How hard to change to barn doors?

[bigarmzz]

how hard is it to change over to barn doors on a burb? my 91 come with the tail gate style, and i'd like to put on a set of barn doors, if its not too much trouble

might be a dumb question to some of ya, but i have no idea

 

[mtnman]

THe doors will bolt in, but the lower panel (door sill) will need to be changed - that part is a big difficult job. IMO not worth the hassle on a nice burb - maybe on a beater

 

[TommyM]

I did it on our daily driver '90 V2500. The above comment is right. It was completely doable, but no matter how much I adjust, they never seem to fit quite right -- difficult to close, rattles, etc.

I have done a barn door swap and a 4L80E swap to mine. If I had to do it over again, I'd just hold out (and pay up$$) for a '91 V2500 with barn doors, because after all that work, that's basically what I've got.

Tommy

 

[rdn2blazer]

You guys have made me happy I bought a BD burb in the first place. Sounds like a PITA. I always liked them better anyways, although the tail gates look cleaner.

 

[diesel4me]

I love the barn doors,hate tailgates and crappy window woes when they wont roll up or down..I found a sweet pair of barn doors for only 50 bucks at a junkyard nearby,for my '85 K10 Burb,then discovered I'd have to just about saw off the entire back end of my truck and the "donor" to get them to fit!..I posted here asking if it was a bolt on swap,but ONLY for '73-83 Suburbans,after that GM decided to make two whole different bodies!...man,I would like to kick the guy who's bright idea that was right in the crotch!..WHY mess up the design when they HAD it right the first time???...why they would tool up production to make two separate vehicles of the same style just for doors VS a tailgate makes NO sense to me..

I ended up finding a 90% rust free tailgate with a good working window for 40 bucks though..but I'll STILL HATE IT!..

 

[TommyM]

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but I did it on my '90. What is it that's supposed to be different on the bodies? I did have to swap the rear door sill strip that is part of the body, bot it was a bolt-in piece.

Tommy

 

[USSkoval]

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but I did it on my '90. What is it that's supposed to be different on the bodies? I did have to swap the rear door sill strip that is part of the body, bot it was a bolt-in piece.

Tommy

Do you know the history of your burb? Could it have been titled as a different year maybe? The later burbs do not have the bolt holes for BD hinges. My '88 is another example... no bolt holes.

Also, I love my tailgate

 

[Muddytazz]

They are still titled as a suburban. IIRC, (84 sticks in my mind) mid 80's is when GM stopped making them universal fit. Reason for the barn doors in the first place was because they were used as ambulances (even pre-73).

 

[TommyM]

No, mine is definitely a '90, and it definitely had the bolt holes for the hinges. I had to cut holes in the body pillars to get to the holes. . . maybe yours has the holes but they're hidden behind the sheetmetal?

Tommy

 

[USSkoval]

No, mine is definitely a '90, and it definitely had the bolt holes for the hinges. I had to cut holes in the body pillars to get to the holes. . . maybe yours has the holes but they're hidden behind the sheetmetal?

Tommy

Very interesting! I don't think I have ever heard this mentioned before. But yeah, the earlier burbs ('83-prior IIRC) have the bolt holes exposed, with no sheetmetal covering them.

 

[BLIDVL]

Very interesting! I don't think I have ever heard this mentioned before. But yeah, the earlier burbs ('83-prior IIRC) have the bolt holes exposed, with no sheetmetal covering them.

I've never heard this before either, I'm swapping body's soon anyway I'm going to go cut a section out and see if this is true. I'll post up my findings.

 

[BLIDVL]

So I cut a opening where the hinges would go on my 89 and there are three holes where the hinges can go. To swap you'd still need the door sill,captive nuts for the hinges,basically everything off the back of a donor, still much easier than a body swap and that's what I'm going to do. I have all of that and the time to do it, I'm going to post a swap thread when I do it hopefully soon as my tailgate plain sucks.

 

[USSkoval]

So it's just the holes, no threads?

 

[diesel4me]

Yes,and what about the floor sill,which is way different than the tailgate bodies have--you'd still have to carve that out of the donor truck and install it ,for the doors to seal at the bottom,or even close..

 

[BLIDVL]

The door sill unbolts it is alot of work to remove it but it's just bolted. I already replaced that part on my sub about 10 years ago when I got it so I know it can be swapped over.