Going domestic, project vanilla aka the family tankster, 2004 Suburban 2500

upcruiser

Perpetual Transient
Where is this beach? Feel free to PM me if it needs to be kept on the DL. Grew up in MI and this thread brings the feels!

This is on the Keweenaw Penisula and is near the town of Gay, so yeah it's referred to as Gay Beach. It's essentially an area of old stamp sands from the mining days that stretches 8 miles down the coast from Gay to the village of Grand Traverse. It's ridiculously fun to rip around on but you go through fuel like you wouldn't believe.
 

bigskypylot

Explorer
This is on the Keweenaw Penisula and is near the town of Gay, so yeah it's referred to as Gay Beach. It's essentially an area of old stamp sands from the mining days that stretches 8 miles down the coast from Gay to the village of Grand Traverse. It's ridiculously fun to rip around on but you go through fuel like you wouldn't believe.

After you're done at the Gay Beach, you can go have a drink at the Gay Bar :p
 

RikFlairWoo

Observer
Really enjoying your Suburban build thread. Quick question, is it just running cranked stock keys? I am looking to just get an inch or so out of my Tahoe.

If so, how is the ride quality? Mine is a DD so I don't want it to be rough.

Thanks for your awesome thread and pics
 

upcruiser

Perpetual Transient
Really enjoying your Suburban build thread. Quick question, is it just running cranked stock keys? I am looking to just get an inch or so out of my Tahoe.

If so, how is the ride quality? Mine is a DD so I don't want it to be rough.

Thanks for your awesome thread and pics

Thanks man. We have kept it pretty simple. When I bought the truck the front end was really low, either sagged or somebody lowered it. It had a really severe case of stink bug going on. It had 285's on it and they rubbed if you had the wheel cranked and were on any sort of uneven surface. I cranked the torsion bars up, not to level but to about 1" lower in the front. It didn't seem to affect the ride at all and didn't any extreme angles on the front axles. The ride is decent with the Bilsteins but I need to air down if I am spending anytime on rough terrain. Otherwise you get a bit of side to side head bobbing since the truck is relatively stiff. I find it ok, you just can't go ripping down stuff fast like you can in some other rigs. I wanted something trucklike and it rides similar to 3/4 ton GMC's I have driven from that era. If money was no object I would do some Cognito magic to the front end as it sounds like it improves the ride in the rough. My goal from the outset was to pretty much do the minimum amount needed to this truck and keep it simple. It is fine in that regard. I have 4 other project vehicles, two older Porsches, a VW Thing, and our 80 series Land Cruiser that needs a bunch of upkeep currently so it is kind of stealing the time and funds from Suburban stuff. We got that diesel Colorado this winter and now that we know it can tow our camper I have been really thinking about doing a lift on the Burb. I don't know if I want bigger tires, but more clearance under the belly and a more forgiving ride perhaps. We will see, gotta prioritize, as always. Still love this truck though, everytime I drive it I appreciate the thing.
 

upcruiser

Perpetual Transient
Well I think the time has come. After keeping our Burb mostly stock I am starting to plan out some upgrades to make this more of a long distance offroad tourer vs it's current status as a daily driver, tow rig, and backroads explorer. Now that my boys are getting to a more manageable age I think we are going to delve back into that mysterious, perhaps elusive art of overlanding. A bit of tongue in cheek there but yeah looking to improve the ease and functionality of this truck offroad.

First let me restate how much I love this truck, it's just a beast. It can do just about anything and just takes it. That said there are some areas I want to address over the next couple of years. It sounds like we are taking it on a trip to the northeast (NH, VT, ME) for 2.5 weeks this June. I am unfortunately in CA for work till June 1 and we depart June 8 so I won't be able to do much prior to this trip though.

So prior to the trip I am needing to do a tire rotation, clean or replace the mass airflow sensor, and an oil change and she should be good to go. We are dragging our camper on this trip and base camping and doing day adventures on the trip. I also need to do a bearing repack on the camper before we depart, doh! That's going to be a busy week.

Anyway, now that we know the Dmax Colorado can tow our camper well I am feeling a bit less constrained with keeping the Burb more on the stock side of things and looking to use it more for offroad intensive adventures. Over the next couple of years I am looking to do the following

Summer 2017
Rear bumper with tire swingout, integrated receiver, recovery points, and trailer hookups.
Front end refresh (idler arms, tie rods, bushings as needed) The front end is all still original and at 150,000 miles now starting to feel a little loose and vague.
Bull bar, ARB, still not sure if this will be this summer or next.
Winch for said bull bar
Snorkel/raised intake
Roof basket, preferably flat style to allow gear hauling or canoe/kayak hauling and still allow a RTT when needed.

Next year
Suspension upgrade: more clearance, not sure if I want to stick with 33's or bump up to 35's. So somewhere between 4-6" of lift.
RTT: family sized to make for easy traveling and setup with kiddos on long trips.
Modular storage system that can be removed easily for hauling mountain bikes inside or installed for trips with no bikes. Probably make a sleeping platform on top to allow quick and dirty sleeping inside truck using the space behind the second row.

So there are the goals, now to fill in the details. Since I want to upgraded the front end this summer, any suggestions for things that wouldn't work or would work with my future goal of a full lift? I know there is a ton of feedback on lifts on here and online but anyone have any specific, condensed feedback you want to offer here? Specifically with trailability of 33's vs 35's with the various lifts and their effects on onroad driving.

Regards to bullbars, I know people tend to prefer the 100 series bar, is that workable into the 2500 too?

Any suggestions are appreciated, just doing the research portion of this right now. I want to increase the offroad performance of the truck but also want to preserve the ability to cover long distances easily.
 

Burb One

Adventurer
Looks like a plan!

For idler and pitman arms:
IMO ONLY buy AC Delco originals, or go with something like the Kryptonite as a higher $ option. I did not like the Moog's HD line fitment (And I am a fan/ usually default to moog's Problem solver HD parts) However, I could not i get the arms to fully seat on the steering box.) I l am currently testing the Cognito idler/ pitman braces and I must say they helped the steering feel a ton (not as vauge) and should add a ton of strength. They add money though$ but IMO I wouldn't feel comfortable pushing anything on stock size idler/ pitman on 35's, which I am heading towards

Tie-rods:
I like the sleeves on my tie-rods, as I feel the total strength is higher than the "slightly upgraded" HD Moog's I had before. The sleeves are only $30-40 so just do them along with AC Delco replacements at once. I was going to stick with the Moog's but my lift kit was packaged with the Sleeves, so i figured I'd try them. It's plus minus on whether sleeves are better or the Moog's being thicker. IMO It would be Stock size< MOOG HD< Stock size with sleeves< Cognito or other brand super ultra thick tie rods. For the ultra thick ones, I think Bolrig or someone just installed them on their truck and posted a picture a few weeks ago. They look like serious hardware. They are $ though.

Ball Joints:
Lower and upper ball joints are a PITA. Seriously. I broke two tools on the lower getting them out. Worth it to just pay a shop 40-50 to press them out and in with a hydraulic press when you do the lift kit because the LCA have to come off anyway. I like the new Moog's ball joints with the better designed grease boot for the lowers. If spending $, I went to the Cognito UCA and really, really like them however they seemed to raised the price recently so they are also $. They will work with any lift kit that doesn't touch the UCA's (so 99% of the kits).

Overview:
Mostly everything is plug and play with most lift kits. Only thing I have found not to be, as mentioned is the thicker Moog tierods won't fit with sleeves, but that's not a big deal.

For the 33's vs 35's I am on 33's now, with a 6 inch lift. I am going to go to 35's when they wear out. IMO you need a full 5-6 inch lift, and not the 4" to fit the 35's without seriously trimming, if you have a real suspension that articulates. As can be seen in my pictures, my setup buries the tires, and even with the 6 inch, my 33's do touch. With 35's instead of touching, they will slightly rub most likely. With less lift, it would become problematic. If you aren't maxing the suspension, than that may be a different story and would be fine. For trail ability, again like the 6 inch lift made a huge difference in my mannerism on trails. Before, any rock bigger than a certain size I would have to creep over. Now, it's not on my radar. With 35's this ability will again be there to not have to worry about dragging my diff on as much stuff being an inch higher again.

On bull bars My advice would to either have it stay down low, and just be the bull bar/ mount for the winch. The brush guards usually just turn into mangled thin wall steel bending into your headlights with any impact with a tree/ etc. If you really want a brush guard bull bar, make sure it's a real deal thick wall. I think money would be better spent saving for a real custom bumper you could have made locally a little above the price of a true brush gaurd bull bar.

I've been doing research on snorkels (going to do it this summer) and found this whcih seems to be a quality piece, and much cheaper than the other options. Also, Jelorian installed it on his truck to success and he seems to like it? The pictures look great.
https://www.amazon.com/TMS-Snorkel-...rd_wg=LgsBM&psc=1&refRID=G07EHJEMENZSRJ5ZTN40
 
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Jelorian

Adventurer
Looks like a plan!

On bull bars My advice would to either have it stay down low, and just be the bull bar/ mount for the winch. The abrs brush guards usually just turn into mangled thin wall steel bending into your headlights with any impact with a tree/ etc. If you really want a brush guard bull bar, make sure it's a real deal thick wall. I think money would be better spent saving for a real custom bumper you could have made locally a little above the price of a true brush gaurd bull bar.

I've been doing research on snorkels (going to do it this summer) and found this whcih seems to be a quality piece, and much cheaper than the other options. Also, Jelorian installed it on his truck to success and he seems to like it? The pictures look great.
https://www.amazon.com/TMS-Snorkel-...rd_wg=LgsBM&psc=1&refRID=G07EHJEMENZSRJ5ZTN40

For the Bull Bars, I believe he was talking about the ARB version and the fact that there are several guys with GMT800's that have the 100 Series Land Cruiser version installed on their rigs. I wonder if the 200 series would be a better fit. I need to take a look and compare both. In either case, I believe there is some cutting and welding to get it to fit...along with purchasing the Chevy fitment kit.

Snorkel has been holding up fine. I haven't been through any deep water yet, but my airbox is water tight and I'm ALMOST positive there are no leaks with the connections from the snorkel to the air box. Even if there were, it would have to be a pretty big leak to even get through the filter. The kit you linked is the same one that I have. Just gotta take care when heating up the elbow so it better contours the A pillar.
 

Barrows

Adventurer
Here are his photo's https://vericom.smugmug.com/ARB-Bumper/

arba-S.jpg
 

jonb8

Adventurer
I'll build my own, seems like all the bumpers I look at for the full size are Huge. Ok if you got 6 inches of lift and 37's there perfect but for 285's like I'm going to run there just HUGE... The aftermarket is the same in the jeep cherokee market, Big bumpers, so I built my own that are smaller and tuck in alot better.. Here's my wife's xj with one of my bumpers.


DSCF0694_zpsqtkrybbo.jpg
 

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