Superduty trucks that were ten lug factory and had a Marmon Harrington 10- front. Definately a D80 Rear with a 4L80E/241 tranny and t-case combo.

I wish we had those in the States. :eek:

Was that an armored car or something?? Pretty sweet. The M-H front axles are beefy but I have no idea about shafts or anything, just the housings.

Thanks for the info guys.

It is a UK MOD armoured car, designed for use in Northern Island. The rear body gets stripped for security reasons before they're sold off.

I read somewhere that they were 14500GVW, so 4500 would make sense, the 1998/1999 might be mis-leading as that's the MOD into service date. By the time they came over here and got converted, put into service etc. they could even be '96 or '97 MY.

For $1000 you get a 'high mileage' one with 20K miles, as a non-runner. If you spend upto $2000 you can get a low mileage (500 miles :eek:) proven runner.

Plan is to build into an earlier chevy, either with the Dana axles or with Unimog portal axles.

In a couple of weeks I'm going to view the latest batch that has been released from the MOD, so I'll post some more pics then.

That's pretty cool. I skimmed over your first post and missed the armored part. :D

That is an awesome price on that thing. Enjoy. :D

On military photos.net the is a thread called Northern Ireland RUC Vehicles.

You can see on page 4 what the whole vehicle looked like. Basically an armored car.
Also on page 2 there is what appears to be a Chevy van based troop vehicle with 4wd.

Could it possibly be a BorgWarner 4401 like in the GMT-400 454/4L80e trucks? Like in Jason Payne's limo.

Yeah, I completely forgot about the BG case. Most likely.

Could it possibly be a BorgWarner 4401 like in the GMT-400 454/4L80e trucks? Like in Jason Payne's limo.

Is that a good case? I like Jason's Limo! Is it full time, part time etc? What about ratio?

And the photo on militaryphotos.net is the closest I've seen to a complete photo of the trucks in service. I'd heard that they weren't powerful, which with the 6.5 I thought was odd, but looking at that armour the thing must have been 12,000lb + curb weight!

Is that a good case? I like Jason's Limo! Is it full time, part time etc? What about ratio?

I talked to Jason about the BW4401 in a few PM's and he said it's a beast of a case. It has 32spl input/outputs, part time with a 2.69:1 low range if I recall correctly.

I talked to Jason about the BW4401 in a few PM's and he said it's a beast of a case. It has 32spl input/outputs, part time with a 2.69:1 low range if I recall correctly.

The one I have at home is out of a '91 3500 and has a pto cover on it also.

You see old military vehicles that are busted and dont run with 20-70k on them all day long......If the govt would have used a cummins they would have ran way longer...Just shows how sweet those crap ass chevy diesels are.

The one I have at home is out of a '91 3500 and has a pto cover on it also.

Yes. A PTO gear as well. I did read where Jason made a doubler from one (a 4401/4401 setup) and burnt the metal shavings from where he cut the front output off to see what material the housing was made of. He said it was aluminum (if I remember right), from what I have read on the interwebnet they say it is a magneisum (sp?) case. How does one know for sure? I dont know.

I believe it is the exotic metals like magnesium that burn.

You see old military vehicles that are busted and dont run with 20-70k on them all day long......If the govt would have used a cummins they would have ran way longer...Just shows how sweet those crap ass chevy diesels are.

I understand the only reason they don't run is due to having the body removed, tanks disconnected and no keys etc. The company selling them only seems to bother putting the odd one into running condition.

In my experience the military can bust anything in 20-70K, just with a cummins it would be the transmission or axles, rather than the engine:)

I believe it is the exotic metals like magnesium that burn.

I'm not sure on that for I have done little research about what color what metal burns...

This was taken off GMFS from this thread: http://gmfullsize.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9584

nice, what material did you mill the cover out of? I know some people have had issues not using teh same material as teh case and when it all heatrs one one expands more than anotehr and it leaks... Im sure you probably are ahead of me though.

Aluminum, same as the case.

ok good deal. I know some people used steel when the case was magnesium or something and had issues.

Yeah I was curious to see if mine was mag or aluminum so I swept up all the shavings from the bandsaw and tried to light it on fire, just melted so it was aluminum :crazy:

Ok, I managed to get these pics of the drive train removed from one of these trucks and from some more research I pretty sure that they're 1998-1999 Chevy 3500HD based. Pics:

http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq338/plasticbadger/transfer.jpg

http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq338/plasticbadger/rear.jpg

http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq338/plasticbadger/front.jpg

So, any better ideas on transmission, transfer case and front / rear axles?

dana 70f, rear doesnt look too familiar to me, appears to have some dana characteristics like a dana 80. the front appears to be a high pinion.

That transfer case is most definatly not a NP241. Looks like a BW4401, I think.

Ok, I'm gonna to look at these trucks next weekend, soi'll get some better pics then.

Could anyone tell me hard the axles would be to swap in under a '73 to '90 K30 or Suburban - Are the spring saddles likely to be the same width, would I need to narrow the HD axles (I see the HD wheels have loads of negative off set) and how easy is it to convert the 10 bolt hubs to 8 bolt?

It's hard to get project trucks or parts from parting out trucks in the UK so anything non-standard will need to be improvised or fabbed.