Heyo! So I own a 2dr 2wd 5 speed Jimmy... and of course I want a lifted vehicle and I feel like lifting my 2wd nearly is pointless. So I've been looking around for an s10 pickup with the 5 speed manual on a zr2. I found a 01 Zr2 s10 5 speed just a few days ago. Wont post pics so that it doesn't get taken under me but I talked him down to 1300. It has 120k miles on the motor and trans. Its been swapped from auto to manual, body has 245k miles. Paint looks great. Now for the bad... it has a rear main seal needing replacing and the clutch needs to be replaced he said because of the oil dripping onto it making it go out. For 1300$ does this seem worth with what has been said? How hard is it to do a rear main seal and how much would it cost for the parts? I know how to do a clutch but it takes me a week 🤣
If I do go and look at it what should I look for since I know nothing of its other possible problems? Also its 3 hours away and needs to be towed due to the clutch being out. Can I tow it with my 2wd Jimmy? Sorry for all the questions. Very excited since its my dream truck but also very scared of what could await me.

 

Make sure that on the firewall, there is a production sticker, if you can see it, you will see zr2 on it. That way you know atleast the body is a true zr2 lol, measuring the rear axle (just measured one on my build thread) will let you know about the rear, and the front should come out to the same(or so) distance.

best to do new gaskets on the engine( my thought, not hard if you got time/space/tools).

but that's a good price... they are hard to come across around here. Especially the 5 speeds...

and check for rusting arou d the fender flare locations... they tend to gather and rust out from under.

 

He actually said he converted it from auto to manual.

 

That's a good thing... as they are harder to find. But everything thing else, body/axles, you want to be zr2...

I've seen people slap bushwaker flares on a 2 door blazer and call it a zr2 to sell it around here...

 

I personally can not do another head gasket this year so I'll just wait til I start smoking again lol

Yeah the fenders are nice though. Was tempted to put a set on my 2wd 🤣

 

Make sure it isn't a hack job conversion to manual transmission. You don't want to buy somebody else's junk with a CEL on and a bunch of codes because he butchered it. I don't know if you have to smog it, but make sure it will pass if it needs to.

Replacing the rear main seal is a piece of cake if you're already doing the clutch. But it's not that easy for oil from the rear main to get on the clutch because the seal is behind the flywheel. It would really have to be dumping, which means it might be something else (cam plug?). I would never trust somebody else's diagnosis.

 

For sure. Wish it had popped up like 3 months later when I could easily afford it but I still wanna take a gamble.

 

My last question would be what about towing? Will my 2WD Jimmy be able to tow basically the same vehicle as itself? Its an 01 2WD Jimmy 2dr with the 5 speed manual 4.3l vortec. Its towing capacity in the manual says 4300lbs but of course the truck weighs probably... 3900? Thats pushing it real close if you add the trailer with it. My towing hitch can support up to 7500lbs so its just on the truck itself now... If it can would I tow with the u haul front wheel drive dolly or the full auto transport trailer? Im towing it 194 miles from their place to mine.

 

So when i picked up my parts truck(03 sonoma zr2), i pulled it on the auto transport, with my parent 4 door jimmy.

if theres not too many big hills, and keep it low gears, you should golden.