This is my second suburban that I got. I saw it for sale for 500 bucks, and bought it for 400. It is a 75 1/2 ton 2wd suburban, had a 350/350 and a 12 bolt rearend. I origianally got it for the engine, tranny, doors, windows, etc. It had a brand new radiator, new tranny and fairly new engine. They did say none of them worked though. But they were pretty dumb. The tranny did not work because it was low on fluid. The engine did not start because the battery cable was corroded. I fixed those probs pretty quick, and it worked! There was a noise in the engine thogh, which was a rod knock. I took the oil pan off and found a rod that had been spinning a bearing for quite some time. What dumbasses. They had bought a cheap pep boys engine and tranny. I mostly just let it sit for a little while as the entire engine was going to have to be taken out. The crank was trashed.
I later on picked up a free 1ton dually flatbed, but got rid of everything except the chassis. I then had this suburban put onto the dually chassis, to have a beefier suspention as it was only a half ton. I stripped the fenders off and pulled the engine, and broke it down. I got rid of the crank, most of the old chassis, and rims.
Most of the images here are of it in the process of being complete (whenever that is). The body is in a pretty bad shape, but can be done later. Right now I am mostly wanting to focus on the chassis swap and get it up and running, and then I can work on the body. I will most likely paint it a camoflauge scheme. If I get enough money, I will put in a Cummins, but I cannot afford one of those at the moment. Click on the images for a larger view.
NOTE: If you are using internet explorer and you get "red x's" (bad images) -CLICK REFRESH- as IE is soooooooo stupid it gives timeouts for them, but the reason they never came in was because it was still getting the previous requests taken care of. Use Mozilla or Firefox instead. (and of course, ditch Windopes and use Linux/BSD)
Some fairly current images. No work being done on it currently, so the junk collects on and arround it :)
The front-right tire is flat, making it look a little
low and slanted. Several bee colonies on top of it
Some Earlier Shots. The sub has since moved to the other side of the driveway.
This is of the new chassis for the sub. The back part
is a combination of the original half ton and the one
ton. You can see how tall the new chassis is. You could
call it a 1 and a half ton, literally!
Here is a closer view. Has a temp. coat of primer/paint to keep the rust off the exposed metal.
The other springs are just sitting there and are not part of the project.
Here is a veiw of the rear of the suburban jacked up. Actually, it was never lowered yet
as the body was raised that high when the new chassis was rolled in under it.
This is the nice, monster tow hitch. Has a 3" square reciever.
A later shot when I had some tires put on it.
They do not stick out past the body much at all with the rearend being narrower
Another shot showing how the dual tires fit in the well.
The body will be lowerd a little bit further when it is finalized.
Although the body is not sitting level in this shot,
it shows how far the tires stick out past the wells.
The much better hub (used to be a 12 bolt rear)
You can see how parts of the 1/2 ton chassis is
connected to the 1 ton chassis
This is the front of the suburban, showing the radiator I
have for it - came out of a C-65 (along with
a Clark 5 speed for the truck too :) )
The radiator is so big the body needs raised!!
This is the garage. I am building
the engine for the truck in a small part in the middle of it
right about at the gas cylinder there
(if you can find it!)
This goes up to my room where I live above the garage
This is the only `bad' bore - has a slight score
in it that has been smoothed out
This is the engine for it (for now
- just to get it running) It is a 366 tall deck chevy big block
The timing assembly is going to be replaced with a gear drive
Here is the bottom end - forged crank,
4 bolt mains. Cheap rods though