New project

[treyball20]

My brother and I have bought another suburban to work on. We have 2 one is the red one I posted photos of a few weeks ago. We have one that the body is in really poor shape but mechanically it is as sound as you can get. We have always wanted it to look nice from the outside, so about two weeks ago Joe, brother, found a nice looking suburban that was for sale. We called the guy and found out that motor was blown, perfect for us. We got him down to 500, so last weekend we went and picked it up and now have project to get finished before bear season, may 1st. We are going to pull the engine, transmission, transfer case, front end, rear end, and lift off our one suburban and put it all into the one we have just bought. I will be posting photos as we get started in the next few weeks.

[Buckrub]

LOTSA work. Ugh. I hate work.

But....sounds like it'd be a great project.

[Big Skyz]

I can't wait to see this! I'm sure it will turn out great.

[treyball20]

Update: The lift as been ordered we went with a super lift 6". We called a few other lift companies, but super lift was the only ones that knew what we were talking about and they had free shipping on the order. Nothing from the motor to the drive lines are stock, getting someone that knew what they were talking about was kinda difficult. This weekend we are going to start taking out the motor, transmission, and transfer case out of the blue suburban and hope to have the motor from the white pulled and into the blue one by the end of the weekend. I will take pictures of the process this weekend and post next week.

[Bwana]

Sounds like a labor of love for you and your brother. Sounds like it will be bad-ass when complete.

[treyball20]

After the weekend we didn't get as much finished as we hoped ONE thing got in our way it was my sister-in-laws birthday so that limited us to just a few hours of working on the suburban. We were able to pull the engine, transmission and transfer case out of the blue one. Here are a few photos:
The one we are putting everything in:
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Here is our progress after a few hours of working on it yesterday:
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The one we are taking everything out of:
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[Niner]

Y'all gonna put that bumper and winch on the blue Burb?

[Thumper]

I've had three old 4WD Suburbans from that era. They're real workhorses. The last one I had, I flew to Texas and bought it from Archer's sister and BIL, then drove it back to Florida. They'd built a new house and didn't have room for it, so I snagged it.

I wonder what that little shithead is up to these days? Haven't heard from him in ages. (Archer)

Anyway, good luck with the project. It looks like the kind of thing I used to love doing ... but I'm to the point I don't even change my own oil anymore.

[Chicken Dinner]

Keep us posted. I love these sorts of projects and they always make me wish I was more handy with that sort of stuff.

[treyball20]

I am sure the town is thinking we are starting a junk yard we have 3 suburban sitting around his house right now. Yes we are taking the bumper and winch off. The plan is to take the engine, transmission, transfer case, front end, rear end, body lift, and drive lines out of the white one and put into the blue one. We really just bought the blue for the body. We ordered a new lift as the one on the white one is not in good shape and not tall enough. We have to convert the blue one to a manual transmission, done it twice, which will be difficult as the clutch hangs right under the dash and is hard to get to. I am sure we will run into other problems that we weren't expecting but should be a fun project.

[treyball20]

I forgot my phone at home so I will post photos later. We have completed the blue Suburban. On Friday the engine, tranny, and transfer case went in pretty easily no major issues. On Saturday we got the clutch finished up, it being a automatic we had to hang pedals and take apart the dash. Sunday, long day, we put in the front and rear ends and added a lift. We had to take the front end and rear end out of the blue and put into the white one we could tow it to the junk yard. Also got the exhaust all hooked up, bleed the brakes, and checked all the fluid levels. We still have some minor things to do to it, so I am guessing in the next week it will be completely finished up.

[Big Skyz]

Wow, you guys are moving right along. Pretty darn quick too I might add!

[treyball20]

Sorry it took so long to get a couple photos of it finished up since basketball ended it seems like I am even more busy. We put a few things on this last Friday. It has been a lot of work, but we did finish it in time for bear season. Over the weekend we went to one of our bait sites and there are tracks getting excited for the spring season to get here.
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[LJ3]

For the love of all that's holy put some shoes on that thing! :)

Looks strong!

[treyball20]

Len,
those are our summer tires, 34", during hunting season we run 39". We do that for both of our suburbans in the summer you don't need the bigger tires. We get some weird looks during the summer when the tires aren't in the wheel wells.

[Fido]

What gear do you have for the big tired?

[treyball20]

We have 4.56 gears and the manual helps as well.

[Buckrub]

What a beast.

[Big Skyz]

Jim, I love the way you and your brother prioritize function and practicality over shiny and pretty. Buckrub is correct you have a beast 4x4 there.

[LJ3]

Totally agree BS. I'm curious though, maybe you guys need to school me here, when you raise the center of gravity significantly on a truck like that, doesn't it make sense to widen the footprint stance a bit to compensate and lessen the chance of rollover?

[Bwana]

Hey Len, I too was thinking the Blue Beast looked susceptible to tipping over.

[treyball20]

With the higher center of gravity it does make it easier to roll, however the suspension has MUCH MUCH more travel then a stock vehicle. I guess it is like a toy monster truck that you can move the cab of the truck back and forth and the tires stay on the ground. With the extra travel in the suspension I have never felt like I was going to roll.

[BarryBobPosthole]

What a fishin' buggy!

BKB