Overlandtowater’s solid axle suburban

[Overlandtowater]

So thinking about the bumpers and sliders a lot lately. 1.75" tubing for front bumper and sliders. Planning on .120 for wall thickness, as heavy as the suburban is I don't want to add a lot of weight to it. For the rear bumper a 5x2 tube .120 also taper it up on the ends from the ends I want to run a tube straight back to the edge of the wheel well. For the swingout I want to use 2x2 square an a 1.75 hoop on top, push the tire as close to the hinge as possible and still clear the taillights.

Do you think 120 wall tubing is stout enough?

 

[Overlandtowater]

Figured Project Roscoe P Drivetrain would be relevant to your thread. 4 Wheeler Magazine's PPV Tahoe converted to 1 Ton SAS.

Motortrend

Yeah j have referenced it quite a bit but I think I'd rather run super duty axles.

 

[Overlandtowater]

A little gravel road detour while evading the Gestapo after driving half way across the state to retrieve my wife and kids from my In-laws. But in all serious I did find a good spot to camp when I visit one of those NPS lakes to fish this summer. You can mute the sound its just my kids non stop blabbering and camera noise. And I'm using a 10 year old Fuji film camera for video non stabilized so if you get car sick you should avoid the video. at 13:18 you can see a wild turkey that everyone is currently chasing.

 

[Overlandtowater]

atop wolf mountain looking down into Arkansas after this is where I started the above video.

 

[Overlandtowater]

So I went fishing this week......just realized the torque pro app has a MPG and MPG average display it said the suburban got 18.2 average...so I checked it with my receipts and mileage numbers when I filled backup and I figured 18 that's driving like a grandpa 55 mph....then yesterday I went to check out another spot this time I was driving a little faster 60-70is back and then a bunch of stop and go in town and some 30mph drive down gravel to that all elusive no one ever fishes this pond you got to check it out thing and averaged 17.2 not too bad for a 176k mile sub on 33's loaded down with 5 people.

 

[rayra]

That IS granny speed. I cant ever get better than 14. Im a lead foot with unleaded gas.

 

[Overlandtowater]

That IS granny speed. I cant ever get better than 14. Im a lead foot with unleaded gas.

LOL yeah the highest highway speed around is 70mph and that's an hour drive from my house.....also I am a utility workers and our work trucks have babysitters on them so its speed limit only...it has rubbed off on my daily.

 

[Overlandtowater]

as far as a lead foot a teenager pulled up beside me yesterday at a stoplight and I could here him talking to his buddies in the truck about how fast his f150 was and I knew he was gonna gun it so the teen in me had to run him....it wasn't an all out drag race but it was a quick take off and I kept pace with him when I heard him floor it I laid on the sub and was a truck length ahead of him when the cops flashed us, when he pulled up beside me at the next light he wouldn't even look over at me but his girlfriend in the passenger seat didn't look to impressed. LOL

 

[rayra]

Nice. I too never grew up, i just got old.

and to paraphrase George Clooney in Brother Wherefore Art Thou, i seem to live in a geographical oddity, 140mi from parents, 140mi from inlaws, 140 from psuedo-nephew, all in different compass directions, so im always speeding off somewhere on same-day trips. If we overnighted i woulndt be in much of a hurry.
Im actually looking forward to camper trailer trips and just cruising.
Even our 800mi loop around the Sierras last summer was done in just 2-1/2 days. A leisurely cruise around the country will be a nice xhange of pace.

 

[Overlandtowater]

with steel prices about as low as ever I priced a bunch locally 1.75 x .120 wall $50 and some change for 20ft. some 5x2 x 3/16" for the rear bumper they had a remnant 9ft worth for 47 I thought that was kind of high but its better than buying a 20ft stick. 3/16" x 4'x8' was $108 I might pass on the skid plate material for a while though that's more than I thought it would be.

next question where have you guys/gals found the most reasonable prices for swing out hinge kits and tabs and joints? not the smoking kind I know its 4/20!

 

[Overlandtowater]

Found a matching wheel finally headed over to get it and my drivers front started dragging this time. I pinched the line off with visegrips and zip tied them so the wouldn't fall off, opend the bleeder until the wheel spun free, went by picked up the wheel and headed to the parts store. While I was getting parts my tire shop swapped the tires over for my spare. Got my lines and calipers. And tire swapped over in less than 20 minutes. Small towns are so nice.

@rayra I know you said you had some calipers but again they gave me problems when I needed the parts now.

One thing I am very excited about is no more t55 they are now 18mm.

The wheel is the same pattern it's just super polished the other 4 are machined and cleared.

 

[CrazyDrei]

A little gravel road detour while evading the Gestapo after driving half way across the state to retrieve my wife and kids from my In-laws. But in all serious I did find a good spot to camp when I visit one of those NPS lakes to fish this summer. You can mute the sound its just my kids non stop blabbering and camera noise. And I'm using a 10 year old Fuji film camera for video non stabilized so if you get car sick you should avoid the video. at 13:18 you can see a wild turkey that everyone is currently chasing.

Great to see videos like that. Reminds me of the time I was in Vegas and was out every week exploring random trails and shooting timelapse videos. Keep it up!

 

[Overlandtowater]

Great to see videos like that. Reminds me of the time I was in Vegas and was out every week exploring random trails and shooting timelapse videos. Keep it up!

Thanks Drei the video is not near as bad as I thought it was going to be with my old camera.

 

[Overlandtowater]

alright I finished up the brakes again they where spongy and I bled them again now they feel good really light pedal but will throw you through the windshield....(I wish) one thing I did find out was at 55-60 on the wet I can cram the brakes and almost spin the thing around like a kid on a bike...LOL Ive watched a few videos of suburban wrecks and always notice the rear brakes lock....Is this a common issue?

While doing my brake tests one of the plastic coolant connectors at the fire wall decided it was time to go, I replaced both T's a while back but didn't get to the hose barb to quick connect fitting and it gave up the ghost. easy fix after walking a couple of miles to buy the part and a gallon of antifreeze, which wasn't enough. I ended up putting 2 gallons in it to top it off and I'm still not sure its done. Is there any special way to get the air out of the rear heater core? It will only blow hot off idle.

Another thing while I was at it was to take a scotch bright pad and make the spare wheel match you don't know how hard it was for me to scuff up that shiny aluminum….I I had not had 60+ hours polishing the frame and wheels on a sport bike once I might have been dumb enough to tackle 4 wheels but scuffing one is way easier than sanding and polishing 4.

 

[Overlandtowater]

This bumper build is almost exactly what I want to build. https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/swing-out-tire-carrier-buildup.1230/