K1500 Centurion Edition

bcrooms · January 24, 2018

I came across the super rare K1500 Centurion Edition crew cab for sale near me.

Just wondering if these are legitimately as reliable as the standard K1500s from the 90s.

As far as I know, this is a conversion done by taking the cab from a K2500 or K3500 and sticking it onto a K1500 model.

The info i've seen says the frame had to be lengthened to accommodate the larger cab.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Brandon

Logan Lanfear · January 24, 2018

I've also seen one around my town. I wouldn't see any reason that they are less reliable. Id love to see the link to the for sale ad if there is one.

bcrooms · January 25, 2018

14 hours ago, Logan Lanfear said:

I've also seen one around my town. I wouldn't see any reason that they are less reliable. Id love to see the link to the for sale ad if there is one.

It's facebook ad, I'll see if I can link it here

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/792267670955237

Edited January 25, 2018 by croomz

bcrooms · January 25, 2018

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/792267670955237

Logan Lanfear · January 25, 2018

7 hours ago, croomz said:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/792267670955237

I think it looks really clean, if I were closer Id pull the trigger. Id have to check out the underside first. Judging by the southern ad though its probably pretty nice.

Ranger6202 · March 30, 2020

Need your guys' expertise. Talked a friend of mine into buying a 96 crew k1500 only to find out later what the "centurion" on the door and tailgate meant. Long story short, he bought it as a mechanic special as it would not start and had other issues, and i convinced him i could fix it no problem. I am pretty much the around town hobbyist mechanic guru for this area for this kind of stuff (LS swaps, tuning, custom wiring, transmission rebuilds, custom builds etc..). Got the starting issue figured out pretty quick (P/N switch on the transmission was messed up).

So this particular Centurion has the 5.7 with the 4l80 and 10 bolt rear axle. Not sure what the chances of this are or if it had the 80 swapped into it as some point. What we have found is that the RPO sticker, wiring harness and ecm in the truck are actually for a 5.0 and 60e. We have found the 80e connector had the normal 3 wires modified to adapt so that it would function. But my experience tells me that the ECM needed to be modified for this combo to work correctly. The issues we adopted in this truck is the fuel trims adding about 50% fuel and the torque converter stays locked up. My main question to you all....is it possible that Centurion had the ability to update/calibrate the ecm for this combination? Did someone else throw this 80e in later and mess everything up? According to our scanner, the ecm has the 5.0 VIN# in it. Did they make all these changes and leave the RPO sticker stock from the factory? Thanks in advance

Edited March 30, 2020 by Ranger6202

rjm60 · January 3, 2022

Ranger6202 - If you are the same person as the Ranger6202 that posted about LQ4 and LQ9 using the same stock tune. I'm looking for more info on this. Thanks.

DonYukon · January 21, 2022

On 3/29/2020 at 10:36 PM, Ranger6202 said:

Need your guys' expertise. Talked a friend of mine into buying a 96 crew k1500 only to find out later what the "centurion" on the door and tailgate meant. Long story short, he bought it as a mechanic special as it would not start and had other issues, and i convinced him i could fix it no problem. I am pretty much the around town hobbyist mechanic guru for this area for this kind of stuff (LS swaps, tuning, custom wiring, transmission rebuilds, custom builds etc..). Got the starting issue figured out pretty quick (P/N switch on the transmission was messed up).

So this particular Centurion has the 5.7 with the 4l80 and 10 bolt rear axle. Not sure what the chances of this are or if it had the 80 swapped into it as some point. What we have found is that the RPO sticker, wiring harness and ecm in the truck are actually for a 5.0 and 60e. We have found the 80e connector had the normal 3 wires modified to adapt so that it would function. But my experience tells me that the ECM needed to be modified for this combo to work correctly. The issues we adopted in this truck is the fuel trims adding about 50% fuel and the torque converter stays locked up. My main question to you all....is it possible that Centurion had the ability to update/calibrate the ecm for this combination? Did someone else throw this 80e in later and mess everything up? According to our scanner, the ecm has the 5.0 VIN# in it. Did they make all these changes and leave the RPO sticker stock from the factory? Thanks in advance

really late on this one but heres my 2 cents ive seen RPO codes differ on certain packaged or tailered trucks over the years. but from my experience it would be small OE stuff that wouldnt be updated for the sticker in the Glove box. however the VIN should reflect these changes esp if a coach builder modified the drive train or major componets. to my knowledge the combination of the parts you listed is not normal even in the Centurion packages.

5.0 ECM

5.7 engine

4l80E trans

10 bolt rear

it should be a 5.7 engine ECM 4l60E 10 bolt config or the less common "heavy half ton" 5.7 4l60E 14 bolt Semi float rear.

sounds like to me someone did a half ass swap