Barn door conversion

[Woodman89]

A friend of mine has a 89 burban with a tailgate. The truck is pretty nice but hates the tailgate and wished it had barn doors. Has anyone ever converted from tailgate to barn doors on a burban? can it be done? I would imagine that chevy did not make two completely different bodies for doors/tailgate. I figured that if anyone would knew it would be the people that hang out here!

 

[ColAdo82K5]

hey,
I've never done it but i've heard of people who have. The biggest thing is that you must have every little part off of the donor vehicle. this includes the limit straps and latchs in the center of the opening and everything.
It should bolt right in.
Blake

Who needs new parts when there are junk yards and hardware stores ?

 

[Mudstud]

Grim might have SOME insight since he built custom barn doors for his k5. Just a thought.

Mudstud
<a target="_blank" href=http://communities.msn.com/OffroadK5s/6superliftand33s.msnw>http://communities.msn.com/OffroadK5s/6superliftand33s.msnw</a>
76K5 6" with 33s, sb400/350/203parttime/3.73-D44/GM12bolt

 

[502Burban]

I'm in the process of doing this to my '73 right now. It isn't too tough to do; just need to get all the parts. I found a good wrecking yard with some helpful people who pulled some barn doors from a donor vehicle and made sure to get all the little pieces. If you don't get all the small stuff (latches, hinges, rubber bumpers, straps, wiring harnesses for defroster &amp; lock, etc, etc) the swap will nickle and dime you to death.

The one thing to watch out for is that you need to replace the lower sill assy. It has a recessed area that accomodates the lower latches, instead of the holes for the tailgate hinges.

I don't have it handy right now, but if you are interested, I can supply you with the correct GM part number for the sill. I think it cost about $200 from the Chevy parts counter, but can confirm that later also.

Just let me know,

Robb
<a target="_blank" href=http://community.webshots.com/user/robbrj>'73 GMC Suburban - 502DFI</a>