bagged burb project..

[jbjburbs]

This my 94 burban i bought. the guy before me did most of the work, and i thought i had more time to build this project right... not the case, but i found another solution and i will post that later...

[jbjburbs]

more pics.. had to photo shop (too big to post). notice the last couple pics.. the sub in the background is my next project, dad's old one. he has a 72 sub he wants to replace it..

[jbjburbs]

Well, I'm back online my first year of a new career and marriage kept me from this forum...the 94 burban is gone, but I just replaced it with a 1996 GMC Burban

[jbjburbs]

Here are some pictures of the new burban...

[jbjburbs]

Sorry, not very organized, but here are some of the plans....

Full airride w/digital controls
ART upper and lower A-arms
custom cups up front to lay the cross member
KP Component bolt-on 4link and cantilever kit for the rear
modified to fit the burban rather than the pick-up (i'll document this closely)
Minimal floor cutting, but truck should lay frame in the rear
rhino lining as under coating
powder coated frame/axel/etc...
Flat black paint
22in wheels/tires
bigger brakes at some point
some audio (nothing over the top)

I have suspension parts in hand and the rear on order, so hopefully I will start there and work up. The truck is from northern Ohio, so it clean but the frame is rusty (hence powder coat). The suspension parts will be laid out and configured, cutting will follow, then i'll pull the body off the frame and work on body work while the frame is out. I hope to see street time this summer, but who knows... I'll try to be more faithful to this thread as i find frustrating to find very little build threads on Suburbans.

[tvblazer78]

Very Cool! I will be keeping my eyes on this one, I would like to do this to my Tahoe down the road.

[ChevLoRay]

Guess there ain't nuthin' like dragging hitch receiver, huh?

Interesting project. Keep us posted.

[jbjburbs]

Alright guys... i've been gone for a little bit, but i've been busy. I got my ART upper and lower control arms installed. I also have my KP kit on hand. We just finished playing with the front today. It doesn't lay near low enough, so i'm trying to get some drop spindles and i might be shortening my cups for get some more drop.

The kp kit install will come later, and i have picks of front progress and will post tomorrow.

[Restrorob]

I'm along for the ride !!!

[89muscletruck]

nice

[19723DR]

You've got to love Suburans. Looks good.

[jbjburbs]

Here are some progress picks so far, but i need drop spindles (duh). I'm also at crossroads as my sensible side says keep within reason and my not so sensible side says not low enough...LAY ROCKER!!

[jbjburbs]

parts going in and front shot before removing.

[jbjburbs]

took the inner fenders out... replaced the stock with the new. i forgot to take picture with the wheel off, but i'll get one sometime. By the way... the cups were made by my dad and i and we will probably be cutting them down, but right now they're just like ART's cups only thicker walls.

[jbjburbs]

Once everything was in the front cross member is about 4in from the ground completely aired out (i was a little dissappointed), but it works just like ART wants as everything would work great with inner fenders and a stock setup. I will be getting 2in drop spindles (i'd like 3in, but they only make them for 3500s??) and like i said before we might cut a little off the cups too. However, the lca and tie rod end around about 1/2 to 1/4 away from the frame now, so it would need notching....and my cross roads...

[jbjburbs]

O yea the boxes hold everything for the rear...but i'm still debating on how drastic i want this truck. the body sits about 2in higher than the frame, so with 2in drop spindles i would have roughly 2in between frame and ground with about 4in between the ground and body... if i cut the cups a couple inches and notch the frame then i lay and body (rocker) is about 2 inches from the ground. I could body drop the truck 3in and leave the cups alone..i also noticed about an inch between the body and top frame rail...cut the mounts an inch short?

I can't decide as i'l like to drive this sub daily and sell my tahoe, but if it's too extreme than that would be dumb...opinions?

[jbjburbs]

Started on the rear destruction...i have a shot of the rear before we tore into it, one after all big stuff came, and the last is one of 4 riveted mounts that have to go..We started to mock fit the KP kit and finding the difference between a pick-up and suburban.. but it's still relatively close. I'll post more as we get closer.

[jbjburbs]

Got most the stuff out of the way and started mocking up the 4 link and cantilever kit from KP. Talked to them before ordering and i knew we would be close to fitting, but not a direct bolt-on. What I've found out:

1. The leaf springs are shorter on the suburban, so the front mounts need to be moved up on the frame.
2. the front brackets work better if you flip them over and switch sides..driver to pass and pass to driver. It provides better clearance and keeps the bracket more centered in the frame.
3. the cantilever kit will have 2 bolts that line and the rest need to be drilled.

We're going make 6"x14"x1/4" plate and weld the kp brackets to it. then we will drill and bolt the plate to the frame. Since the pickup brackets don't line up for a suburban and redrilling holes would be putting a lot of force in spot we figured our plate would be much stronger.

For the cantilever in the back we're planning to put a plate on the inside of the frame rails with the nuts welded to it. This way running the bolts in will be much easier since the gas tank in they way and some of the rear frame is boxed.

We will also make probably be making a custom bracket for the panhard bar, too. I will take better pictures once we pull the frame from the suburban.

Now this is a lot work for a bolt-on kit, but keep in mind the kit we bought was intended for completely different truck. I bought this setup knowing i would have to workout some kinks, but i also knew it would strong, reliable and very close to what i needed. A bolt-on kit is only putting wholes in the frame, so the truck could be returned to stock and/or upgraded rather easily.

[jbjburbs]

here are some pictures of our work, a couple shots of what ride height should be and a kp 4 link and cantilever kit... i'll better ones once we pull it apart again..

[Restrorob]

Sometimes it's easier to modify a existing part than build one from scratch....

It's coming along well, Keep up the good work !

[jbjburbs]

blizzard hit ohio and slowed progress. i'm to a point where the shop needs a cleaning and stuff needs moved around. the 4link is almost in far enough to roll the frame from under the body and start the cleaning, cutting, drilling, etc...attached are a couple pics of the plates for mounting the 4link..

[jbjburbs]

almost forgot... the guy i sold the old suburban to (first series of pics) sent me some update shots... not the direction i was going, but looks sweet..

[Restrorob]

Dang.... That's a BIG difference for sure !!!







Can ya say.... Nose bleed ?


Lookin good thus far, Keep the pics comin....

[scotts62]

Hey thats a pretty cool build you have going , ill keep checking on this one

[jbjburbs]

well progress is still slow..damn snow. dad and i decided we had to get the sub rolling again because our drivers need some maintenance. today we tacked the new plate and bolt-on bracket together, welded some 3in spacers between the frame rails and rear axels. we also added some tabs to the spacers to told the rear end in place when we're motoring it in the drive way..i got some some pics on what will be ride height and the burban was back on all 4's for the first time in a couple months..