2000 Suburban K1500 budget low lift with 37"s

[CrazyDrei]

Maybe I missed it:

Are you still using the coilover swap set up, or torsion bars? And is the mid travel set up still in the planning stages?

Ivan,

I had coilovers in for about 6 months, beat the crap out of them, took them out and put the torsion bars back, hated the classic Suburban yacht pitch and yaw feel and put the coilovers back in. So right now I am running the coilovers in the Sub.

I had another kid this past spring and moved across the country to Maine early summer. Unfortunately due to the newborn and massive amount of work on my new property I had to pause the adventures and further modifications this summer.

Mid travel set up is still in the works but has been put on hold temporarily. Next step which I am trying to get to very soon is a hidden winch up front. Then I am looking for a parts Suburban, Tahoe, or Avalanche so I can finally fix my hood, fenders as well as many other parts that are wearing out and need to be replaced like seats.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!

 

[Overlandtowater]

Life happens Drei!.....but I got to go out and visit a covered bridge just a hour or so away from me after you sparked my interest in them.

Here's a teaser I got to go back and get a pic with the Suburban

 

[Mekcanix]

Again Drei I find your Beast a inspiration, and funnily enough I began on my hidden winch mount for my sierra 2 weeks ago

 

[CrazyDrei]

Life happens Drei!.....but I got to go out and visit a covered bridge just a hour or so away from me after you sparked my interest in them.

Here's a teaser I got to go back and get a pic with the Suburban

dirtdobberoffroad,

Thats a cool looking covered bridge. I bet it would look spectacular when the leaves change colors. I'm glad I can inspire adventures. I wanna see more.

 

[CrazyDrei]

Again Drei I find your Beast a inspiration, and funnily enough I began on my hidden winch mount for my sierra 2 weeks ago

Mekcanix,

I am glad I can inspire just just several other members inspired me. Do you have any pictures of the progress of your hidden winch install?

 

[CrazyDrei]

Pulling/redirecting and falling a tree with help of Suburban.


I have been abusing my $60 eBay chainsaw around the property all summer, it has cut trees down that were bigger than it's 20" bar, it struggled but it got the job done. Finally I am getting to the trees that are very close to the house and are leaning into the house. If we get an ice storm or strong winds there is potential that some of these trees will fall and damage the house.

The lean is too much to notch and fall the trees in a traditional manner, so I used 80ft of tow straps attached 20ft up in the tree to redirect it away from the house as I was making 2-4" deep cuts to the back of the tree. It fell exactly where I waned it to and no damage to the house was done. One down, about 5-6 more to go.

My truck is slowly turning from a weekend warier desert explorer into a yard truck/tractor and grocery getter. Too funny.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!

 

[UltimaSanctus]

I love how as soon as the strap was tight your dog got up like "nope, not gonna stick around for this craziness"

Nice work on getting tree #1 down though

 

[Mekcanix]

Mekcanix,

I am glad I can inspire just just several other members inspired me. Do you have any pictures of the progress of your hidden winch install?

This is where I am now. I have done this with scrap steel I had on hand, and I also have a setina push bar that I love so I have to make allowances for that as well.
The last pic is where I am at now as I dont have a free weekend for a few weeks to fit the fairlead through the plastic lower portion of the grill

 

[CrazyDrei]

This is where I am now. I have done this with scrap steel I had on hand, and I also have a setina push bar that I love so I have to make allowances for that as well.
The last pic is where I am at now as I dont have a free weekend for a few weeks to fit the fairlead through the plastic lower portion of the grill

Looks like a great start, much farther along than I am. There are several ways to bolt a winch to the sentinal push bar but they are all weak and would make the winch look pretty but useless. I wonder it you will have to modify the push bar brackets to fit the hidden winch up in there between the frame rails.

 

[Mekcanix]

Looks like a great start, much farther along than I am. There are several ways to bolt a winch to the sentinal push bar but they are all weak and would make the winch look pretty but useless. I wonder it you will have to modify the push bar brackets to fit the hidden winch up in there between the frame rails.

So far no I haven't had to make any mods to the push bar.
The push bar is aluminum so mounting to that is a no go
and as for the bracket under neath I had to make some 1/4 spacers to fill it out
and the frame horns are the other issue. On the GMT900 trucks they have this odd shaped cup, I assume its for locating the unit on the assembly line but what do I know. You can see one just to the left of the winch in the first picture
those caused me to make the winch plate its self narrower and my side brackets bigger so to clear for a straight lift from the bottom during install and for easier removal for servicing

at least thats the plan thus far

 

[CrazyDrei]

So far no I haven't had to make any mods to the push bar.
The push bar is aluminum so mounting to that is a no go
and as for the bracket under neath I had to make some 1/4 spacers to fill it out
and the frame horns are the other issue. On the GMT900 trucks they have this odd shaped cup, I assume its for locating the unit on the assembly line but what do I know. You can see one just to the left of the winch in the first picture
those caused me to make the winch plate its self narrower and my side brackets bigger so to clear for a straight lift from the bottom during install and for easier removal for servicing

at least thats the plan thus far

mekcanix,

I remember cutting something off that was similar to your "odd shaped cup" when I did the body lift to make the bracket clear. Don't have to worry about that with the Raptor bumper.

I have a couple more days of busy yard work and then I can play with the truck again and figure out how to mount the winch tray and winch. But until then my days are spent doing yard work and entertaining the kiddos. Which includes falling/pulling down a couple more big trees with the Sub!


Clearing and mulching 2 acres of brush/forest.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!

 

[CrazyDrei]

Video: I pulled another tree down with Suburban

There were many trees on my property, several are dangerously close to the house and are leaving towards it. All it will take is a good wind or a heavy ice storm and they will come crashing down to split the house in half. I am slowly falling them using my Suburban to redirect the fall away from the house. This is the second tree i pulled down.


I didn't like the timelapse of the first video from two weeks ago so I shot this in real time and from 3 different angles. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!

 

[CrazyDrei]

No new off-road adventures lately but I have been busy building a ATV/snowmobile trail in my back yard. Of course I had to take the Sub on it, it's a very tight fit, have to make it a little wider for the Sub to get through the entire trail but should be a lot of fun once I get my hands on a quad or when the snow falls and we can ride the snowmobiles on it.

Split at the back end of the property to a side trail.

Talk about a tight fit.

Still have some more trees to clear like this dead one on my right.

One of the tight spots that the Sub can get through.

It's a lot of fun driving around my back yard in the pretty New England foliage.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!

 

[nitro_rat]

This is where I am now. I have done this with scrap steel I had on hand, and I also have a setina push bar that I love so I have to make allowances for that as well.
The last pic is where I am at now as I dont have a free weekend for a few weeks to fit the fairlead through the plastic lower portion of the grill

Have you seen Rough Country's hidden winch mount? For $200 it would hard for me to justify fabbing something...

 

[CrazyDrei]

Have you seen Rough Country's hidden winch mount? For $200 it would hard for me to justify fabbing something...

nitro_rat,

Yes I have seen it, and put it into my buddies 05 Yukon XL but I do not like it and it's not hidden enough and will have to be modified substantially to get the fit I am looking for in my Sub with the Raptor bumper.

I just got Harbor Freight universal winch channel mount and it will bolt up very well with minimal trimming/cutting. Still have a few projects in my back yard to finish while the weather allows me and then I'll get back to playing with the Sub in a few weeks.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!