The Suburban back end door debate

[BurbanAZ]

i wanted a gate but my last 2 burbans have had barn doors and now i can see the benefit and id pick them again if i had the choice

 

[bfdiesel]

This weekend manifested one down side to tailgates I always forget about until it happens. The rear window freezing and not rolling down.

 

[xpndbl3]

spray it with some windshield washer fluid, when it goes down, spray the weatherstripping with silicone. In fact by us in chicago ALL the doors, windows, etc freeze when the truck gets warm, melts the snow and then it freezes into ice. Spraying silicone spray stops that from happening.

 

[bfdiesel]

I use silicone on all the windows, but my seals are old with missing chunks here and there so it still freezes.

 

[1Stumpjumper]

Barn doors all the way!! Like them soo much on my Suburban, I am converting my Willys Wagon to barn doors too.

 

[rxinhed]

My Suburban experience, camping with both for a geology field methods class, indicated the barn doors lived longer on vehicles operated by college kids. We had 3 Burbs, 1 with barn doors, the others with tailgates. The tailgate torsion lift-assist springs broke on one and the other was misaligned from jumping over ruts in the road. The barn doors had no function issues.

 

[85CUCV]

Barn doors. Tailgate window seals end up leaking and rusting out the tail gate. Tailgate hinges (K5) are a pain around here due to rust. Gotta love the salt belt. Every K5 I have owned had metal fatigue and cracking on the tailgate sheetmetal. That being said I've never had barn doors.

I've thought about finding a tailgated burb to use for parts to graft a metal roof and barn doors to my K5. Someday I'll probably scrape the rear glass and go with a truck tailgate and replace the fiberglass top with fabric.

 

[Renntag]

I used to prefer the tailgate, but now that I have had both ( I prefer the barn doors). While I am excited about buying yet another burb this week (Sold my truck and another burb), I am disappointed that it has a tailgate. I over looked this minor detail due to the fact that this burb is in pristine condition.

So I have to ask if anyone (perhaps someone in the collision industry) has any idea what panels have to be changed to make the conversion to barn doors? Perhaps all of the sheet metal making up the rear opening? Maybe that level of automotive surgery isn't worth the end gain.

Add another vote for barn doors.

FYI: The model designation is called "Delivery" within GM I believe, when equipped with what we are calling "Barn doors".

 

[aero]

I have read on one or two sites on the conversion of the rear doors, and apparently it is a very involved change and is cheaper and easier to buy one with what you want. Other than everything else, just changing the top of the door where the lift gate would hinge doesn't sound easy at at.

But, I was originally looking for a lift gate and ended up purchasing the barn doors and I am VERY happy with them and if I have the option I'll buy them every time.

 

[goin camping]

I'm on my second Suburban since starting this thread way back when...

 

[82fb]

I have had two burbs with barn doors, 90 and 94, and a k5 with tailgate. I now have a 99 burb with tailgate. 99 is my favorite for visibility, table use, window pops up to keep the rain off when loading stuff. Tailgate is much lighter than the k5 since the window is not inside it. The visibility issue with the barn doors was the worst thing.

I am now on another burb. 2001 2500 4x4 8.1 and it has barndoors. I really don't like them at all. Visibility sucks.

 

[Malamute]

I am now on another burb. 2001 2500 4x4 8.1 and it has barndoors. I really don't like them at all. Visibility sucks.

Interesting to see the various opinions. I've had trucks that had zero or near zero visibilty through the back, I never thought of the visibily with barn doors as an issue at all, they are far better than some rigs I've had.. Since seeing some comments on it, I've thought about it, but it just doesnt bother me at all. The advangages of the barn doors heavily outweigh the difference for me. I guess others have different priorities.

Someone had mentioned the barn doors closing on them (may have been a different thread), the tension latches arent hard to replace with good ones. The doors should stay open when working properly, and take some effort to start to close them.

 

[98dango]

Visibility sucks but if you lift it just tell me how much fun it is to lift the cooler over the tailgate and then slid it in.

 

[jdinevens]

I vote barn doors!

 

[Cytel]

I vote Barn doors too, I just found this forum. Inspiration galore! I just got my second suburban. First had a hatch this one is barn doors. I was inspired by Northman to do something with my doors. I built the tool area today.