Chevy 2500 vs 3500

[RTRanger]

As a matter of curiosity, has anyone gone through the “parts book” and looked at the differences in part numbers between the 2500 and the 3500 Chevy Express Van?

I would suspect it would be from the frame down. Maybe they only put the big engine in the 3500 (I know very little about that stuff). But my 2500 has quite a frame under it!

I owned a jayco alante that was on a 16,000 Lbs frame and ford made the same wheelbase in an 18,000 Lbs frame. Someone looked at the part numbers and only the springs were different between the frames. Of course jayco HAD to use the cheapest one instead of giving its users more cargo carrying capacity.

Just to make clear, I am totally happy with my little Roadtrek Ranger and have no desire to change anything on it. Plus there isn’t much storage space to carry more stuff, unless you’re carrying gold bricks, but I don’t have any of those.

[booster]

Originally Posted by RTRanger

As a matter of curiosity, has anyone gone through the “parts book” and looked at the differences in part numbers between the 2500 and the 3500 Chevy Express Van?

I would suspect it would be from the frame down. Maybe they only put the big engine in the 3500 (I know very little about that stuff). But my 2500 has quite a frame under it!

I owned a jayco alante that was on a 16,000 Lbs frame and ford made the same wheelbase in an 18,000 Lbs frame. Someone looked at the part numbers and only the springs were different between the frames. Of course jayco HAD to use the cheapest one instead of giving its users more cargo carrying capacity.

Just to make clear, I am totally happy with my little Roadtrek Ranger and have no desire to change anything on it. Plus there isn’t much storage space to carry more stuff, unless you’re carrying gold bricks, but I don’t have any of those.

Normally, the changes would be related mostly to frame down things as you state. Suspension like springs and shocks, maybe brakes, maybe swaybar size would probably be the ones I would look at for the Chevies. Both sizes had the 6.0 or 4.8 in them over the years, but not a lot of the 4.8s in the regular 190s.


The biggest downside of the 2500 is in rated load capacity that you would need to adhere to, IMO, but I don't what the actual cargo carrying capacity in your van. Best would be to get it weighed to see where you are at currently. Roadtrek conversions are heavy, so load capacity tends to be in issue in several models.



The best place, and probably easiest, place to check which parts change would be to use the Rock Auto online parts catalog. It is easy to use and they carry a very large percent of the parts available for the vans. The GM online parts books are very incomplete as they show only what is still available as factory parts so kind of a waste of time for the most part.