Although the economy is looking up, regular Joes like us are still hurting, and there are plenty of folks, like us, who just can’t afford a new tow rig. So, when the opportunity came for us to pick up a 2000 3/4 ton Suburban for $200 we jumped at it. With an LQ4 6 liter, 4L80e, and semi-float 14 bolt, it’s a beast that can pull just about anything we’ve got here at BangShift.com. Now, we are going to show you how to take a cheap truck or SUV and make it just as cool and usable as any new one without a monthly payment.
Here is the back story. When my Dad went next door to his shop in Texas and asked the neighbor what he was going to do with his Suburban that had been sitting the last few years, he said “Why? Do you want it?” Again, the motivation for getting it was the 6 Liter and 4L80e, not the Suburban itself, and when the owner said he would part with it for $200, the wheels started spinning. After slamming an Optima in it, and driving it the block to the shop, the 160,000 mile Suburban started looking better than you would think. It was quite literally FULL of trash, but my Mom’s first comment was “It doesn’t stink inside like I would have thought!” After cleaning it out and finding the window sticker, along with the original unused brake control harness, in the glovebox my Dad realized that this thing had every single option except 4 wheel drive. The body was in decent shape, with just a few dents and scratches, plus a spot on the quarter panel where some thin filler was pealing off from sitting in the Texas sun for 4 years. The front leather seats have some cracks, and the second row seats have some rash where child seats lived right along with all the kid’s spills, but the third row seat hadn’t event been sat in.
After removing the seats and carpet, which was pressure washed in the driveway, it was deemed good enough for who it’s for, and Mom and Dad gave it to us. We had two panels replace on the drivers seat, cleaned up all the electrical contacts for the windows and power mirrors, through the whole gambit of Lucas Oil super sauces in it, and put a couple hundred miles on it to get everything back to good. An oil change, belts and hoses, a windshield, and one headlight and it was ready for a road trip. Our buddy Jon Killion even fixed up the quarter for us so it’s primered and presentable. LOL. Costs: $500. Total expenditure: $700.
So a couple weeks ago on a layover in Dallas, I picked it up and drove 1400 miles home to SoCal in it and here we are. After 4 years of sitting, the tires are almost round, which isn’t quite as good as all the way round, but we’ll address that later.
Now, we are working on the plan. The LQ4 runs great, with just a hint of typical LS piston slap at cold startup, so we are going to leave it alone except for spark plugs, wires, a Spectre HPR Cold Air Kit, and exhaust. We aren’t sure whether to lift it or lower it, so we have renderings of both below, but either way it’s getting a cool BangShift.com vinyl wrap thanks to Ron “Chassisman” Thomas, and his lovely wife Tamara, who own the Shirt Shak in Chowchilla. Wheels and tires, a new grill, upgraded lighting, some stereo upgrades to replace the disintegrating speakers and allow iPhone hookups, and we’ll be good to go. It’s already got a big trailer hitch on it, and we’ll wire up our brake controller, add some other do dads for towing, and have a killer CHEAP tow rig.
Now before you cry bullshit on the $200 price tag, we know that it was a screaming deal. But, you can do the same things to a Suburban, Chevy Truck, Ford, or whatever that can be had for $2000 to $5000 in today’s truck market. Throw a couple grand more at them and have a bitchin ride.
We’ll keep track of every expense as we build this one, and want your input on what parts we should add or not. What do you think we should do? Lower it or lift it? What parts should we use? Give us some of your thoughts and we’ll talk about the options and take you along as we build this thing up.
At this point, we know that the parts list will include Lucas Oil Products and Spectre’s HPR Cold Air Kit. Help us pick the rest.
Check out our quick renderings below, and CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL GALLERY.
Slam it!
You know that is my normal for sure. LOL We’ll see. I do like the lifted look too, but we’ll see. Keep the comments and suggestions coming.
Hey Chad, Great score…slam it …met you on the salt last August..Yellow Henry J with SHO 5 spd . get back to me …
Bert.
I heard about this through the “Mom vine”, lol. Nice score! I’m a “leave it stock height” guy. Less of a fan of lifted than slammed though. Screw the cost of a lift or lowering kit, go right to Turbo kit, do not pass go! I’m surprised it’s not a 4×4.
And Go “Chassisman” Ron, Go! Wrap that sucker!
Slam it!
Slam it with Air Ride… ditch the roof rack and put it on some steel wheels.
Then put a procharger hot air intake on it.
If towing with it is the primary objective I’d got with slamming it. It would be more stable and resistant to crosswinds and those big offroad tires would hurt your gearing.
Also if you’re planning to put some large-diameter rims on it, for the love of god upgrade the brakes. More rotational mass increases your braking distance, and if you’ve got a trailer on the back you’ll make it even worse. A big brake kit will be money well spent.
in michigan $200 it would have floor conditioning and the wheel areches would be radiused by mother nature and rock salt ninjas
I hate you!! A $200.00 truck! I just bought a $500.00 S-10 Blazer, and after fixing numerous vacuum leaks, it still has vacuum leaks, and now a leaking rear main seal.
I say say slam it. With a set of helper airbags, you can still tow, and your wife and kids cant enter and exit easier.
Good score, first thing you need to do before the slam / lift is to get rid of the moldy seat.
It’s not mold Duster. It’s all cleaned up, but that is where the previous owner’s child seats sat in some spills. It actually ate through the color on the leather. I don’t know if there is a way to fix it or not. We’ll check. Maybe some super trick “Two Guys Garage” product is out there to fix it. We’ll see.
Meltonian shoe cream…
Slam it. I tend to like the front a little lower than the back, but w/ bags, any combination is doable.
you sir, suck ……….. that is all
coming from a minitrucker, I say leave it stock and just put some different tires on it, I like the HD wheels on it
I like it both ways. PS Pixel the brake pads on a 3/4 ton Sub are at least 40% larger than a 1/2 ton. The brakes are as big as the bigest Baers!
Turbo, Turbo, TURBO!!!!. At that price you can afford to blow it up. Slam it, gap the rings, and put some drag radials on it.
Kevin
You need to shut up ka. I already have drag cars that don’t run, but the thought of a turbo Sub did cross my mind. I wonder what the quickest Suburban is? Hmmmmmm
Answer: Can be yours.
NICE
You guys posted that turbo van. It’s time for the Suburban version. We all have too many projects that don’t run. I tweaked on three of mine tonight. Mainly because the frictions are gone in my daily driver and I need to get to work tomorrow but that’s besides the point. 13k miles behind a 15 psi 302 is commendable for a C4. Come on, you can call it something cheesy like the ‘burbo, or Turburban and paint it like the A-team van. The 4l80 and the rear will be fine. LS motors love boost.
Kevin
Subby’s have no resale value anymore here in Cali.( Gas is still $4.25 gal thanks to two refineries broke down and Cali only gas) We practically give away ours when we are done with them. Our ’08’s with 138,000 miles are starting to leave.
Tan interior sucks for dirt showing. That factory 8″ sub won’t last long when you start blasting NWA full blast.
Whoa! What does an 08 with 140k sell for?
We are damn glad Chad is coming for a quick visit and we are more than pleased to help with this project…..we’re gonna sit him down and show him the entire process on how to do a partial vehicle wrap. Then to keep it cheap….he’s gonna WORK HIS ASS OFF PREPPING IT…lol….we are gonna wear him out….we just wrapped my boys Junior Dragster today.
Hey thanks for lowering the value of mine 🙁
It’s like a 2500 version of mine! I find the cargo doors so much nicer than the lift up gate, I’m happy I was able to find one, I also have all options but the sunroof and this being Canada I of course have the 4X4.
I want to raise mine but I think since it 2wd you should lower yours but not too much maybe just leveling the rear? I’ll be closely following this one!!!
Nice Job,Chad! Up here in MA a 2000 Suburban would have the rust that Mater describes,
and the brake lines, trans cooler lines, engine oil cooler lines and exhaust manifolds would
need replacement as well. Leave the 6.0 alone. It’ll run forever with that piston “slap”,
but do look after the oil pickup to pump o-ring. They go away with age and that leads to
a loss of oil pressure. Yuk! Surprised it’s not a full floater, most heavy optioned 2500s were.
Go low, a lifted 2WD is lame. Nicely bought!
Don’t you Cali guys have to pay a huge penalty for bringing in cars from out of state? Maybe you should just send it to me in Illinois. I’ll make it worth your while.
No, we don’t pay extra unless it has less than a certain number of miles and is less than a year old. Basically they dont’ want to miss out on the sales tax. California sucks.
I have an 88 Silverado C2500 that I bought for one dollar. No odometer, but it’s somewhere about 350,000 miles. Zero rust; it was bought in eastern California, then spent most if it’s life in west Texas, with the last three years in Florida.
Before I brought it home, I spent about a thousand on fluids, a water pump, ignition control module, tune-up, AC repair and brakes. In the next nine months the only repair was replacing the oil pressure sending unit.
Then I t-boned a teenager who ignored the cross traffic in an F150; I’m hoping to have it repaired soon. The F150 won’t be getting fixed :-0
Slam It! Yank the roof rack, some more body work to fill the vented rear corners, ditch the running boards, add a slight cowl hood and a procharger system!
I didn’t notice the barn doors out back. Wish they still had those. The power lift gates suck.
Air Ride, dually fenders, and 24.5″ big truck rims.
BTW, the renderings show 6-lug rims– oversight, or does someone make adapters?
Sweet score, Chad. You lucky bastard!
6 lug wheels were what I could find to do my rendering. It’s 8 lug and will stay that way. Schtauffer is the only one to mention dually, and that was one of my first thoughts actually. Brian and I have been talking about it. The kits aren’t cheap, but if one of those companies would hook me up I would run it as a dually, slammed, with 19.5 inch Welds on it for sure!!!
Don’t ditch the roof rack, with the traveling you guys do and the gear you carry, you’re going to need it one day.
How else are you going to haul that FED chassis home from the swap meet?
Shaving the roof rack is a pain to actually “shave” it. I can remove it and fill the holes with billet fillers and bolts, but we’ll just have to see. Definitely not my first priority.
2 wheel drive slam it!!!
If it isn’t 4×4, it should not look like one. That would be cheezy and fake. Lower it or leave it stock and fill up the fender wells with tire and wheel. Great deal though!!!
I know that a lot of folks around don’t lift 2wd trucks, but here in California it is super common. In fact, you wouldn’t know if most GM stuff is 2wd or 4wd if lifted, but I hear you. We’re working with a couple suspension folks, so we’ll keep you posted as to what we decide.
The Shiznet: http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m309/chevytodd/Oddities/95.jpg
I LOVE IT!!! I want mine slammed instead of lifted, but I want it!
DOH !
Ok…I guess here in Tennessee, we keep it real when it comes to trucks. .if it is true that CA is the land of silicne and botox, might as well jack up a two wheel drive truck.
LOL
For towing – stock ride height is best, and make sure you keep LRE tires on it, I’m with you on the roof rack – low priority. For this type of cruiser – audio upgrades would be on the list just beyond fluid changes, brake check, u joint check, belts, hoses, and AC tune up.
I’ve towed with everything from 15″ lifts to 10 inch drops and everything in between. All that matters is you set it up correctly for towing a that height. But, either way we aren’t going crazy. Not super low or super high.
Yeah, the speakers are shot, and I’m making that a priority. Must have tunes.
If this is going to be a tow rig, then I would say lower is better, but if you plan on doing major miles, i would say keep it in the 2″-4″ range. As far as the roof rack, I would say ditch the stocker and put something more substansial up there, take advantage of any space you have to stuff crap in, on, or behind it.
p.s. $200 Suburban that has floors = you suck.
Joe
I do like the idea of a big gnarly roof rack but only if we lift it. It might look funny low. We’ll see.
Well if you want to buy somthing, this is an ok picture,
http://www.surcoinc.com/images/products/R-S4050-SR-ACC.jpg
My brother’s got one on his ’97 Suburban that goes from the rear of the front doors to the back. We’ve put over 250 lbs on it with no problem, you just have use their cross bars.
Other option is to break out a tubing bender & welder.
If you slam it with the roof rack you don’t have to lift your crap as high to get it up there.
My vote is to leave it at stock height, if you start doing a bunch of towing with it you’ll wish you had of, I also consider 2WD a plus when it comes to towing.
Lift yours and lower mine. That way we’ll have both in the family.
I like the way you think honey. LOL
Try your local dealer they might have a leather repair guy that goes once a week to repair used cars. They airbrush some kind of vinyl/leater dye on the seats to repair damage like you have.
What is the towing capacity on the 3/4 ton?
I’ve been looking at some Silverado’s down here in NC and want something to tow my Vette with.
Drop it to the weeds. Really lower it 2 and 3 or 3 and 5. Dropped down some will make it look sexy, but leave it just high enough to clear speed bumps. These days you should be able to find some 20s cheap.
Forgot, also about lifted trucks, remember fat white boys can’t jump!
I say lower it a bit, add some dark grey powdercoated Hummer H2 wheels, and some nice street tires.
i just bought the 4×4 twin to your burb! Of course I paid $3600 more than you did…and mine has the barn doors! After trying to talk my wife into getting one for years, I just sold my jeep and bought one, now she loves it, 14 mpg and all!
Lift it! fat chicks cant jump!
Your renderings show 6lug wheels, that’s an 8lug. I say find some cheap 17s from an H2/Dodge/newer 2500 and run 285/70/17 with a torsion crank.
And boost. Definitely boost.