1Leg’s 1989 Suburban

[1leg]

Well I did it; I bought a full size Suburban. This truck will be less of a trail rig and more of a DD and Tow vehicle but I hope it will take me to some exciting and beautiful places, don’t worry she will see dirt often.
The Jeep will be missed but it would not tow the size trailer I want to get the wife.

So here she is. Expo white too




It took me a few weeks to find one that had not been hacked, jacked or wacked. This Monster is bone stock with 106000 miles on her. 350 TBI, TH400 trans,NP241 transfer case, 3/4ton, 4:10s with locking rear-end. She is a Star too, bought her off a guy in Hollywood who leases car to the studios. She was in Sony TV mini-series don’t know which.

[1leg]

The build plan is simple rebuild it.

It will take some time but I plan to start rebuilding the complete drive train, Suspension and brake. Stock at first.

Tune up (done)
Oil change (done)
Front rotor (ordered)
Front Ball Joints (ordered)
Front brake pads (ordered)
Manuel Hub conversion
(4) 255/85-16s maxis 761 ATs.
Front/rear brake hoses
TBI rebuild kit
Replace vacuum lines


The dream list
2 inch HD lift
Rear spring hanger flip
Hydro-boost brake swap
255/85-16’s
Full-floater swap on rear
Dana-60 swap in the front
Custom Rear bumper w/tire carrier
Custom Front bumper w/winch
ON-board air and welder
Full custom gauges
Custom front seats w/heat and massage, (for the wife right)

[Spur]

Nice truck! Of course, I'm a little biased towards white suburbans.

[1leg]

Your build insired me to get one. If i ever get out of California I will do Cummins swap

[4x4mike]

Nice upgrade. The axle swap should be easy as it's already setup. It might be cheaper to find a one ton truck and pull the axles. People usually selling just the axles know what they have and you'll be spending at least $2000 where you might be able to find a junker truck for less than $1K.

You've got tons of room under the hood too so you'll have plenty of room for a welder and a york. I had a york on my my chevy and loved it. Now I have a york 210 crammed under the hood of my 4runner and it's cramped.

[Larry]

Wow, great score 1 Leg! That is an exceptionally clean looking Suburban. White is the perfect color too!

You are definitely on the right track with your dream list. In addition to what you listed you may also want to add an ORD steering box brace, rear shackle flip and HD front shackles.

As far as swapping in a full-floating rear axle, you would be better off getting a GM corp 14-bolt from a ¾ ton GM truck (Corp 14-bolts full-floating rear axles from a 1 ton truck as mentioned above have different spring perch widths and will not be a direct bolt in). A ¾ ton GM corp 14-bolt is a direct bolt in project but will require a little custom engineering with the emergency brake cables and the rear drive shaft will need to be shortened a few inches. A Dana 60 for the front would be nice but they are hard and expensive to come by and the reality is a well built Dana 44 (or 10 bolt like what is in your Sub) front axle will suit the bill for most of us just fine.

Here is a 1988 marine 6.5L diesel Suburban I put together for a friend that is a project engineer for AM General. He was looking for a rust free square body style Suburban, which is almost impossible to find in Detroit so I found this one near my house and he sent me a fresh turbo 6.5L marine spec engine with a prototype Bosch injection pump (instead of stanadyne) to install and was worried about the 9.5” rear semi float axle. Got this 14 bolt FF from the local pick a part for $80…even has 4:10 gears! When it was done he flew out to CO and drove it back to Livonia, MI where it serves as his Michigan U.P. play thing. It also got fresh paint, a 4L80E swap and new interior once he got it home as well. It turned out to be a really sweet Sub but yours is a much cleaner rig to start with.





Sorry for the big pictures but my Flickr small photos don't work here anymore and I don't know why???

[ntsqd]

I second the steering box braces, but given your location get them from the originator, Autofab (.com) in Santee.

I've run all over the SW in my '91 with the 10 bolt under the front. I've chased desert racers with it, I've run long miles of dirt roads in NV & CA with it, I've crawled Phillips Cyn in the Calico's with it. I just don't see the need for a front D60 unless you're going to work the truck really hard. The extra unsprung weight of the 60 will make a noticeable difference, to the worse, in ride quality.

Maybe you want mine for parts? I have the braided SS rear hose in place and the fronts are in a bag ready to go on.

[1leg]

I thought about your truck hard, But with the paint and red interier the wife said no. If i had the money I would buy it for parts for sure but i don't.

Lets settle the D60/14bff swap, If i ever do it it would be years away, And after I do a cummins swap, if that ever happens. This will be a tow rig first and a trail truck second. That is why it's on the dream list. As for the rear it's the smaller ring gear 14bolt Semi floater. A chevy 3/4 14bolt full floater has a bigger ring gear about the size of a D60 or D70. I know where there are atleast 3-4 14bff that i can pick up for free or really cheap this summer. I will pick one up and rebuild and install next winter.

I really like those wheels and will need to find a set soon.

How much lift does it have?

[ntsqd]

Let's call it 4" as I think that is what the front springs are rated to be. If you do buy lift springs I highly suggest tracking down a set of these. 4" was more than I wanted, but it is about the minimum needed to get decent wheel travel without bouncing on the bumps all of the time. I've had several guys familiar with these trucks comment on the ride quality being far better than they thought was possible.

From what I've seen there are two series of those wheels. The early versions are stamped "Alcoa" and the later version just are stamped with "Made in Hungary". All but my spare are Alcoa's.

[jsnow]

I found this while looking for parts, cool site. They specialize in Full size GM's.

http://www.offroaddesign.com/action/burly-burb.htm