Project- Suburban HD

['05TJLWBRUBY]

Thanks guys!

Gus- yes, Gus was a good old rig. I actually kept part of him to build a tribute shop stand/bench when I get time. I cut up the back half of the bed, sectioned it up and retained the last 18" or so with tailgate, lights, bumper, etc. Plan is to eventually build a supporting stand underneath, then cut a tire in half down the middle to cover the frame with, then bolt the whole setup to the wall. Paint up the bed and tailgate of course. Idea being this will look like the back of the truck from rear of wheel wells back sticking out of wall, with full drop down tail gate to serve as extra bench top table when I want or folded up and out of the way when I don't need it. Thinking I can store my plasma and few other random tools in the "bed" up off the floor and stowed away when not in use. Should look pretty cool- well, at least the idea seemed cool so Gus will live on in that regard at least in the shop... The engine/trans is in use in another '90s Chev now and the rear axle was repurposed under a K5 on 37s, geared and locked so most of it stayed Chev in one way or another...

Yes, I love it when my little girl comes out to help. Those are the times that will stick with me forever, I enjoy every bit of the time she wants to help. Just be nice if money wasn't such a big factor to completing this- I can't wait for the memories we'll build in the Suburban after it's finished on the adventures we take it on, so looking forward to that...

Legendary- yes, links as mentioned will be glued on as low and wide as I can get- yet still allowing for plenty of tire clearance. I hate tire rub so at some point I'll need to fit the knuckles/splindles and fit a wheel to full-lock and see where the link will fit with the deep backspacing of the H1 rims. I'll set them in there to clear, then any other wheel I run will have plenty of clearance regardless of tire size. Having the dually hubs really helps in that regard as the H1 backspacing is about 7". The aluminum H2's which are 17s are a bit less at around 5" so while I don't care of wide tires- they'll clear if need be up to a respectable 40" or so- doubt I'll ever have any desire to go bigger than that. We'll see. As to the "coils"- yes and no- not coils like standard springs- I'm planning on running coil over shocks - 14" travel remote res in either a 2.5 or possibly 3.0 configuration. I'll mount the lower out wide on the truss where the C attaches and possibly up on the C a bit if needed. Will build a tower of some sort up into the engine bay/fender where needed for clearance, things are going to get tricky there pretty quick. That's the idea anyway. edit- BTW- I believe I'm just over the hill from you in Wenatchee.

So I finally found a steering box out of an '03 or '05 Astro- forget the year now... one of the newer '97-'05 models. It should be here sometime this week. Also had an idea for support off the sector shaft so I have a sector bolt extension and bearing coming to test out an idea there. And, have a chunk of aluminum on order also. Going to learn how to work the lathe a bit and see what kind of trouble I can get into there. Hoping everything arrives this week so I can get some parts ready for this coming weekend again, we'll see. My body mounts arrived so that is good, gotta get the body up and new mounts in as the next step. I'm kind of held up by the engine at this point and need to move it before I can do much else. Clearance wise, it's holding me up so somethings gotta be done there. Hope to attack it this weekend if all goes well.

Thanks again,

Best of Luck,

Mike

 

['05TJLWBRUBY]

So as noted a few things arrived- the steering box is off a '97-'05 style Chevy Astro RWD, arrived rebuilt with warranty which is pretty cool. I'll be tearing it down though and modding it a bit once I get to that point. Also got that bearing and sector shaft bolt extension and then the chunk of 3.25" 6061...



And next is where I'll probably upset a few folks. I need clearance in several locations and can't quite figure out how to do it any other way and keep it full body, in tact. I looked around for a BL of suitable length and couldn't find anything other than 2" and 3" that are typically found in big gay truck land at the local mall. I've always wanted to learn to build something on a lathe so figured this was as good a time as any to learn. Once I figured out how to turn the darn thing on, I quickly got to work- then quickly realized it was going to take WAY longer than expected to turn these out. Regardless, I rough cut them down on band saw, then shaved to length, shaped the top edge to fit the cup in the Suburban body and recessed them a bit to over lap the mounts. After drilling out on a press, wound up boring on the the lathe. Finally got them all done.









Gotta give a huge Thanks to my buddy Krys at work who showed me where the "auto" lever was which really sped things up, and for letting me borrow his milling bit to bore them out. My drill press at home got them started, but wasn't exactly strait. Boring them out on the lathe worked like a charm. They are 1.5" total height with a .25" overlap giving me 1.25" clearance where I need it most. Or at least allowing me to gain clearance where I need it most. Shot them with a little rattle can so they won't stand out like a sore thumb. Most everything else should be hidden so I think they'll work out pretty well for what I need out of them. Overall, glad to learn a few new tricks along the way with this build.

More to come...

Best of Luck,

Mike

 

[M35A2]

So as noted a few things arrived- the steering box is off a '97-'05 style Chevy Astro RWD, arrived rebuilt with warranty which is pretty cool. I'll be tearing it down though and modding it a bit once I get to that point. Also got that bearing and sector shaft bolt extension and then the chunk of 3.25" 6061...



And next is where I'll probably upset a few folks. I need clearance in several locations and can't quite figure out how to do it any other way and keep it full body, in tact. I looked around for a BL of suitable length and couldn't find anything other than 2" and 3" that are typically found in big gay truck land at the local mall. I've always wanted to learn to build something on a lathe so figured this was as good a time as any to learn. Once I figured out how to turn the darn thing on, I quickly got to work- then quickly realized it was going to take WAY longer than expected to turn these out. Regardless, I rough cut them down on band saw, then shaved to length, shaped the top edge to fit the cup in the Suburban body and recessed them a bit to over lap the mounts. After drilling out on a press, wound up boring on the the lathe. Finally got them all done.









Gotta give a huge Thanks to my buddy Krys at work who showed me where the "auto" lever was which really sped things up, and for letting me borrow his milling bit to bore them out. My drill press at home got them started, but wasn't exactly strait. Boring them out on the lathe worked like a charm. They are 1.5" total height with a .25" overlap giving me 1.25" clearance where I need it most. Or at least allowing me to gain clearance where I need it most. Shot them with a little rattle can so they won't stand out like a sore thumb. Most everything else should be hidden so I think they'll work out pretty well for what I need out of them. Overall, glad to learn a few new tricks along the way with this build.

More to come...

Best of Luck,

Mike

Those look good. You know this already, but also put never-seize on the shanks of the bolts where they pass through the pucks.

 

[Nosferatu49534]

As much as I'm not a fan of body lifts I think it's awesome that you made your own, and they serve a purpose other than "oh look I have big tires, and no real ground clearance."

 

['05TJLWBRUBY]

M35A2- Man I'd love an A2C drop side for farm use up at the ranch- about the perfect truck for farm chores/fencing/feeding, etc.... :drool: Thanks for the tips- it's those little things that often go over looked and/or forgotten. Thanks for the reminder!

Nosferatu-
I used to hate BL's also- especially the big 2 and 3" ones.... but I learned on my Jeep there was no way I could do what I did on that rig without a small one. I borrowed a page from that build here for Suburban HD- and believe me- I am going to do the best I can to make use of every bit of that 1.25" I will gain here with them. Aside from tire clearance as the obvious, my intentions are to lift the 454 and move it back as much as possible, then lift rest of drivetrain also, and finally- get that big 42 gallon fuel tank up as much as I can get. In addition- it will allow for better shock clearance at the fenders to help retain full body figure throughout and allow for the long travel with no real suspension lift. Gaining this SHOULD in theory allow me to get the clearance I need for my desired 7" up travel on the front 14. Long story short- it's a necessary evil that I just don't see a way around. yes, I'll do my best to make use of it with actual "purpose". I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea but just don't see any other way without it to accomplish all of this. I'm glad to have been able to build them myself- was a lot more time consuming than I'd thought, but pretty happy I was able to figure it out and pull it off.

Best of Luck,

Mike

 

[M35A2]

M35A2- Man I'd love an A2C drop side for farm use up at the ranch- about the perfect truck for farm chores/fencing/feeding, etc.... :drool: Thanks for the tips- it's those little things that often go over looked and/or forgotten. Thanks for the reminder!

LOL, I don't know, all that whistling might dry up the cows.

BTW, I love your idea about the truck bed workbench. Definitely a winner!

 

[legendaryandrew]

Man....nice BL! How hard would it be to make some for a GMT800? I too dislike BL, but I eventually may need to clear an allison trans, and it needs about an inch from what I hear, and all I can find is 2"+

 

['05TJLWBRUBY]

Thanks Man! Actually it's not "hard" at all, just very time consuming. I have about 12 hours into those all said and done. A bunch of that waiting for the band saw to cut to length- those are 3.25" diameter pucks so setting a saw up to cut clean took a couple hours to do all of them just rough cut. I kinda messed up as I SHOULD have cut the first one and measured how far out the saw was- I cut them all to 1.75" originally on the saw, then turned them down to 1.5 total length before shaping them. The saw was only out by maybe 1/16" or so- 1/8" at very worst. I could have cut them all to 1 5/8" and saved a ton of time on lathe turning down to true 1.5". Taking .25" off by hand took forever. Thankfully my buddy showed up and showed me the "auto" lever. That about tripled the speed I was cutting at- as it did it on it's own and just flew through the material. I was worried about going too hard too fast so just did what felt right. Was shocked to see how fast the lathe went in auto mode. That saved a bunch right there, but I'd already done half by hand. Boring was pretty quick with the right milling bit, then just the cleanup stuff. Not hard at all, just time consuming which required a lot of patience.

I looked at an '04 3/4 ton Suburban today- totally different all the way around, but much smaller than what I have on my rig. I'd think those could be turned out in significantly less time. You are correct from what I've seen/read- swapping an allison or a 6L80 or the like will require about a 1" BL to clear due to overall size of the new auto's. They're larger/deeper and won't fit so if you do the swap, yes, a 1" BL would be what you'd want to make it fit. On my Jeep I did a 1" BL to stuff the factory Rubicon case up with my Savvy under armor, which still required significant massaging with the sledge just to fit. When I blew the factory Rubicon case and swapped the Atlas in, even with the 1" BL, I still ended up having to cut out a section of the tub inside- the CV is actually inside the tub now and I built a new tunnel over the top. Big difference in size there. The added benefits of the Atlas though with the 4.3 and twin stick was enough in the Jeep to know I had to have the same or better in Suburban HD. I built the NWF Eco box/twin stick 205 to suit and the 1.25" BL I just made will allow it to be stuffed, yet clocked enough for good angles on the driveshafts, without cutting inside the cab. Have to retain full interior space for the family and gear so this was the only way I could see to pull that off. Just hope I'm able to make everything else work for all the time and work I'll have into this when done. Time will tell....


Best of Luck,

Mike

 

['05TJLWBRUBY]

This is really rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it's a super good feeling to finally have ONE thing checked off the list. Took a bunch of messing around all around the rig, but was able to make everything fit in factory position- including the rear AC lines through the frame.



More to come...

Best of Luck,

Mike

 

[Nosferatu49534]

Some times its the small things.

 

['05TJLWBRUBY]

Well ended up getting pretty sick and back on breathing machine for a bit so progress on the Burb slowed. Back at it again, and unfortunately this part of the build turned into more of a pain in the *** than I had originally thought. Took way more work and way longer than I had anticipated. I'm not done yet, but I finally figured it out and got it to fit. Here's where I started- this hangs well below the receiver hitch-it's right at 17.5" at this point, but tapers down and lower towards the axle:



I learned this beast is much easier to wrestle with when empty. It had roughly 27 gallons in it when I dropped it. Filled up the wife's Subaru, the Jeep, the four wheeler and had two full gas cans left over, plus what I drenched myself in and spilled all over the floor in the process:



Here's what I got out of it with the "42 tuck" - up to a tick over 19":



Now the lowest point in the rear is the receiver as it should be, not my fuel tank:



In the game of clearance, every little bit counts and I'm sure this will prove well worth the work in the end. More to come...

Best of Luck,

Mike

 

[justcuz]

Glad to hear your healthy again and back at it. Hope your respiratory issue is not a permanent condition.

What is involved moving the tank up, raising brackets and hangers? I was just under mine the other day and I thought the tank skidplate bolted to the frame.

 

['05TJLWBRUBY]

Thank you, and yes- unfortunately due to my old job, I'll be fighting respiratory issues rest of my life. Try to stay as healthy as I can, workout daily and stay in some what decent shape, but then the common cold most folks get all but puts me back in ER. It's a struggle and frustrating but good news is I recover faster now than I did back then so that's good.

I don't know what I was thinking with this 42 gal tank tuck. On my Jeep LJ the factory tank hangs some 7"+ below the frame in stock position off the lot. I was able to do a bunch of work back there that was relatively easy and obvious just time consuming and pick up some 4" without going through the floor. On the Jeep, the skid fits the tank like a glove and the straps hold the tank inside the skid, the skid is bolts to the frame. Pretty easy to relocate. The Suburban however is a different story. The plastic skid is just wrapped around lower portion of the steel tank. The straps actually hold the tank up in position- and what I didn't realize when I dropped it was that the main frame cross-members are both built and contoured over the shape of the tank itself- meaning the frame is a form fit and the straps hold it secure from underneath bolting up into the frame.

I had a few ideas to make it quick and easy, but none of them would have worked. Ultimately what I ended up doing was measuring exactly where and how both cross members were located, digital level and angle on both axis across the frame, location, etc. I wanted it to fit exactly like factory just as high as I could get it for ground clearance. I've hit this thing many times before just in our local hills on camping trips so something had to be done. With planned suspension upgrades, hitting this at speed could be disastrous. Anyway, the rear crossmember was cut out flush at the main frame. New plates were added and extra gussets at the frame itself. I raised the rear most crossmember up 1 7/8"- as high as I felt I could physically go without issues. Lots of measurements comparing back to factory and lots of fitment back and forth to get it right then finally breaking out the hot glue gun to set it good. This was the easiest part of the whole deal.

Up front however, the main crossmember there is also the main body mount support and the main shock mount support in factory form. After lots of measuring and angle checking, this one got cut just inside the body mounts with new plate added on both sides. The factory piece was then trimmed to fit proper. The fun began trying to stuff the factory tank back in. With the weird rolled contour and shape of the top of the tank, stuffing up just the 1.5" here ran into everything. Ended up with lots of cutting/grinding on both the new plates and around the body mounts for the main crossmember area and some shaping. After fitting and checking more than a dozen times, finally got the right combo of clearancing to clear the tank contours to fit it in nice and easy with plenty of clearance all around. My plates I burned in are nothing like what they were when I made them the the distances are much greater than I'd originally cut. Crazy what those contours do with just a minor tuck.

Good news is I gained a solid 1.5" at the back and got it up above the receiver making the receiver the low point which is what I wanted. Everything fits factory- straps, fuel filler, lines, wires, etc. I have roughly 1/4" over top of tank at the lines so plenty of clearance there. I'll drop it again today and finish up some welding, add a couple gussets up front for good measure then get it all painted with chassis saver (like por15) and make a couple new straps. I'm not sure how strong those factory straps are and driving 50mph down the freeway is nothing like driving 50mph down rough washboard road. I'm going to make a couple thicker straps to add support to the factory ones for good measure to hold the tank secure so any spirited off-road driving will keep the full 42 gal tank in place rather than allowing the possibility of it dropping out the bottom. I've seen that happen before, and it's ugly so taking a few extra steps on Suburban HD to make sure that can't happen here.

Anyway, thanks for the interest and kind words!

Best of Luck,

Mike

 

[justcuz]

Mike,

Do you use an inspirometer? I don't run and walking does not induce a lot of deep breathing for me. So I use the inspirometer, it is the easiest way to improve and maintain your lung capacity that I have found. About ten breaths a day keeps your lung capacity up and it can be done while watching TV. I know that does not help with infection prevention, but the excercises do keep the airways open and fluid from building up in your lungs.

As far as the fuel tank I have a skid plate on my 93 I'm pretty sure. I'll get back with a picture if I do so maybe you can pick one up from the wrecking yard to protect the tank even more.

 

['05TJLWBRUBY]

Actually now that you mention it, I do have one in the closet mixed in with all the medical crap. Good idea, haven't used that in a while. I have a incline trainer I use a lot. Don't run on it, but move it up to a 30% incline and do a brisk walk. That helps a lot. I think that's a lot of what helps me recover quicker now.

I believe you're correct with the skid on your '93. We've had a number of Suburbans over the years in the family and I seem to recall a thin bolt on cover skid at one point. Very similar style to what early TJs used. The one on mine now is just plastic and more of an abrasion guard than anything. I've got it up high enough now that I think I can build a flat skid pretty easy to help with dent prevention and save the tank a bit. I picked up a couple sheets of some aluminum a while back for another project that got abandoned to go another direction. That might be a good use for it as I'm tired of looking at it. Gotta try and finish up the final welding and get the frame coated this weekend. While it's out, probably a great time to take care of the fuel pump and lines back there. 1997 was a few years ago and I'm sure a new update in that department would be welcome addition. Guess I need to start researching fuel pumps and what a healthy 454 requires to avoid hassle later on.

Best of Luck,

Mike