Going domestic, project vanilla aka the family tankster, 2004 Suburban 2500

[kojackJKU]

Yeah, do everything modular with multi purpose. Gotta have it that way!

 

[Oobray]

Great trip, great report! We LOVE our Ykon XL 2500 8.1. We also have little ones and pull a camper. It's certainly not "over landing" by world standards but it sure is fun!! And in the USA where you're prob never further than 100 miles to a campground it's hard to overlook the convenience and comfort of a camper. I agree that this is the best platform for family trips when pulling something or going off roads. I'm a little curious on your range, I can't get more than 160 miles or so per tank when pulling my trailer. I average 6-7 mpg though so that's prob the difference. Those 4.10's are awesome I bet!!

How do you go about finding those "out of the way places? When we went to CO last summer we were relegated to the mainstream campgrounds cause that's what we found on Google.

This isn't nearly as cool as your shots but here's our setup. This is just a KOA in Raton NM.



This is unhooked but at Palo Duro Canyon State Park. If you're ever cruising I-40 through TX this is definitely a great place to stop!!!



And I can definitely tell you the cognito control arms and Fox 2.0 shocks were an AMAZINGLY upgrade!! If I have a complaint about this truck it's that there's always little things going wrong. Lights, door locks, window motors, AC blend doors etc. it's never left me stranded though!!

Look forward to seeing more trip reports.

 

[upcruiser]

Shhh, not too much info about the UP. Don't want to spoil it! We have friends in Traverse City.

I agree completely about the Suburban stealth factor. It's big enough for a couple people and their gear for an extended trip, if you need to stash stuff outside the vehicle, you've brought too much.

I can see brand loyalty to some extent, I was raised with Plymouths and Pontiacs, but the first time I rebuilt a 327 in high school I became a Chevy guy. That's when Toyotas most popular car was a Corona with a Toyoglide automatic.
Most FJ40's back then were getting the floor shift conversion and a Man a Free carb conversion or a Chevy V8.

Later, a buddy down the street got an FJ55 with a Warn winch installed at the dealer. That was a tank on par with another friends Travelall. The 45,55 and 60 series are an object of unfulfilled desire and will stay that way do to price and the stealth factor.

I've owned several 4x4's, but the Suburbans fill the bill for me and very few people notice it unless I've just come back from a trip and its dirty and scratched up.

My wife and I both grew up on the Leelanau peninsula near Traverse, yeah I have a hard time promoting the UP because we see what happened to the areas we loved growing up and the numbers of people there now. I fear for when all my favorite remote, undeveloped stretches of coast start seeing more people.

 

[upcruiser]

Looks like a lot of fun. How do you find the 2500 burb rides unloaded, around town, etc?

Rides great now that I installed the Bilsteins. I think D load range tires aid as well. I run 40-45 psi for street pressure unloaded. 50-55 psi towing, and 25-35 psi when travelling in the dirt. Having onboard air is key otherwise I found the side to side movements in rough terrain to be a bit harsh at street pressure. Very comfy though now that I have it dialed though I do drive a bit slower than in the Land a Cruiser over similar terrain

 

[upcruiser]

Yeah, do everything modular with multi purpose. Gotta have it that way!

No ther way! Especially if the vehicle is a daily driver. Nothing worse than driving around with 100's of pounds of extra gear daily if you don't need to. Or if your camping/packing needs vary wildly from trip to trip.

 

[upcruiser]

Great trip, great report! We LOVE our Ykon XL 2500 8.1. We also have little ones and pull a camper. It's certainly not "over landing" by world standards but it sure is fun!! And in the USA where you're prob never further than 100 miles to a campground it's hard to overlook the convenience and comfort of a camper. I agree that this is the best platform for family trips when pulling something or going off roads. I'm a little curious on your range, I can't get more than 160 miles or so per tank when pulling my trailer. I average 6-7 mpg though so that's prob the difference. Those 4.10's are awesome I bet!!

How do you go about finding those "out of the way places? When we went to CO last summer we were relegated to the mainstream campgrounds cause that's what we found on Google.

This isn't nearly as cool as your shots but here's our setup. This is just a KOA in Raton NM.



This is unhooked but at Palo Duro Canyon State Park. If you're ever cruising I-40 through TX this is definitely a great place to stop!!!



And I can definitely tell you the cognito control arms and Fox 2.0 shocks were an AMAZINGLY upgrade!! If I have a complaint about this truck it's that there's always little things going wrong. Lights, door locks, window motors, AC blend doors etc. it's never left me stranded though!!

Look forward to seeing more trip reports.

Nice rig, jealous of the 8.1, can't imagine how easy that toes your setup. I want to say we were going around 250 miles between fill ups and I was trying to not go below a 1/4 tank so that I wasn't causing heat on the fuel pump. It varied on terrain, wind direction, and whether we were on 2 lane or freeways. Mileage dropped off dramatically above 65mph so we tried to stay around 70 on the interstate so we could find a good balance of economy and not being a rolling chicane for the big rigs. My worst tank was 7mpg, best was 10, mostly around 9. I thought it was pretty good considering our FJ Cruiser pulling that camper was 7mpg, and that rig with the RTT and loaded in a trip was seeing 12 with no trailer, so I find the mileage completely acceptable.

Regarding finding off the grid camp spots.... On this last trip we had been to most of those areas a bunch so we're pretty familiar with the areas. Being that it was our first big trip with the camper though, we were trying to figure things out a bit. I think what we will do in the future is go to a new area, get a place at s campground for a few days then scout the area for good locations to disperse camp. That way you can dump the tanks, fill up with fresh water and top the batteries off before heading into the backcountry.

I agree this is a great way for long trips, with kids. We still tent camp and tough it at times but if your goal is to be well rested, have happy kids, be happy patents and do a bunch of outdoor activities, a camper is a must. Well worth the hassles of bringing it along by the fact you don't ever have to eat out, or skip a meal because of foul weather or bugs. Base camping is the best and woth a moderate sized camper there are usually a ton of places to disperse camp.

With the Fox shocks do you air down at all when going off-road? I imagine they are pretty awesome. Our next upgrades are probably going to be fortifying the front end and freshening it up, though ours is still pretty tight, no issues at this point.

 

[Tiki]

Fellow Michigander and I really like the burb. My folks had an 02 K2500 Burb growing up and I've been patiently waiting for one in good condition to cross my path.

 

[boss324]

Thanks for sharing! I have a very similar setup.

 

[upcruiser]

Thanks for sharing! I have a very similar setup.

What is your suspension setup? That looks like the ride height I want right there.

 

[boss324]

Cognito UCA 2.5" with Fox 2.0 shocks. Rear is stock right now but going with 1.5" block. Sitting on 285/17/16 BFG K02 tires. Cognito recommends 1" minimum looking to still have the slight rake from factory. Just did the Cognito steering braces kit....oh why did I wait soon long! I highly recommend this to anyone with a GM IFS and larger than stock tire. My steering was loose, shimmied and just plain awful to drive. Now back to OEM feel. I have 107k so going to do the Bilstein SS next.

 

[upcruiser]

Cognito UCA 2.5" with Fox 2.0 shocks. Rear is stock right now but going with 1.5" block. Sitting on 285/17/16 BFG K02 tires. Cognito recommends 1" minimum looking to still have the slight rake from factory. Just did the Cognito steering braces kit....oh why did I wait soon long! I highly recommend this to anyone with a GM IFS and larger than stock tire. My steering was loose, shimmied and just plain awful to drive. Now back to OEM feel. I have 107k so going to do the Bilstein SS next.

That is stock ride height in the rear? Huh, looks higher to me, must be the pic. My front end still seems pretty tight, a little vagueness on center, and it has 150,000 miles on it now. My plan is to do essentially what you have done in the front when the time comes. I feel like that will take any concerns I have for the suspension away.... Unless I do something crazy and decide I want to run 35's... But trying to show restraint with this. We keep saying we want a can of some sort, maybe a Sprinter for long road trips for car camping with the fam. If not, it's hard to want to ruin the nice ride this truck has as it is for long trips.

 

[upcruiser]

Ok, haven't had a chance to investigate it yet but having an issue this week where randomly the heat in the front comes on full when the temp settings are cold. Only stops after I restart the car when it happens. I don't have the auto climate control (avoided it as I heard they could be troublesome) so this is the standard trim HAVAC controls. Any ideas? Blend doors? Will start to research it, hope it is simple.

 

[Buddha.]

When the blend door went out on my blazer sometimes the temp would respond sometimes it wouldnt. Eventually it didn't respond at all.

 

[upcruiser]

When the blend door went out on my blazer sometimes the temp would respond sometimes it wouldnt. Eventually it didn't respond at all.

I was reading up this morning about how you can try to reset them by unhooking the battery for ten minutes and see if they reset. The procedure to replace them looks pretty intensive in regards to removing and disassembling the dashboard. Hope the reset works.

 

[mccustomize]

Ok, haven't had a chance to investigate it yet but having an issue this week where randomly the heat in the front comes on full when the temp settings are cold. Only stops after I restart the car when it happens. I don't have the auto climate control (avoided it as I heard they could be troublesome) so this is the standard trim HAVAC controls. Any ideas? Blend doors? Will start to research it, hope it is simple.

I'm having this exact same issue in my 04 Silverado, I have yet to dig deeper but I will let you know.

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http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/67578-ac-goes-to-heater-mode-by-itself/