Avalanche front end: Part 1
I have been driving around with canoe straps holding down my hood and busted fenders for nearly two years. Last month I found a parts 2003 Avalanche and could not resist the $200 price tag. Last week I took some of the front end off the Avalanche, this week I am installing it on to the Sub.
Avalanche headlight/grill assembly. I watched a few videos on this process on YouTube however everyone used Silverado front end: Headlight brackets, fenders, grill, hood, headlights. Apparently there are two types of front ends: cladded and non-cladded. Avalanche has a factory cladding.
Suburban front end disassembly. 4-5 pop rivets, then a couple snap clips and 4 turn-lock screws, the plastic fan shield and grill just pop out. Driver's side headlight bracket is destroyed as well as both fenders. Oh yeah the hood release has been disconnected and I never had a hood release lever inside the truck to begin with.
Headlights were barely hanging on and came out effortlessly. Passenger side of the Raptor bumper got caught on a tree in my back yard earlier this summer and was slightly bent, not sure if I'm keeping it or going with the Avi bumper.
Raptor bumper is off, lightbar came off next because I did not have the clearance for it with the new grill. Will figure out what to do with it later.
Passenger side fender.
Looks naked without the fender flare or the snorkel.
Looks even more bare without the fender itself.
5 13mm bolts later the new fender is on, perfect fit. I will address the rust hole later especially since it will be completely covered by the fender flare.
Onto the dreaded drivers side fender.
After a solid battle with the fuse box and all my auxiliary wiring the fender fell off in 3-4 pieces.
Found another sticker with RPO codes. I know I have an LM7 5.3 motor and NP8 transfer case, not sure of any other RPOs.
Drivers side fender is on, however it was not a perfect fit like the passenger side, something must be bent: either radiator core support, frame/body mount or truck body. I'll figure that out later.
Suburban front end with light bar removed. Hood latch release swapped from Avalanche. Under the hood release is my factory towing package transmission cooler.
Headlight/grill bracket installed. Had to tinker and trim some of the plastic around the radiator on the headlight mount to get it to fit and line up to the holes perfectly. I noticed that my Suburban has 5 light bulbs per side, Avalanche had 4 for headlights and 2 for fog lights. Will figure that out later.
Avalanche headlight were old, foggy and one was broken, so I splurged, got new headlights top and bottom along with 4 LED head light bulbs for under $100 shipped on eBay.
Grill is in, perfect fit.
Upper head lights are in, also a perfect fit.
I got so excited that couldn't hold the camera still.
Hood is on and bolted up, everything fits and lines up perfectly.
Next step will be to figure out which bulbs are which and hook them up so the the headlights and turn signals are functioning correctly. Might have to extend one or two wires. Then the bumper dilemma. Note sure if I want to go with the Avalanche bumper or put the Raptor bumper back on, just have to play with it and see which is a better fit and finish with my 3" body lift. Finally, need to trim and adjust the fenders so the tires do not rub and re-attach the fender flares.
Stay tuned for more shenanigans!
Since you are now living in the heart of Rust Central, make sure you are putting your stuff back together with a coating of anti-seize. Makes future work SO much easier.You may also want to look into applying something like Eastwood's internal frame coating inside your frame to combat rust before it sets in. This area's climate is not friendly to our rides.
