1983 3/4 Chevy 4x4

I don't know if its original or not yet, but the old truck looks good in the pictures I saw. 350, standard shift 4 speed with lock out hubs. Don't know miles or anything else. Were these good trucks in their day? How well have they held up over the years? How well will this thing handle towing 12k pounds on a bumper pull flat bed trailer?? That and a little 4 wheeling in the hills wiould be its biggest duties. Thanks..

I run a 1980 Chev 4X4 with a 350-4 bolt main with a 4 speed. It is a heavy half which has been rebuilt with over load springs etc to haul a bit more and it does well. It has 3:07s in it so it is a bit on the tall side when it comes to pulling but I get 17 mpg when tuned up. I have scaled out at over 14,000 a few times so a 3/4 ton should have no problems with what you want to do. Payed $1200 for this one about 7 years ago. Big problem with the Chev is the cabs rust badly and the cab mounts go bad and the cabs sag

I had an '83 3/4T, 4X4, auto hubs, 400 Turbo, 6.2L diesel. It had 4.10 locking rear diff and I ran Firestone 23 degree radial mud and snows on it. Only time I had it stuck was when I high centered on a snow drift.Never had a bumper hitch trailer on it because I had a flip up gooseneck ball in it. It would handle a 25 ft gooseneck trailer just fine. Best truck I ever had. Was sorry I got rid of it. Only weak part was trying to keep head gaskets. JMHO.

Good trucks and getting hard to find. Not sure if the 3/4 83 would have the aluminum transfer case or the 205 cast one, but either way they are well built. I think the rust was a bigger issue on the mid 70's ones, but the paint on most of the early to mid 80's have a problem of flaking off. By now most have probably been repainted. Around our area these type of pickups in average or above condition will outsell ones from the late 80's and early 90's. No computers to mess with just nuts and bolts, and kind of a rough ride, but thats the way a truck is suppose to ride.

This is my 86, it is a 1 ton with single rears and a 454. It has the cast 205 transfer case, same as my 77 3/4 ton did. My 86 1/2 ton has an alluminum 208 transfer case.

Here is my "86 K2500 GMC with 350 engine. Still being used. Has 140,000 miles. Dad has a "79 C/20 we still use some.

DJ HCET, I've NEVER heard of a 6.2 crapping out it's head gaskets on a regular basis!
Methinks you must have had a '78 or '79 5.7 diesel!

Or, tell us the REST of the story!

mine did also

i still use my '83 1 ton every day, its on its 4th paint job, all but 1 were done on the farm, its a usin truck not a show truck, there good solid rigs back in the day, some rust, but you can fix it yourself, i did and if i can do it you can too, mechanicle stuff is straight foward, and you can do that yourself too, no need for a "service technition" to work on it 5 times for the same problem, like new trucks, you'll like the truck, you wont like the gas milage as much but there is more to life than gas milage
parts are cheap and everywhere, with places like lmc truck parts online and others like that , the truck will outlast you, try that with a new one

I had an '83 3/4 ton 4X4 6.2L 4 speed with 4.10 gears that was a very good truck until the block cracked at 245,000 miles. It cracked aound one of the cylinder walls about 6" down. As stated the cab rusted out bad and this was in Texas not the Northeast.

Have a 75 with a plow on it, 4 cly Izuz torbo charged 90 hp runs bout the same as 350 ci. also have 86 1 ton 4x4 both trs. have worked hard all their's lives still work good very easy to work on gas jobs like to drink up the fuel,

Yep good old trucks, heres mine, 1984 chevy k20, 4x4 4 speed and sb 400cid engine, I replaced the 350 with it. I also put a hoist kit on it so the box dumps. I think is has 148,000 on it. Really simple to fix or work on anything. I think it does have a alumimn transfer case New Process Gear or something, Maybe Dana Gear, I cant remember.

The head gaskets were leaking when I got it. Knew it up front and bought it accordingly. It was a farm truck before I got it. During it's time with me, it got ran HARD. Final straw was got in a mud hole and spun a rod bearing getting out. Head gaskets were beginning to seep about that time also. Parked the truck with the intentions of rebuilding the engine and putting it back on the road. Before I got started on it A buddy of mine stopped by with enough cash to persuede me to sell. He dropped in a 350 and 2 months later he totaled it out. Like I said, that was the best truck I ever owned, wished I 'd never sold it. And yes it was the later series 6.2L.

Don't know,the 77 I bought new was such a worthless POS I never was fool enough to buy another Chevy after that.

1982 and some early 1983 6.2 diesels had a very high head-gasket failure rate. GM had to come up with a kit to fix the problem. One water port in each head had to be plugged. Also new head-bolts and new torque specs.

This was for all the engines with red blocks and course injector threads. I did the update to several.

GM had a $10 kit to fix the head gasket failures on all the 1982s and the early 1983 6.2 diesels.
a brass plug had to be put into each head.

The GM fix came out July 8, 1983.

GM bulletin title: Diesel coolant loss, head gasket leakage, brass plug placement

I've got two 1983 diesel plow trucks. Also a 82 4WD 1/2 ton pickup and an 86 3/4 ton 4WD pickup. All 6.2 diesel.

The 83s are the best plow rigs I've ever owned. Been using both since 1985. Here's one.

Trucks/Blazers/Suburbans 82 up to 91 (old body style only) are very simple to work on and plenty rugged. Only big goofs in those years - is the 700R4 trans. Pretty worthless before 1988.

One thing I wished GM had kept though, was the cast-iron 205 transfer case used up to 1981 in most. Did not the driveshaft shucking in an out of it like all most of the later rigs - with 208 and 241 transfer-cases. 2o5 also used 90W gear oil instead of Dextron like in the later ones. So, with the later ones you've got to watch for leaks and keep that transfercase full. One mistake and that aluminum case can blow to pieces.

This is my best 83 diesel plow rig. Tore the 700R4 out of it many, many years ago. It has a Turbo-400 trans with a mechanical modulator kit and had been bullet-proof.

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That is the one reason I like having the 3:07s under it saves a few on gas

yeah have them in the plow tr. but need the power in the 1 ton.

Yep can understand that. If mine was not a 4X4 I would have added an aux tranny I have which would have given it 16 forward gears with the high gear in the aux being a 1.5 to 1 over drive but being a 4X4 that could cause big problems if I had it in the wrong gear