(Another) Forest Living Suburban Build Thread

[Burb One]

Hey All-

So update.
Please Welcome BurbThree


It seems everyone who has anything bigger than a jeep who get a ride in the coilover burb off road has decided to go out and buy and make one.

We also have MiniBurb


Only done one or two trips the past few months. Not much to report. Unless the weather is bad, we just don't have any problems or get stuck anymore. Now focusing on getting all three rigs ready for the summer. In a few weeks there will be three coil over suburbans with 2500 running gear and lockers hitting the trails. We will be testing in June for a few trips for a July or August Rubicon Trip, so stay tuned. I can't find much info of much other stock looking fullsize making it, so we're excited. We'll have a local friend who has run the trail quite a few times lead us and he is confident. it'll be interesting....

Anyway- only a few changes for my truck planned (BurbTwo and BurbThree need 2500 diffs, and a few odds and ends)

My changes/ Notes:
Falken At3's in 35/12.5/17. I think I've decided they are the best tire I have ever owned. Seriously. BurbTwo (and BurbThree) has them as well as the amount of grip they have is amazing in snow, mud, dirt, sand etc. love them
Did some reinforcements for the rear control arms, sway bar mount skids with 1/4 or 1/2 inch metal plates)
Making a pinion guard for the 14 bolt SF
I think we have a workable plan for the gas tank.
Did the GMT900 brake upgrade, holy ******** they are HUGE font rotors.

Once we complete the trucks and all the changes I'll post some pictures. Then get a bunch on trail during the summer

Just a pic of the truck flying:




BurbOne and BurbTwo in camp, with my buddies homebrew off road trailer pulled by his FJ

 

[CrazyDrei]

For ease of reference later on- copied form a response I did elsewhere.

This is how to find a 14 bolt 9.5 that will bolt into a 1500 GMT800 with matching 6 lugs:


Burbone's How to find a 14 bolt for a 2000- 2006 GMT-800 1500 6 lug with coil springs

http://car-part.com/
2007
GMC Yukon XL 1500
Axle Assy Rear
(Your zipcode)
Press search
Pick one:
9-1/2" ring gear (14 bolt), 3.42 axle ratio (opt GU6)
9-1/2" ring gear (14 bolt), 4.10 ratio (opt GT5)
Optional: G80 will have the locker

\yelling\ MAKE SURE TO BEFORE BUYING OR SHOWING UP TO HAVE THEM TAKE PICTURES OF BOTH THE COIL SPRING PERCH, THE BACK OF THE HOUSING CLEARLY SHOWING 14 BOLTS, AND THE 6 LUGS. DON'T BOTHER GOING TO PICK IT UP OR PAY FOR IT UNLESS YOU ARE SURE IT'S THE RIGHT ONE /yelling/. Sorry the first one I drove 40 mins to had the wrong axle listed and was a 10 bolt.

Burb One,

You are my hero, this would be an awesome upgrade to the 10-bolt and will work better with a Detroit Locker or an ARB air locker than a 10-bolt. BTW your rear 4 point rear end on BurbThree looks awesome, cant wait to see how it does on the trail.

Looking forward to the progress.

 

[rayra]

question on the wheel spacer, are those 2" on Burb3? Do you think there would be wheel well clearance issues on my key-lift stock-size tires on the trail edge of the front wheel well? I'll have to go crank my wheels and eyeball it.
Reason being that I almost rolled my Sub on Mother's day. Took a decreasing-radius sweeper highway transition at way too high a speed - knew better, was in a hurry - and I got that queasy feeling as the body roll started, suspension lifted, and all I could do was let off the gas and take up every inch of the outside pavement to keep it on four wheels and on the road altogether. Allllmost looped it. Then I suddenly wasn't in a hurry anymore.

No progress on my gas tank shield. Way behind on several projects. Been working on home remodeling projects.

 

[Burb One]

Burb One,

You are my hero, this would be an awesome upgrade to the 10-bolt and will work better with a Detroit Locker or an ARB air locker than a 10-bolt. BTW your rear 4 point rear end on BurbThree looks awesome, cant wait to see how it does on the trail.

Looking forward to the progress.

Thanks Drei!

The Spohn setup in the rear is awesome. Been on my truck for a few years now, and other than some squeaking from the DelSphere, it's been nothing but awesome. At black Friday, the prices are pretty affordable as well, considering everything. Definitely allows some more than stock articulation, since it's got the one joint and better bushings.

 

[Burb One]

question on the wheel spacer, are those 2" on Burb3? Do you think there would be wheel well clearance issues on my key-lift stock-size tires on the trail edge of the front wheel well? I'll have to go crank my wheels and eyeball it.
Reason being that I almost rolled my Sub on Mother's day. Took a decreasing-radius sweeper highway transition at way too high a speed - knew better, was in a hurry - and I got that queasy feeling as the body roll started, suspension lifted, and all I could do was let off the gas and take up every inch of the outside pavement to keep it on four wheels and on the road altogether. Allllmost looped it. Then I suddenly wasn't in a hurry anymore.

No progress on my gas tank shield. Way behind on several projects. Been working on home remodeling projects.

Hey Rayra! Don't think you'll have any problems with 2" spacers on stock or even 33" wheel sizes!

 

[Burb One]

Burb 3 is now sitting pretty- coilovers, 6 inch lift, 14 bolt rear end, 2500 front end, Spohn rear end, 35's and some other goodies, including an ARB locker. Should be fun to test that out.
Going to be doing bumpers, sliders, armor, etc. for Burb Two and three in the coming weekends. Getting ready for the Rubicon in the summer. Will have a few test trips as well before then

 

[CrazyDrei]

The coils are PAC 14 inch coils with 650lb springs. We will see if they are heavy enough (Was on the border between 650,675 and 700.
For documentation, I also went with the QA1 D701 Shocks.

Interesting, never thought about having someone cut the stock ones, and adding an extension. If I start having breakage trouble, I might do that. However, I have only broken one, and it was the incorrect size. The OEM's went to 200k+ before the boots started looking haggard.

BurbOne,

How are the DS701 and 650# coils holding up. I am running a DS401 with a 1,200# 8" spring and that is barely enough for my adventures. Working on upgrading the front end to mid travel and trying to figure out what spring weight to use.

Thanx

 

[XJLI]

Damn, that is looking good.

 

[Bojak]

Burb 3 is now sitting pretty- coilovers, 6 inch lift, 14 bolt rear end, 2500 front end, Spohn rear end, 35's and some other goodies, including an ARB locker. Should be fun to test that out.
Going to be doing bumpers, sliders, armor, etc. for Burb Two and three in the coming weekends. Getting ready for the Rubicon in the summer. Will have a few test trips as well before then

View attachment 451573

Wow, sharp burb. Would love some info on this build. I need to get more up to speed on your coilover set ups. I'm assuming you are buying 1500 suburbans to be able to "efficiently" go to a coilover setup?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Burb One]

Photo didn't insert correctly above. Love this picture. You cna see the CV (or lack of) angle.

BurbOne and BurbTwo in camp, with my buddies homebrew off road trailer pulled by his FJ

 

[Burb One]

BurbOne,

How are the DS701 and 650# coils holding up. I am running a DS401 with a 1,200# 8" spring and that is barely enough for my adventures. Working on upgrading the front end to mid travel and trying to figure out what spring weight to use.

Thanx

They are holding up great!
BurbOne is on the 650's
BurbTwo and BurbThree are on the 700.

The 650s are the best off road, but my truck definitely feels a little floaty on the road compared to theirs. I think 700 is the sweet spot. I will move to 700's eventually.

There are 14x2.5x700 springs on DS701 (make sure to get new stock DS701's if you go to them, they come with the metal bushings)

 

[Burb One]

Wow, sharp burb. Would love some info on this build. I need to get more up to speed on your coilover set ups. I'm assuming you are buying 1500 suburbans to be able to "efficiently" go to a coilover setup?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Thanks!

All three truck's running gear are exactly the same (the first post in this thread is kept pretty close to up to date- or at least i try). BurbThree just has an ARB locker (vs 1 and 2's G80) and some bilstein rear shocks.
The only real differences will be some personal preferences for bumpers and interiors/ radios etc.

In terms of why 1500- essentially yes. We really also like the rear coil setup vs leaf springs. The amount of flex and cushion we get from our rears is miles more than an equivalent leaf setup from my experience with both. Also a 6.0 and 4l80E is a quick almost bolt in swap away if the engines ever fail (all of our trucks have 220k+ miles so maybe a few years.)

I am currently designing and 3d printing some interior switch panels to make mine look better cosmetically and because the other two trucks need to add a bunch of switches. Mine as well do it right for all three. I will post some details when it's done in a few weeks. I'll post some interior pictures.

 

[Burb One]

Damn, that is looking good.

Thanks!!

 

[rayra]

yep, CV angle almost looks negative (positive? up?). Looks real good. Needs some skid / armor plates.

what with the shaved PA horn, did it used to be somewhere tighter fitting? Mine's pop-riveted to the bottom of my fan shroud, up behind that cheesy fiber-plastic factory chin guard "plate"

So what's your design solution for the fuel tank protection? (PM me with it if you prefer). The more I look at mine the more I'm thinking to just get a 1/8"-3/16" plate sandwiched against the bottom of the tank. No clearance for anything else that can't hold the weight of a high-center. Even looking if there's a way to raise the tank a couple inches to gain that room for some protection with mor estandoff or strength.

 

[Burb One]

yep, CV angle almost looks negative (positive? up?). Looks real good. Needs some skid / armor plates.

what with the shaved PA horn, did it used to be somewhere tighter fitting? Mine's pop-riveted to the bottom of my fan shroud, up behind that cheesy fiber-plastic factory chin guard "plate"

So what's your design solution for the fuel tank protection? (PM me with it if you prefer). The more I look at mine the more I'm thinking to just get a 1/8"-3/16" plate sandwiched against the bottom of the tank. No clearance for anything else that can't hold the weight of a high-center. Even looking if there's a way to raise the tank a couple inches to gain that room for some protection with mor estandoff or strength.

Thanks, yep even negative, you can't really see it but the ground was pretty uneven there. With the air bags in the rear I can probably get another one-two inches of lift in the front easily even keeping an awesome CV angle. Just need to adjust the coilovers before my next alignment.

The front is actually pretty well guarded. My list for armor is to fab up a pinion guard and then the gas tank.

I have some ideas for the gas tank. It's on the list now because of the Rubicon so one of these weekends it will get done(on all three trucks). Got some regular maintenance items first(power steering pump and new radiator with efans) but after that, it will be finally time to figure out the gas tank. I like the idea of seeing if it can move up a few(even half) an inch to make room for a easy across skid plate. We'll see once I open it all up

You got it, the pa horn used to be in a tight spot. Since the picture it has been moved to behind the front hitch mount