2002 suburban

[Bubba]

Hey folks how y'all doing here's my new ride I just picked up

I'll make this short as am heading home and I will edit this post once I have a chance to sit down lol.

It's a 2003 suburban LT with the air ride system and is fully loaded with 309'000 km on thr clock (no idea what that is in miles lol) that I picked up for 2k

Yes it needs body work but for now it's a daily driver for me and my wife for work. mechanical wise it's prefect it's got the 5.3 in it and sounds bran new. Bran new duratrac tires as well Everything else works i will have some questions later as this is my first suburban.

So the plan is have for it is as follows.

1: 4 inch lift
2: front and rear bumpers
3: RCV CV Shafts
4: Cognito front end parts lol
5: winch
6: Roof rack

And that's just the start also if any of my Canadian brothers or sisters can help out with were i could find some of this stuff in Canada I'd appreciate it

 

[CR-Venturer]

Hey folks how y'all doing here's my new ride I just picked up

I'll make this short as am heading home and I will edit this post once I have a chance to sit down lol.

It's a 2003 suburban LT with the air ride system and is fully loaded with 309'000 km on thr clock (no idea what that is in miles lol) that I picked up for 2k

Yes it needs body work but for now it's a daily driver for me and my wife for work. mechanical wise it's prefect it's got the 5.3 in it and sounds bran new. Bran new duratrac tires as well Everything else works i will have some questions later as this is my first suburban.

So the plan is have for it is as follows.

1: 4 inch lift
2: front and rear bumpers
3: RCV CV Shafts
4: Cognito front end parts lol
5: winch
6: Roof rack

And that's just the start also if any of my Canadian brothers or sisters can help out with were i could find some of this stuff in Canada I'd appreciate it

Nice looking rig for 2k! I would say you got a fantastic deal, especially given how nicely it runs.

I recommend right off the bat, if you plan to wheel it, take off the side steps and the chin spoiler. They do nothing but rob you of clearance.

Are these IFS? I suspect they are. If so, a word of caution; the general rule of thumb is that a 2" suspension lift is safe, but anything beyond 2" you're going to have issues. It can be done, but you're likely looking at a diff/sub frame drop to make it functional.

It's possible that a 2" suspension lift combined with a 2" body lift might work to get you clearance for bigger tires, if that's what you're going for.

Do you guys have a Princess Auto in Grand Cache? You can get some absolutely wicked deals on tons of stuff that's great for overlanding. The roof basket comes to mind, especially.

As for bumpers, does the Suburban share a chassis with one of the trucks, like say, the Silverado? If so, you can probably find stuff for the truck frame that won't be advertised as fitting on the Suburban, but actually will fit.

Looking forward to seeing this beast get kitted out!

 

[Bubba]

Nice looking rig for 2k! I would say you got a fantastic deal, especially given how nicely it runs.

I recommend right off the bat, if you plan to wheel it, take off the side steps and the chin spoiler. They do nothing but rob you of clearance.

Are these IFS? I suspect they are. If so, a word of caution; the general rule of thumb is that a 2" suspension lift is safe, but anything beyond 2" you're going to have issues. It can be done, but you're likely looking at a diff/sub frame drop to make it functional.

It's possible that a 2" suspension lift combined with a 2" body lift might work to get you clearance for bigger tires, if that's what you're going for.

Do you guys have a Princess Auto in Grand Cache? You can get some absolutely wicked deals on tons of stuff that's great for overlanding. The roof basket comes to mind, especially.

As for bumpers, does the Suburban share a chassis with one of the trucks, like say, the Silverado? If so, you can probably find stuff for the truck frame that won't be advertised as fitting on the Suburban, but actually will fit.

Looking forward to seeing this beast get kitted out!

Thanks bud ya for now I'm just using it as a daily but I was thinking a simple 2 inch lift would be fine there's a few issues that need to be adress lol before I sink some money into it the plan is next spring \ summer it's going to get a total make over including paint lol

 

[CR-Venturer]

Nice looking rig for 2k! I would say you got a fantastic deal, especially given how nicely it runs.

I recommend right off the bat, if you plan to wheel it, take off the side steps and the chin spoiler. They do nothing but rob you of clearance.

Are these IFS? I suspect they are. If so, a word of caution; the general rule of thumb is that a 2" suspension lift is safe, but anything beyond 2" you're going to have issues. It can be done, but you're likely looking at a diff/sub frame drop to make it functional.

It's possible that a 2" suspension lift combined with a 2" body lift might work to get you clearance for bigger tires, if that's what you're going for.

Do you guys have a Princess Auto in Grand Cache? You can get some absolutely wicked deals on tons of stuff that's great for overlanding. The roof basket comes to mind, especially.

As for bumpers, does the Suburban share a chassis with one of the trucks, like say, the Silverado? If so, you can probably find stuff for the truck frame that won't be advertised as fitting on the Suburban, but actually will fit.

Looking forward to seeing this beast get kitted out!

Thanks bud ya for now I'm just using it as a daily but I was thinking a simple 2 inch lift would be fine there's a few issues that need to be adress lol before I sink some money into it the plan is next spring \ summer it's going to get a total make over including paint lol

Sounds great! Looking forward to seeing how it works out.

 

[Bubba]

Sounds great! Looking forward to seeing how it works out.

You bet same here bud it's going to a trip but I think it will be worth it

 

[Bubba]

It begins lol I went to clean out the burban today and noticed both second row seats had there belts cut....‍♂ so after I took the rear seat out yesterday I asked the wife do we really need the second row if the belts are toast ? Nope was the reply lol so took them out and tucked was left of the belts in behind the plastic.

Now for the big question has anyone done anything to this area ? I was thinking a peice of something to fit over the exposed bolts ? There 18mm i still have all the nuts that go with them if anyone has any recommendations I'm all ears eventually I'm going to either cut or knock the bolts out and use some kind of rubber gromet to cover the holes. Anyways .

Thanks for your time

 

[MrWilsonWJ]

Build storage boxes that go in place of the seats and use the existing bolts to anchor them in place. The bolts would still be there if you ever wanted to put seats back in and you would have out of the way storage for things you don't use often but want to keep in the rig, tools, recovery gear, things like that. When I did mine I built them so the top was level with the rest of the cargo area making a flat surface to sleep on and pack gear. The door openings on those Suburban's are pretty big so you could build the box with a solid top and have drawers that pull out either side and be able to pack or mount thing more permanently on top of the box. Pictures are of what I did in the Grand Cherokee.

 

[Sparksalot]

Build storage boxes that go in place of the seats and use the existing bolts to anchor them in place. The bolts would still be there if you ever wanted to put seats back in and you would have out of the way storage for things you don't use often but want to keep in the rig, tools, recovery gear, things like that. When I did mine I built them so the top was level with the rest of the cargo area making a flat surface to sleep on and pack gear. The door openings on those Suburban's are pretty big so you could build the box with a solid top and have drawers that pull out either side and be able to pack or mount thing more permanently on top of the box. Pictures are of what I did in the Grand Cherokee.
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I did a similar thing in thecopcar for a long time. Removed it when I moved the footwell water tank to thethirdtwin.

 

[Bubba]

Build storage boxes that go in place of the seats and use the existing bolts to anchor them in place. The bolts would still be there if you ever wanted to put seats back in and you would have out of the way storage for things you don't use often but want to keep in the rig, tools, recovery gear, things like that. When I did mine I built them so the top was level with the rest of the cargo area making a flat surface to sleep on and pack gear. The door openings on those Suburban's are pretty big so you could build the box with a solid top and have drawers that pull out either side and be able to pack or mount thing more permanently on top of the box. Pictures are of what I did in the Grand Cherokee.
View attachment 286720 View attachment 286721 View attachment 286722

That's basically what am after ! What carpet material is that ? And is that MDF?

 

[MrWilsonWJ]

That's basically what am after ! What carpet material is that ? And is that MDF?

The carpet is cheap out door stuff from Home Depot, they sell it in precut rolls. I think it's labeled as an outdoor rug. And yes I used MDF which now I'm wishing I would have used something different but I had an extra sheet left over from a different project. The problem I had with the MDF is some of the screws have pulled out on the hinges for the lids and broke the wood. I'm not much of a wood worker so someone that knows what they're doing could probably build it out of MDF and it be just fine. But if you were to build it as drawer boxes you might not have that problem. When I finally get around to rebuilding it I'll use plywood and some different hinges, I also want to change up the size a little bit. Something else to consider is building them to match the size of the 60/40 split seat so you can put just one seat back in the second row if needed.

 

[Bubba]

The carpet is cheap out door stuff from Home Depot, they sell it in precut rolls. I think it's labeled as an outdoor rug. And yes I used MDF which now I'm wishing I would have used something different but I had an extra sheet left over from a different project. The problem I had with the MDF is some of the screws have pulled out on the hinges for the lids and broke the wood. I'm not much of a wood worker so someone that knows what they're doing could probably build it out of MDF and it be just fine. But if you were to build it as drawer boxes you might not have that problem. When I finally get around to rebuilding it I'll use plywood and some different hinges, I also want to change up the size a little bit. Something else to consider is building them to match the size of the 60/40 split seat so you can put just one seat back in the second row if needed.

Ah ok thanks dude ya for now I'm thinking of putting just a very basic platform so the dogs can jump in and out without any issues. Plywood might be the best bet

 

[MrWilsonWJ]

Basic is what I did at first, just a board with some legs on it so it was all flat and stuffed crap under. I liked having the flat surface to sleep on and for the dog so for a winter project I spent the time and built the boxes