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How difficult to convert a 3500 DRW to SRW??

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Old 05-21-2009, 09:08 PM
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How difficult to convert a 3500 DRW to SRW??

Found a '08 4x4 Mega 3500 DRW at one of the dealers closing down for a really great price...trouble is I really don't need, or want a DRW. It's overkill for what I'm pulling. If I wanted to convert the truck over to SRW down the road, if I just can't stand the dually configuration, how difficult/costly would it be?

Obviously the bed would need to be swapped out, but those are easy. Would the entire rear axle assembly need to swapped (I've read the housing itself is wider on a DRW).

What about the front hubs and spindles?

I know it would be easier of course just to find a SRW but this is being offered at over $17k off sticker since it is a leftover '08, and if I can get the 0.0% financing it makes it very tempting!

Thanks.
Old 05-21-2009, 10:11 PM
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I thought about doing that to my 03 when I got it. The front adaptors come off and put on 3/4T wheels and I think the front track width was the same as a real srw truck but putting 3/4T wheels on the back would have been about 3" wider track than a srw. Not a real biggie cuz I was preparing to build a hauler bed anyway but I decided to leave it alone. I didn't want to have to find new lugnuts and hub covers on top of the wheel/tire expense. Craig
Old 05-22-2009, 08:19 AM
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I love the looks of the megga cab DRW
Old 05-22-2009, 09:53 AM
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Originally Posted by gts95
Found a '08 4x4 Mega 3500 DRW at one of the dealers closing down for a really great price...trouble is I really don't need, or want a DRW. It's overkill for what I'm pulling. If I wanted to convert the truck over to SRW down the road, if I just can't stand the dually configuration, how difficult/costly would it be?

Obviously the bed would need to be swapped out, but those are easy. Would the entire rear axle assembly need to swapped (I've read the housing itself is wider on a DRW).

What about the front hubs and spindles?

I know it would be easier of course just to find a SRW but this is being offered at over $17k off sticker since it is a leftover '08, and if I can get the 0.0% financing it makes it very tempting!

Thanks.
Where you from? I will trade you my SRW stuff.
Old 05-22-2009, 10:18 AM
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Originally Posted by C Schomer
I thought about doing that to my 03 when I got it. The front adaptors come off and put on 3/4T wheels and I think the front track width was the same as a real srw truck but putting 3/4T wheels on the back would have been about 3" wider track than a srw. Not a real biggie cuz I was preparing to build a hauler bed anyway but I decided to leave it alone. I didn't want to have to find new lugnuts and hub covers on top of the wheel/tire expense. Craig
I wonder if you went with aftermarket wheels if you could get them backspaced correctly to make them fit right like a stock SRW? Instead of going through the effort/expense of swapping the entire rear assembly?

Swapping the entire rear axle would be the biggest drawback in IMO.
Old 05-22-2009, 10:22 AM
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Originally Posted by checkster
Where you from? I will trade you my SRW stuff.

Sorry, I just edited my profile to list my Location (I'm in N TX)...we're too far apart.
Old 05-22-2009, 10:34 AM
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Originally Posted by gts95
Sorry, I just edited my profile to list my Location (I'm in N TX)...we're too far apart.

figures.......make it to easy if we were right down the street from each other
Old 05-22-2009, 04:53 PM
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I'm in San Antonio, and I'll swap you out. I've been looking to convert mine.
Old 05-24-2009, 10:16 AM
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I did the swap and it took us a day and was technically easy...

Originally Posted by AEmedic
Well, I found someone in Wyoming that wanted to do the swap and it turned out great!
The hardest part was getting the 'hub-centric' wheels off...it took us 4 hours! Other than that, it was pretty easy. We had a little problem with the e-brake cable, the manual didn't outline the process of removing them, but we worked it out.
We ended up swapping the entire rear axle since we knew it would swap easily. All I have to do now is work out the wireing for the marker lights on the new bed.


Here are some pics:





Old 05-24-2009, 10:18 AM
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Originally Posted by AEmedic
We swapped the entire axles. There has been much debate about the ability to swap the hubs. One account describes the axle housing as having different lengths so we went with the sure fit swap.
Technically it wasn't that hard, physically it was a bear! There were a few things that we had to learn along the way. Getting the 'hub-centric' wheels off turned out to be the physically hardest part. Figuring out the how to remove the e-brake cables was one of the things the service manual didn't outline very well.
I left home at about 6 am Monday morning and drove the 7 hours down to Justin's for the swap. We started at about 1:30 and finished tearing both trucks down and getting mine back together for the ride home just after midnight. I had to leave Justin and his buddies to finish putting his back together today.
I am very happy with the swap. It was harder to do than either of us thought it would be, some things just beat us up...
Another quote from the process...
Old 05-26-2009, 02:24 PM
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On the TV show Trucks (spike tv) over the weekend they did a single to dual swap. Was an older truck, 97 if I remember correctly, so dunno how well it will translate to whats involved on an 08. However not too difficult from what I gathered.

Here is the link for the episode.

http://video.powerblocktv.com/servic...id=23027805001

Gts95 ... one other thing about the 0% financing. When I purchased my truck I did qualify for the 0.0%, however the $4000 cash alternative turned out to actually save me more money than the 0% would have.
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