Project Polar Bear: '89 V2500 Suburban

[Larry]

lev-o-gage

I've had that gauge bobbing around 30 degrees a few times and while that doesn't sound like much 30 degrees will make your asshole pinch holes in the seat!

 

[mosesburb]

So does it still smell like dog whiz or did the carpet take care of that??

 

[Larry]

So does it still smell like dog whiz or did the carpet take care of that??

Yes, sir. The dog piss smell is all gone! Has that new carpet smell now.

 

[CUCV2]

The 8.1L are a hidden gem. I am continuously amazed at what our 8.1L Suburban will do with very little effort. The mileage is good too for what it is. And the 8.1L Burbs come with a full floater rear axle.

 

[Larry]

Long time no updates…

Well, the Polar Bear burb got another axle swap this afternoon. Ever since I swapped in the axles from my dad’s old wrecker last September I’ve been fighting a major wandering problem that I was tired of dealing with. The other night I did some measurements and found the camber was off on both sides (and not equally) and it appears the axle tube may even be bent too as one tire was forward about 1/8” than the other. Luckily, I had another D44 left over from the K10’s Dana 60 swap so I tossed that in the burb this afternoon. Problem solved! No more wandering plus I gained a Detroit TrueTrac and 4:56 gears (old axle had 4:10’s). Couple things could be a problem with the D44 I just pulled out, the wrecker it came out of drilled a guard rail many years ago which bent the front shackles and moved the axle towards the driverside. Looks like it may have bent the tube too. I also suspect the machine shop that I used to press in the new balljoints last year also didn't get them in there straight. I see no reason the camber would be so far off. Heck, the camber was off to even the naked eye, especially on the RH side (top tilted out)! I have a feeling that axle had a couple bad things going on . Good riddance!

Now I need to regear the 14FF to 4:56, which I also have a left over “thick” gear set from one of the K10 projects as well. They were removed for noise reasons only to find the guy that set them up did it wrong but there was no wear on the ring or pinion so I feel somewhat comfortable trying to reuse them. When we discovered the pinion dept was off on the K10 causing the noise I already had a new Yukon gear set so that leaves me with a good Genuine “thick” gear set. As I learned last night in a different thread, the “thick” gears is what I need to regear this 4:10 carrier to 4:56 anyway…bonus!

The burb will also be gaining a set of fender flares shortly as I have a front set of WARN 4xflares on order to match the rear pair that came off the K10 when it got a new set of Xenon flares a few months ago. Also been slowly stock piling 8.1L parts on the sly…. Don’t want to make my part collection too obvious or the pregnant wife might come uncorked when she hears the phrase “engine swap”…. She is tired of hearing of engine swaps....

New/old D44 that came out of the K10 when it gained a D60

 

[y5mgisi]

Too bad you had to do all that, but glad you got it solved!

 

[Larry]

Too bad you had to do all that, but glad you got it solved!

It seems I always take the long cuts anyway At least swapping the front axle was a quick job today. Under 3 hours including running to grab dinner and back.

 

[muddysub]

damn i wish i had your garage space. thats the one thing i dislike about my house, we bought it because we got a smoking deal on it but the 19x19' garage with a 6'10" door height is kiling me. thats cool that you had the parts there already.

 

[70jimmy]

So does this mean you will have a 4.10 gear set from a 14FF available? Let me know if you don't have a use for it. It might be wise if I had a spare set.

 

[Larry]

So does this mean you will have a 4.10 gear set from a 14FF available? Let me know if you don't have a use for it. It might be wise if I had a spare set.

Yea buddy! I don’t have a use for the 4:10 gear set so it is all yours after I get it out of there. Right now I am waiting to get the 4:56 gear set back from my buddy. I feel like an Indian giver but I gave him the gear set not thinking I would need it again. Luckily he didn’t install them in his RV plus he changed his mind on regearing his RV anyway so now I don’t feel so bad for asking for it back. Now, I just have to wait for him to come down from Denver to let me in his storage shed one of these days. Hopefully soon and before the baby gets here!

 

[Larry]

Polar Bear gets flared

damn i wish i had your garage space. thats the one thing i dislike about my house, we bought it because we got a smoking deal on it but the 19x19' garage with a 6'10" door height is kiling me. thats cool that you had the parts there already.

Thanks! Yeah, a big usable garage was the driving force of building this house in the first place 10 years ago. We looked at having a pole barn built at our old house, which is oddly right next to the new house - 1 acre away, but the cost of building a big barn was ridiculous and really wouldn’t do much for the house value so we just built a new house. The wife got her dream house and I got my dream shop . I wish the budget would have allowed going even bigger than 1000 sq. ft. though. Space gets eaten up quickly even with another 3 car garage attached to the house.

So few months ago I had to replace the fender flares on my K10 due to fitment issues with the new tires and wheels it received so the Polar Bear Burb inherited the old WARN 4xFlares from the K10. Actually, only the rear flares would fit the burb where I had to order new ones for the front due to the different front fenders between the ’78 and ’89. The WARN 4xFlare part numbers used are Front 27993 - Rear 27996 sprayed with SEM 39103 Flexible Bumper Coater in Satin Black. Now that I have two like trucks sitting side by side, I actually like these WARN 4xFlares a lot better than the Xenon flares I just installed on the K10. These fit better and are a lot easier to install too! Too bad that built in mudflap at the rear of the front flares interferes with the tires so badly on the K10. The tires on the Burb will probably hit them too if I ever upgrade to softer front springs.

 

[y5mgisi]

Looks straight sexy! The biggest thing is it makes me want to tint my front windows!

 

[pma4x4]

That looks real good. I really don't like the built in mud flap on the front flares but not bad at all!

 

[KamikazeRedneck]

The Suburban is looking good man! Now when are you going to be doing the engine swap...

 

[pma4x4]

The Suburban is looking good man! Now when are you going to be doing the engine swap...

I want to see a swap too!

Yeah I was confused as to which thread this was for a minute!

 

[Larry]

The Suburban is looking good man! Now when are you going to be doing the engine swap...

Thanks!

Hehe, not soon enough! Our first baby is due within the next 5 weeks and I have tons of house stuff to do yet as well as wrapping up landscaping the yard (it has only taken me almost 10 years to finish landscape this place ).

After the baby arrives I probably won’t get anything done for a while. The 8.1L probably won’t happen until late in the year or early 2014. I am hording installation parts and pieces now though

 

[Larry]

I want to see a swap too!

Yeah I was confused as to which thread this was for a minute!

I noticed that... I can't wait to see the engine swap too. When the time comes it will look just like the picture below but the truck will be white and the engine will be a later model 8.1L with bare aluminum valve covers.

 

[KamikazeRedneck]

Well when you are going to do it and you need a hand I can come up and help

 

[Larry]

Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. I am so used to working alone I wouldn’t know what to do with help

 

[y5mgisi]

Thats the same way i am.