Chevy Kodiak 70 with 366

[RGMartin]

I picked up a 92 chevy over the summer for a beater farm truck. I have been trying to sort out all its Gremlins to get it ready to haul some grain. Couple questions...

The 2 speed axle blows fuses any time you try to shift it. Is this likely just a wiring issue, or is there some inherent design flaw in the 2 speed which goes bad after 20 years?

Also the injected 366, I know on the Ford gassers in trucks you are supposed to "drive it like you stole it" in order to save the bottom end. Same issue with the Chevys? Anything to keep an eye on? it sounds good, starts good, seems to have OK power, but I'm sure that opinion will change once I put 250 bu of corn on it.
 

[Dodgeit]

[366]

The engines are good. The fuel injected is a lot
better than the carb version but almost all 366's
whether it's in the bigger trucks or the 6.0 litre
in the pick ups, seem to have a problem with the
right side exhaust manifold cracking. I have a 366
fuel injected in a Top Kick, a 2000 Chev. 2500 and
used to have an older 6500 all with 366/6.0L
engines. Every one of them has a cracked manifold. I
was told it's good to change the fuel filter often.
 

[Bama Ray]

On the two speed get it in high range and disconnect the switch and shift the gears ....I have a uncle that would disconnect the switch and take electrical tape and tape the swith in hi so you could not reconnect and move switch he would do to new trucks....one time when I was 16 he had a driver hired who reconnected switch took tape off and use the two speed he got it hung up between hi and low after we got it fixed he had me drive the truck home fired that driver....he told me later he had talked to the hired driver more than one time about the two speed ....so that is what i have allwayd done and never had one hang up between speeds
 

[mkirsch]

Do what you feel is right but to me it's pretty silly to throw out the baby with the bathwater like that... Just because you had ONE rear end hang up, they're ALL no good??? Doesn't make sense.

Especially since we're talking about a pretty new truck here. You'd think by the 1990's and 2000's they would have perfected the 2-speed rear end.
 

[rustyfarmall]

[scotc]

If it's a big block (aren't the newer ones in the pick-ups smallblocks), yes, slam your hand in the door on the way in, that way you are in the proper mood for driving it. Fertilizer truck I use for planting has one, rolls along pretty well, as long as you aren't trying to drag a seed tender. Usually only fill one 1500 gallon tank, but sometimes we fill both.
 

[RGMartin]

[Bama Ray]

had more than one rear end hang up been around trucks my whole life owned trucks my whole adult life. I am 55 now. I am in nort Alabama we have mountains here ....just giving advice on a truck that will not be run everday he will have a lot less problems getting it in high and leaving it there
 

[Bama Ray]

last 366 I had would top out around 70 you could hear 4 barrel sucking down the gas....you can remove the cover off the motor of the two speed on the axle and move the gear up or down from low to high or high to low and see if you are in hi or low
 

[Dick W.]

Block the wheels and get under there. Disconnect
the wires on the back side of the 2 speed motor and
then operate the switch on the gear lever. If it
doesn't blow the fuse then you know the problem is
in the 2 speed changer. The switch often goes bad
inside the changer. Last year a farmer brought one
to our shop and the changer was so worn out we
installed a whole new unit on the rear axle. It
shifted normally then.
 

[RGMartin]

[cd1]

a 20+ year old 366 is not near the same as the modern 6.0 engine. The 6.0 is from the "LS" family of engines. The 366 is a "big block family" engine. The 8.1 engine they made a few years ago although a good bit different than a 454 was still from the "big block" family. I have a truck with a 6.0 and one with a 8.1, they are vastly different engines.
 

[VicS]

Where I worked a few years ago, had a few of those Chevy's. I would check the wires where they go though the floor. Every time you shift them the wires have to bend. Also the New two speed electric controller (on the left of the rear end) Sucks. We changed them for the old ones with points instead of a circuit board. Just two bolts and the wires to change. Doesn't matter what brand of truck, all of them are the same. hope this helps Vic
 

[d beatty]

The 366,396,402 and 427 are in the same Chevy engine family but the 454 is a differant engine.