I love your rig
@arveetek. Very nicely built and a rare rig indeed!
@Gummee, I may be a little biased, but I think a 2dr GMT400 Blazer/Tahoe/Yukon would make a nice rig for what you want to do, like
@phsycle said, throw a sleeping bag in the back and try it out. I agree with all of these posts. I'd tackle the normal suspects on all GMT400s: I'd also add a pre-emptive fuel pump replacement to that list (if theres no known record of it ever being replaced) as it seems like several of the gmt400 owners I know locally have had this issue at some point.
If you keep the tires reasonable and accept that lifting a GMT400 truck isn’t worth the headache, you’ll do fine. If you want anything bigger than a 33ish tire you need to do a solid axle swap. If you want to lift it, you’re money ahead to just solid axle swap it. The whole front end is a huge weak point in these trucks and are not very stout. I’m running 31’s on mine with a completely rebuilt front end. Pretty impressive where the truck goes with a stockish setup. My truck is a long bed so a Blazer should do better.
@Gummee, I know you didn't ask about lifts, but I also know that's something most folks gravitate towards on these rigs, myself included. Reluctantly, but logically and after my own research over the past few years, totally agree with
@jonathon about lifting the suspension a GMT400. I've gone through the whole thought process of this on my own '92 K1500 RCSB and have looked at different rigs and talked with a bunch of different folks about it from simple body lifts to full strait axle swaps. Originally I was planning to do a "3 inch" suspension lift kit myself with new, aftermarket upper control arms, a slight front differential drop and longer shocks up front and a slight lift shackle in the rear. The more research I did the less I was happy I was due to steep lower ball-joint angles and a lot of cost for very little result. This can also be said about lifting other torsion-bar equipped IFS rigs (think older F-150s for example).
With that said, many people are happy with the various 4" and 6" diff-drop lift kits,
@Spargman on here built a nice 4dr Tahoe with a 4" IFS lift (check out
https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/99-tahoe-expedition-build.74594/), which is the next option, with Rough Country's seeming to be the most popular. With those you gain body height and better approach/departure angle but the ground clearance at the front differential and IFS stays the same. You then have to deal with the torsion bars hanging down which affects the break-over angle unless you're able to get some of the "Reallift" torsion bar re-locators to tuck them up back into the frame. Like any modification to any rig, there's up and downsides and your mileage and need may vary.
I've been very happy with the ground clearance and capability of my own truck on 285/75R16s (just a hair shy of 33") all terrain tires. Its setup very similarly to
@arveetek's rig. They are surprisingly capable in stock form and with some sort of a locker out back, can go just about anywhere (within reason). Another good thread for inspiration is
@vargsmetal's K1500 thread
https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/my-1990-chevy-k1500.202936/ He had a ton of fun with a mostly stock suspension rig as well.
Best of luck and keep us posted on if you come home with a new rig!
Another perk is that the diesel option will come with the 4L80E transmission.
