1989 GMC Suburban "Trail Boss" conversion

[shrineboy]

Well last week did not go as planned with 3-4 days with 20-30 mile an hour sustained winds made it a little hard to work on stuff outside so I didnt get any work done on this and had to just take the Tacoma camping with the scouts. The suburban does quite a bit of wandering on the road and there was a new drag link in the back when I bought it. Had the kid shake the wheel back and forth and there was a bit of wiggle at the pitman arm so I went ahead and replaced it.

It helped but wasnt the cure, It still wants to wander but now only above 45-50. I have a weld on steering box brace and an XJ steering shaft to go in, still need to check the rest of the steering components and do an alignment/castor check.

We did have nice weather for camping though, 70 during the day but chilly at night (35-40 degrees)

Well last week did not go as planned with 3-4 days with 20-30 mile an hour sustained winds made it a little hard to work on stuff outside so I didnt get any work done on this and had to just take the Tacoma camping with the scouts. The suburban does quite a bit of wandering on the road and there was a new drag link in the back when I bought it. Had the kid shake the wheel back and forth and there was a bit of wiggle at the pitman arm so I went ahead and replaced it.

It helped but wasnt the cure, It still wants to wander but now only above 45-50. I have a weld on steering box brace and an XJ steering shaft to go in, still need to check the rest of the steering components and do an alignment/castor check.

We did have nice weather for camping though, 70 during the day but chilly at night (35-40 degrees)

You may want to consider this to help with bump steer.

 

[warrpath4x4]

You may want to consider this to help with bump steer. View attachment 826311

Ya ive thought about it but i dont want to have to lift this thing any higher than it already is. As this thing sits the rear cargo space is about my stomach and i dont want to need a step stool for the scouts to get stuff out lol

 

[warrpath4x4]

So when I bought the suburban the guy said it leaned a little to one side, It was on a hill so I didnt really notice it. Since having it home I have noticed that ya it does lean to the driver side, looks like the driver spring is just sagging compared to the passenger side. Last night I pulled the tape out and the driver side is 1.5 inches lower than the passenger from the fender lip to the top of the hub. I debated several ways to "fix" it while being cheap (contradiction in terms lol) and decided just order a new set of Tuff country leaves for just the driver side. It was hard to swallow cause one leaf pack is $270+/- when both pairs of 4" springs i ordered for the stepside were only $200, but I really dont want to lift this thing any higher.

So waiting on the leaf spring to show up and new U-bolts from ORD because I do not reuse U-bolts.

 

[warrpath4x4]

Built a simple bracket and mounted a GMRS on top of my CB, still need to wire them in. I am very new to the GMRS radios so please let me know if there will be interference between the radios or not.

I mounted them offset so I can mount a switch panel closer to me

 

[warrpath4x4]

Well I had planned on taking this to the Veteran Overland Memorial Day Muster but that didnt happen, ran out of time and waiting on parts to show up.

while waiting for parts I installed the new headlights, they are SMD sealed glass lens conversions to convert to an H3 bulb

ditched the wiring nightmare of a stereo install (on the left is the old, the right is the new pigtail)

and with a new head unit I had to upgrade the rest of it, new speakers under the dash pad, 6X9's in the rear side panels (because crutchfield was wrong on size), and a powered 10" sub under the back seat.

little bit of a difference