89 Suburban - The Canyonero: Rear Suspension Time!

[nutt7]

nutt7 submitted a new Build: 89 Suburban - The Canyonero
Click for the intent and build philosophy.

Table of Contents:

Post 11: Beginning of the AAM 14bff refresh and Install
Post 51: Beginning of Hydroboost Rebuild and Install
Post 87: Compass/Temperature Mirror
Post 94: Starting Rear Bumper Plans
Post 122-139: Building the Rear Fold Down Bumper
Post 127: Body Mounts
Post 142-172: Sleeping/Storage Platform and Roadtrip
Post 184: Ramsey Winch Bumper Purchase (for later)
Post 190: Bought a Welder!!
Post 201: Minivan Front Seats
Post 205: Subwoofer Center Console
Post 209: Dual Battery, Fuse Boxes, Switch Panel, and Supplemental Wiring (overdue million wire upgrade)
Post 213: Fancy Headliner

Some previous mods before the "build":

1. Deciding on a remote transmission filter with part numbers

2. My 3/4 ton axle swap (not many details on the swap itself) Rims and tires, traction control, initial ext trans filter and cooler install, added xj shaft.

3. My search for a good, r134a friendly A/C condenser

4. A new core support, aluminum radiator, windstar fans, fuse and relay box, external transmission filter and cooler:

5. Gathering info and data for a battery (and alternator). Battery is on last page featuring cool functional military style battery lugs.

6. A couple threads on a 140 amp cs144 alternator swap and beefing up some wiring. I think I added a ford starter solenoid around this time too...huge help.

7. Deciding on and buying an aam 10.5 14bff. Details will be somewhere below

 

[UpnAdam]

I'm in!

 

[Bent77]

 

[nutt7]

Some links added. I never noticed how many little mods never got documented. I'll have to add those in. Ask any details here, not in the old threads. I'll post up some before pics soon too...

 

[nutt7]

Here is a before pic.


And a post lift:


And a somewhat current pic:


Pretty recent:

 

[Chevy305]

I admire your philosophy, subscribed

 

[LIVEAnimals]

Jealous... Shoulda kept mine

 

[nutt7]

Some stereo upgrades.
I've had the same CD player for over ten years. I finally upgraded for a few reasons. Usb inputs, Bluetooth, and tuneability. I went with a Pioneer 80prs. It's a budget audiophile unit. I love quality sound. This unit allows me to set time delay between speakers for a better imaging, it has a 16 band eq for both left and right. I can dedicate the pre outs for mids tweets and sub with full crossover and level control for each (3 way active), which I plan to utilize when I gather more parts. It sounds dramatically better than before. I now keep my old iPod in the console and control it with the CD player.


I put Polk db351s in the dash. They provide a very nice upgrade to stock ones. Here are some pics of me soldering and heat shrinking the included capacitors. The tweeters hit the metal bar in the dash pad, so I cut it out. The dash is all crumbly any way and I run a mat over it.


I currently run a hifonics z600 amp to a jl13w1 13.5" sub. I made a thin profile trapezoidal box that is out of the way of cargo or camp beds. It wedges nicely between the tailgate and the back seat, while still being within spec of the sub and it sounds pretty nice too!


The rear 4x10s were replaced with some old pioneer 6x9s I had laying around. I used some particle board from a shipping box to seal them to the panel. I fit the stock grills over it...barely.

All these components will be upgraded later except the CD player...plans are in the works!! Audionerd stuff mostly. Stay tuned.

 

[JoshHefnerX]

Love Suburbans in for this.

What did you do for the lift?

 

[nutt7]

Love Suburbans in for this.

What did you do for the lift?

The lift is a 4" rough country. I pulled the angled shim out of the rear and added an EZ inch. I had factory quad shocks...didn't take long to remove a pair. The front is on the rough side, but ok. The rear is pretty smooth. I'll likely go another route someday for comfort and flex, but for now it does the job.

 

[nutt7]

I made a little progress on the axle. It's an aam 10.5 from an 03 express van. I wanted discs with an ebrake and I got a decent deal on this one. The last link in the first post has some more info and a few pics. As of now, it's a shell. I only left the backing plates on. I'll try to get the perches and shock mounts on this week or next. A guy from work is going to weld them on for me.

I was hoping most parts on this axle would remain useable...not panning out. Here are what the rotors looked like under the pad:


And the cracked park brake drum. The pads and park brake shoes and hardware are too far gone...


Getting old stuff cut off...those perches were THICK. I bought new perches from diy 4x. Had to order them for a d70 due to the 3.5" tubes.



The axle spent some time in the rain with a less-than-sealed cover. Anything on the driver side had water in it so the bearings were trash, and some minor pitting resulted. The right side was all good. Here is one of the left side bearings before and after cleaning. That won't fly.


Before and after for the left collar...it is still useable despite the pitting.



Before cleaning...the race seat is all good.


Here's my make-shift borebrush that I used to clean the tubes. I used my toolbox locking rod wrapped in shop towels.


It worked well! You can see where the plug welds are.


The left hub was a bear to clean. I soaked that sucker in a homer bucket of vinegar and distilled water to release the rust. Wire brushing and scuff pads didn't do diddly. There was some minor pitting in the hub and the spindle, but not on any bearing or seal surfaces. Here are some pics of reassembly. I used timken bearings and national seals.
Outer bearing and race, retainer ring too.


Inner race. Oreillys bearing driver kit didn't have one large enough for the inner. I had to use the old race to get it flush, then a punch to finish seating it.


The seal. It has a rubber ring that seals to the hub (I'm used to a painted metal surface that mates with the hub). I knocked it in there dry, as was recommended, but a tiny bit of the rubber sheared off (it did this on both sides). It'll probably be fine, but I put some Toyota fipg around the perimeter of the seal just in case.



I picked up a pair of spring plates at the jy for $5. Some vinegar cleaned them up good!


This paint was on sale, lol. I forgot to elongate the holes to accommodate the wider ubolts, but I'll do it later and touch it up. It needs another 1/16 or so taken off.


I also painted the park brake plate with some left over rustoleum for corrosion prevention. I sprayed some flat black on the dust shield later. I didn't tape it off and where the paints overlapped it started to crinkle. Same brand of paint...oh well...we will see how it looks after it dries completely.


That's all for now! Next time I post I hope to have the perches and shock tabs on. I also have a crap ton more parts cleaning to do.

 

[JoshHefnerX]

Those seals look different than I had on mine. The ones I had were a 2-piece design. Part went over the stub on the axle as well as well as the hub. Wonder if that's a revision?

 

[nutt7]

Those seals look different than I had on mine. The ones I had were a 2-piece design. Part went over the stub on the axle as well as well as the hub. Wonder if that's a revision?

It is different than the one that came out. I heard there were two types. It still felt like I could separate the seal into two pieces, but I didn't want to mess with it.

 

[nutt7]

Today I brought my pinion to work to use the vise and in-lb torque wrench to set my preload. I needed to do this since the nut started to back off (luckily nothing was loose or wobbly)! I removed the nut, cleaned it up a bit, and laid some loctite on the shaft to help it stay put.



We had to apply a lot of force to attain about 20 in lbs of preload. We about took the table with us! I know used bearings need to preload to 5-15, but my seal was installed and the bearings are mostly dry so I'm not too worried about the extra preload.

Some of you might be wondering why I didn't replace the nut. Since I can't inspect the bearings or seal without complete disassembly, I opted to keep the old stuff and hope the unit is in working order. Besides water damage, everything else has been in good shape, so I think it'll be fine. If my seal is bad, or bearing wears too fast, or the nut backs off again, I'll rebuild the whole thing. I'm trying to keep this a budget build.

 

[GWeakland620]

Nice build!

 

[Truckman4life]

I've reused plenty of pinion nuts when a new one wasn't available. As long as you loctite like you did it will be fine.

 

[nutt7]

Well, I got the perches and shock mounts welded on. I know it's best practice to place the axle under the truck to tack it all in place for best real world results. Mine is a daily driver so I measured a bunch and am relying on that! So far I have some concerns (see below), but time will tell if I did a good job. Despite measuring many times, I still overlooked some minor details and assumed a few things. I need a welder.

On post we have an auto skills center where I was charged $25 for the task. The guy did ok work. Not too pretty but I think it'll be all good. The pics are before I wire brushed it off. One of the perches didn't sit square in my test fitments, so I had to take a grinder lightly to the opposite radiused mounting surfaces. I measured and placed it for the welder and it looked good. When I got home I noticed it was tilted a tad towards the hub. See the pics:

Full view after I mounted the pinion:


Passenger side: I mounted the shock tabs on the assumption that the perches ride parallel to the ground.they don't. At least on mine, lol. Now one shock will be a tad higher than the other. I was pissed until I noticed the stock locations on my current 14bff were also mounted in a similar fashion. I also mounted the tabs so the shock end will be even with the bottom of the tube. This might effect the ride a tiny bit. We'll see.


Driver side:


I measured a one degree tilt. I imagine that can stress the bushings...what do you think? I shit bricks when I let others work on my burb since they always seem to mess something up. This time was no exception. I hope it works out. I wish I had a welder . The pics make the tube look warped...it's not.

 

[Bent77]

Some places you can rent welders. It's usually a more cost effective option than buying if it's not in the budget.

I've seen everything from 120v flux core MIGs to trailered bohemoths. Rented a Honda gennie/welder once. Only ran stick, but worked great.
You can buy small quantities of stick from Home Depot

 

[nutt7]

Good to know. I may have to look around. I've only welded with a 110v wire fed Hobart and argon...with no formal training. If it's cheap I may just practice on some scrap steel. I love making things...I just lack the funds, lol. One day.

 

[Bent77]

Some times you can find guys selling them on Craigslist or in pawn shop