97 Suburban to Crew Build: One Piece At a Time

[Dub_X]

Well, it begins. The double-cab idea was officially scrapped. Instead, we picked up the beginning of our next project. This one is going to be VERY similar to Chris Johnson's Suburban/Ext. Cab Shortbed build, but not quite the same. We're taking a a suburban, cutting it a little farther back, grafting in a back cab piece, extending the frame, and adding a shortbed. And we will eventually convert this to a 4WD truck.

Anyway. It starts with a 1997 Chevrolet Suburban 1500. Was hit hard in the front end. No front clip except a busted hood and fender. We can cover that. Will have to fix the frame a little, not much to do there. The interior was stripped a lot, no steering column, no wiring harnesses. No problems. We have that covered. No driver's side doors - front or back. They can be replaced. We have a front seat we can put back in it - so not an issue. No motor, no trans, we'll have that problem fixed. Here's the pics of the Suburban.







Our donor truck, which is where the front seats, extra frame, dash, steering column, and wiring are coming out of, is a 1998 Chevy C-1500 ext. cab, that was T-boned HARD on the passenger side.







We've got a lot of work ahead of us. And this is going to be a very time-consuming build and project. But, when it's all said and done, this is going to be one bad ass beast.

[chevy_man5]

Looks like you have a good base to start with Will! I have been toying with something along these lines for a couple of years now. I was thinking about trying to do the back of the cab like a new avalanche.

[Dub_X]

Lol, if you go look at Chris Johnson's build called Grafted In, this will be VERY similar to that. She's going to be a project, as we have to replace the wiring harness, the dash, steering column, etc. Something interesting we're thinking about doing is putting a '99-'02 Chevy front clip on it. I think that might look neat.

[chevy_man5]

I saw a kit where the put a 60-66 fiberglass front clip on a newer truck. It was different. Not something I would do, but neat to look at.

http://www.eccap.com/central-city-au...umbus-ohio.htm


The 99-02 clip should be just different enough to mess with people. LOL

[Dub_X]

Yeah I'm not into fiberglass front clip kits lol. If my truck looks 60-66, then you can bet your ass it IS a 60-66, not an '88-'98 with a kit lmao. But yes, the '99-'02 clip is definitely gonna screw with someone's head lol. See it at car shows and at first glance they go "hey, '99-'02 burb. looks badass" then they look at the body and go "WHAT THE HELL?!" Lmao. Another plan for this one, is we're gonna convert it to a solid front axle 4WD if we can.

[TowwDogg]

It will Have a solid front axle but were not in any hurry to build this one. The 50/50 will get started/finished first.

[Dub_X]

Can I have an admin shut this thread down? The truck got scrapped.