Battle Ax - GMC Suburban

[Dan Barlow]

[ejs262]

semi-float 14 bolts, all the weight of a 14 bolt with all the strength of a 10 bolt. I'm not a fan (and I blew one up literally just driving it down the street)

exactly why I plan to swap in a later model 2500HD rear end, 10.5" full float with disc brakes and a functional parking brake, all the good, no bad except for the added weight.

[ejs262]

those pictures are of the parts truck right?

[Dan Barlow]

those pictures are of the parts truck right?

Yes , the suburban is amazingly clean for Indiana .even mu rocker panels are solid .

[Deaf Bob]

I thought the semi floaters were the same as regular floater rears except the axles and brakes?

[SuperBuickGuy]

I thought the semi floaters were the same as regular floater rears except the axles and brakes?

no, there's nothing the same

[Dan Barlow]

Just a quick update . Seeing that the donor trucks frame is bad , there wasn't much use to try saving much off it . I cut the torsion bar crossmember so that the trans and transfer case could easily be dropped as a unit . Then using two floor Jack's and a few pieces of 18' 2x4 and a few cinder blocks I tilted the whole thing tail first then raised the torque converter end up and then got it all up level then slide a 2x6 thru between the frame and the torsion bars to make sure I didn't drop this monstrosity on my head .......or anything else . Swapped back to the original size flexplate so the original cast dust cover can be reinstalled that has provisions for the support strut rods .

[DanStokes]

Easy-peasy!

Dan

[Dan Barlow]

All is good . It's going to take me a while to get used to it again. Haven't driven it for a month at all and not over 50 since .........well st least 3 months .

[Dan Barlow]

Update , Another new left hub , and I don't use overdrive sny more . I felt it slip a few times and figured the heat generated by this wasn't worth the gas savings . Also put a power window motor in the drivers door . Also going to put a another wiper motor in from the parts truck.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Update , Another new left hub , and I don't use overdrive sny more . I felt it slip a few times and figured the heat generated by this wasn't worth the gas savings . Also put a power window motor in the drivers door . Also going to put a another wiper motor in from the parts truck.

You've gone through more hubs in one vehicle then I have ever gone through in the half dozen I've owned....

[Dan Barlow]

Let that be a lesson to you boys snd girls . Buy oem hubs or moog . But since my warranty far out lasts how long they'll be on it and they are pretty easy to change , I'll carry on till I sell it or 3/4 to ford axle it .

[DanStokes]

Dan - I've had good luck with Timken from Rock Auto. I was changing them weekly (well, so it seemed) on my Dakota. When I popped for the Timken's that was the final fix - never had an issue after that. Weren't too pricey, either.

Dan

[SuperBuickGuy]

Dan - I've had good luck with Timken from Rock Auto. I was changing them weekly (well, so it seemed) on my Dakota. When I popped for the Timken's that was the final fix - never had an issue after that. Weren't too pricey, either.

Dan

I like Timkin HOWEVER there are two different sources - Germany and China - and there is a VAST difference in quality between the two.... and you won't know until you have your hands on them whether or not you got luck.

OEM or Moog.... nothing else for these trucks.... irony is they don't cost that much more

[Dan Barlow]

Last time I was under the truck I tried to tighten up the head pipe on the drivers side. I was getting a pretty good exhaust leak . But of course the bolts felt like they were going to snap . Even after soaking them with penetrating oil .If they broke it would make the truck pretty much undriveable because of the noise and probably fire shooting thru it . So , grabbed the one off the floor that when to the parts truck engine and worked on drilling out the three broken head pipe bolts on it . When to put it on once it was done figuring this would keep down time to a day . So , on my covid vacation last week I decided to tackle this . I started with the head pipe bolts and wouldn't you know it , the penetrating oil worked on two of them so I ended up drilling that one out , putting in a donut gasket . Man life is grand . Awhile back I put in a driver power window motor but it didn't work long because the C channel under the window that the bat wind lift rollers run in was pretty rusty and started coming apart. Fortunately I was lazy and hadn't put the inner door panel back on . They sell these pieces at Rock Auto but they seem to be bonded on pretty tight . So I took the window out of the parts truck that had a good one and stuck the whole thing in my door . Works great , the only problem is that it has dark tint that matches the dark factory tint the back and rear barn doors have where my front doors just had the very mild tint that come on front oem doors . That all was a bear so if the passenger side ever matches I'll just have it tinted .