Requesting some advice on Suburban

[Kpearson]

Good evening folks,

First post to the forum, and it's of course all questions haha.

So I have a solid line on a 1995 Suburban with 268,000 miles (430,000 km for us canucks) From the looks of it, the previous owner already installed a small lift/levelling kit. Has the 5.7 4L80E combo. And it has the tailgate configuration.

Coming from a dodge background I know nothing of this configuration. Would it be something to jump on right away?
What's the drawback to the tailgate configuration? I saw some other posts and a few posters were poking some light hearted fun about them.
If the vehicle has the 14B 8 lug rear axle, does that make it the 2500?
With the vehicle being of this vintage, it is showing some signs of the typical Canadian winter road salt battle scars. The rockers seem to be in decent shape, but the bottom skirts of the doors are starting to get crunchy.

I am having the dilemma of either getting this and piling some funds into it for a moderate overland rig, or take all the funds and finish up my 96 ram 2500 (gas not diesel). The other hold back that I have, is the lack of aftermarket stuff for the burbs such as bumpers and roof racks. So any advice at all would be extremely helpful as I enter in this adventure. Feeling like a baby giraffe with the wobbly legs and all getting into all this haha.

Thanks a bunch

 

[Martinjmpr]

I've always preferred the tailgate to the barn doors. The barn doors LOOK salty and tough but the only advantage I can think of is that you can load the back of the truck without having to go over a tailgate. You can also potentially carry a gas can or a spare tire on the barn doors themselves (although I don't know if the hinges on the barn doors are strong enough to support that weight for very long.)

Advantages of a tailgate are many. Besides the obvious of being able to sit on it or use it as a table, you can leave the tailgate down if you are carrying extra-long lumber in the back, it's easier to see out of the back window since there's not a big divider in the middle, you can have a washer/wiper on the back window of the tailgate, which you can't on the barn door model, you can open the upper window to put in or remove cargo without opening the tailgate (which is nice if you are connected to a trailer), etc.

 

[02TahoeMD]

Hi there, welcome aboard. The 14 bolt axle is an indicator of a 2500 series truck. They would also have an 8 bolt pattern on the wheels. It all depends on the price of the sale if you were to go ahead and buy it or not. The mileage is about "mid" life for these Chevy trucks, with proper care they can easily see 350K miles and more. There is a large amount of support for the vehicle as far as replacement parts and body panels, my biggest concern to check would be the integrity of the frame. Classic Industries would be a great place to look for replacement parts / panels. As for aftermarket goodies, they can be found, a bit easier than stuff made for the GMT800 series truck like I have. The good thing with the body lines of the 95 Suburban is that they are still very truck like and you could get stuff for the Chevy pickup trucks and even the full size older Blazers to fit on it, with little to no modification.

The Suburban is a very comfortable long distance hauler with ample storage space in the back, capable of being made into a mini-camper if you want. I drove that body style all over the American West in the 90s and really liked it. If you want more ideas about what an interior of a Suburban is capable of please check out Suboverland, they are an upfitter of Chevy SUV's.

All that said, it is often cheaper to just stay with the vehicle you already own and just work on that.

 

[Kpearson]

So far I have them down to 1500 bucks. Although I like my big ugly (the dodge), it'd take a fair amount more time and money to get it where I want it. It was used as a farm vehicle for quite a while. So it'd need a newer box, body repair and paint, the list goes on and on lol. I initially tried to find a decent Excursion, but decent ones were way out of range. After seeing dadvan_overland posting his X it started me on the mission so to speak. Would anyone on here be able to give me an idea of what they would be like as an overland?

 

[john61ct]

Wow cheap if the drivetrain's solid

Sent from my moto g power (XT2041DL) using Tapatalk

 

[dvn4life1972]

That body style looks way better IMO than the newer ones 2000-2006. GM uses 14 bolt axles (full float) on 2500 models. If it has one, it's either a factory 2500 or it's had a rear axle swap.

 

[thebmrust]

I’m way late but $1500 for a 2500 is a steal. Yes you’ll need to drop more money to get it where you want it, but wow insane price for what it’s capable of.

also, from the back of the drivers seat to the inside tailgate is 8 feet. Width is 4 feet. That’s a lot of space to build in.

 

[96Suburban]

The GMT400 Suburbans had the 42 gallon tank too, so you have quite a bit of range.

 

[Grassland]

I want to live where a 1995 anything isn't rusted apart and every bolt and nuts not seized into a homogeneous block of iron oxide.

 

[Buddha.]

I want to live where a 1995 anything isn't rusted apart and every bolt and nuts not seized into a homogeneous block of iron oxide.

Right? Around here a 2005 would be on its last leg.

 

[john61ct]

Not that expensive to fly to the southwest for the right example.

An 8.1L model I would assume I have to fly to check it out, maybe even have it flatbedded cross country