Chevrolet Suburban 3500 Questions

[intheburbs]

I suspect it does because there is lots of slip in the shifts. It's built to be armored and carry around dignitaries who would likely be quite cross if a harsh shift caused them to spill their Scotch while fleeing enraged proletariat.

Late to the party here, on vacation the last two weeks...

I have no proof other than the facts/circumstances of my situation....I bought my 2008 in 2013 with 106k miles. Almost immediately I got a Blackbear tune, and among other things, they tuned out a whole bunch of Torque Management (aka making shifts smoother at the expense of durability of clutches). I am absolutely convinced that is one of the main reasons why my 6L90 is still functioning perfectly after 260k miles and a metric shit-ton of abuse.

 

[Geotrash]

Late to the party here, on vacation the last two weeks...

I have no proof other than the facts/circumstances of my situation....I bought my 2008 in 2013 with 106k miles. Almost immediately I got a Blackbear tune, and among other things, they tuned out a whole bunch of Torque Management (aka making shifts smoother at the expense of durability of clutches). I am absolutely convinced that is one of the main reasons why my 6L90 is still functioning perfectly after 260k miles and a metric shit-ton of abuse.

Great testimony, thank you. Validates my plan.

 

[Bigburb3500]

Quick follow-up to the Rancho shocks: the replacements came in and did not expand like the previous set or the rear shocks. Called Rancho and there are in-fact different shock builds within the same line-up so the front shocks do not rebound by themselves like the rears so I returned perfectly good shocks…

I guess I really should keep my day job and not do this online forum gig full time lol.

 

[Geotrash]

Quick follow-up to the Rancho shocks: the replacements came in and did not expand like the previous set or the rear shocks. Called Rancho and there are in-fact different shock builds within the same line-up so the front shocks do not rebound by themselves like the rears so I returned perfectly good shocks…

I guess I really should keep my day job and not do this online forum gig full time lol.

Well, thanks for the update and the new, hard-won knowledge. Can't wait to hear how they ride for you.

I'm feeling torn. My factory shocks only have 19K on them now so it's hard to justify replacing them for a few years yet, based on condition. But if the ride really is that much better, I may just make it an upgrade.

 

[Bigburb3500]

Well, thanks for the update and the new, hard-won knowledge. Can't wait to hear how they ride for you.

I'm feeling torn. My factory shocks only have 19K on them now so it's hard to justify replacing them for a few years yet, based on condition. But if the ride really is that much better, I may just make it an upgrade.

Your shocks may not be shot. The rears on mine were just awful and the front left puked oil on me when I jacked the truck up, the only “good one” was front right and it was not smooth. These Ranchos really have made a HUGE difference. It doesn’t ride like a Cadillac but it definitely doesn’t ride like a truck anymore either. You close your eyes and think it’s a 1/2 ton truck (*I don’t endorse driving with your eyes closed)

 

[Geotrash]

I finally installed the crossbars for the roof rack yesterday. It’s a sturdy, well-made rack, but unfortunately I couldn’t get the rear bar to fit in the rearmost ferrules. It was just a millimeter or less too long.

For those who may not know, there are only four positions available for the crossbars on the roof rack on the K2xx Suburban LT. This is a departure from the roof rails in our GMT 900 Yukon XL’s, which have a sliding track that allows unlimited positioning of the bars.



And yes, it clears the garage door opening - by more than it looks in this photo.

 

[Bigburb3500]

I finally installed the crossbars for the roof rack yesterday. It’s a sturdy, well-made rack, but unfortunately I couldn’t get the rear bar to fit in the rearmost ferrules. It was just a millimeter or less too long.

For those who may not know, there are only four positions available for the crossbars on the roof rack on the K2xx Suburban LT. This is a departure from the roof rails in our GMT 900 Yukon XL’s, which have a sliding track that allows unlimited positioning of the bars.

View attachment 439358

And yes, it clears the garage door opening - by more than it looks in this photo.

Are these GM rails or from somewhere else? Make sure your new place has a high lift garage door - I was lucky enough that the original builders of my house had a camper so the garage is about 1ft higher than a “normal” garage.

Also, does anyone have thoughts on Ironbull bumpers?

 

[Geotrash]

Are these GM rails or from somewhere else? Make sure your new place has a high lift garage door - I was lucky enough that the original builders of my house had a camper so the garage is about 1ft higher than a “normal” garage.

Also, does anyone have thoughts on Ironbull bumpers?

They are from Amazon. https://a.co/d/auVukiF

Eventually, we would like to have a place that has enough property to build an RV garage, but for now, we are going to stay in our current house in Richmond. We are just selling our second house in Colorado.

 

[Geotrash]

Got it all loaded up for camping this weekend.



While it looks like there's a little squat, there actually isn't. It's just because there's a street drain depression on the curb side that the pax end of the rear axle settled into. The tongue jack is down to keep the weight off the suspension while it's parked as well.

 

[Bigburb3500]

Should have documented better but can walk anyone thru the process and parts list if needed. Mounted a set of SAE certified Rigid pod lights behind the grill that I plugged into the truck’s factory fog light harness. Works perfect and looks completely OEM. It’s a “cheap” alternative to Morimoto headlight replacements and makes those dark road a lot less dark!