Here is my build thread - probably will move pretty slow as it's not my only project.
Back in May I purchased a 99 Suburban K2500 - 454ci, 4L80E, 14bolt - LT trim and basically fully loaded. 245k on the clock, very little rust, bought it site unseen for $1500 and it was 3 hours away from my house.
Drove out Saturday morning to get it, the seller had told me that it had very little rust (this is true), that the tires were bad, transmission had a slip, rear end was making a tiny bit of noise, and there were some other small minor issues. It hadn't been driven on a consistent basis for over 3 years. From the purchase pics it was pretty damn gross inside, but it looked straight and had the drivetrain I wanted and I could fix pretty much whatever else. Got to KC from St Louis and signed the title and immediately drove to an O'Reilly's because there was no gas cap on the truck. To my surprise it started right up and drove decently well. The tires were extremely bald, cord showing on the outside edges and pretty rotted. The steering was loose as a goose and took a good bit to stay straight on the road. The brakes needed attending to pretty badly. I changed the rear diff fluid in a Walmart parking lot and added some shutter stop to the trans and away we went.
3 hours later I pulled into my driveway, no major issues at all. Just stopped to pee one time. It probably had 30 degrees of steering play going down the highway, but it did 60, 70, 80, even 90 no problem going down the road. I was pretty enthused.
That was until I started pulling the suspension and brakes apart to replace things. Everything was dry rotted, all the bushings and endlinks and ball joints and tie rod ends were toast. The brake lines were rotted and as soon as I went to crack them they broke. I set out replacing essentially all of the bearings, seals, brake lines, bushings, braking equipment, suspension, and steering. Only parts still left from when I bought the truck are the steering shaft and steering box - I want to see how they are before spending lots of money replacing them.
Here is as the truck sits now - bumper still needs to go on and the truck needs the ride height adjusted and then aligned.
Untitled by Derrick Tackett, on Flickr
Untitled by Derrick Tackett, on Flickr
Suburban_1 by Derrick Tackett, on Flickr
I'll post some pics of the progress and work done
Back in May I purchased a 99 Suburban K2500 - 454ci, 4L80E, 14bolt - LT trim and basically fully loaded. 245k on the clock, very little rust, bought it site unseen for $1500 and it was 3 hours away from my house.
Drove out Saturday morning to get it, the seller had told me that it had very little rust (this is true), that the tires were bad, transmission had a slip, rear end was making a tiny bit of noise, and there were some other small minor issues. It hadn't been driven on a consistent basis for over 3 years. From the purchase pics it was pretty damn gross inside, but it looked straight and had the drivetrain I wanted and I could fix pretty much whatever else. Got to KC from St Louis and signed the title and immediately drove to an O'Reilly's because there was no gas cap on the truck. To my surprise it started right up and drove decently well. The tires were extremely bald, cord showing on the outside edges and pretty rotted. The steering was loose as a goose and took a good bit to stay straight on the road. The brakes needed attending to pretty badly. I changed the rear diff fluid in a Walmart parking lot and added some shutter stop to the trans and away we went.
3 hours later I pulled into my driveway, no major issues at all. Just stopped to pee one time. It probably had 30 degrees of steering play going down the highway, but it did 60, 70, 80, even 90 no problem going down the road. I was pretty enthused.
That was until I started pulling the suspension and brakes apart to replace things. Everything was dry rotted, all the bushings and endlinks and ball joints and tie rod ends were toast. The brake lines were rotted and as soon as I went to crack them they broke. I set out replacing essentially all of the bearings, seals, brake lines, bushings, braking equipment, suspension, and steering. Only parts still left from when I bought the truck are the steering shaft and steering box - I want to see how they are before spending lots of money replacing them.
Here is as the truck sits now - bumper still needs to go on and the truck needs the ride height adjusted and then aligned.
Untitled by Derrick Tackett, on Flickr
Untitled by Derrick Tackett, on Flickr
Suburban_1 by Derrick Tackett, on FlickrI'll post some pics of the progress and work done
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