Seeing as all of the drivetrain was out of the vehicle, for some time now the plan had been to perform a full body-off rebuild. We figured “why not, we're already this far”. Famous last words if there ever were some, right up there with the nefarious phrase “How hard can it be?”.
Before departing Utah, I disassembled the front end in anticipation of digging much deeper into this vehicle than I had yet ventured.
My school program ran year-round (hence 3 years = bachelors degree). The only times I could be at home and play with the 'ole Burb were during Spring break, Fall break and occasionally Winter break. Each of them about a week long. I had a lot of work to pack into fourteen or so days a year.
Winter break of 2005 we performed an Off Road Design 4” rear shackle flip and also replaced the 10 bolt front with a '77-'79 ¾ ton Dana 44 sourced from an acquaintance in our neighborhood. My dad had some longer front leaf springs laying around and stuck them in the nose end to help level things out. I had ordered a Tuff Country 4”-6” raised steering arm and threw it on at the same time.
The rims in the next pics were some 16 inchers from a Dodge that my Dad scrounged up. They came with those 32.5” tires mounted to them. The front license plate I had jammed in the firewall to keep the larger vermin out while El Burbo Maldito sat awaiting my eventual return.
From the side view you can see that the rear axle sat too close to the body. At least it looked to be sitting level instead of displaying that usual Suburban rear sag.
There was some rust resurfacing already. It turned out that the body work we had had done years back consisted mostly of body filler applied thickly over semi-straightened, but still swiss cheesed metal.
Things got a little tricky in 2006. I was attending school full time and had also picked up a full time job at the beginning of the year to pay for rent, food, fuel, etc... I skipped going home for spring break because I was still pretty new at work. Disposable income did start to accrue in my piggy bank though.
One of the advantages of being away from the vehicle for months at a time was that I would research plausible modifications and formulate a very well laid out plan to overcome the problems I'd encountered on my last visit. I would order parts and have them shipped to my dad's shop where he'd set them aside until later.
It was during Fall break of 2006 when the body became separate from the frame for the first time in 36 years.