So this all began as a late night classifieds browse and now has me thinking about building another truck.
To start with, earlier this year I picked up a pretty hacked together ‘87 RCLB 1/2 ton off-road truck for almost nothing, and used the extremely clean cab, engine, transmission, and t-case to put another 3/4 ton truck back to on-road status. This left me with a chassis/pile of parts that I really knew nothing about, but this weekend I decided to actually look the truck over and see what was left. It turns out that this truck has:
• 56” front spring conversion with the rear hanger in the factory position
• Crossover steering of some kind (flattop knuckles?)
• 63/64” rear springs on completely homemade mounts, moved inboard
• 37” TSL’s on 15” rims
I know of an ‘84 Suburban 3/4 ton with a 350/SM465/NP208 that has some body damage where the door pillars meet the roof. I don’t know if it was lightly T-boned or a tree fell on it, but it’s worthless to put back together as a nice driver, as all of the doors and most glass has been removed. However, it’s supposed to still run and drive, and I can pick it up for next to nothing.
Since I have this pile of parts that’s otherwise just going to sit around and access to a cheap Suburban, I thought why not combine the two and build a really cheap off road Suburban? The front seems easy enough and I think should just swap right over, but has anyone done a 63/64” spring in the rear on one before? I tried to search on it but didn’t come up with much, except that it seems like the rear axle can’t move back too much or it can hit the gas tank.
Is there anyone who’s done this before that can offer up some advice? I’m very familiar with bolt on lifts, but this would be a first time venture in moving springs and axles around. I’m willing to buy bolt on mounts for the rear springs if someone makes those for a Suburban. Ultimately, I’d like to put this together for as cheap as possible using as much of what I already have as I can.
To start with, earlier this year I picked up a pretty hacked together ‘87 RCLB 1/2 ton off-road truck for almost nothing, and used the extremely clean cab, engine, transmission, and t-case to put another 3/4 ton truck back to on-road status. This left me with a chassis/pile of parts that I really knew nothing about, but this weekend I decided to actually look the truck over and see what was left. It turns out that this truck has:
• 56” front spring conversion with the rear hanger in the factory position
• Crossover steering of some kind (flattop knuckles?)
• 63/64” rear springs on completely homemade mounts, moved inboard
• 37” TSL’s on 15” rims
I know of an ‘84 Suburban 3/4 ton with a 350/SM465/NP208 that has some body damage where the door pillars meet the roof. I don’t know if it was lightly T-boned or a tree fell on it, but it’s worthless to put back together as a nice driver, as all of the doors and most glass has been removed. However, it’s supposed to still run and drive, and I can pick it up for next to nothing.
Since I have this pile of parts that’s otherwise just going to sit around and access to a cheap Suburban, I thought why not combine the two and build a really cheap off road Suburban? The front seems easy enough and I think should just swap right over, but has anyone done a 63/64” spring in the rear on one before? I tried to search on it but didn’t come up with much, except that it seems like the rear axle can’t move back too much or it can hit the gas tank.
Is there anyone who’s done this before that can offer up some advice? I’m very familiar with bolt on lifts, but this would be a first time venture in moving springs and axles around. I’m willing to buy bolt on mounts for the rear springs if someone makes those for a Suburban. Ultimately, I’d like to put this together for as cheap as possible using as much of what I already have as I can.
