2000 Suburban K1500 budget low lift with 37"s

CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
Rear disc trucks can also benefit from the SUV rear vented rotors and twin piston calipers.


That Avy front clip gives it a wider look.

4BT,

Not too familiar with Silverado rear ends, but would the larger rear twin caliper discs directly bolt on or would you have to make modifications?

Yeah it does look wider and trophy truck intimidating. Still tinkering with the bumper, trying to figure out which one to go with.
 

rho

Lost again
rho,

You can run some 16" wheels but the clearance will be way too close for comfort. 17" rims give you much more peace of mind.

My brake upgrade write up

Hope that helps. I went with solid non slotted or cross drilled OEM spec Callahan rotors and ceramic pads. I also installed Russell speed bleeders to make the install go by smoother without any help.

I understood GMT800 Tahoes and Suburbans came with them. Hell, that Avalanche might have them too.

Calipers, brackets and rotors are needed. Direct bolt on.


Noted, thanks y'all. I saved this so i can just reference it when i go to do brakes on it next.
 

CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
Better view of front end swap.

WSoqFIh.jpg


Went through all 4 light bulbs, Low beams are LED, high beams are halogen because the budget bulbs I bought on eBay from China sent me two boxes of low beams instead of one box low, one box high. Both turn signals and marker lights are still halogen, will keep them that way because I do not feel like adding extra resistor wires if I go to LED.

fDlOCjF.jpg


Hood, fenders, headlights and grill fit very well.

rzz3F97.jpg


This is the better side. Fender is not dented nor does it have any rust spots. I kinda wish I found a dark grey Avalanche but then again for $200 for an entire parts truck with a running motor I really should not complain.

Next step is the bumper: Figure out if I want to bolt the Raptor bumper back on or if I want to make custom brackets to bolt up the Avalanche plastic bumper.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!
 

Todd780

OverCamper
Apparently GM put this front end on Suburbans for the Mexican market, so if anyone has rented a Suburban in Mexico and paid attention they would recognize the weirdness. However I also plan on swapping out the doors with Avalanche cladding and the rear "step" bumper onto my Sub which should raise even more eyebrows.
I think they used the '03-'07 (classic) front clip. Same as the non cladded Avalanche.
2004_suburban_1.jpg

I'm curious to see your Sub with the doors and rear bumper swapped out.
 

CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
Mocking up bumpers:

YzwkE5P.jpg


Truck without the bumpers.

0ISofT8.jpg


Raptor bumper high view

4p3GTfC.jpg


Raptor bumper low view.

RNz11xI.jpg


Raptor bumper drivers side.

pEqO6Nk.jpg


Raptor bumper passenger side.

l1ZNcRs.jpg


Avalanche bumper high view.

UubMOCM.jpg


Avi bumper low view.

vX6Hkut.jpg


Avi bumper drivers side.

qIKDsu2.jpg


Avi bumper passenger side.

I did not bolt either bumper up. Both were just positioned/wedged into their approximate locations. I did not want to actually clip the Avi bumper into the grill because it's a pain to get all the 10 tabs out and with temperatures around freezing did not want to crack the brittle 20 year old plastic.

Avalanche bumper is a two piece: frame and bumper support and then the plastic cladding. I like the look of plastic and the fact that Avi bumper already has fog lights/driving lights which I can easily wire into my existing wiring. I also like the bubbly look. It does weigh almost 20 pounds more than the Raptor bumper and decreases my approach angle more than I would like. I would also have to make custom brackets for the bumper to bolt up because the frame mounting points are different from the Suburban and the Avalanche.

Raptor bumper has that clean elegant desert pre-runner look that's not a bare bones see through tubular nor is it completely covering everything behind it. I like the see through look of the corners where you can see the tires. I know that it will require some modification to fit and integrate with the Avi grill. Bottom of the Raptor bumper also sits 5-6" higher than the Avi bumper and gives a much higher approach angle and front bumper clearance.

Hidden winch considerations: both look like there should be enough room for a winch inside the bumper between frame rails, however Avi bumper might have more usable room.

Hybrid consideration. Another option is to install the Raptor bumper and significantly trim the plastic skin of Avi bumper and use it to bridge the gaps that are created between Avi grill and Raptor bumper. This would also let me keep the factory cladding look.

Decisions, decisions, decisions and more tinkering to come soon.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!
 

XJLI

Adventurer
I think you can get creative with trimming the avalanche bumper pretty heavily, or doing something prerunner-y

4dc47b4122609b97a0aa994158dfe5ac.jpg
 

CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
Pitch the raptor bumper in the bin already. Plenty of aftermarket options for the now Avalanche front end. ?

4BT,

That's a thought, however there are several big obstacles with that suggestion. After market Avi bumper options cost money, lots and lots of it, like at least 5 times more than I paid for the Avi in the first place. Also it will take lots of custom work to get it to fit my Suburban and finally, the weight of aftermarket bumpers is several times more than that of the Raptor bumper.
 
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CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
Raptor looks much better IMO, at least if you can hide that ugly gap.

Martinjmpr,
I agree, looks betterand weighs less. The gap didn't bother me with the old front end, it looks much smaller now.

I think you can get creative with trimming the avalanche bumper pretty heavily, or doing something prerunner-y

XJLI,

I like that picture it's a great simple looking bumper. I can trim the Avi bumper alot but I am limited by the actual metal bumper that's underneath the ugly plastic. Raptor bumper went back on and fit really well. Will use the Avi plastic bumper to fill in the gap and make it look cleaner once it warms up.

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!
 
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CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
Cool! Wouldn't of thought you could swap that over like that.. awesome. Nice work. I like the looks of it on there. :)

BoarderDave,

Thank you, just finished most of the front end, will get some more pictures up soon. Magic of GM vehicles, they built so much that feels like everything bolt on retroactively and onto newer trucks.
 

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