1997 Chevrolet Suburban K1500 Budget Overland Build

[bowtieman55]

Getting close. Pulled the dash to replace the Heater Core and Evaporator Core. My Dash had some cracks in it so I got a Grey one from LKQ for $50.00 sprayed it Tan with 2 cans of Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric paint. Looks great.View attachment 479690View attachment 479691View attachment 479694


I'll be getting this portion wrapped up this week along with U-joints for the drive shafts. Hope to fire it on Saturday.

Holy crap that dash turned out nice.

 

[davkenrem]

Holy crap that dash turned out nice.

It really did, I'm very happy with it.

 

[texlurch]

I kn

Hidden Winch install pt1

Last Feburary I bought a Smittybilt 15500lb XRC winch for my truck. I would have loved to install a nice winch bumper on the truck but they start around $1500 and go up from there,I couldn't justify it.

On another site I saw a Tahoe same vintage as mine with a hidden winch installed behind the bumper. After looking at every post and video I could find and measuring my truck and comparing winch spec sheets for measurements, I figured I could do one myself.

In actuality I began to prep the truck for the winch in October. I purchased a winch plate at Harbor Freight (HF) on impulse. I had been scouring the web, looking at hidden winch installs and when I saw the plate at HF I knew it was the same plate everyone else was selling for significantly more money, and I had a 20% off coupon!!

I began my project early on a Saturday Morning. Removed the bumper, measured the frame horns, found the center of the plate and the insides of my frame and laid
them out on the plate.

I proceeded to cut off the portion of the plate that would lay on top of the frame and began to test fit.

After clearancing for the power steering gear this is what I had left.

I had to make a bracket for the air bag sensor since the plate was now where the sensor was bolted.

After cleaning off the frame I had the plate welded to the frame using some 1/4" angle iron

After some paint the truck was ready for the winch. It would be February before I saved enough money to buy it.

I know this is an older post, but is there a reason the winch plate wasn't mounted farther forward, to get it closer to the bumper? Seems like there is a pretty good gap between the plate and the actual fairlead.. or is this just an optical illusion?
Just wondering as I am looking to do the same on my truck, and did a very similar mount on my WJ jeep a while back
thanks

 

[davkenrem]

There definatly is a gap between the winch and the roller fairlead but it is not important, the fairlead only guides the the cable and their Bumper and frame are strong enough to support the cable in a hard on angle pull. I have since installed a ARB Bumper and it does not have the gap. I have used it a few times in the old setup, once on a fairly severe angle and did not have any issue.

 

[texlurch]

thanks for the response. I am using synthetic rope with the solid hawse fairlead. I am thinking since I have some 4x4x1/4 angle to use for attachment I can slide the winch plate forward a bit and gain more clearance on the steering at the same time.
I guess I will wait until I tear into in and do some eyeballing.

 

[texlurch]

Good looking truck! I really like that liner you put on the flooring, very sharp.

Buddy has these guy's torsion re locators. I think they have free shipping on their ebay store and they're pretty cheap (<$100).
http://realiftsusp.com/

I've had a set of those Realifts on mine since about 2004. They are a solid chunk and work great. Really nice not to have that drop bracket hanging down in the middle of the truck. Nice to see they are back in business.