Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Thanks guys, I'm slowly getting rid of my remaining rusted dirty parts. I look forward to the day I get to bolt this back together as clean painted parts.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Nice work on the rear end. I took the easy route and bought a moser 9" for my truck project. But threads like this get my juices flowing. I have a 71 Camaro on deck and I'm thinking I will rebuild the stock rear end on that.

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Yes, had I been able to use my stock axles I would have been money ahead. It really was not all that thought. I learned a lot. Sometimes the easy route is also the smart route...

Thanks
Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

That's one good lookin rear end

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

I put a little garage time today. I re-installed the rear end. It confirmed some things and identified some new challenges...Ok so for the good. It looks like my measurements to shorten the rearend were spot on. With my current 10" wide rims they almost fit I knew it would be very tight. I will planned to drop down to a 9" wide rim to give me some more room.

The bad.......I failed to realize the position of the rear brake caliper on the rearend hits the frame. In this case it puts it right into the notch which limits how much I can lower it. The solutions for this...I will rotate the OE bracket and dust shield on the rearend and re-rill the mounting holes...This will move the caliper out of the notch.

With all my work my rear runningboard is about 1 1/2" from laying out in the back. It seems as it the bags are holding it up. The bags wont collapse anymore. I will pull the bags out totally just to confirm that the bags are limiting it from laying out. The clearance in the body seems to have done the trick to create enough clearance for the wheel to go up into the body. One other thing that will help to fully layout is the tire size that I will go with for the 22's will be almost 1/2" shorter in diameter.

Here are a few pics

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

One more pic of just a wheel detail shot.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Lookin' good

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

looks great. are you sure your caliper isn't holding you up and not the bag?

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Marc I am glad the caliper rotation will fix the interference issue. Before I saw your solution my first thought was ..."Oh crap"... Looking good!

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Thank you

It was in the picture but I removed it and it still bottoms out on the bag.

Yes I'm hoping it is an easy fix. I will need to pull the rear end and take the axles out again....I spoke with Nate at Porterbuilt on Saturday and he is going to make me some new lower bag mounts to allow this to layout. He is determined to get this to layout the way I want it...His words...He is a stand up guy and has been very helpful through this whole build. I will have to cut the current ones off, so I will have to pull the rear end for that anyway..

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Looks good, glad you have figured out a game plan to get it all to fit and layed out just right. Waiting to see!!

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Looks good!!
No doubt you fix the caliper issue!

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

I like where this is going

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

.

Thanks, I'm gaining. I have the driver side pocket almost finish welded. I also have the metal cut for the passenger side. Fingers crossed but these wheel pockets that I created up in the body might just work. It is hard to explain but I have taken some pics that I will share once I get the final welding done.

Thanks man, kind of figuring it out as I go...

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Kees, I'm glad your so confident...ha ha

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Just wondering Marc but if you had known about your caliper clearance issue could you have "clocked" the axle ends when you had it narrowed? To rotate the caliper

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Looks pretty nice! Are those wheels shown in the pics the 22's you are going to be using? Would 20's get you on the ground easier?

keep it going!

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Yes I could have (you know what they say about hindsight). By re-drilling the backing plates I can get it more precise because I would still be guessing and hoping the axles where clocked correctly and even from side to side

No these are 20's off of my 48 truck with 275/45/20 tires (29.75" diam). If I go with 22's I will drop the tire size down to 265/35/22 (29.44 dia). That will help the width of the tire fitting into the body and it will help with laying out as it's a smaller overall diameter.. A win - win of sorts.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

So I have been out in the garage quite a bit lately. I have been concentrating on the rear wheel well area. If you remember I cut a some body structure out of the way to allow the tire to go up into the body to allow me to layout on 22" rims. After I cut enough of the wheelwell I reinforced the opening with new metal to add strength back. At some point I will treat with rust guard then seam sealer before I add raptor bed liner to the whole underside of the body and fenders.

Next I needed to clearance the top of the fender the same width of the pocket so that wheel would not be limited by the top of the fender when I laid out. I then reinforced the fender area I removed with round stock to help add strength back the new opening as well as creating a smooth fender edge. One challenge that identified itself during this process was when I removed the top of the fender it left me with a sizeable gap between the body and the fender. In this process I lost one bolt hole from the new fender pocket. I'm guessing this is why the gap seems to prominent. I personally hate fender welding. I like using strip caulk between the body and fenders. I did this on my 48. I needed to add some metal to the top of the fender to help close this gap. I was just trial fitting. I will go back and finish weld at some point.

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

More pics to help explain my progress.

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

A couple more..

I then mounted the wheels and bolted up the rear fender to push it out of the garage to take a better look. I wish I had less gap between the tire sidewall and the edge of the fender. Oh well I guess this in another compromise when running large wheels and trying to lay out. I cant push the wheels out father to the outside because the wheels need to tuck up inside the Suburban body when it airs out.

Now I just need to do the same fender mods to the passenger side.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Nice work Marc, looking good...Jim

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Great job - that looks awesome!

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

It looks fantastic!!
Really nice work!

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Thanks guys!!

Marc