1994 Suburban - bodied on custom frame

[jbjburbs]

So I will begin round 3 of building a bagged Suburban with this thread. I tried to done in college, and sold it to pay for my wedding. I tried again a couple years later, and traded it for a bodied Tahoe. I sold the Tahoe to pay some bills while renovating a 130 yr old house for my growing family. So, I don't have very good track record, but this time I plan to end a little differently...

The story on this truck is that it was started by an employee of a pretty well known shop in Texas (won't name names at this point, but they turn out quality stuff). Anyway, he got side tracked with the natural phases of life and it sat around for while. I saw it online, and eventually got the nerve to take my truck and 2 brothers on 2,100 mile road to pick it up. We drove about 17hrs one way to get this thing, but the quality and deal made it worth it (so far). It's got a long way to go, so bear with me here.

1st pic - what they started with.
2nd pic - tow pig and truck on trailer
3rd pic - our most frequent stop (gas)
4th pic - gotta eat, right?
5th pic - more of the sub as it sat on the trailer

[jbjburbs]

Now, the frame is custom built 1/4in 2x4 square tube and it was setup for 24/26 combo (I haven't decided on wheels at this time...). The front has uniballs with custom upper and lower control arms. The rear is a 2-link with H bar and rear lift bars (cantilever-ish). They kept as much of the stock floor as the could, and only cut our for the notch, drive shaft, and rear section of the frame. The drivetrain is stock right now.

The pics below are from their site as they were working.

1st - rails on frame table
2nd - rails again
3rd - body mounts on the rails
4th - round tube crossbars in the rear
5th - drive shaft inside

[jbjburbs]

Here are some of the shots since it's been in my garage... I haven't had time to do much of anything, but you know how it is.

Included a shot of the carnage from the old frame..

[jbjburbs]

Ok, last one for today. I grabbed a couple more shots from the guy that did the fab work. Here are the spindles (both are now finished), rear setup, and the burb on the lift with 24s.

[91short]

Looks good, hope to see some more progress!

[jbjburbs]

Pulled out some left over 20s from an old project. This wheel/tire combo is 29in overall in diameter and the burb makes them look tiny...

I don't do much work, just slipped the wheels on and cycled the suspension some. Checking things out and see where things fit...

[61_FL_Apache]

Nice work on the frame!

[jbjburbs]

I haven't touched the burb outside of cleaning up the inside and ordering some odds and ends. I've got enough parts to put some bags in and T some lines, so I can play with the travel and such. Just need to find time.

I've been a little side tracked with my newest truck, 2003 Envoy XL on Trailblazers SS wheels laying frame. Truck is a v8 with leather and 165k miles. It's a little less complete than I thought, but will make a good 2nd vehicle. I drove about 6hrs round trip to Camp n Drag in Waveland In a couple weeks ago. My brother's badass 03 Blazer is sitting next to me here.

[jbjburbs]

Wow, been a while.

The Envoy is gone, but it was replaced with a 1985 Suburban Scottsdale that has just over 100k miles. 2wd truck with no options, but I've added some stereo equipment, a new dashpad, some exhaust (headers back), a drop kit, and some 20s. Some the longer trips with it include Layd out at the Park in Morristown, TN, Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Ky (with the wife an kids), and Slamology in Indianapolis, IN. I drive it all time locally.

Here's a pic, the top is when it came home and bottom is the 1 yr mark.

[jbjburbs]

OK, now back to the burb. To be honest, I haven't done much to it other than work on some templates for sheet metal in the rear. I haven't moved to metal as I'm dragging my feet on a fuel cell and that could impact the floor layout.

I moved the front bag mount some from inside the frame to outside (almost centered with fitting on outside). This setup should leave room for a shock inside the upper control arms yet keeping a good turning radius. If my numbers are right I'm looking at 4in ride height with 30" combo with full turn. Keeping the bag close to the frame will still get good lift, too.

I don't have pics of the front, but I'll snap some once the new plates are tacked.

[jbjburbs]

So annual post updates.. Not much has happened, but I did get the truck moved to my brother's where it will get a lot more attention. I picked up a new rear end out of a Buick Roadmaster that is 3" narrower than stock and has 5x5 pattern (like the 90s Caprices), so I'll replace the super narrowed rear end I got the truck with. Original builder was looking at like 15" billets, and I'm not on that level. Along the same lines we're building new trailing arms as the originals were built like 26s and barely clear the ground on my planned setup. Good news is my brother is an engineer, so he CAD drew my setup..

So we get that sorted and then he'll start sheet metal work and building a gas tank. True roller status isn't far, but I'm his timeline while he builds his 51 Chevy too.

[DZL1]

Thanks for sharing! Keep up the good work.

[jbjburbs]

So got the new rear end mocked up last weekend, which meant cutting off the old brackets, pulling the other rear end out, and moving some mounts around. Not a bad day's work, something 90% of people will be never know about.

[LT7A]

Glad to see this one is still in the works. Looks like good fab work that came out of Texas.

[jbjburbs]

I'm little ahead of my annual post, but my brother was able to get the new rear end mocked up. We adjusted the rear arms for more clearance for the 22s I'll run vs the 24/26s the original builder was planning on. He got the shocks and panhard bar mocked up out back too. He was able to finalize the mock up front, so the burb has air on all 4 corners for the 1st since I brought it home! truck gets to ride height with only about 50-60lbs on t'd lines too.

We've got some plans for fuel cell and sheetmetal outback, but he needed space in his shop for some other customers and I did kind of spent my funds elsewhere. 07 yukon xl bagged on 26s bc why not?

And since I posted my 85 before, here's an update on the that guy too. Yes, I have a burb fetish currently owning my 85, 94, 01, 07 (yukon xl), and my wife's 11... don't you judge me!

[Stormin08]

just out of curiosity, what kind of turn radius do you have with the uniballs flipped like that ?

for me, that is a first...but i have used them in the traditional fashion, just never like that, so i never thought to see what type of radius that equates to.

[jbjburbs]

Originally Posted by Stormin08

just out of curiosity, what kind of turn radius do you have with the uniballs flipped like that ?

for me, that is a first...but i have used them in the traditional fashion, just never like that, so i never thought to see what type of radius that equates to.

I can't give you an exact number. I never measure the angles or anything, but just turning the wheels by hand I get into the frame rails before the uniballs are maxed out. I will likely have to limit the steering because of the narrowed arms before the uniballs, if that makes sense.

[Stormin08]

it does, i am considering making a set of upper and lower arms with a decreased track width, not much...but about 3/8" each side, and this is now a new take on that.