Need some guidance on a build 95 - Suburban 1500 w/ $5000 budget

[Beerdy]

My family consists of my wife and I, plus our four children 8 and younger. We have a 95 Suburban 4x4 and want to do some light expo traveling.

Assuming the vehicle is in top shape, yet stock, what modification would you make to it for comfort while traveling. For the most part, tents can be utilized while camping in the summer, and in the winter we'll probably be down to three of us.

Some help:
Most trips would be less than a week.
No real technical off-roading needed as of now
Will need to remain a DD

Some necessities:
Must have aux heating while vehicle is off
Power Mini fridge/cooler
Kitchen w/ On-board water

Wish list:
Solar system w/ second battery
Two or three bench seats that fold down into beds (replace front capt seats)

So with a budget of $5000 how would you setup this vehicle?

 

[fiddypal]

Take a peak at my build thread for adding a 2nd battery with isolator so it does not drain your starting battery. I am guessing you have space somewhre under the hood to add another battery.

 

[justcuz]

Is the vehicle itself in top shape? Check the glove box for RPO codes GT4=3.73 gears GT5=4.10 gears G80 is the locking rear axle 6GG and 7GG or other letter code would be your torsion bar size.
With a family and load the size you plan to move around, I might add a leaf or 2 to the rear springs and find some heavier torsion bars at the wrecking yard.

As far as interior appointments, you have to transition from people hauler to gear hauler and part time sleeper.
I would tend to keep it all very flexible for your varied uses and avoid permanently mounting anything that would interfere with its versatility. Stackable boxes for storage that are weather proof like action packers work good.
In a 95 behind the third seat stacked two high you can easily put six or eight back there, cargo net over the top with caribener tie downs to the floorboard loops will keep it out of the passenger area in a mishap.

Pretty much the way I do mine, my weatherproof storage stays outside my 93 Suburban if I'm sleeping inside and gets stored inside if I'm in my tent outside. I usually travel with just myself or one other person and the vehicle gets converted back to daily driver usage once home. (Third seat goes back in and gear stored in garage.)

Others here have done more permanent modifications, check the build threads at the top of the section. Look at everyone's Suburban builds. Woof wagon has built some nice drawers and things in his Squarebody. Also check out everyone who posted a Suburban picture and see if they have a thread or posted something other than a build.
I thing you will find that most of us keep them fairly flexible. However there is one thread where the owner installed a pop up camper top from a VW bus on top of his Suburban. It is very well done and is a unique and capable vehicle.

 

[Martinjmpr]

IIRC the GMT-400 Suburbans carried the spare inside the vehicle. If you can get that outside the truck (even on a roof rack) it will give you more interior space. With 4 kids + 2 adults you'd be running all 3 seats up most of the time, I presume, which makes interior space more of a premium.
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Regarding the fridge/cooler, don't waste money on one of those cheap "thermo coolers." They suck power like there's no tomorrow and don't keep food that cold. I'd say either pony up for a real fridge (figure at least $400 - $500 for a decent Truckfridge or Edgestar) or else go with one of the new generation of "super coolers" (i.e. Yeti knockoffs) like the Rtic or Coleman Extreme (I think that's what they're called.)
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As far as heat goes, I would be very leery of anything that has a flame. Every year I read stories of people - sometimes whole families - dying of asphyxiation from improperly vented heaters. There's also the risk of fire. When the wife and I first went camping we had an un-heated home built teardrop and our solution for cold weather was a very thick, heavy down comforter. Kept us very warm at night but of course, once we were out from under the covers we were cold again. Electric heat is also a dilemma because anything with a heating element is going to draw a huge amount of power. Not an issue if you are camping at a developed campsite with a power hookup but if you are boondocking then you would need something else.
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I would say a decent compromise might be some kind of propane powered radiant or catalytic heater, however under no circumstances would I run it all night (danger of both asphyxiation and fire.) Instead, I would do it like this: About an hour before bedtime, fire up the heater (in a safe location, obviously) and let it warm up the interior of the tent or wherever you're sleeping. Then, once everyone is snuggled into their sleeping bags, turn it off. Next morning, sit up in your bag and fire up the heater again to warm up the interior as people get up. IMO that's the safe way to do it. That's basically what we did when I was in the Army except we didn't have nice propane stoves we had these cumbersome potbelly stoves or Yukon stoves and some unlucky SOB had to get up in the cold and fire them up.

 

[Beerdy]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Would the heater likely draw too much power from a battery overnight?

 

[Burb One]

+1 search suburban tahoe GMT400 or GMT800 here, and you'll see a decent amount and levels of builds with some documentation. I would start at getting your rig up to a high level of maintenance, researching the weak points and fix them permanently or make some space for spares (not sure what that is on GMT400), and then see your needs and then associated weight and then determine tire sizes, lifts, winches, spares, leveling/ weight management, upgrades etc.

I would also recommend the "real" 12v fridge with dual battery and solar. I moved to one, and it is amazing not having to worry about ice (and also you can carry more because the space that was ice can now be food.) The dual battery can make your mind at ease of not worrying about killing the starting battery and it's super easy because these trucks had a stock option dual battery tray, so it's bolt on (seach ebay). A 100 watt solar panel on the roof will be more than enough for a decent sized fridge and some left over to run the stereo or accessories etc. when it's a nice day.

Regarding the heater: I've got one of the small mr. heater buddy propane heater that's rated as indoor safe. However, we only use it to take the edge off after dinner, late night swimming or washing up (assuming no camp fire) I would not run ANY of these in a non ventilated area while sleeping. The second you start ventilating too, you lose the heat advantage anyway. The real answer as Martin said, is a good sleeping bag or comforter/blanket. I don't know where you are in the country/world, but a good sleeping bag is 100% comfortable if rated to your need unless you're at mega extremes. Additionally, running anything that gives out enough heat to heat the inside of the car for a good period of time uses a TON of energy (whether electric or propane, etc., and become unfeasible, it would be more than your stock battery or one aux battery could handle w/ the small amount of solar you'll have). Use your own little heater inside of you, in a small enclosed space(sleeping bag) and insulate that The car is just a giant semi/poorly insulated heat sink to the never ending heatsink outside, add one more step before you get there, and a much smaller volume

Looking forward to what you end up doing!


Edit:

Regarding the chair to beds: search "minivan chair" or "Odyssey chairs", there's someone who put honda odyssey captain chairs that fold to beds in a truck or van, may be a good starting point. IMO it may be a waste of space, as the chairs take up a lot of room. I think some type of cabinet or shelf in the back, that folds over for the third row may be better, may be able to sleep all of you on it. This will allow for storage and sleep area with minimal configuration time.

Also: regarding the kitchen, a platform like the above, can have some room to put a small sink with out of view pump that slides out of the rear of the vehicle, and has a spot to put a camping stove.. Between the frame rails or in the rear, you can have a water tank, IMO, they're hard to do right in cold climates where freezing is a concern. Search around and you will find TONS of solution, you can pick and choose the ideas, to what works with your space/ setup. I don't have barn doors, and not sure if you do, but if I did, I would put fold down shelving on the doors, so when they're open it could be a mini kitchen area for my stove

 

[Martinjmpr]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Would the heater likely draw too much power from a battery overnight?

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Unless you have a dual battery I would say yes. Also remember batteries don't like cold so if it's cold enough to need heat, then it's cold enough to suck the life out of your battery.
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Go into any camping or outdoors store and tell me how many battery powered heaters you see. There's a reason for that.
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Wondering why heat is such an issue to you. Do you camp a lot in cold weather, have you had bad experiences with cold or do you have family members who are unusually sensitive to cold?
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I'm just curious because if you look at most of the build threads here, heat is one of the least important considerations for most people. In fact, I would say that for every person who inquires about heat, there are 10 or 20 who inquire about refrigeration.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Another question for you: Kitchen with "on board water." What does that mean? Does it have to have running water and if so, why?
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The reason I say that is that this is another thing that adds a huge layer of difficulty and complexity without giving much in return. For example, we got a camper trailer in 2014 that has a 6 gallon fresh water tank, water pump and even a heater for the water and outside shower. We've never had water in it for the simple reason that the minimal "benefit" of having running water (and a tiny, virtually useless sink) would be offset by the additional weight and complexity of actually using the water system and having to monitor for water leaks and deal with dumping a gray water tank (our trailer has no toilet so there's no black water tank.) It would also require us to winterize the system every year.
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Instead, we use a very simple 7 gallon water jug. When we need water it pours out, when we don't it goes into the back of my truck, no hassles and no plumbing problems.
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If we were planning to live out of our trailer full time, for months or years, we would do things differently but the longest we've been camping is 2 weeks and when we were doing that we often stayed in places that had indoor bathrooms, showers, etc, so we didn't feel that we were losing anything by not fillng up our water tank. From your description, you said your longest trip would be maybe a week, so do you really need a water pump and tank for a week long trip?

 

[justcuz]

I am going to encourage you to look at geronracing's Suburban for his wiring and fridge installation.

1leglance and Nick both installed the minivan seats in their Suburbans and Lance has a sleeping platform in the back of his.

I would look at the Suburbans in the build threads and the Suburban pictures. Look at everyone's vehicle, lots of ideas can be borrowed from others build and modifications.

Everyone's needs are a little different, you have to decide what is best for you and your family as far a versitilaty.

I take two coolers a lot of times, one for food and one for drinks. I buy dry ice for my food cooler and it works for a few days very well, since it does not get opened as often as a drink cooler.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Wondering why heat is such an issue to you. Do you camp a lot in cold weather, have you had bad experiences with cold or do you have family members who are unusually sensitive to cold?

I'll second this. I just spent a long weekend in Moab. The first evening it rained briefly and I had frozen droplets on my tent the next morning. I was totally comfortable on a double sized air mattress (which aren't that great for warmth), a Coleman "10 degree" bag with a down blanket inside and a fleece blanket on top of the bag and a fleece head sock on my head. Each night was about the same and I was totally comfortable.

And this was the end of March in the desert. pretty sure this was the coldest I've ever camped in.

 

[Beerdy]

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Wondering why heat is such an issue to you. Do you camp a lot in cold weather, have you had bad experiences with cold or do you have family members who are unusually sensitive to cold?
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I'm just curious because if you look at most of the build threads here, heat is one of the least

The heating is mostly for the wife and the one year old. I'll camp in sub-freezing temperatures in a tent and loved every second of it

 

[justcuz]

Lots of times I have used a plastic tarp over the top of my sleeping bag in cold weather. It traps heat amazingly well and keeps you warm as toast. I used to use an old heavy canvas tarp, but in the interest of saving weight and room, we switched to the plastic tarp. My son and I, on Boy Scout trips, put the tarp over our bags and were toasty and warm when others were freezing. I still use it today, it's kept folded and rolled with the tent.

 

[rayra]

I would forego the idea of the 6 of you sleeping in the vehicle and get a basic two room family ground tent, <$300. Lots of options there. It could be customized or added to, to merge it with the vehicle if you wanted. Or with an awning spanning between vehicle and test to create a 'vestibule' space to serve as a living / dining space. Then use some of the splendid ideas in the Storage and Camping Equipment subforums to create a rear cargo area slide out with fridge and pull out cooking and counter space.

The propane Buddy heaters are excellent and would work great to warm a tent space during bedtime prep and at waking. I would not run them during the night with everyone asleep, unless I also was using a carbon monoxide alarm. learn how to effectively dress in layers and use air mattresses and adequate sleeping bags to keep warm at night. It works easily.

With four young children I'd be looking at several comfort and power upgrades within the vehicle seating areas. Power ports for small electronics, seat back or ceiling video display for movies, cartoons, etc. Small low-output LED lighting controllable at each seat. Individual fans. Do what it takes to keep them comfortable and keep them from bickering over a single tablet, light or fan. Kindle tablets, stuff like that, many under $100 ea

Chiefly, starting with such a vehicle I'd be focused on reliability and do a bunch of preventative maintenance. If you are starting with an unknown vehicle I'd do a full 100k mi type of service. All belts, a complete radiator / cooling system overhaul. Change ALL fluids, and I mean all, brake, axles, oil, trans. Spend the money up front to 'baseline' all the critical systems that will keep you moving on your trips.


eta addendum, the air mattress itself doesn't give you any warmth, what it does do well is get you up off the cold ground. Comfortably. More comfortably adn with less bulk / weight than cots, albeit less durably. Still well worth it for what they are.