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Brand New Suburban (in 1988)

bigmike585

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Hey Everyone,

I recently signed up for this forum and posted a question about vibration/wobble coming from the a the wheels of my suburban. I got a bunch of feedback, good info, and ended up changing the tires out and the problem was solved.

Below are some pics of the suburban, its a 1988, half ton, 4x4.

Before new tires:
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After 33x12.50r15 (Firestone Destination A/T's, price was right)
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Here are a few others

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It's got 137k miles on it, and been maintained very well. Everything works! The A/C has been converted to 134, cools the vehicle nicely, front and rear. The 350 purrs, tranny is crisp. Most everything looks like it hasnt been touched since someone at the factory put it on. I took it on a 14 hour road trip this weekend and it did very well, I was pleased. There is a noticeable power loss when cruising hwy speeds (especially with a 30 mph headwind) with the new tires, but I just deal with it by not getting in a hurry up a hill trying to go easy on the 700r4. I was proly doing about 75 mph the whole way with the speedometer being thrown off because of the larger tires. When I got to my destination (father's shop), I drained the front and rear diffs to change the fluids, I suspect they've never been changed. The rear diff looked fine, was full, just black. The front, was full also, just slightly milky. I was crawling around underneath it and noticed everything was spotless, zero rust, not even any dirt. You can tell it never left the highway (at least I could never get a vehicle's under carrage that clean). Paint is faded, and an awful color IMO, but I dont care, not a show vehicle.

I ran the 4x4 through the motions, drove it accross a shallow river, up very steep grades, and did well. The low range is super strong, feels very tight. The 33's with zero lift rubbed slightly in certain situations off road, for sure gonna need a lift. That's the next step, 4 inch, just want to steer clear of blocks in the rear. The rear end is pretty saggy, I need a lift that will level it out. Anyone know of a good kit?

I wanted to ask you folks to share any tips or useful knowledge of these vehicle, this being my first old chevy fullsize. Any preventative maintnence that can be done? Any parts that are more likely to go out, this stage in its life, that I can be prepared for?
 
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Yeah you are on a accelerated schedule to kill your trans with stock gearing. Unless the factory gearing was 4.10's then gear it up. Also make sure the tranny cooler is working and if it doesn't have one(besides the radiator) then add an aftermarket one. On lifts a four inch will make those 33's look too small on that big of a vehicle imho. I would look for a 1-3 inch lifts tops. Heck even some ORD zero rates would help. Here are some that would work
http://www.ntwonline.com/73-87_GM_1_2T_SUBURBAN_2_5_INC_P12578C169.cfm
http://www.ntwonline.com/73-87_GM_1_2T_2_INCH_SPECIAL_W_P12759C169.cfm

A entire weekend a a good orbital buffer an you would be suprised how much better the paint will look. I like 3M or The Wax Shop for removing oxidation. BTW Cool burban!!
 
Nice Burb, wish my 88 was as clean. I put a set of zero lifts in the back of my truck and it leveled it nicely, I think every Suburban I see of this vintage has that rear sag.
 
Nice score!!! Do yourself a favor and keep after the body, clean up any rust that develops and you'll have a nice suburban for a long time. Keep after the fluids in the trans and rear and don't beat on this thing and you should be just fine... There are plenty of 10 bolts still on the road with a couple hundred thousand miles on them, just don't think you're going hardcore wheeling on them. Word of warning, that tan and gold color scheme is an old dude magnet... I can't wait to get mine painted.
 
Nice burb man:waytogo: and welcome to CK5. Its cool that you got the info you needed here. I've gotten alot of info here too. I have a near spotless 88 burb myself:D If your interested in a small lift this is mine with 3" lift, no zero rate, and 33"s. I didnt want a full 4" cause as stated it makes the tires look wierd sometimes.

DSC02176.JPG

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Not sure what gears are in it, what would typically come in it? The transfer case is an NP208. It does have a tranny cooler and its in perfect order. I originally wanted a regear and 35's, but then I figured, for the cost of the regear I could proly find a set of cucv axles ready to go. The power and acceleration feels great starting off and at lower speeds, its just on the highway where it sucks. I knew it was gonna suck because it had to downshift often while runnin the 235's. What do y'all think the cost of the regear would be?
 
Guess I gotta pay the man to view these pics, seems like this site has a lot to offer, what the heck, I'm gonna become a real member
 
Guess I gotta pay the man to view these pics, seems like this site has a lot to offer, what the heck, I'm gonna become a real member


:thumb:

Very clean burb dude!! Im diggin it. Idk if you will really need a regear if your not beating on it, it may be a good Idea in the long run, but if it was taken care of as well as you say I would say its fine. My dad had a 91 burb that had like 80k when he got it, ran 33's on it its whole exhistance and when he sold it it had over 200k on it and he never touched the driveline and it still drove fantastic.
 
Look at the RPO codes on the sticker in the glove box. You're looking for either GT4 3.73:1 gears or GT5 4.10:1 gears and G80 the infamous "Gov-lock".
 
Yeah a regear depends what part of the country you are in. Here in CA it would cost about $1200. If you have access to 1 ton running gear then I would swap it in if the gearing is better. It really depends what gears you have in there now.
 
Ya I checked out the codes, GT4, so it's got the 3.73's.

Dang shady, that's a sweet looking burb, got any pics of the inside?

I guess I should have told y'all what my burbs purpose will be, hunting and fishing. I spend the majority of my weekends during the fall/winter hunting. Some of the places I go require me to drive through brush, steep grades, and the occasional mudhole. I bought my other vehicle new in 08 and it's covered in scratches and has been stuck 3 times (its 4x4). I decided enough is enough with a brand new truck (not so brand new anymore about to pull the trigger on a diesel). Also, I fish the national seashore in texas so it's 60+ miles of un-maintained beach, 4x4 only (and most days even with a 4x4 it get's a little hairy). You have these steep shell banks that are very unforgiving (you'll sink) and lots of debris from hurricanes that try and pop your tires, etc.

Anyhow, I needed something dependable because I will have to drive up to 6 hours to a hunting destination. The beach is very remote, sometimes you wont see another soul for days at a time, cell phone service is spotty, not a place you want to break down.

Another thing I have to do is modify my rack that I would put on my pick up to go on the burban, for shark fishing the beach. I'll post pics up so y'all can see what I'm talking about.

Thanks for the comments, O and btw, I just spilled gear oil all inside it! I bought 5 qts of gear oil for the front and rear end the other day and had 3/4 a qt leftover, so I threw it in a box in the back. Some how (maybe this west texas heat) the top came off and it came out of the box and seeped out all over the carpet:doah::eek1:. Dang it!
 
Here are a few pics of the rack I made that now has to be converted to burban:

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It's gonna be a month or so before I get to get the rack mounted up, it has to be easily removeable. I am still feeling pretty torn on what to do about the gears. I really cant run tire's any smaller that those, but but for $1200.00 I feel confident I could find a dana 60 front and a 14 bolt rear. Then again I was wondering how much a new or rebuilt tranny would cost down the road (may have to factor headache/hassle into that cost, plus I dont want it going burning out down the beach). I know the beach can be pretty hard on tranny's, running 50 or 60 miles in 4wd, it'll be shifting alot.
 
Just add a few things to up the power n torque. Mines doing fine on the 33's with 3.73's. I'm not sure but did you say its a 6.2:dunno: Theres ways to make power in that motor and will be better money spent than gears. Unless your doing tons with 4.10's, then Go for it:D

By the way Welcome to the members list:thumb: and the interior pics and all the other pics I have of my burb are in the link in my signature at the bottom of this post:waytogo:

Sweet burb again man:D
 
Sharks you say eh? You may want to check in with the local CK5 police chief...Brody I think is his name. Happy fishing!
 
It's got the 350 TBI.

Another one on the "to do" list is the headliner. I did some searching and it looks like a few of you got pretty creative and did an excellent job. I'll be looking for the easiest but also the most cost efficient route.
 
Ahh headliners... lol

My truck came from tennesee with the limited edition "Confederate Flag" headliner:thumb: lol

And my van is the stock white board thing that came in it and ive just had tons of people sign it over the years lol. No nice headliners here:thumb:
 
Sharks you say eh? You may want to check in with the local CK5 police chief...Brody I think is his name. Happy fishing!

Haha!!! The chief is going to flip when he finds out he can fish for sharks from The safety of his K5.... He never was a fan of boats. Sorry for the inside jokes, it will all make sense soon enough. Welcome to the site!!!!
 
The stock tires on that Silverado will not get you very far off road. Sure, they look nice on the street, but they will turn to crap in the mud and offer no floatation in the beach sand. Probably why you've gotten stuck with it. Some decent treads on some smaller wheels would do that truck some good.

Maybe not as good as the burb though. More ground clearance being the biggest factor. Besides that, it's an older truck. Tree scratches and a bit more "go pedal" because you're less concerned with the end result will take that truck further as well.
 
My truck came from tennesee with the limited edition "Confederate Flag" headliner:thumb: lol

Haha, I would expect nothing less from the volunteer state, it proly took some skill to fab that headliner too.

:haha:
 

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