Ok, here is my plan. I want to take a 1 ton suburban and drop in a 12 valve cummins. The plan is to make the ultimate rafting tow vehicle. My current truck works just fine for this but is limited on passenger space. Plus I don't wanna mess up my nice leather seats with wet friends after a day on the river. Anyone ever done this conversion or know of someone who has?

 

um there is no such thing as a 1 ton suburban unless you have put a suburban body on a 1 ton frame. I know a guy that put the 1 ton badging on a suburban and when he sold it the guy want almost double because it had that badging! The guy laughed and said he just put it on and that it was really a 3/4 ton. He ended up buying the suburban 5 years later when a guy advertised a 1 ton suburban!

Just so ya know

Jon

 

My Grandfather had a Cummins put in his Suburban back in 98, (His Airstream towrig)took it to a shop in OHIO that specialized in diesel swaps,...His suburban is a 3500, about a 96 or so with a solid front axle...

 

Ok thanks for the info. I wasn't sure that they made a 1 ton. I'm sure the 3/4 model would work just fine. I wish that I could have saved my wrecked '03, that would have been a perfect frame to put a suburban body on.

 

Actually, my last 'Burb was a '93 GMC 2500 with a 454, but when I went to do the rear brakes darned if if didn't have a 1-ton SRW (of course) rear end! From the factory I'm sure. Always wondered why that stack of leaf springs looked so thick. I could've dualed it out if I wanted to, it had the right hubs. Someone here in my town has done that to thiers- looks very strange.

Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that because of all the extra weight from passengers, the SUV body etc. that all 2500 'Burbs would have to have a 1-ton rear end. Of course, that doesn't make it a "1-ton", but it helps get the GVWR up.

 

the suburbans are kindof weird in that way,i've had both,the ones with the 8 lug wheels and the light rear ends,and the ones with 8 lugs and the full floating rear ends.easiest way to tell is pop the hub cap off and see if it has the full floating hub stickin out at ya.

 

I see Dually Suburbans all the time out here in Cali.

 

Go over on the TDR board, look under Cummins conversions and there is a multipage thread about converting a Suburban, absolutely beautiful work.

 

Thx for all the replies so far. I hope to be able to get started on the project this summer. I will keep everyone posted on the progress.

 

Kinda' off topic but I still can't figure out why GM hasn't put duramaxes in Suburbans yet....seems like they'd sell like hotcakes.

 

Did he have the solid front axle swapped in? Chevy stopped putting SFA in the K5's,3500 CC & Suburbans in 91. Everything else went to IFS in 88. They never had a 3500 'Burban,my mom's 1500 'Burban has a 6 lug rear axle,but a 1500hd suspension. Her's is a 97, not even the 3500 DRW trucks had a SFA in 96.

 

if gm put the duramax in a suburban and took aam's solid 9.25 axle id sell my truck yesterday!

 

the duramax and allison didn't fit. and to change the frame/floorpan around the tranny area was clearly too much money for GM.

 

it was also "clearly" not feasible because of safety issues too. Adding the requied 3" body raise would have produced unexpected stability and rollover issues as well, something that doesnt go well with a vehicle under 8600lbs GVWR (subject to many more safety laws, etc than HD vehicles).

Im not disagreeing, a duramax suburban would be SWEET, I would definetly drive one any day, but the truth is, GM is selling the dmax in the trucks faster than they can make them. And I know its SUPER hard to beleive because all of us love diesel trucks and cant possibly understand how someone could buy something and not check the "diesel" option, but they would not have sold many dmax suburbans if they were made. What are 90% of suburban drivers? Soccer moms with big families. Do they care what engine their suburban has? The other 10% are the people with 3/4 ton burbans who actually tow, yeah, they'd probably like a diesel, but is it worth investing TONS AND TONS of money and R&D to please that small group of 10%? Nobody can seem to look at things from a company's own point of view. Seiously, its not like GM is havning a hard time selling Suburbans the way they are right now (without a diesel).....

just my oppinion..

ben

 

you honestly think a 3" body lift would cause a subruban to rollover?