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1989 GMC Suburban "Trail Boss" conversion

1989 suburban SLE conversion by Trailwagons
Overview Gallery Discussion
So there was a little bit of rust in the front fenders (all ive found so far)

driver side
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passenger side
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but not anymore
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finished up the wings, capped them off, still deciding a few things.. where to put the front plate, do I want to add a hoop over the winch, do I want to add flush mount fog lights into the bumper.
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The fenders on my sad sack burb are the nicest part of the truck. I really hate to cut them when the time comes!
 
So when I bought the suburban the guy said it leaned a little to one side, It was on a hill so I didnt really notice it. Since having it home I have noticed that ya it does lean to the driver side, looks like the driver spring is just sagging compared to the passenger side. Last night I pulled the tape out and the driver side is 1.5 inches lower than the passenger from the fender lip to the top of the hub. I debated several ways to "fix" it while being cheap (contradiction in terms lol) and decided just order a new set of Tuff country leaves for just the driver side. It was hard to swallow cause one leaf pack is $270+/- when both pairs of 4" springs i ordered for the stepside were only $200, but I really dont want to lift this thing any higher.

So waiting on the leaf spring to show up and new U-bolts from ORD because I do not reuse U-bolts.
 
Built a simple bracket and mounted a GMRS on top of my CB, still need to wire them in. I am very new to the GMRS radios so please let me know if there will be interference between the radios or not.

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I mounted them offset so I can mount a switch panel closer to me
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Well I had planned on taking this to the Veteran Overland Memorial Day Muster but that didnt happen, ran out of time and waiting on parts to show up.

while waiting for parts I installed the new headlights, they are SMD sealed glass lens conversions to convert to an H3 bulb

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ditched the wiring nightmare of a stereo install (on the left is the old, the right is the new pigtail)

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and with a new head unit I had to upgrade the rest of it, new speakers under the dash pad, 6X9's in the rear side panels (because crutchfield was wrong on size), and a powered 10" sub under the back seat.

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little bit of a difference

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I was trying to get this thing ready to go for a trip and that did not happen so I quickly yanked the CB and GMRS out and threw them in my tacoma. Ive realized that this thing wont really work how I wanted it to for hauling scouts and "overlanding". I put new leaf springs in the front and it still leans to the driver side, I added a zero rate and it still sits unlevel. The frame has to be tweaked but i cant see where. So it just sat over the summer as we were busy with scouts and different plays my kid has been in.

If you saw my stepside build post you know i picked up a parts truck with one tons for it, I also have all the parts to build the 44/12 bolt from the stepside which i was going to do and put them in my kids 72 K5 but am second guessing giving him a daily driver in high school with lockers, beadlocks, and 37's lol. soooo... I am thinking of building the 44/12 and throw them in the suburban and use it go ice fishing (hoping for good weather) and take the scouts sledding and winter camping.

Trying to remember all the parts I have from the stepside for the axle swap, 4.88 gears, 12 bolt mini spool, zip locker front, chromoly shafts front/rear, crossover steering (maybe highsteer also), ORD cross member, steel diff covers f/r, 37" M16 swampers on beadlocks, and from the parts truck a shackle flip and ORD front body mount/spring hangers. The suburban has the funky 4" lift springs with extended hangers, I have a set of 08? HD leaf springs and the shackle flip to install, I may have to play around with spring packs but I have several laying around.
 
Plastic covered crimp connectors were invented by the devil to ensure anybody who doesn't know how to do wiring will pay eventually.
 
warrpath4x4 said:
while waiting for parts I installed the new headlights, they are SMD sealed glass lens conversions to convert to an H3 bulb

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Click to expand...
Those look completely legit. Do you have a link to where to find them? Also, can you report on light output vs stock and whether you upgraded the wiring or not? As with all headlight changes, the beam pattern is more important than total light. The 89-91 quad headlight setup gets some insults for light output and options, but it's a nice looking setup a lot of us don't want to give up.
 
Blue85 said:
Plastic covered crimp connectors were invented by the devil to ensure anybody who doesn't know how to do wiring will pay eventually.
Click to expand...
ya i took the easy way out, but its still better than what was there lol
 
Blue85 said:
Those look completely legit. Do you have a link to where to find them? Also, can you report on light output vs stock and whether you upgraded the wiring or not? As with all headlight changes, the beam pattern is more important than total light. The 89-91 quad headlight setup gets some insults for light output and options, but it's a nice looking setup a lot of us don't want to give up.
Click to expand...

They came from Amazon, They are even cheaper now than when i bought them, they are not a plug and play, I had to build my own plug for them but you could just cut the old plug off and wire direct if you wanted.

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I have done nothing to aim the lights as I have not really been driving it.

Low beams
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High beams
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of course the phone doesnt pick it up as good as in real life but they are pretty bright.

I have some diodes I thought about adding in so when they high beams are on, all four are on.
 
100% ditch the running boards/fender flares, they are holding rust i promise. Also you may be experiencing some bump steer, drop pitman arm should help but of course x-over steering is king
 
307Norfolk said:
100% ditch the running boards/fender flares, they are holding rust i promise. Also you may be experiencing some bump steer, drop pitman arm should help but of course x-over steering is king
Click to expand...
ya I was looking at them the other day, i will have to build some new running boards for the short and elderly lol.

side note, where in WY are you from? i miss living there, the wife and i want to move back.
 
Have you looked at the body mount bushings for the leaning issue?
 
Since buying this thing it has stumbled and tried to die and sometimes did die when hitting the brakes but not all the time. I ordered a TPS and IAC from Rock auto, standard brand and was just gonna replace both since sensors/electrical are getting old on this thing. Pulled the TPS and it was already a replacement unit (someone's been down this road) went to pull the IAC and it was finger tight at best. Went ahead and replaced it anyways since i was there.

that was a couple weeks ago, i thought the IAC being loose was the problem but the stumbling and dieing came back.

i was reading where others were having the same problem and it was their fuel pressure regulator, i found an ACDelco one for $50. i figured this would fix it as this was the old one when i removed it.
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I had yet to give it a tune up (i know should have been done already) so I did that, and it needed it.

crusty coil got replaced with an MSD coil
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#1 spark plug
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rust powder came flying out when i took that boot off
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And its still stumbling when braking, going to change the fuel filter as i already have one and im sure it needs it.
 
Put a new fuel filter in it and its still stumbling when letting off the throttle. While researching the problem i found out/remembered the IAC needs to be reset after replacing so I did that but no real change. Figured I would see where the TPS voltage was reading 0.79 closed and 4.5 wide open, drilled out the mounting holes some and its now at 0.64 closed and 4.34 wide open. still stumbling but maybe not as bad. It idles just fine (not sure at how many RPM's with no tach), runs fine when on the throttle, when you let off it its almost like the RPM's drop too far and it starts stumbling but now if i hit the brakes it usually brings the RPM's back up enough to where it smooths out.

I am wondering if i should pop the plug out of the throttle body and adjust the idle stop screw? I have thought about replacing the fuel pump but it smells like it is running rich.

I have a tach and a new EGR valve on the way. recently replaced parts are plugs, wires, cap, rotor, MSD coil, fuel filter, TPS, IAC, CTS, O2 sensor, fuel pressure regulator.
 
Put the new EGR valve on, had to pull the throttle body to do it so replaced the hard throttle body gasket while i was there. Finally got time to drive it last night and it did not stumble at all ... until I pulled in the driveway and put it in reverse, stumbled and died. started right back up and finished backing in. While the throttle body was off i drilled out the cap for the idle stop screw but have not made any adjustments yet, the tach is supposed to be here today then i can watch what the RPM's are actually doing.
 
The steering has never been great on this thing and I have some parts to upgrade it (steering box brace and u-joint steering shaft) and a crossover steering kit minus a new box for when i swap the new axle in, but i wanted to make it better in the interim. I couldn't see buying new tie rod ends for current setup just to ditch them later so i figured I would break out the crossover steering and just use the tie rod (knuckle to knuckle) parts... good thing I did because I did not as complete a kit as I thought I did. So I ordered an ORD heavy duty (1.25) tie rod and some tie rod ends and a new steering stabilizer. I opted for the pre threaded tie rod out of convenience.

well it wasn't "as" convenient as I expected.

the ends bottomed out before the whole assembly was to the correct measurement
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they were about an inch to long
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so i just used the portaband and cut about an inch off the end and chamfered them and got everything installed
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it drives safer but there is still a little play, might be the frame, might be the rag joint, all the tie rod ends have been replaced now.
 
next weekend im supposed to be picking up an 88 3/4 ton suburban frame (frame, fuel tank, rear springs), I am not looking forward to swapping the frames but I am going to take the chance to install some spare ORD parts I have laying around (shackle flip, engine cross member, front hangers, front springs). I need to build the axles out of my stepside (44/12 bolt with 4.56 gears, selectable locker front, posi rear, crossover steering, chromoly rear shafts) for it. should be able to have a rolling chassis ready to swap drivetrain and body
 
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