I think you're on the right track man. I'd go with the one with the warranty for the same price. Plus cost being a major issue if you'd have to do the disc conversion there's always some little tiny thing that goes wrong with stuff like that and of course costs money to correct.

 

Exactly, go with the bolt up, no mod whatsoever option AND still have my 4WD.... then, when money is correct, slowly build the extra axle laying around. It makes sense to me and IMO is a wiser choice! Thanks for the reassurance!

 

I second your decision.

Edit: Well... I guess I third it...

 

It's done.... took about 4 hours to swap the entire rear end! Everything is in though and the new differential still looks VERY good inside and out, it still had FRESH gear oil in it! But I went ahead and drained that (with absolutely NO metal shavings anywhere) and filled the diff back up with fresh oil. The only problem I had was the E-Brake, the splitter (that runs down the side of your frame rail) was practically RUINED. It's OK though I don't use it much and I plan to fix it eventually.... easy fix! I also bled all my brakes after the install due to having to disconnect the brake fluid line to get the old axle out, their was some air in the lines after the new one was thrown up in there. All that being said, things went pretty smooth for me and a buddy of mine... BACK TO GOOD!!!

Also.... do you think the notorious "hard 1-2 shift" could have something to do with wearing out my rear end sooner than average? The B&M Shift Plus fixed it for a few days but now its back.... any opinions?!

Here's a pic of the new axle/diff... I painted the cover btw, that's what these pics are from!

 

I think I'd be a bit leery of buying a rear end with no shavings in it at all and fresh diff fluid. Normally that means there was a problem (which is why he's letting it go) so he swapped it all out and such.

Good luck, hopefully my fear is wrong.

 

No I bought it from a junkyard on a wrecked vehicle.... the truck had less than 50K on it. Nothing was wrong with the diff, it came off a STOCK '97. (same year as my truck)

 

Oh good, I must have missed the part about a junkyard then.

 

Haha yea... you were thinkin about the one guy that was selling with the disc brakes!

 

Do 2nd gens have a hard 1st to 2nd shift? To me that screams shift kit.

Wait... is that what the B&M Shift Plus is? You might have just switched one shift kit for another. There might be a switch somewhere that lets you go from Normal to Performance.

I've got a permanent shift kit on my K5 and I swear that sucker will give you whiplash if you don't know its coming. I'd take it out but its just too mach fun to see my passengers freak out. And plus it makes me feel more BA than I already am! lol, just messin.

 

Well the hard 1-2 shift is a BAD thing in our trucks... the 2nd gens. It's some type of flaw, but from what I've read it's fixable. The B&M Shift Plus is nothing but an ELECTRICAL shift kit for automatic trannys, it hooks two wires directly to the PCM. It makes your tranny run "smoother" and it WORKS. It actually STOPPED the hard 1-2 shift (that was there from day one) for a couple days after installing it.... but now it's back

EDIT - oh and the ShiftPlus DOES have a switch on it, a LOW, HIGH and an OFF.