New beast to the fleet....2004 K2500 Suburban

[hidesertwheelin]

My wife's new commuter car. Luckily she only has a 3 mile commute. It's a 04 3/4 ton, 8.1L, 4:11's, Gov-bomb, 285's, leather, barn doors. It has 148k miles on it. Won't be doing a lot of mods to it yet, just a few little things here and there.

 

[justcuz]

So did you haggle the no haggle dealer?
Looks very nice, black and grey interior or solid black?
Honestly you don't need to do much to this; suspension, wheels and tires are good to go.
What gears are in it?

 

[rayra]

Looks real good. Wish I'd found a white one instead of black.

 

[01 Double Cab]

I have the GMC twin to that truck. I bought mine in late December 265,000 miles. Flew to Houston and pulled a 28' enclosed trailer all the way back to Idaho. Great rig.

 

[hidesertwheelin]

So did you haggle the no haggle dealer?
Looks very nice, black and grey interior or solid black?
Honestly you don't need to do much to this; suspension, wheels and tires are good to go.
What gears are in it?

Thanks. Yes, I haggled on my trade in. Got them to give me more $ on that. I still have to look at the suspension. I have to see if it has a leveling kit or just cranked up torsion bars. Other than that I don't plan to do much. The interior is tan leather, no tears in the normal spots. It has 4:11's and a gov-loc.

 

[justcuz]

I have tan leather in my 2000. It has 266,000 miles and have only had the drivers seat cushion redone.
I treat the leather every year and clean it with saddle soap every six months.
Avalanche, Suburban and Tahoe bars in these years are two inches shorter than truck bars (42" vs 44" I believe) but with yours being a big block 3/4 ton you probably have some of the biggest bars available. Double check the bar length to confirm this.
Also on trucks you can raise a 3/4 ton by using 1/2 ton keys and to raise a 1/2 ton you use Ford torsion bar keys.
I have not found a 3/4 ton GMT 800 Suburban the wrecking yard to take the t-bar keys out to compare them.
I do know you cannot use Ford keys in a 3/4 pickup because it re indexes the keys past the point of installing the t-bar adjusting bolts.
An Internet search may show a key comparison some place.
There are many debates about the practice of cranking up the bars versus changing the keys, whether it changes the spring rate or not. I won't get into that here but I believe re indexing the bars by using different keys allows you more adjustability of the suspension to accommodate alignment and future torsion bar adjustments as the bars age and possibly sag.

 

[orangeTJ]

Nice looking Suburban. Cool that you found one with the 8.1.

... Gov-bomb...

More Commonly known as the Eaton G80 Locker. Here's a good video of how the G80 works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTGZOJQQBeE

 

[rayra]

That latter bit is a straight-up physics issue. The loading of the torsion bar doesn't really change, between either position, at rest.The difference is in the rotational forces applied to it by changing the ride angle of the lower control arm. Normally a flatter angle in relation to the ground, forces working on the suspension are closer to a right angle to the lower control arm. When cranked OR re-keyed, the lower control arm sits at a higher angle from the ground and those force arrive at a more obtuse angle to the axis of rotation, driving in towards the pivot as well as up (to a greater degree than the stock geometry). That's what generates the stiffer jouncier ride. Any method that alters that lower control arm angle will do the same. it can be masked with changing spring rates, torsion bars, shocks or tire pressures.

/I have a theory, dinosaurs are small at the front, big in the middle, and small at the back

 

[AA1PR]

nice find in the 3/4 ton model

 

[hidesertwheelin]

I have tan leather in my 2000. It has 266,000 miles and have only had the drivers seat cushion redone.
I treat the leather every year and clean it with saddle soap every six months.
Avalanche, Suburban and Tahoe bars in these years are two inches shorter than truck bars (42" vs 44" I believe) but with yours being a big block 3/4 ton you probably have some of the biggest bars available. Double check the bar length to confirm this.
Also on trucks you can raise a 3/4 ton by using 1/2 ton keys and to raise a 1/2 ton you use Ford torsion bar keys.
I have not found a 3/4 ton GMT 800 Suburban the wrecking yard to take the t-bar keys out to compare them.
I do know you cannot use Ford keys in a 3/4 pickup because it re indexes the keys past the point of installing the t-bar adjusting bolts.
An Internet search may show a key comparison some place.
There are many debates about the practice of cranking up the bars versus changing the keys, whether it changes the spring rate or not. I won't get into that here but I believe re indexing the bars by using different keys allows you more adjustability of the suspension to accommodate alignment and future torsion bar adjustments as the bars age and possibly sag.

Thanks for the info.

 

[boss324]

Nice the best Suburban platform IMO

 

[utherjorge]

Is that burb in the pic yours, boss? If so...what lift are you running there?

I have the same color in a 2003 1/2 ton, and cranked the keys, but you've got a lot more height there.

 

[hidesertwheelin]

Is that burb in the pic yours, boss? If so...what lift are you running there?

I have the same color in a 2003 1/2 ton, and cranked the keys, but you've got a lot more height there.

Ya that is it. I still have not climbed underneath yet to inspect more (I did climb under it before we bought it, but was just looking to make sure it was in good shape).

 

[boss324]

I have a 2.5" leveling kit from Cognito:http://www.cognitomotorsports.com/cognito-stage-3-leveling-kit-with-fox-shocks.html

I am running the Fox 2.0 shocks and really like them. I have them cranked 2.25" but probably go crank them higher once I get the rear blocks and Fox shocks put in. Has about 14 inches of clearance or close to it. Running 33" tires 285/75/16 BFG AT KO2.

 

[hidesertwheelin]

Finally had a chance to take her out. We went camping at Rock Creek just North of Bishop last weekend. From there we went and scouted around for the up coming deer season. She did pretty well. Hell I even got to pull a Forest Service fire department pick up out of a berm. There was a large thunder storm the rolled through, and they were out looking for fires (they smelt smoke). We were on a single lane road, and he waited for my 2 friends in front of me to pull into the turn out, and instead of waiting 5 seconds for me to reach the turn out, he tried to pass on the berm and got stuck. Luckily the 8.1L made it a cinch to pull him out.