Dutch Matrix's suburban build

[Dutch Matrix]

Hello, figured I would start a thread on the progression of my 1999 suburban. I wanted a self sustainable truck I could spend some time in comfortably,and still do well off road. so a little over a year ago, I bought my suburban. it had around 150k, but it has excellent maintenance records, and was dealership maintained. the day I brough it home.

I made a few small cosmetic adjustments, and it looked like this for close to a year

cowl hood, fender flares, few other small things.

all this time I was working on my trans am so the burb kinda got neglected. but coming on here, and wanting to go on adventures really kicked this into high gear. started buying parts.
first to show up was the rough country lift

next I didn't know what I was doing for tires, but a pair of brand new bfg a/t showed up on craigslist for $100. less than 100 miles on them. so I picked those up and ordered two more

next I picked up some 15x8 steel wheels

next the lift went in. I didn't take many pics, but everything went smoothly, took about a day. a buddy of mine did a lot of the work, I simply didn't have the tools/lift. would have taken me weeks in my driveway!
a arm brackets

diff crossmembers

nightmare pile of ifs parts

heres is the lift all finished.

took it for some light off roading. I don't have the front RCX driveshaft, so its currently 2wd.


so that's where I am right now. I plan on building some bumpers, and a sleeping/storage platform, plus I have a lot of other cool ideas, so ill keep updating this. over all I am happy, its a little tall, but that's the price to pay for a long rig, haha. next up, front drive shaft, custom bumpers, etc.

 

[Sock Puppet]

That's some solid progress and it looks good!

 

[mcgall83001]

Looks great. How much lift is that?

 

[1meanz]

I'm sure thats a 6" lift kit.

And to the OP, do yourself a favor and lose the stock 10bolt rear before it fails you with those 35s. Also, I'm assuming it's a lump with the stock 3.42 gears and those 35s as well. I just put 4.56s in my Tahoe on 35s and it's perfect.

 

[Dutch Matrix]

Yea it's a 6. A 14bolt is high on the list. Truck has 3.73s now. I was at least 4.11s. My issue is locating a semi floater to keep stock 6 lugs, or buying a full floater with the 6 lug swap kit, but that's a fourtune. I can't find 15x8 steel wheels that are 8 lug and 3.75 back space to match the fronts.

 

[Scrib]

You can use this chart to compare your original factory tire-size and gear ratio, to your new tire-size and various gear ratios. You will probably find that something in the 4:88 range will provide similar RPM at various speeds.