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Oil pan, your new gearing will be about 20% lower, I would suggest you take your burb for a ride at a 20% lower speed than your normal cruising speed. For example if you cruise at 60, then make a short trip at 48, and make sure you are in overdrive. Pull an empty trailer or put some stuff in your suburban to increase the weight by 20% if you can. This will be a good inexpensive simulation of what it will be like with the gear change. Make sure your new rpm’s aren’t going to put you in a bad spot where you are constantly lugging the engine on inclines.
I know you don’t want to do a manual swap right now, but for those reading this that are considering it, one thing to remember is that if your low or first gear is low enough and your gear spread is appropriate you can support a taller rear end gear with minimal loss in performance. For example, in first gear having a 5:1 first gear and a 2.73 rear end gear is basically the same as having a 4:1 first gear and a 3.42 rear end. Also the gearing effects of stock/oversize/undersize tires must also be taken into effect. It is important that we keep the entire drivetrain system in context, and not propagate generalizations.
Oh, and if you keep your eyes open you would be surprised at what you can find, NV4500s aren’t that rare. Don’t bother calling about the “NV4500 best transmission ever bring $$$$” adds, look for the “Parting out 1995 3500 Truck” adds and call and ask if it has a manual transmission with the cast iron case.
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