I spent years building VW based vehicles, then Defender based vehicles. Last year I decided to build another and was planning on a Defender but after giving it some thought decided that lack of parts availability in the Americas made it a poor choice. Hours of research later led me to the Chevrolet Suburban GMT800 Z71
The GMT800 was built from 2000-2006 and has the most reliable components sharing almost everything with the Silverado trucks, Yukon, Yukon XL, Tahoe and Escalade - the Z71 package came with a better roof rack, plastic fender flares, Eaton G80 electric locking rear diff, tougher transfer case with different gearing (3.73), recovery hooks, skid plate, sill protectors with steps, HD roof rack, larger tires, upgraded air filter and it is slightly lifted with different shocks and springs. It has reliable electronics and is a workhorse.
Sharing components with so many other vehicles means that parts are easy to source, inexpensive and pretty much every place you go people are familiar with the vehicle.
Even the 1500 (1/2 ton) has a towing capacity of 8,100 lbs and is remarkably capable off road. Perfect for me as I was planning to tow a large boat from Washington to the end of the Baja then leave the truck and boat there and planning on using the truck as a camper all over the baja. I wanted something large enough to sleep in if need be, capable of carrying at least 4 people and gear and of being pretty self sufficient for at least a week.
I located a 2002 Z71 with just under 200K on the clock and checked it out. Like most Suburbans it had been used as a family rig and not seen any off road use, it was in good shape overall with only a few issues and the price was right at well under $5K. I bought it, changed all the fluids immediately and found that it had a typical oil leak from the cam sensor of the 5.3 and repaired it. I removed the third seat and sold it and began planning. The Diesel Suburbans had dual batteries and in the gas model the space is empty. I bought the battery tray and hold down and installed them and a second battery matching the first and wired them together for redundancy.
The headlights are dismal and I replaced them with Aftermarket headlights and a new front grill, this vastly improved the lighting. I added a pushbar to the front for a little more protection and installed large Bosch driving lights in the Pushbar which are wired through a relay to the high beams so they can be flashed or turned on with the stock headlight switch. This changed the look of the front completely but mostly it gave me some sense of security and lights that actually lit up the road. I finished the front with a front trailer receiver, great for towing, pulling, being pulled and for maneuvering trailers.
Next was the suspension. I ditched the stock 16" wheels for a set of 17" wheels from a Silverado pickup, 4 of them were free on craigslist, the 5th I bought from a wrecking yard. They were free because the finish was crap. I sand blasted them and coated them with two coats of etching primer and several coats of semi-gloss rollbar paint. Then skinned them with 33" Goodyear wrangler DuraTrac tires. To drop these on I lifted the rear 2" on billet spacers and bought new suspension keys for the front allowing me to lift it 2", then shocked it with Bilstein HD shocks all around. Tjhis is easily the simplest 2" lift I have ever done and the whole process took only a few hours. While I was here I noticed that the drivers side front upper A-arm mount was cracking at the frame, another fairly common issue, I cleaned it, drilled holes at the end of each crack, opened the cracks up a little with a grinder and welded them up adding braces to prevent stress cracking in the future.
I bought aftermarket towing mirrors which were electric and heated and larger than stock as well as having the ability to extend another 4" outward and installed them, installed an electric towing brake, and bought a set of white and yellow strobe lights which fit in the top of the windshield and can produce sequential Left, Right, Center-out and about 20 other patterns and wired them in. Having driven the Baja many times in oversized vehicles and pulling trailers, I strongly advise both towing mirrors and strobes.
The stock stereo is odd. There is a deck in the dash and below it in the center console is some other garbage, then there is another control on the back of the center console between the seats and racking rearward so passengers can be annoying, it was all garbage and tied into the On-star system somehow. Since the stock stereo is single DIN and I wanted a double DIN unit I needed to find a kit and purchase it. This basically was a new dash surround and some mounting bits. I pulled the dash facia, removed the stereo and threw it in the corner, cut out part of the plastic stereo mount and a few other bits of the dash and in a few hours had a new dash with a Pioneer double DIN stereo that would interface with a smart phone for hands free and a 7" screen for navigation, backup camera etc. I found a cell phone mount from ProClip and modified it to fit the dash and installed it, then pulled out two blank panels below the On-star and installed two dual USB3.0 charge ports with voltage readouts for charging from the vehicles battery.
I pulled the stereo garbage from the center console and tossed it, made the hole a little larger and mounted a Icom marine VHF radio (yes I know it is illegal to use from a vehicle in the US, but I plan to use it in remote areas of Mexico to maintain contact with the boat at sea.). I pulled the rest of the center console and mounting and in it's place installed an ICECO 43 liter 12v refrigerator. I ended up cutting the front half of the center console and mounting it back to the dash letting me keep the cup holders, change caddy, etc and still hole the refer in place.
This suburban had rear bucket seats which fold flat allowing a full 90" from the rear hatch to the back of the rear seats. So I made a few drawings, looked around the internet and eventually came up with a plan. I built shelves for the rear that went over the rear wheel humps. Installed window tint on the rear windows and let it cure, then spray painted it with several coats of black paint rendering the rear windows completely opaque. I installed the shelves and wired them with front and rear directional LED reading lights, USB charge ports and 4 whisper quiet low amp fans, all these accessories and the refer would run off a second set of batteries.
I built a bed platform for the rear with full length drawers under the platform and allowed about 10" at the rear between the platform and the tailgate for shoes, etc. Between the rear seats I built a console which serves as an arm rest and houses two large AGM batteries, an automatic charge relay and a fuse panel for all the camper accessories as well as two Cigarette lighter plugs. Attached to the forward upper edge of the bed platform and dividing the passenger area from the cargo area I built a steel frame with wire mesh that locks to the side shelf units completely dividing the cargo area from the passenger area and preventing any stored gear from flying forward. With the rear seats folded flat this partition hinges down onto the center console and creates a bed platform 48" x 80" in the back of the vehicle. Total time from 4 seat vehicle to camper is about 2 minutes.
All the camper power needs are powered from the AGM batteries which are recharged by the alternator when the vehicle is running, but separated from the start batteries when not running by a Blue Seas ACR. These batteries should be able to power all the camper consumption (fans, lights and refer) for about 4 to 8 days depending on use. A solar panel could be added if wanted but I don't see when I will be camping without moving the vehicle for longer than that.
I modified the rear hatch so that either the hatch or just the rear glass can be opened from inside the truck - oddly there is no way to do this normally. In the rear hatch Installed 5" round LED brake and reverse lights from a trailer with switches. So that when the rear hatch is open you can turn on an overhead white or red light to see what you are doing.
Realizing that I wanted at least 10 gallons of water and a full size spare I built two swinging mounts on the rear bumper, one holding a full size spare and the other two 5 gallon jerry cans for water.
I built a long skinny basket for the roof rack to carry gear and mounted it to the drivers side and installed the longest cargo pod I could on the passenger side. I built a swivel mount for an 8' marine VHF antenna and mounted it to the basket with a bracket so that it has a resting place when stowed horizontally but can quickly be pivoted into an upright position.
Just today two awnings have arrived but I have not yet installed them as I need to make some better mounting hardware.
The GMT800 was built from 2000-2006 and has the most reliable components sharing almost everything with the Silverado trucks, Yukon, Yukon XL, Tahoe and Escalade - the Z71 package came with a better roof rack, plastic fender flares, Eaton G80 electric locking rear diff, tougher transfer case with different gearing (3.73), recovery hooks, skid plate, sill protectors with steps, HD roof rack, larger tires, upgraded air filter and it is slightly lifted with different shocks and springs. It has reliable electronics and is a workhorse.
Sharing components with so many other vehicles means that parts are easy to source, inexpensive and pretty much every place you go people are familiar with the vehicle.
Even the 1500 (1/2 ton) has a towing capacity of 8,100 lbs and is remarkably capable off road. Perfect for me as I was planning to tow a large boat from Washington to the end of the Baja then leave the truck and boat there and planning on using the truck as a camper all over the baja. I wanted something large enough to sleep in if need be, capable of carrying at least 4 people and gear and of being pretty self sufficient for at least a week.
I located a 2002 Z71 with just under 200K on the clock and checked it out. Like most Suburbans it had been used as a family rig and not seen any off road use, it was in good shape overall with only a few issues and the price was right at well under $5K. I bought it, changed all the fluids immediately and found that it had a typical oil leak from the cam sensor of the 5.3 and repaired it. I removed the third seat and sold it and began planning. The Diesel Suburbans had dual batteries and in the gas model the space is empty. I bought the battery tray and hold down and installed them and a second battery matching the first and wired them together for redundancy.
The headlights are dismal and I replaced them with Aftermarket headlights and a new front grill, this vastly improved the lighting. I added a pushbar to the front for a little more protection and installed large Bosch driving lights in the Pushbar which are wired through a relay to the high beams so they can be flashed or turned on with the stock headlight switch. This changed the look of the front completely but mostly it gave me some sense of security and lights that actually lit up the road. I finished the front with a front trailer receiver, great for towing, pulling, being pulled and for maneuvering trailers.
Next was the suspension. I ditched the stock 16" wheels for a set of 17" wheels from a Silverado pickup, 4 of them were free on craigslist, the 5th I bought from a wrecking yard. They were free because the finish was crap. I sand blasted them and coated them with two coats of etching primer and several coats of semi-gloss rollbar paint. Then skinned them with 33" Goodyear wrangler DuraTrac tires. To drop these on I lifted the rear 2" on billet spacers and bought new suspension keys for the front allowing me to lift it 2", then shocked it with Bilstein HD shocks all around. Tjhis is easily the simplest 2" lift I have ever done and the whole process took only a few hours. While I was here I noticed that the drivers side front upper A-arm mount was cracking at the frame, another fairly common issue, I cleaned it, drilled holes at the end of each crack, opened the cracks up a little with a grinder and welded them up adding braces to prevent stress cracking in the future.
I bought aftermarket towing mirrors which were electric and heated and larger than stock as well as having the ability to extend another 4" outward and installed them, installed an electric towing brake, and bought a set of white and yellow strobe lights which fit in the top of the windshield and can produce sequential Left, Right, Center-out and about 20 other patterns and wired them in. Having driven the Baja many times in oversized vehicles and pulling trailers, I strongly advise both towing mirrors and strobes.
The stock stereo is odd. There is a deck in the dash and below it in the center console is some other garbage, then there is another control on the back of the center console between the seats and racking rearward so passengers can be annoying, it was all garbage and tied into the On-star system somehow. Since the stock stereo is single DIN and I wanted a double DIN unit I needed to find a kit and purchase it. This basically was a new dash surround and some mounting bits. I pulled the dash facia, removed the stereo and threw it in the corner, cut out part of the plastic stereo mount and a few other bits of the dash and in a few hours had a new dash with a Pioneer double DIN stereo that would interface with a smart phone for hands free and a 7" screen for navigation, backup camera etc. I found a cell phone mount from ProClip and modified it to fit the dash and installed it, then pulled out two blank panels below the On-star and installed two dual USB3.0 charge ports with voltage readouts for charging from the vehicles battery.
I pulled the stereo garbage from the center console and tossed it, made the hole a little larger and mounted a Icom marine VHF radio (yes I know it is illegal to use from a vehicle in the US, but I plan to use it in remote areas of Mexico to maintain contact with the boat at sea.). I pulled the rest of the center console and mounting and in it's place installed an ICECO 43 liter 12v refrigerator. I ended up cutting the front half of the center console and mounting it back to the dash letting me keep the cup holders, change caddy, etc and still hole the refer in place.
This suburban had rear bucket seats which fold flat allowing a full 90" from the rear hatch to the back of the rear seats. So I made a few drawings, looked around the internet and eventually came up with a plan. I built shelves for the rear that went over the rear wheel humps. Installed window tint on the rear windows and let it cure, then spray painted it with several coats of black paint rendering the rear windows completely opaque. I installed the shelves and wired them with front and rear directional LED reading lights, USB charge ports and 4 whisper quiet low amp fans, all these accessories and the refer would run off a second set of batteries.
I built a bed platform for the rear with full length drawers under the platform and allowed about 10" at the rear between the platform and the tailgate for shoes, etc. Between the rear seats I built a console which serves as an arm rest and houses two large AGM batteries, an automatic charge relay and a fuse panel for all the camper accessories as well as two Cigarette lighter plugs. Attached to the forward upper edge of the bed platform and dividing the passenger area from the cargo area I built a steel frame with wire mesh that locks to the side shelf units completely dividing the cargo area from the passenger area and preventing any stored gear from flying forward. With the rear seats folded flat this partition hinges down onto the center console and creates a bed platform 48" x 80" in the back of the vehicle. Total time from 4 seat vehicle to camper is about 2 minutes.
All the camper power needs are powered from the AGM batteries which are recharged by the alternator when the vehicle is running, but separated from the start batteries when not running by a Blue Seas ACR. These batteries should be able to power all the camper consumption (fans, lights and refer) for about 4 to 8 days depending on use. A solar panel could be added if wanted but I don't see when I will be camping without moving the vehicle for longer than that.
I modified the rear hatch so that either the hatch or just the rear glass can be opened from inside the truck - oddly there is no way to do this normally. In the rear hatch Installed 5" round LED brake and reverse lights from a trailer with switches. So that when the rear hatch is open you can turn on an overhead white or red light to see what you are doing.
Realizing that I wanted at least 10 gallons of water and a full size spare I built two swinging mounts on the rear bumper, one holding a full size spare and the other two 5 gallon jerry cans for water.
I built a long skinny basket for the roof rack to carry gear and mounted it to the drivers side and installed the longest cargo pod I could on the passenger side. I built a swivel mount for an 8' marine VHF antenna and mounted it to the basket with a bracket so that it has a resting place when stowed horizontally but can quickly be pivoted into an upright position.
Just today two awnings have arrived but I have not yet installed them as I need to make some better mounting hardware.
R
