Anyone changed Burban tailgate to barn doors?

[gmcjimmy88]

I am looking at (99% sure I am buying it) a burban. I realy want barn doors but can't pass up the deal on this gated burb. Has anyone ever swaaped the gate to barn doors? They should be interchangeable with all the hardware correct? Just thought I would ask. Thanks.

 

[Muddytazz]

50/50 chance on an EASY swap

Somewhere in the 80's (I can't remember when), GM stopped making the burbs dual mount for the ass end.

If you open the tailgate and look at where the barn doors would normally hinge from. If the hinge pockets/mounting spots are there, then you have an easy swap. If they are not there, you'll need to be good at bodywork and welding.

I've done a bunch of the easy swaps and a bunch of the not easy swaps.

 

[BLIDVL]

IIRC 83 is the last year you simply swap the barn doors for the tailgate. Anything later you'll have to do a lot of work to swap barn doors for a tailgate on later years, even the tailpan where the tailgate hinges is different. I was going to do this swap on my 89 because I don't like having a tailgate and ended up finding a very straight almost rust free barn door style that I'm going to swap onto the frame of my 89 this spring. After looking at all the work it would take to make barn doors work and how rusted my body was it seems like the easiest way to do it.

 

[gmcjimmy88]

The 86 I am looking at (buying next week) is in great shape. I really prefer the barn doors over the tailgate. I guess I will need to find a barn door donor to borrow the back half off of.

 

[cabledawg]

I'm actually thinking of going the other way. Ditch the barn doors for a tailgate so I can put a removable top on my Burb (like a K5). I'm almot ready to buy a donor vehicle (both the K5 and the Burb) so I dont have soo much body work to do. Barn doors are only good for the fact that you dont have to reach over a tailgate when loading or unloading. I had to load some 10' timber from the hardware store the other day, and had the front of the boards on the front bench(not safe!) because I couldnt just roll a window down in back and let em hang.

 

[Tabb]

You can't have tailgate party with barndoors.
Barndoor burbs are alot more common than the gated ones. Given the choice I would go with the tailgate.

 

[USSkoval]

Tailgates are great as long as the mounts for the hinges are still one with the body of the burban. Oh yeah, and as long as you don't mind tinkering with them every now and again when they malfunction.

 

[CumminsChick]

i'd like to go from my barn doors to the tailgate so i can roll that window down when the dogs in the back so she can get some air. as well as, in the summer when the windows are down and you are cruising down the highway, you have a parachute in the back of the truck since theres no where for the air to go. but in my 88 the swap would be a mess.

~bernie

 

[metapoint]

I have both options for sale. I cut the back two feet of an 87 suburban with barn doors so I have the body door shell and both doors. The previous plan for my 89 was to cut out the unreinforced area from the tailgated burb and weld in the reinforced area from the doored burb that way I have all the hinge mounts, door sill, top clasps etc. Shifting gears on the project and building a custom camper backhalf so I have both available the barn door set up and the factory tailgate set up. F/S in Phoenix, AZ. PM me for more info.

 

[dsmd58]

I have both options for sale. I cut the back two feet of an 87 suburban with barn doors so I have the body door shell and both doors. The previous plan for my 89 was to cut out the unreinforced area from the tailgated burb and weld in the reinforced area from the doored burb that way I have all the hinge mounts, door sill, top clasps etc. Shifting gears on the project and building a custom camper backhalf so I have both available the barn door set up and the factory tailgate set up. F/S in Phoenix, AZ. PM me for more info.

you definitely need to post that build, id love to see a burb converted into a camper back...

 

[BulldogK5]

you definitely need to post that build, id love to see a burb converted into a camper back...

Agreed. That sounds cool.