Project “Polar Bear”: 1989 V2500 Suburban

[Larry]

very nice install. I cant wait till I get another burb. I keep going back and forth between turning my k5 into more of an "expo" rig or a crawler. Just doesnt seem to have the capabilities my old burb had for what I want. Your builds are top notch. One question though, did you ever consider doing an nv5600 instead of the 4500? why or why not?

Thanks!

NV5600’s are great transmissions! I would definitely rather have one of those over the ZF S6-650 6 speed in my Silverado HD any day (the ZF is basically a Phord Stupid Duty trans in a GM truck

). The issue with swapping a NV5600 into anything other than another Dodge truck is transmission availability (they are almost impossible to find), nobody makes a GM bellhousing (that I know of) and the OD gear ratio is the same as the NV4500 plus the 5600 is a HUGE trans that would require some body mods. Bigger isn’t always better. It is a neat trans to consider for about 5 minutes then realizing an Allison would be easier and potentially cheaper.....then there is the NV4500 that is somewhat easy to come by, affordable, has overdrive and super easy to swap. Its a no brainer

 

[az_eric]

Thanks!

NV5600's are great transmissions! I would definitely rather have one of those over the ZF S6-650 6 speed in my Silverado HD any day (the ZF is basically a Phord Stupid Duty trans in a GM truck

). The issue with swapping a NV5600 into anything other than another Dodge truck is transmission availability (they are almost impossible to find), nobody makes a GM bellhousing (that I know of) and the OD gear ratio is the same as the NV4500 plus the 5600 is a HUGE trans that would require some body mods. Bigger isn't always better. It is a neat trans to consider for about 5 minutes then realizing an Allison would be easier and potentially cheaper.....then there is the NV4500 that is somewhat easy to come by, affordable, has overdrive and super easy to swap. Its a no brainer

interesting out look on that. Ive been dreaming of throwing in a 12v cummins in a suburban ever since I had my old one. Part of why I thought about the 5600. I wouldnt do an allison mostly because I wouldnt want electronics and I personally like shifting gears. Not sure what I will do yet just thought I would pick your brain as to your decision. Need to get my blazer done before I even think about getting another project lol.

 

[Larry]

We made our little fall color day trip attempt to the Sand Dunes today via Medano Pass. No dice, gate was closed due to the government going out of business. We still made a fun trip of it by taking several back trails to work our way back home over the top of Greenhorn Mountain. The fall views were beautiful.

The ole Polar Bear did great on its inaugural off-road trip

Loaded up Saturday night

Yep, closed. Sorry kids, Wally World is closed

So we hit some side attractions

And one GoPro of the only spot all day where 4low was required

 

[98dango]

Nice to see the olgril out and about.


Funny they can't open a gate but can post a sing to say its closed. Lets see $1 per sing how many gates 50000 of so plus man hours to.put them up. Great use of money.

 

[bowstryder]

Good stuff Larry!

 

[Chevrolado]

Sweet! Glad to see you got it out there for an adventure.
Sucks to hear the adventure was cut a bit short due to this political situation.

 

[RockyMtnFamily]

Nicely done modifications as usual! Now to get mine done.

 

[Wh1t3nukle]

Great Country there Larry. We used to live up in the south Denver Metro area and loved going up for the fall colors. Miss that very much, as well as the snow. That kind of trail riding is fun. Doesn't beat you up so bad. I don't know about anyone else, that little rock outcropping was hard to make out until you were right on it.

What kind of mount you have the GoPro on? I go between using the suction, rollbar, and tripod mounts. I like how yours worked there and imagine access for on/off was helpful.

May I ask what kind of silver box that is in the back? I must have missed it in your thread.

Any particular plans for the upcoming winter?

We made our little fall color day trip attempt to the Sand Dunes today via Medano Pass. No dice, gate was closed due to the government going out of business. We still made a fun trip of it by taking several back trails to work our way back home over the top of Greenhorn Mountain. The fall views were beautiful.

The ole Polar Bear did great on its inaugural off-road trip

Loaded up Saturday night

Yep, closed. Sorry kids, Wally World is closed

So we hit some side attractions

And one GoPro of the only spot all day where 4low was required

 

[VoodooCLD]

Very cool pics and vid. I love your suburban, you've been a big inspiration for mine. I'm currently working on an 89 v2500 scottsdale package with sm465 tranny.
Keep it up!

 

[Funrover]

Thanks for the pictures! Sorry the adventure was cut a bit short.

 

[Larry]

Funny they can't open a gate but can post a sing to say its closed. Lets see $1 per sing how many gates 50000 of so plus man hours to.put them up. Great use of money.

YES! Exactly! Errr

Great Country there Larry. We used to live up in the south Denver Metro area and loved going up for the fall colors. Miss that very much, as well as the snow. That kind of trail riding is fun. Doesn't beat you up so bad. I don't know about anyone else, that little rock outcropping was hard to make out until you were right on it.

What kind of mount you have the GoPro on? I go between using the suction, rollbar, and tripod mounts. I like how yours worked there and imagine access for on/off was helpful.

May I ask what kind of silver box that is in the back? I must have missed it in your thread.

Any particular plans for the upcoming winter?

Hey Wh1t3nukle,

Yeah, GoPro doesn’t always give you a true feeling for the lay of the land until you are right on it. The GoPro seems to flatten everything out and make it seem the vehicle is going twice as fast as it really is. Lots of GoPro’s here from the Mojave Rd/Death Valley trip with the K10 this past spring. They really sound cool when listening with headphones. All the GoPro videos give a different prospective than the true lay of the land though.

The silver box is a National Luna refrigerator that actually belongs in the Phoenix camper on my K10. The reason for the Polar Bear getting power to the cargo area was for the sake of borrowing the fridge from the K10 on the occasion the Polar Bear goes and the K10 stays at home.

Well, I had lofty goals to getting the 8.1L in it over this Christmas break but I doubt that will happen as we have a new baby and I’ve had little time to play in the garage. Momma and baby have all my plans made out for me for the next 25 years as it seems. Plus I have a laundry list of things to do to the K10 before the 2014 trips start. Somewhere in there I should get that 8.1L stuck in the Burb. The Burb is a side dish to the main K10 adventure rig so it always takes the backseat after baby, wife and K10.

As far as the GoPro mount, I’ve just been using the suction cup mount it comes with. The nice thing about the old rigs is the vent wing makes a nice place to stick it where it can easily be turned on and off (wish I had a newer GoPro with a remote).

This is how it mounts to the K10 and Polar Bear Burb

Very cool pics and vid. I love your suburban, you've been a big inspiration for mine. I'm currently working on an 89 v2500 scottsdale package with sm465 tranny.
Keep it up!

Glad to be an inspiration for something! Wife tells me I am just a bad influence

Thanks for the pictures! Sorry the adventure was cut a bit short.

Me too, dang government! Still cannot wrap my head around why they need to close gates like this for something stupid like the shutdown. What are we going to do, steal some sand our write our name in it? :coffeedrink:

 

[chilliwak]

Thanks Larry for posting pics of your trip. I really like the vid you posted. The polar bear seems to effortlesly climb the hills without loosing a breath. That kind of nature makes me want to go out 4 wheeling. Too bad I am so far away from my rigs. I hope you get some time to wrench on your machines.As a new dad you are going to have to say that you have your priorities too. I am sure you will work it out. It would be just so cool to see your daughter grow up with a wheeling background. Cheers, Chilli....

 

[xbox73]

You really should think about going for a more minimal setup, you're way overpacked!! </sarcasm>

 

[Larry]

You really should think about going for a more minimal setup, you're way overpacked!! </sarcasm>

Hehe, well it was just a day trip. Got to have ice cold pop available all day you know. LOL

 

[Larry]

Oh, I forgot to mention the Impala arrived this week and we picked it up last night. What an awesome car! This is definitely the first Chevrolet sedan worth buying in many decades. Also love the upcharge White Diamond Tricoat paint, it just looks sexy! It goes in next Wednesday to have the windows tinted :sombrero:

Baby Hannah says, “There sure is a lot to look at in here!”