Life has been hectic for the past two years around here. Finally getting back to my projects again with some new stuff in the mix.
I decided the Suburban really needed to be a 4x4 to make it a good year round vehicle for me so I began the transformation a week ago.
Got the 2wd frame leaf spring setup & truck 12-bolt from my 69 C10 stepside installed on the back with just a minor amount of trimming needed on the forward brackets to clear the Suburban body mount brackets as the frames are a little different.
I repaired the front frame rail damage that the PO had done trying to pull the Suburban out of the ground with a tractor. It was a good 6" in the ground on hard as a rock very flat tires. It was anchored down pretty well and did not want to move from its 33 year resting spot.
Good thing I had the front frame rails from my old 67 C10 that I cut up for parts or I never would have been able to fix the Suburban frame. I replaced the passenger side rail from mid motor mount hole forward and made some relief cuts in the driver side rail to bend it back into the correct orientation. A bit of twisting with a 4-ft lever later and the driver side rail is back to its correct shape. I used the chassis diagram I found on this site a while back and my other 68 & 69 trucks as references to get the rails back into the location they should be. Now maybe the front clip and front bumper will fit to the frame properly. One time it really paid off having worked on damaged equipment a whole lot in the air force. I got pretty good at straightening out twisted steel.
The square body 4x4 front crossmembers and engine mounts fit with a little trimming as the 67-72 frame rails are a bit different in contour and clear height within the C-shape. Not too much work but requires a 90 degree drill with a really short bit to take care of a few holes needed that are not in the 67-72 frame. Some holes are already there in the right place to give you a starting point.
The front spring rear shackle pivot brackets are different between the 67-72 and the square body. I decided to use the square body parts instead of the ones off my old 69 K10 project that had been welded to the frame by the PO to save me a bunch of time with the grinder.
I was considering cutting the shackle mount area out of the square body frame rails and welding it in place on the Suburban frame but decided to modify the Suburban frame instead. I made some relief cuts in the high & low spots on the emergency brake dimples in the 67-72 frame that are right where the shackle mounts have to go then used my ball joint press and flattened out the area. The relief cuts need to be welded up now but I will do that after I pull the drive train back out for better clearance.
A hole that is already in the frame that is used for the column shifter mount was in just the right place to use for the lower rear mount point for the shackle bracket so I used the frame section I removed from the square body donor as a drill guide and bolted it to the frame with the two lower bolt holes. I then used this as a guide for a 1-3/4" hole saw without the pilot drill to create the large center opening. Used a die grinder with a carbide bit to finish out the hole to make it the same size as the square body piece had. If I had a 1-7/8" hole saw this wouldn't have been needed.
The square body front spring buckets need to be separated from the core support bracket as they are not close enough to the configuration of the 67-72 to use them with stock type body mounts. I placed the upright components as close to the 67-72 core support brackets as they will fit and bolted them down after drilling some new holes. This may not be exactly where the axle needs to be but it is really close. I won't know for sure until the whole thing is assembled and the full body weight is present to flatten out the springs to their normal position. I will make offset mount plates for the differential to locate it front to rear as needed to center the tires in the wheel openings once I am to that point.
I tried using the rear motor mount holes on the frame but it placed the transfer case too far from the front axle so the splines of the front driveshaft are too far out of the companion piece for my comfort. It also made my rear driveshaft about 2" too long to fit. I know it works as I had this whole setup in an my 69 K10 4x4 project with an identical wheelbase to the Suburban. I am going to move the drivetrain forward to the next mount holes and see how the driveshafts fit.
I am having issues with my new computer not recognizing my digital camera so I can't get the pictures off of it. I will go take some pics with my phone that I know I can download and get them posted as soon as I can. Bear with me.
It feels good to be back to work on my projects again. I have so much work to do and it is all my fault. This vehicular ADD sucks sometimes
