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99 6.5 TD Burb, I'm buying unless I get a good reason not to!!!

crashandburn

crashandburn

1/2 ton status
Joined
Dec 6, 2007
Posts
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Location
Colorado Springs, CO
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chev...5241011?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4cfbfdfcb3

4500 bucks. It's got 199k on it, not terrible. Man, is it clean! Runs great, shifts great, fully loaded, comfy, did I mention how clean it is? I think I'm gonna make it a Suburbalanche with 37X12.5's. It's tough to find one of these for this cheap, especially in this kind of shape, especially up here in the Rust Belt.
Questions about lift:
I was looking at 6" lifts on ebay, and the Pro-Comp one says it may have mild to severe driveline vibration, but the other companies don't say that. Does Pro comp suck, or do the others just leave that part out? Any experience with an IFS 6" lift?
If I do a 4" lift and trimming, can I clear 37's?
I'm not too interested in a SAS, as there isn't much good rock climbing around here and I wouldn't benefit much from the extra flex.

I'm gonna buy it tomorrow unless someone talks me out of it.
 
Why not try and win it for less, it's only 4 days.:dunno:
You really think it's going to go up to more than $4500?
crashandburn said:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chev...5241011?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4cfbfdfcb3

4500 bucks. It's got 199k on it, not terrible. Man, is it clean! Runs great, shifts great, fully loaded, comfy, did I mention how clean it is? I think I'm gonna make it a Suburbalanche with 37X12.5's. It's tough to find one of these for this cheap, especially in this kind of shape, especially up here in the Rust Belt.
Questions about lift:
I was looking at 6" lifts on ebay, and the Pro-Comp one says it may have mild to severe driveline vibration, but the other companies don't say that. Does Pro comp suck, or do the others just leave that part out? Any experience with an IFS 6" lift?
If I do a 4" lift and trimming, can I clear 37's?
I'm not too interested in a SAS, as there isn't much good rock climbing around here and I wouldn't benefit much from the extra flex.

I'm gonna buy it tomorrow unless someone talks me out of it.
Click to expand...
 
tRustyK5 said:
And proof of the 8 lug rimmed 1500 Sub...
Click to expand...

Hmm, I would have never guessed. GM must have had some weird weight requirements, or some reason to keep it rated at 1500.

I mean in order to have the 8 lug front and back it must have the 3/4 ton brakes and 9.5 rear end. Maybe it has softer springs or something. Interesting
 
Yeah, I thought so too. I just topped the thread I was referencing with a pic of this truck...

Not sure why GM would go through all the 8 lug stuff and then not just add an extra leaf or two and some 2500 tags. GM does have a rep for doing weird stuff though. Apparently this combination was a Suburban only thing.
 
Yeah, at first I thought it may not of had the rear seat, but it does.

Now I wanna know, so.if you buy this we need detailed 007 pics.

And man, there are a lot of pictures....looks clean, good luck with the bidding
 
imiceman44 said:
Why not try and win it for less, it's only 4 days.:dunno:
You really think it's going to go up to more than $4500?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I do. Those things always go for more than that. Don't forget, everyone that wants it is gonna bid like crazy in the last few minutes. I know I always do. If you bid early all you do is drive up the price even more.

Anyone have any idea on the lift I was asking about?
 
I would look for one that doesn't drop down the upper control arms. Might take a bit of research.

I know Pro Comp and Rancho used to drop down the upper arms but have done one of those lifts in years.

And I would go 6 inch not the 4 inch.
 
tRustyK5 said:
And proof of the 8 lug rimmed 1500 Sub...
Click to expand...

I want to see the title.

I know you could get a 6.5 in a Full size blazer 1/2 ton, but that is the only 1/2 ton diesel i'm aware of.

I'd be willing to bet the badges got swapped for some reason....
 
dhcomp said:
I want to see the title.
Click to expand...

The VIN is listed as 3GNGK16FXXG193569 . A bit of Googling says

http://www.decodethis.com/Default.aspx?tabid=65&vin=3GNGK16FXXG193569

which among other things says
K1500 4WD

Huh. As they say, seems legit. Must be a heavy-duty 1500 ... I remember for a while the pickups came in a six-lug "2500" light-duty, eight-lug "2500" 3/4, eight-lug "2500HD" one-ton, and the "3500" badges were reserved for duallies.

Makes me yearn for the R/V-C/K years as they make more sense :surepal:

-- A
 
dhcomp said:
I want to see the title.

I know you could get a 6.5 in a Full size blazer 1/2 ton, but that is the only 1/2 ton diesel i'm aware of.

I'd be willing to bet the badges got swapped for some reason....
Click to expand...

Nope, there were lots of 1500 diesel Burbs of that era. There were also a very few Z71 1500 diesel pickups. My brother had one. I thought someone put the badges on it, but then I saw a couple others driving around, and I went and looked at one for sale the other day.
 
dhcomp said:
I want to see the title.

I know you could get a 6.5 in a Full size blazer 1/2 ton, but that is the only 1/2 ton diesel i'm aware of.

I'd be willing to bet the badges got swapped for some reason....
Click to expand...


The pickups where available in a 1500/6.5td but only came 6 lug. Probably still had the 9.5sf rear, but 6 lug none the less.

I bet that the gvw, engine torque and vehicle weight combination in the sub maxed out the front diff capacity, so they put it on the 3/4 ton chassis with 1/2 ton rear springs.
 
You want a lift that at a minimum doesn't drop the upper control arms, keeps the steering in the stock location, and uses longer knuckles to allow this. A 1 piece subframe would be a good addition.

All that said...lifting GM IFS sucks. Big ol' polished turd. Get familiar with the steering and front suspension because you'll be replacing it a lot. Especially with tires that big.
Watch the front diff too. You'll probably be in there some with 37's.

Make sure to regear. 4.88's would probably be a good choice.





The 6.5L diesel half tons pickups and Tahoes got 10 bolts in the rear. SOME pickups got 6 lug 14SF's but again it was a random combination of events that had that happen. The option code for a half ton with the 14SF was F44 and after a decade of talking about it and looking into it with other GM folks no one has figured out what combination of GVWR, options packages, and fairy dust made GM put them under half tons of the era. They've been found under light GVWR half tons but not under high GVWR Z71 half tons and vice versa. The Z71 package and/or the towing package and/or the hauling packages did NOT guarantee it'd be there.
 
Ok, good to know. Why is dropping the upper control arms bad? Also, should I maybe stick with a 4" to not put as much stress on the front end?
 
Dropping them is bad because it just creates more odd geometry that the steering and suspension have to operate in. Also means you have to drop the steering lower via some kind of aftermarket setup and this creates more issues. The less crap you move from the stock locations, the better.

4" or 6" won't matter. You're opening a bag of worms. You'll notice most guys on here who have done a SAS on one of these trucks did an IFS lift first and then found out how much of a POS PITA they were.

Also, don't go too wide with the wheels or far from the factory backspacing. 8" wide wheels and 4-5" of backspacing will keep the wheel bearings a lot happier than wider wheels with less backspacing.

You can probably tell that I think you're making a BIG mistake lifting a GM IFS torsion bar truck. It sucks. It's expensive. When you're done you have a taller truck with a front suspension that's now probably weaker and more "loose" than it was stock due to the bunch of compromises lifting them creates. You also have hardly more ground clearance because of the IFS diff drop and the torsion bars hanging down.

You'd be better off wedging the biggest tires you could fit under it and trimming to fit.

I'd put a set of metric 33's that thing and hope for the best.
 
Are they really that bad? How often are we talking about replacing parts with occasional wheeling? I wanted to keep the IFS because I like the tighter handling. I have only ever driven leaf spring trucks that were old. With new parts would it be as tight? I don't want the truck to wander all over, as this will be a multi purpose truck.
 
Hahahahahahahaha...tight...IFS...lift...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The suspension and steering on these trucks rattle and wear themselves to all kinds of looseness over time. Then add the additional compromises of their component's relocation and "new requirements" due to a lift kit. THEN add the stress of much larger tires.

THEN go bump it all around offroad. Even under light wheeling.

You'll be driving a rattling, bumping, funny noises truck that can't hold an alignment in a year.

I threw thousands of dollars down the drain on my '92 and that was with a 2-3" suspension lift and narrow 33's. I didn't wheel it hard but I did wheel. In three years I rebuilt the front steering twice, never could get it to align, and when I sold it the hubs were about due and the steering was loose again.

Look around and do some research. You'll see a lot of similar experiences.

A good set of leaf springs with poly bushings, a tight steering system, and good shocks will make an older truck ride great.
 
You'd have to look into that. I have no experience with those. Most folks seem to just swap a 241 in.
 
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