Suburban A/C Options

[Alone & Unafraid]

I have an 89 Suburban with non rear a/c. I searched for posts on swapping in rear a/c and came up with nothing. What are my options? Anybody pulled a whole system out of a salvage burb and put it in?

 

[KirsL]

I think you're pretty much stuck with finding a parts rig to steal the needed parts from. No one's remaking them as far as I know.

 

[Big Ray]

I have an 89 Suburban with non rear a/c. I searched for posts on swapping in rear a/c and came up with nothing. What are my options? Anybody pulled a whole system out of a salvage burb and put it in?

My last burb had rear ac. Never ran the front, kept it on low. The rear cooled the entire truck just fine.

I did salvage it when I scrapped it. It's been sitting in the garage every since. I got everything but the long lines going to the rear. My 90 did just fine with just the front unit, so I'm not in a rush to do it.

 

[Alone & Unafraid]

Is the compressor and everything under the hood different or do I just need to find all of the interior parts?

 

[frankin5]

You need the rear unit and lines, the dash switch and wiring to the unit. You will also need the front lines, as the rear lines are tee'd into them. You will need to add the resistor in the front clam shell. I put the rear air and rear heat into my blazer.

 

[Abusfullofnuns]

Yep, I have a rear air burb that someone pulled the evap and blower, as well as lines. Lines are needed but can easily be made at home with a crimper and the fittings that can be purchased from a myriad of places. I keep my eye open for parts rigs to find the rest since I need a rear door too.

I am also thinking about going with one of the vintage air units. There are some pretty small set ups that are fairly cheap for cool only. I’ve contemplated putting one in the spare tire well and then it would just be a matter of vent placement and keeping that clean and neat. Obviously, keeping it looking good would be a bit more involved than a factory set up.

 

[muddybuddy]

You need the rear unit and lines, the dash switch and wiring to the unit. You will also need the front lines, as the rear lines are tee'd into them. You will need to add the resistor in the front clam shell. I put the rear air and rear heat into my blazer.

Any pics of your setup? Having hard time picturing it

 

[diesel4me]

We sold a few of these RV / motor home A/C units at the junkyard to a few guys,one put one on his 76 GMC pickup's roof,the other transplanted it to a late 70's Suburban..both said they would freeze you out!...always wondered why these weren't offered as an option,all self contained,etc..

 

[Abusfullofnuns]

What do we think the components are worth? There’s a couple of junkyards around me that might have what I need. I’m going to try and get the rear interior lines, condensor, blower motor, clam shell, and dash control/wiring. I was thinking of offering $50 to turn me loose on what I need. Maybe up to $100. Am I out of line?

 

[frankin5]

That's a fair price. Two years ago i bought the complete under dash unit with all the ducting, including heater core for $40,

 

[frankin5]

Any pics of your setup? Having hard time picturing it

I mounted the Sub rear AC unit to the fiberglass top and used the Sub cover. Used the stock hoses from unit to floor. made new lines to go from front to back and used the Sub under hood aluminum tubing to connect all as factory. The rear heat unit is from a square Sub and mount to the floor and used hoses to route from front to rear. I used the Sub valve on inner fender and is vacuum fed from switch on dash. I would take pictures, but it is all out right now. Putting in new interior and replacing all the water and AC hoses.
http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/csb/full.aspx?Page=175 and Page 168 for detail of parts.

 

[frankin5]

found some picks.

 

[muddybuddy]

Thats cool. But I guess you never take the top off? I’m assuming thats very difficult now, correct? Or do you have a way to cap off the rear lines/connections for top removal?

 

[wasted wages]

Look up Vintage Air on Summits website.
They may tons of stuff for aftermarket air.

You could get one of their trunk mount evaporator kits and put it behind the wheel well and then top removal wouldn't be an issue. Or you could get one of their universal under dash evaporator kits and mount it to the top. They have them in straight cool or heat/cool.

They have everything you need to make a clean install....bulkhead plates, dash mount control panels, aluminum tubing, factory Tee's....hoses, fittings, compressor mounts etc...
Might be worth looking into, to give you a few ideas. And to keep from using a bunch of old crusty contaminated parts that have been sitting open to the moisture etc...

 

[frankin5]

Thats cool. But I guess you never take the top off? I’m assuming thats very difficult now, correct? Or do you have a way to cap off the rear lines/connections for top removal?

Four bolts and four screws to lower unit ,if I really wanted to take the top off a super air conditioned blazer. It was a very small cost as opposed to vintage air. Temperatures in the northern Sacramento valley reach triple digits. Rear heat also is a great window defogger, as that opinion was not available for the Blazer.

 

[Barrman]

I used a rear ac truck to transfer the parts over to a previously non rear ac truck. Besides the switch, resistor, front T lines, rear lines and rear unit itself mentioned already.

There is also the power source wire which plugs into the top right of the fuse panel and runs through the A pillar back to the rear motor along the roof. That can be made on your own but it is a nice plug and play set up.

The holes in the rear floor are just measure and drill with a hole saw. The tabs which weld above the rear door can be made yourself or need to be cut out of a donor truck. Same with the tabs for the trim which covers the hoses.

 

[jtrux]

I am converting mine over to r134a right now. I've got the rear cover off and was initially worried that it would be all complicated but it's pretty darn simple. After seeing what all is there, I would def recommend going through the trouble of getting all the parts from the junkyard and swapping them.

Good luck.

 

[Abusfullofnuns]

I’ve actually decided to go a different route. I made some calls to the yards that listed the parts I needed and was quickly reminded as to why I’m not a fan of junkyards.

I’m going to go with something along the lines of this. I’ll just need to make the lines and finish the ductwork to the factory rear vents. I will t have to mess with 30+ year old parts. Just need to find the one that moves the most air for its size.

 

[frankin5]

looks like a cheap way to get both heat and air to the rear.

 

[Blue85]

We sold a few of these RV / motor home A/C units at the junkyard to a few guys,one put one on his 76 GMC pickup's roof,the other transplanted it to a late 70's Suburban..both said they would freeze you out!...always wondered why these weren't offered as an option,all self contained,etc..
View attachment 310686

Probably because they run on 110VAC, usually about 15A (that's for 15kBTU, but there are less common smaller ones like 7-8kBTU). Even if you had like a 5000W AC inverter to start the compressor, that's still something like 140 Amps from the alternator steady state to run it. Granted, in a small vehicle it would cycle off a lot, but it's still a whopper of an electrical load and I think they want a pretty clean sinewave. In an RV they either run off shore power or an onboard generator (as small as 4kW for a single AC, up to 9kW for larger rigs), not the 12V system. In a truck, you could rig up a 2nd alternator to run the rooftop AC, but why not set it up to spin a compressor instead? You need a huge bank of batteries to get much run-time without the engine on.

You can get a 12V rooftop, but again, you need a lot of alternator and such to run them.