new TV: Anyone drive a Suburban?

[darkstar]

Well, my wife and I finally put the ol' Canyon Rat out to pasture and bought a newer tow vehicle.  We bought an '01 Chevy Suburban 1500 LT.  Even though  it's an '01, it seems like new to us.  Everything very well cared for and looking sharp.  It has 68k on the odometer, but a good portion of that was while  being towed behind the previous owner's motor home.  I would very much like to hear from people who have owned (and towed with) the Suburban.  I took it out 4-wheeling this weekend and had a blast.  One thing we will probably have to modify:  The connector pin assembly hangs below the back bumper, even with the reciever hitch. It's not installed through a hole in the chrome bumper.  While going over a bad section of road, we scraped the back bumper and bent the housing for this connector.  We plan on drilling a hole in the bumper and moving the connector so that it's flush  with  the bumper, not hanging  below it in such a vulnerable position.  We still need about another 3-5 inches of clearance.  We may also add a lift kit next year.  Anyone done that to  thier 'Burb?

[beacher]

:p

Suburban Lift

It's a very common mod in Southern California, especially with kids who haul toyhaulers to the desert, or boats to "the river".

With the twentysomething crowd it's also popular to use huge wheels, and expensive offroad tires to help achieve even more lift, besides the lift kit.

[wynot]

Well, my wife and I finally put the ol' Canyon Rat out to pasture and bought a newer tow vehicle. We bought an '01 Chevy Suburban 1500 LT. Even though it's an '01, it seems like new to us. Everything very well cared for and looking sharp. It has 68k on the odometer, but a good portion of that was while being towed behind the previous owner's motor home. I would very much like to hear from people who have owned (and towed with) the Suburban. I took it out 4-wheeling this weekend and had a blast. One thing we will probably have to modify: The connector pin assembly hangs below the back bumper, even with the reciever hitch. It's not installed through a hole in the chrome bumper. While going over a bad section of road, we scraped the back bumper and bent the housing for this connector. We plan on drilling a hole in the bumper and moving the connector so that it's flush with the bumper, not hanging below it in such a vulnerable position. We still need about another 3-5 inches of clearance. We may also add a lift kit next year. Anyone done that to thier 'Burb?

We tow with Suburban junior, a '00 Tahoe.  Couldn't ask for anything more from a vehicle.  We've never hit the Bargman connector, you'd also be hitting the receiver at the same time.  Ours has certainly been on its share of trails and unpaved or ungravelled roads.  Although you do have more overhang in the rear than we do...
 
You can certainly add a lift kit to a Suburban, it's done all the time.  Of course, then you deal with height (You're probably at 6'6" right now, which allows you to use an automatic car wash...and get it in a garage).  I personally wouldn't want to lift the Tahoe, and I have a brother-in-law that I could get to do the work and parts for cost (he works at full service 4 wheel drive shop).  The Tahoe gets pretty decent mileage, I'm sure that the Suburban also does, and putting large aggressive tires, and a lift kit would just kill any fuel economy, not to mention the acceleration.  I would assume that you are running a 5.3 V-8 with either a 3.73 or 4.10 rear in it.  To get the same performance, you will have to change the rear end gearing to a lower ratio.
 
Lots of decisions to make...  Have fun, Suburbans are wonderful.

[darkstar]

Both of you have raised a good point.  I'm going to look into how much clearance I could gain by going to bigger tires.  We have the stock 16 in. on right now.  Doesn't look like there's a lot of room in the wheel well for a bigger tire to move around.  But maybe I can get a few more inches without getting the full-blown lift.  I sure don't want to hurt the mpg by getting a lift.  I guess I didn't realize it could make a big difference.  Do you happen to know how a lift would affect a truck with the Autoride system?

[aw738]

One of my customers lifted a Youkon with the autoride. With the right kit it isn't a problem.

[SPXTrader]

Our '96 Tahoe is lifted, with a full off-road suspension, and we have no problems with towing the trailer.  Just had to get a 6" drop for the pup to sit with the nose down at about a 4 degree angle.

As for changing the rear gear, the Suburban, IIRC, still has a solid front axle.  So when you go to change the gear, ya gotta do the rear and the front!

We added the ARB air locker to the rear for extra traction, and got the bonus of a nice air compressor under the hood!

[ilovecamping]

Guess I'm in the minority here but I wouldn't even think putting a lift on ours or to go 4 wheeling.  We use ours in place of the luxery car so we can tow our TT and have 4 X 4 for when the roads are bad.  To each there own and I am not knocking anyone who does this.  It is just what we wanted ours for.  It does a great job towing.

[austinado16]

Never thought I'd own a full size American truck, let alone a Suburban.....

But, about 3 years ago we were thinking about something we could camp with, ski in, and take our then 5 year old daughter and her friends around in, etc.  My brother's had been into the late 80's GM trucks and one still had an '89 Blazer.

I stumbled across a 4x4 half ton '90 Suburban with power mirrors at the local Goodwill donation center....flat tire, growing moss and rust on the roof and hood, passenger front door all bashed in, and had been sitting there for months.  It was love at first site......even with 234,000 miles on the odometer!

I've left it bone stock, had it repainted in the original color, bought new bumper, fender and side mouldings and trim, new badges, found seats in the wrecking yard with original material to reupholster ours in, and finally had to have the transmission rebuilt about 1-1/2 years ago (that was it's original 700R4!!!).  After the trans rebuild I added a big, deep, B&M Cast aluminum finned trans oil pan, mechanical trans oil temp gauge and a big external trans cooler out front.

We absolutely love it.  It's quiet, smooth and gets 16-18mpg on the highway if I keep the speed down. If I'm towing something heavy like a car on a trailer, it gets 11mpg.

Unfortunately, with fuel at $3.25/gal we only drive it when we have to.  I wouldn't think of lifting it, putting big tires, wheels or "mudders" on it, and I wouldn't take it 4 wheeling either.

[wynot]

As for changing the rear gear, the Suburban, IIRC, still has a solid front axle. So when you go to change the gear, ya gotta do the rear and the front!
 

I used the term "rear" for the both pumpkins, but better to be clear about that one...  Don't think a solid front axle has anything to do with it, it just has to match the rear axle's ratio...  
 
As for tires, you can fit a lotta tire up in that wheel well.  Same rules apply though - The bigger the circumference of the wheel, the slower the acceleration.  The bigger the wheel, the more likely you are to need bigger brakes for the unsprung mass.  You would also need to change your computer settings for the new tire size so that you can get the proper shift points, and proper odo/speedo settings.
 
I'm just fine with my stock 245/75R16s, but to each his/her own.