2000 Suburban K1500 budget low lift with 37"s

CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
DAY TRIP: Gold Butte National Monument

Gold Butte National Monument is one of the BLM places that is stuck in the cross roads of Archeological Protection Act of 1979, National Monuments desegnated by Obama under the Antiquities Act and liberal teared uneducated public that want to be able off-road climb and deface BLM land as they see fit without any regulation from the federal government or the private sector. I am all for designating these area National Monuments which will progress into a National Parks just like Death Valley did in 1994. This is not up for debate here.

We visited: Falling Man petroglyth site, Mud Wash Narrows, Little Finland, Devil's Throat and Rocky McRockface before heading back home. Covered 86 miles of dirt and 4x4 trails and 204 miles of highway.

We started near Mesquite Nevada and took exit 112 on I15 heading south towards Riverside bridge. Once over the bridge, first immediate right is the begining of Gold Butte biway. We did not stop by Calel Safarri/preserve/farm just before the bridge.

qbvg8VO.jpg

This is the Bundy ranch of Cliven Bundy who did not like the laws or paying grazing fees that would make his free grazing ranch unprofitable and had a armed stand off with the federal government in 2014.

We continued to the Falling Man Petroglyth and Pictoglyth site. With a 2 year old walking and a 1 year old in the backpack we were limited by our time and the kids patience to explore the 1.5miles of trails in this area.

fPDes4M.jpg

Calvin's Rock art

kfqrWnp.jpg

More Calvin's Rock art

E7jMJl0.jpg4

Native American depiction of corn, apparently this is rare in the desert, at the entrance of the Tunnel.

9UVfNS3.jpg

Goats near the Tunnel.

gREO3hW.jpg

Not sure what this is but it's right outside the Tunnel.

T5oqa89.jpg

Falling Man

D6Lfadi.jpg

Kiddo exploring the huercos.

P4TB8jZ.jpg

Lower wall of the amphitheater.

zXz8bbp.jpg

Upper wall of the amphitheater.

jZLb5jX.jpg

Newspaper rock.

jFSv7Tr.jpg

At the mouth of Mud Wash narrows.

QiDs2gt.jpg

Mud Wash Narrows

TuwSce6.jpg

Continuing down Mud Wash Narrows.

iQ7pD4f.jpg

Locals, not Bundy's cattle.

E8nQAyj.jpg

Sunset lighting up the beautiful Aztec Sandstone of Little Finland.

XpOzv4P.jpg

Giant pal trees growing under the Aztec sandstone of Little Finland where the water filters through the stone and provides ample year round water for these palms.

o9WcI7t.jpg

More locals, a heard of burros near Devil's Throat.

kP2WZF1.jpg

Devil's Throat was once an underground cavern possibly filled with gypsum, many years of water passing through the area dissolved the gypsum and a weakened cavern collapsed onto itself. approximately 75 feet wide and over 125 feet deep at it's deepest point.

dOMom9A.jpg

This is as close as I could get to the edge before my wife reeled me in.

On the last leg of the journey it got really dark really quick and the pictures of Rocky McRockface did not turn out well. We continued north on a well maintained New Gold Butte Rd back to Riverside bridge and to I15.

This was a great adventure where we got to explore Gold Butte National Monument as well as the remote areas of Lake Mead NRA where I did not see any new tire tracks since the last rain over a month ago.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!
 
Last edited:

CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
Great pictures.

What are the ratchet straps on the hood for? Did I miss something? :confused:

Martin,

Last trip to Death Valley there was a little too much washboard and the hood latch broke off the hood and opened up while we were driving over Grapevine Pass at night, my wife freaked out a little bit as the hood opened up and stayed open. It's in the works to take it off and re-weld or bolt the latch back on, or I am considering racing pins to prevent this from happening again.

V3qpliV.jpg


The canoe straps seem to hold the hood down well and add a little extra character to the truck so they will stay on for now.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans.
 
Last edited:

Bojak

Adventurer
I vote racing style hood pins. Look cool, pretty bulletproof.

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk
 

'05TJLWBRUBY

Adventurer
Man these pics bring back fond memories of trips down that way searching back country for pictographs and other old wall art like that. Love that you're out there all the time with your family exploring and enjoying the land. Exactly what Suburban HD is supposed to do- if it ever gets finished... In the mean time, I'll keep enjoying your pics and imagining. Keep up the good work!

Best of Luck,

Mike
 

Smileyshaun

Observer
For your body lift check out 4crawler.com they can make a body lift for anything also maybe check with offroad design I know they do a 1 inch body lift for some of the older Chevys but its
 

CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
I vote racing style hood pins. Look cool, pretty bulletproof.

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

Bojak,

Just ordered two types of racing pins for the hood, button release and traditional pin style, both or all 4 were under $10 shipped. I will be taking the hood off to attempt to weld the factory catch latch but do not expect it to actually hold or put up with the abuse I throw at this truck. I also have two hood vents that I have been meaning to install into the hood months ago but have not had the time, this will be the perfect opportunity to finish everything with the hood in one go.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!
 

CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
For your body lift check out 4crawler.com they can make a body lift for anything also maybe check with offroad design I know they do a 1 inch body lift for some of the older Chevys but its

Smileyshaun,

Thanx for the info, great site with good products mostly for Toyota but it's custom made stuff which will absolutely work for all vehicles. I already acquired and installed a 3" body lift kit, not sure which brand but other then the front bumper looking like it's about to fall off I am happy with it.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!
 

CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
Hitch mounted spare tire carrier

My buddy with the Denali took his spare tire off to make room for 5 airhorns, 2gal air tank and a compressor, truck sounds cool but he now does not have a spare and on top of that his back area is filled with so much junk that he doesn't have any room for a spare tire. When we went on one of our trips he wanted to bring a spare tire but did not want to put it on the roof or clear out his trunk area for it. Spending $1,000 on a built spare tire carrier that would be used temporarily was not an option so I built this hitch mounted spare tire carrier for him.

ti3PfgG.jpg


Rear view, it blocks the license plate a little but after two long trips we did not have any issues with law enforcement.

dIIrYTk.jpg


Another angle.

Curt 31006 hitch mounted spare tire carrier $80
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Curt-31006...ash=item5d405a8d0c:g:CTkAAOSwOA1aDYJr&vxp=mtr

Folding hitch shank adapter $30
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DEAL-500LB...ash=item2a70332223:g:iTwAAOSw-kdXz3Mt&vxp=mtr

Hitch anti-rattle bracket: $10
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hitch-Tigh...ash=item212d97e663:g:7QwAAOSwRkRZwOdL&vxp=mtr

Curt anti rattle pin kit 22321: $11
https://www.ebay.com/itm/CURT-22321...391367289097?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10

I cut the horizontal arm of the tire carrier off, inserted it into the vertical arm of the folding shank and bolted everything together. Anti-rattle pin and anti-rattle bracket in the shank to receiver connection. I cut approximately 1/2" on passenger side of the tilting mechanism to allow movement without removing the tire as well as a resting place for the bolt so the tire can tilt out of the way. And welded a nut on the front area for a tension bolt to screw in to keep the vertical tire carrier arm under tension. Finally I used an old 2" wheel spacer bolted to the curt 31006 with 3 bolts to offset the wheel enough to clear the truck lift gate.

x8fK2eI.jpg

Side view in locked position

WI2tCo4.jpg

Side view in open position.

QM9gsPk.jpg

Side view with tailgate open to show clearance.

We put my 35" spare which weighs about 100lbs on it and I carried the little 33" spare. two trips and nearly 1,000 miles, 300+ in the dirt the carrier worked flawlessly. $130 and an hour of grinding cutting, bolting and welding got me a great light weight carrier that anyone can make and can easily be removed when not in use.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans.
 
Last edited:

CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
Santa dropped off new tires MERRY XMASS!

Old tires were great however it is time for my craigslist specials to go. Toyo Open Country MT 37x13.5R17 are now at 2/32" tread depth, have chunked a lot and are down to the belt in many spots. With fall and winter weather right around the corner it's time for new tires to keep the family safe for the upcoming adventures.

Toyo Open Contry MTs are really heavy and I know that something will break if I keep running 26lb rims and 95lb tires on each corner. Ideally I want something lighter, much lighter, closer to 70lbs per tire. I also want less rolling resistance and a quieter ride on the highway, 10ply and preferably an LT tire so I can get 60-80k miles before replacing. So after extensive research I decided to go to a 37x12.5" AT tire. And the top 3 contenders were Cooper Discoverer AT at 69.5lbs, Yokohama Geolandar AT at 71lbs and BF Goodrich All Terrain KO2 at 73lbs. All were good contenders however I did not pull the trigger on any of them because they all cost $1,200-$1,600 shipped.

Then I somehow stumbled onto the Milestar Patagonia AT tire thats 10ply LT rated and 71lbs per MT tire. Sounded like a winner since I did not believe that an MT tire could weigh that little in my size. I also found a store that sold them for $206 shipped per tire which is pretty much half of the other ones. After a short phone conversation with the seller I pulled the trigger on a condition that if the tires weigh more than 75lbs each I will send them back for a full refund and the seller will pay return shipping.

OYzHatU.jpgE


This is a stack that showed up and they look intimidating.

moeX0ob.jpg


Close up of the sidewall.

OQ0rA5o.jpg


Aggressive MT tread, with huge mud clearance and rock ejector channels, and it's M+S rated.

37x13.5 Open Country 2/32" tire only weight: 81.4, 83.2, 83.7, 83.8lbs
35x12.5 Open Country Spare tire only weight: 76.2lbs
37x12.5 Patagonia MT new tire weight: 74.8, 74.9, 75.0, 75.0lbs

Brand new MT tires weight 6-8lbs each then completely worn out Open Country MTs they are replacing.

$824 shipped for 10ply LT 37x12.5R17 MT tires is winning, will get them mounted and broken in soon.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans.
 
Last edited:

Ivan

Lost in Space
Old tires were great however it is time for my craigslist specials to go. Toyo Open Country MT 37x13.5R17 are now at 2/32" tread depth, have chunked a lot and are down to the belt in many spots. With fall and winter weather right around the corner it's time for new tires to keep the family safe for the upcoming adventures.

Toyo Open Contry MTs are really heavy and I know that something will break if I keep running 26lb rims and 95lb tires on each corner. Ideally I want something lighter, much lighter, closer to 70lbs per tire. I also want less rolling resistance and a quieter ride on the highway, 10ply and preferably an LT tire so I can get 60-80k miles before replacing. So after extensive research I decided to go to a 37x12.5" AT tire. And the top 3 contenders were Cooper Discoverer AT at 69.5lbs, Yokohama Geolandar AT at 71lbs and BF Goodrich All Terrain KO2 at 73lbs. All were good contenders however I did not pull the trigger on any of them because they all cost $1,200-$1,600 shipped.

Then I somehow stumbled onto the Milestar Patagonia AT tire thats 10ply LT rated and 71lbs per MT tire. Sounded like a winner since I did not believe that an MT tire could weigh that little in my size. I also found a store that sold them for $206 shipped per tire which is pretty much half of the other ones. After a short phone conversation with the seller I pulled the trigger on a condition that if the tires weigh more than 75lbs each I will send them back for a full refund and the seller will pay return shipping.

25152208_10106617394305618_5033161918318234435_n.jpg


This is a stack that showed up and they look intimidating.

25158104_10106617394310608_6192714270109954116_n.jpg


Close up of the sidewall.

25152174_10106617394430368_3392942548785668544_n.jpg


Aggressive MT tread, with huge mud clearance and rock ejector channels, and it's M+S rated.

37x13.5 Open Country 2/32" tire only weight: 81.4, 83.2, 83.7, 83.8lbs
35x12.5 Open Country Spare tire only weight: 76.2lbs
37x12.5 Patagonia MT new tire weight: 74.8, 74.9, 75.0, 75.0lbs

Brand new MT tires weight 6-8lbs each then completely worn out Open Country MTs they are replacing.

$824 shipped for 10ply LT 37x12.5R17 MT tires is winning, will get them mounted and broken in soon.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans.

Oh man I'm excited to see the review after they're mounted. I have been looking at those same tires for the exact same reason. Can you post how tall they are after they're mounted?
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,527
Messages
2,875,534
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top