70 K20 Suburban

[Rusty burbin]

I'm in the process of getting ready for KoH again and have lots of little things to do. One thing was that my wipers stopped working and to fix it I had to pull the radio, heater controls, and the instrument panel to get "comfortable" access. While I was in there I figured that I'd pull my steering column because I was having so minor issues with the wheel feeling kinda loose. It turned out that the inner steering shaft was bent and the bottom bearing was completely shot, as a result I have completely rebuilt my steering column. The reason it was so jacked up was because my shock hoop would bang against it as it flexed while on the trail, it also cracked the frame a little bit because I didn't brace it probably. So I borrowed my buddies mandrel bender and I'm going to rebuild my driver's side shock hoop this weekend.

I also decided to clean up my wiring because back when I originally did it I was in a rush and didn't really know what I was doing anyways. So I'm adding a new switch board, fuse box, bus bar and relays.

Guess what... I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on with my wipers until I wiggled the fuse... turns out that the fuse holder was corroded and all I had to do was pull the fuse and clean the contact with a small wire brush. DUH!

I'm grateful that the wipers went out on me though because I'd not have fixed / updated all the other associated problems otherwise.

I'll post some pics of the crack repair and shock hoop build when I'm done.

Thanks for following along with me on this adventure of a build.

 

[darthyota]

That switch panel looks great. I would build an engine cage to tie into your shock hoops as this slows them to brace each other but also adds rigidity to the frame via triangulation.

 

[Rusty burbin]

That switch panel looks great. I would build an engine cage to tie into your shock hoops as this slows them to brace each other but also adds rigidity to the frame via triangulation.

That's the plan. I have the parts and the tools, just need the time. Lol!

I'll post some pics as I go.

 

[Rusty burbin]

Here's a couple more pics of the wiring project.

Today I had an issue with a couple relays. I have 2 horns one is just a beep beep horn (it pretty damn though) and the other is a air powered train horn. Anyhow being a noob I wired one wrong and when I'd hit the button the horn would honk and just keep going. I was able fix it but I'll bet my neighbors weren't enjoying the process.

 

[AmericaMike]

Looking good man!

 

[Edy Coyote]

It's been a long time since I've updated this thread...

I've haven't really done a ton to my rig, I've been crazy busy the last several months. Since mating the cab and chassis and putting hundreds of miles on it I've discovered several little bugs I need to work out... nothing major, infact it's been my daily driver since I bought it years ago sans the time it wasn't drivable.

Anyhow I just put in some halo headlights and thought I'd share.

I have a buddy that builds prerunners for a living (along with many other things in his fab shop) he has a big ol' diesel truck that he built for SEMA a couple years ago that one of his sponsors asked to put their lift kit on. He agreed to do that and as part of the deal he got new axles too. Bottom line is I got his front dana 60, rear dana 70, 205 tcase, HD driveshafts and the "old" lift kit with all the hardware for 1500$. I plan to sell the D70, the lift and the 205 (maybe with one of the 203 range boxes I have) as well my D44 that's referenced previously in this thread. By selling all that I'll probably have made money on the deal! Fingers crossed.

I'll continue to update when I get going of my front suspension and axle swap.

Ttyl. Jonah.View attachment 75655View attachment 75656View attachment 75657View attachment 75658

That's going to be an awesome rig. My next overland project will be a Suburban

 

[JonBranham]

It's been a long time since I've updated this thread...

I've haven't really done a ton to my rig, I've been crazy busy the last several months. Since mating the cab and chassis and putting hundreds of miles on it I've discovered several little bugs I need to work out... nothing major, infact it's been my daily driver since I bought it years ago sans the time it wasn't drivable.

Anyhow I just put in some halo headlights and thought I'd share.

I have a buddy that builds prerunners for a living (along with many other things in his fab shop) he has a big ol' diesel truck that he built for SEMA a couple years ago that one of his sponsors asked to put their lift kit on. He agreed to do that and as part of the deal he got new axles too. Bottom line is I got his front dana 60, rear dana 70, 205 tcase, HD driveshafts and the "old" lift kit with all the hardware for 1500$. I plan to sell the D70, the lift and the 205 (maybe with one of the 203 range boxes I have) as well my D44 that's referenced previously in this thread. By selling all that I'll probably have made money on the deal! Fingers crossed.

I'll continue to update when I get going of my front suspension and axle swap.

Ttyl. Jonah.View attachment 75655View attachment 75656View attachment 75657View attachment 75658

I have a 97 suburban just sitting here waiting for a transmission..... recently i have been thinking about turning it into a overlanding burban. Glad fo see another burban that is being worked on

 

[Rusty burbin]

Not all done yet but progress has been made. I still need to add the upper shock bracket and paint.

 

[Rusty burbin]

Made a couple bushings... the ID of the first was to big, the second one was perfect.

Also I've had brake problems for a long time. Suburban's didn't come with factory disk brakes until 72 so I did a disk brake conversion but didn't change the master cylinder, it was a "drum/drum" style and needed to be "disk/drum". I didn't know that was even a thing and was puzzled that with disk brakes the truck stopped worse then when it was 4 wheel drum. So I eventually upgraded to a 1 ton booster and master that was the proper "disk/drum" type. After the upgrade my rear brakes where problematic, I tore everything down and found out that the salve cylinders had cracked and broke. I fixed all and now I FINALLY have killer brakes!


I also had a gnarly vibration when I got up to about 70mph, I narrowed it down to my rear end and thought it was the carrier or gears... it was, I pulled the third member and replaced it with one or my others (I have four of them 4.10 & 4.56) and it's fixed!

 

[Rusty burbin]

Started building my wench mount / leaf spring bracket / cross member. LOL!

 

[Rusty burbin]

Finally, after collecting dust for a year and a half I got the front deavers installed and what a difference!

There are some dips by place that in our 07 suburban (wifey's truck) I have to slow down to about 10 mph... I hit em at 50 mph in my rig and its like they're not even there.

King of the Hammers is a week away. Can't wait!

 

[58-fc170]

King shocks on the old burban , if only the original designers could see the truck now. Must be like riding on a pillow.

 

[Rusty burbin]

King shocks on the old burban , if only the original designers could see the truck now. Must be like riding on a pillow.

Long thin leaf springs and good shocks make it pretty nice. It's kind of a boat ride, I need to figure out a sway bar now... they didn't come with factory a sway bar.

 

[Rusty burbin]

Building the front bumper now. It was originally a rear bumper and has been cut, lengthened and brought to a bit of a point in the center. Its ugly now but will hopefully look nice when its completed.

 

[58-fc170]

You should be able to adapt a later 70's k20/k30 sway bar without much issue. Just not sure how much of your articulation the with kill.

My projects plan is more leafs and ride like a brick until loaded.

 

[Rusty burbin]

You should be able to adapt a later 70's k20/k30 sway bar without much issue. Just not sure how much of your articulation the with kill.

I actually have one from a c20. The 2wd trucks came with factory sway bars. Also I have a set of quick disconnects. Just got to figure out how and where to put it all.

 

[darthyota]

Long thin leaf springs and good shocks make it pretty nice. It's kind of a boat ride, I need to figure out a sway bar now... they didn't come with factory a sway bar.

No but they also didnt come with that much suspension travel, or long soft flexy leaf springs. Ruff stuff sells sway bar kits if the sway bar of the 2wd truck doesn't work out for you. It might also be easier to package then repurposing a factory sway bar.

 

[Rusty burbin]

No but they also didnt come with that much suspension travel, or long soft flexy leaf springs. Ruff stuff sells sway bar kits if the sway bar of the 2wd truck doesn't work out for you. It might also be easier to package then repurposing a factory sway bar.

ORD offers one too, I've seen them and would be happy with either... buuuut, I'm in that classic situation where money is tight and I'm kinda cheap anyway so hopefully I'll be able to Frankenstein something together. Fingers crossed!

Also, I'm running out of real estate on my front axle housing so I'll likely put it in the back. I'm not sure if the ruffstuff/ord would work in the rear or not. [emoji848]

 

[darthyota]

ORD offers one too, I've seen them and would be happy with either... buuuut, I'm in that classic situation where money is tight and I'm kinda cheap anyway so hopefully I'll be able to Frankenstein something together. Fingers crossed!

Also, I'm running out of real estate on my front axle housing so I'll likely put it in the back. I'm not sure if the ruffstuff/ord would work in the rear or not. [emoji848]

The Ruff stuff one should basically you run the torsion bar in a piece of tube run between frame rails either in front or behind the axle then choose your arm length to suite your mounting position. Looking at their site again it looks like you have to call them and they will set you up a torsion bar based on your needs/vehicle setup. I get the money is tight situation, I’m usually in the boat where I have money but no time or time but no money to make forward progress on projects.

 

[Dilldog]

I dream of building a Burb very similar to what you are doing. Great work.
Also how do you like the Eaton rear, and how is the parts support for them? All my GM buddies with that body style have gone to the 10.5" AAMs, so Im just curious.