Family overland/ daily driver suburban

[541suburban]

Well 6 months ago my wife and I found out she was pregnant, we were both super excited but realized all the cars I owned were not very kid friendly, (I have a lifted 97 Subaru Legacy with a gutted interior for camping out of and I had recently sold my pickup to get rid of a payment. I was looking for a Toyota 4Runner but I couldn’t find one I liked. Later we found out she was having twin girls! Turns out a 4Runner would have probably been a little two small for two kids, 2 labs, all of our camping stuff, and baby things. I decided we should start shopping for a suburban at the suggestion of a friend. Well 3 months later I found this thing buried on Facebook market place (minus the wheels, tires, mirrors, and new headlights. I bought it on the cheap with a bad fuel pump and some pretty minor maintenance issues.

We are a pretty outdoorsy family so I’m planning on building this out to be a mostly camping, fishing, hunting, and family get away rig. The build list goes as planned but not in order:

1. Drawer system from the rear seats back
2. Front window tint
3. Recharge or rebuild AC system
4. Swap lights in roof rack out with a light bar or LED light system
5. Add 270 degree awning
6. Build or buy front and rear bumpers
7. Add tire swing out to rear bumper
8. Add air bags to rear axle (I tow once in a while)
9. Tuner for ECU
10. Exhaust system
11. Locker or limited slip for rear axle
12. Add second battery
13. Add ladder to get to roof rack
14. Lift maybe?


I’m sure there will be more to come but I’ll try and document as much as I can here!

~Dan

 

[mrmud2u]

That's a great rig to do it with! and that list will grow, mine always does.

 

[RevRun]

I'll be watching this thread closely! Planning something similar on my own burb and could use some inspiration that isn't Toyota or Land Cruiser based.

 

[541suburban]

That's a great rig to do it with! and that list will grow, mine always does.

No kidding haha I feel like it’ll at least double! There are already things I’ve forgotten

 

[541suburban]

I'll be watching this thread closely! Planning something similar on my own burb and could use some inspiration that isn't Toyota or Land Cruiser based.

I totally agree with that! I get most of my ideas from that world but I think it’s very doable to convert a lot of that to this space

 

[Chevyguy78]

Well for inspiration have you looked at https://www.suboverland.com/ ? They build Suburban Overland vehicles. They do some really cool stuff. I’m on the fence of building my 97 Silverado for Overlanding. Great start so far!

 

[sync]

Wheel & Tire specs?

 

[541suburban]

Well for inspiration have you looked at https://www.suboverland.com/ ? They build Suburban Overland vehicles. They do some really cool stuff. I’m on the fence of building my 97 Silverado for Overlanding. Great start so far!

I actually started looking into their stuff last night. I will for sure take some of their inspiration!

 

[541suburban]

Wheel & Tire specs?

They are American racing wheels and 285/75/r16 bfg k02s

 

[sync]

They are American racing wheels and 285/75/r16 bfg k02s

Any T bar crank or anything to help them fit?