Suburban/Tahoe barn door question...

[rabbiporkchop]

I prefer mine...

I've never really been a fan of the "barn doors" or "cargo doors" (on the old FJ40 they were often called "ambulance doors") on the Tahoe and Suburban but there are a lot of people that seem to like them.
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Seems to me one of the advantages ought to be the ability to mount the spare tire or possibly cargo (like a fuel can) on the door. I know on the old vans of the 1960's and 70's it was very common to see the spare mounted to the left cargo door.
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But for some reason I never see that with the modern barn doors on either the GMT-400 (1991-1999) or GMT-800 (2000 - 2006) Suburban/Tahoe/Yukons.
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I wonder if this is just because the only thing that made this practice feasible in the "old days" was the fact that vehicles used heavier sheet metal that was capable of supporting the weight and modern vehicles with their lighter sheet metal can't handle it?
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My next question would be: What do you like about barn doors as opposed to the 1 piece liftgate? (My personal favorite is the lift/drop gate like the 1991-1999 Suburban/Tahoe/Yukon's came with but unfortunately they dropped that configuration when they introduced the GMT-800's in 2000 in favor of the one-piece liftgate or as I like to call it the "soccer mom tailgate.")

 

[Scrib]

We have a Suburban with the barn doors and a Durango with the "minivan" lift gate. They're both okay - you can reach stuff inside easier than you can leaning over a tailgate (especially a wet one!). The liftgate takes a lot of room behind the vehicle when you lift it, and if you leave it lifted if can catch you right in the forehead if you forget it's there

I'd be fine with a tailgate - I think it'd make a nice table/platform to set things on.

 

[KE7JFF]

I have barn doors on my 89; ....could I, in theory, get a bracket of some sort and mount the tire right on the drivers barn door with it?

 

[warrpath4x4]

I have barn doors on my 89; ....could I, in theory, get a bracket of some sort and mount the tire right on the drivers barn door with it?

how big of a tire? steel wheel?

 

[Martinjmpr]

When I go to work tomorrow I'll try to remember to snap a photo of the DRW Suburban with the spare tire on the barn door. Pretty bada** looking! It's the "square" body style (1973 - 1990.)

 

[justcuz]

Just to enhance your knowledge Martin, the Square Body in Suburban, full size Blazers and 3500 crew cab duallys were built until 1991.
You missed it by just a year!
1992 was the first year for the above mentioned vehicles in the GMT400 body style.
After the 4 door Tahoe was introduced in 1995, the full size 2 door Blazer was called a Tahoe also as I recall.
This left the Blazer name for use on the small size SUV.

I have a roll down window tailgate on my 1973 Suburban, a framed lift glass and tailgate on my 1993 Suburban, barn doors on my 2000 Suburban and the only option on the 2015 is the lift gate with opening upper glass.
I don't really care for the retracting glass into the tailgate of the 73, it is trouble prone and heavy, you have to be careful if loads shift with barn doors because something heavy may slide out and hit your ba*^s, shin or feet. I think I prefer my 93 tailgate lift glass over the other 3.

 

[Regcabguy]

I prefer mine...

That's a fine Burb mate! The H2's look nice on there too.

 

[KE7JFF]

how big of a tire? steel wheel?

Stock size....235/85R16.

 

[warrpath4x4]

Stock size....235/85R16.

put a backing plate in the door and you would be good.

 

[Martinjmpr]

When I go to work tomorrow I'll try to remember to snap a photo of the DRW Suburban with the spare tire on the barn door. Pretty bada** looking! It's the "square" body style (1973 - 1990.)

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Just to enhance your knowledge Martin, the Square Body in Suburban, full size Blazers and 3500 crew cab duallys were built until 1991.

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Here you go:
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[Martinjmpr]

That's a fine Burb mate! .

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Pretty sure it's a Tahoe.

 

[Woofwagon]

I prefer the barn doors, nuff said.

 

[justcuz]

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Here you go:
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View attachment 317935

That looks like a 4x4 too. I've seen them in 2wd and a couple lowered to tow boats to the river. If that's a 4wd its a first for me.
Pretty beefy.

 

[Woofwagon]

I was noodling over putting a dually setup on my Suburbillac, but that would require a 1 ton Dana 60 front end as well. I have the 14 bolt, but no Dana 60 with the a passenger side drop. Sorry to hijack the thread like this, but a dually Suburban has been one of my faves for a long time.

 

[Martinjmpr]

That looks like a 4x4 too. I've seen them in 2wd and a couple lowered to tow boats to the river. If that's a 4wd its a first for me.
Pretty beefy.

It's definitely a 4x4.