66 GMC Suburban questions

[SBTork]

I have a friend that is looking at possibly buying a '66 GMC Suburban. It has the 305 V6, manual transmission(unsure which), and a heavy duty suspension set-up. Nothing special, just 2wd heavy duty stock stuff. Im curious, what are the suspension conversions to get coil front and a modern rear end in it? Does it already have coil front? Can a '73-'91 2wd frame be used? Has anyone done this before? Can the front crossmember and suspension parts from a '73-'91 be bolted directly to the stock '66 frame?
As im sure all of you can tell, I do not know much about the mid-60's truck, suspension wise, but want to learn. Thanks in advance for any info.

[protrash64]

The front is coil, if 2wd. The crossmember swap works as does swapping just the control arms; they bolt right on. GMC usually had rear leaf springs. Get whatever rear end you want and weld on the spring pads and bolt it on. If the truck has coils, you can do the same as the canted trailing arm pads are also available.

Newer rears are wider than the original 60-66, so watch wheel/tire fitment.

[SBTork]

Thanks for the reply. So it seems the suspension set-ups are almost the same. That's good to know, makes updating it for reliability a lot less stressful.

[LILRED66]

The factory suspension does not have to be updated for reliability. A properly maintained and aligned suspension is not only reliable, but also very adequate. Due to the low production numbers of Suburbans in 1966, an unmolested survivor with the original running gear is becoming more and more rare, thus the appreciation effect applies.

[SBTork]

Thanks for the reply. The more I learn about these 60'-66' trucks the more I like 'em.