Hey guys... had some customers roll into my shop today... wanting to perform a 4wd swap in their 89 Suburban... (sounded like my kind of woman... wants 35s and loud exhaust... :eek: )

Anyways... what are the potential problems... I'm an equipped shop - lift, bender, welders, plasma, torch, etc... I took a look at it... of course I mentioned just finding her some kind of 4WD to play in... but they are dead set on the Suburban. Questions:

Whats the frame differences in a 2wd & a 4wd? Would I be better off setting up coil springs in the front w/ a 4 link? That seems like it might be the most viable option.. instead of trying to mess with leaf springs.. etc.??

Any input you guys've got would be greatly appreciated & remembered! Thanks!

Matt "Taz" Green
Xtreme Engineering
nitemare@redriverok.com

Converting a 2wd sub into a 4wd sub would be silly unless you want a crazy suspension like coil overs and a 4 link. If you just want to do leaf springs, it woud be way cheaper to buy a whole new 4wd sub and put an aftermarket lift on it.:usa:

Thanks for the suggestions guys... but 2 things:
1. I've told them.. find a 4WD Sub... we'll swap everything onto that frame and running gear.. etc. - relatively more easy (none of its going to be easy) - but they've got their hearts set on using this Suburban as it is.

2. This is the older body style Suburban.. any 4wd one would have a straight axle in the front already.

Matt

Hehehe... wasn't meaning to be a dick....
I can see it now... this whaledick of a Suburban body on 40 sets of saw horses as we roll a different frame underneath it...

I checked out the frame (twas dark... couldn't see much)... and I don't see why it would be that hard to put coil springs in the front (actually just like it is now) and then run a 4 link to a straight axle... add a transfer case and be done... the coils would simplify steering (tie rod & drag link hopefully) and what not...

Any input on that? Maybe I'm making this sound too easy to myself... but they've been great customers so far... and I want to do as much for them as I can...

Do the leaf springs i did a 2by 1996 chevy its in the for sale and its eazy

There was an article in one of the 4x mags (don't rember which one) a few years ago where a guy did a 4x swap into a 67-72 vintage 2wd truck. The geometry will be a little different but the idea is the same.

He stuck with coils in the front like you're suggesting. He used a Ford F150 dana 44 with the coil buckets and the links and fabbed up a cross member to connect the arms to. The setup looked clean and for that year truck the coils lined up on the axle and the frame. This guy swapped the outers to 8 lug to match up with a 14 bolt which is a bolt on affair.

You would need to run a later Chevy NP241 or BW 1356? T case to get the shaft on the drivers side but they are pretty common. You could go with an NP243 T case and use the electronic shift solenoids and put switches on the dash to eliminate cutting the floor.

You could do something similar with a 4 link or 3 link and mount coil spring mounts to the axle that line up with the coil buckets in the frame. If you go this route you'll have a lot more fabrication and custom parts.

Thanks for the input... I'm gonna have him bring it to me on Saturday so I can take a real good look at everything and start sketching out some preliminary designs, etc.

I wouldn't be so worried about it if it was a play rig only... but this is his wifes rig, what she uses to haul their kids around (all 6 of em) and thats a whole different affair... so I'm going to definitely spend a lot of time thinking about everything... I had thought about possibly finding an electronic shift transfer case... that'd be nice to have and eliminate cutting the floor up, and it would look especially cool... be a good example of custom work... :D :D :D

I would pull out of this deal Right now !

it isn't that bad of a swap. I just finished the same swap myself. The frames are close to the same, some have the holes predrilled. The 2-wheel drive crossmember unbolts with six bolts. I left my tranny in the orginal place,mounted the engine then the crossmember. The radiator mounts come off and the 4wd ones go back into place. Just have a new set of sharp bits if you go with the factory parts.