Urban 'Burban - 2000 Suburban 2500

[Boyink]

Background: We grew up camping. Became weekend RVers as a young family. Went on the road fulltime as a family when our kids were 12 & 13. Spent eight wonderful years exploring the US. Wrote a book about it. Kids aged out, we sold the RV, and got off the road. Wanted to camp again, so built a camper based on a 2008 Toyota Sienna (video tour). It's been a fun build, but the van is getting up there in miles, we want to do more rustic camping, and wanted the ability to tow a small travel trailer to have a basecamp with heat, AC, potty, and shower.

New Project: A 2000 Chevy Suburban 2500. 4WD, 6.0, 4:11's, G80 rear locker, 175K miles and well cared for by it's previous owner.

Goals:

• I'm not expecting to do any hard core four wheeling, I just wanted a some ground clearance and 4WD as a safety measure so we can explore forest service roads, blm land, etc
• No major suspension or drivetrain updates.
• Current tires are almost-new Michelins a size up from stock (32" tall).
• I'll move over the solar panel and awning from our van but otherwise nothing significant on the exterior.
• Interior will see a platform bed and side cabinet mounted behind the driver's seat.
• That cabinet will house our fridge, house battery, and water storage.
• I'll add a high-amp alternator to feed a DC-DC charger to the house battery.
• I'll replace the current stereo headunit with something Apple Carplay enabled and re-evaluate our current but aging Garmin for nav.

Progress So Far:

• Replaced headlight and turn signal lenses
• Replaced missing radio antenna
• Replaced underhood light
• Replaced peeling door trim
• Removed all badges
• Replaced blown subwoofer
• Repaired LR door speaker
• Replaced all wiper blades
• Removed aging security system from out of business vendor
• Removed 2nd and 3rd row seats
• Installed window deflectors
• Installed hitch step
• Added Husky floormats
• Touched up paint on tow hooks, receiver hitch, and roof rack

Next steps:

• Install on-order interior LED light kit and hood deflector
• Need to drop the spare tire for inspection
• Decide on a sound deadening solution and get materials ordered
• Do the 2000 - 2002 Chevy headlight hack that keeps your low beams on when you use high beams

 

[ThundahBeagle]

These beasts dont need much. They are capable right out of the box

 

[Boyink]

Spent two days on the paint - using a polishing compound then a good carnuba wax.



Got a look at the spare and it was 9 years old, so got that replaced at Discount Tire and lubed up the tire winch while it was out.

Decided to take advantage of the blank slate status and do some sound deadening. My wife has hearing loss in her left ear, so any amount I can quiet this down while at speed will help communication. After much research and confusion, I ordered this NVX double-layer material from Amazon. There are probably better solutions but the thought of only one round of cut and fit was attractive. 'Course, now that I have the stuff the temps dipped lower than what it wants for installation. Not sure when I'll be able to get to that as I'm just working in an apartment parking garage.

Noticed part of my grille was broken, so I snipped out the other side and installed some $10 placebo lights to fill the gaps:



Just in from installing an interior LED light kit from https://precisionled.com and holy cow what a difference. But either I used the wrong bulbs somewhere, or the overhead flipdown TV console used different bulbs, or they didn't ship me all the right bulbs. I ended up with too many dome lights and not enough courtesy lights.

Also changed out the cabin air filter. I don't like how they buried them in these trucks and looks like the PO didn't either. It was the dirtiest thing I've found on this truck yet.

With a stretch of cold weather coming I guess I'll get after scheduling work that I need shops to do for me - fluid changes, etc.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Nice and shiny! Looks new.

I thought the cabin air filters on this generation were actually sealed shut from the factory. They never thought they'd need changing. Saw a video of a guy, this gen Sierra, had to cut the box open and create a way to reclose.

 

[Boyink]

Huh, never heard of that. I had an '02 Silverado and now this '00 - both cabin filters required removal of the plastic "pan" under the dash on the passenger side. These guys show it well:
My job was harder because I had to go buy a 1/4" ratchet set to duplicate the one I already own but is in storage a state away....and I couldn't get the 3rd screw loose so had to fight things more.

 

[Boyink]

Interior under LED lights: