My 99 K2500 Suburban

[SUBURBAN5]

I did that when I had my wreck lol. I wish I could. I dont have the tools or equipment to do that kind of work. Otherwise I would lol

It was intimidating at first for sure, but after digging in it is really quite simple. I put every bolt in a sandwich bag marked with where it belongs, wrapped painters tape around every connector marked where it plugs in, hopefully it will be painless. Also I’m very lucky that right around the corner from my moms house is a ma and pa bolt shop that has every thread and bolt size I could ever need.. so I just take my baggies in there as I’m putting it back together to replace any bolts that are ruined. Very nice haha

 

[noabarron3]

Hi there, I hope this is in the right spot. I’m new here and this is my build thread. (Gonna be a long one..) It will take me a bit to finish so please be patient.
Rare bird. Where did you get those glass headlights? I’ve been looking for a set.
First off, It is a 1999 GMC K2500, 454, 4L80e, 4.10 axle, 8600GVW (8lug, forged lower control arms). My dad bought it in Michigan back in Nov. ‘06. From a used car dealer, we are the 2nd owners. It had 49,000 miles on the clock. We bought it to pull our camper trailer we had at the time and it got parked when gas prices hiked.
It then was used as our second work truck for a landscaping company our family owned before going out of business.

This truck was pretty clean from the start, and I never planned to do a full restoration on it..(well at least not right away.)

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I had pulled the grille off to replace my fogged headlight lenses with some reproduction lenses made out of glass! While I had the grille off I figured I would paint the radiator support after knocking some of the rust off, then noticed the whole d/s lower corner of the support was rotted through.

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So, I ordered a new support and put it back together for work in the morning (with my glass lenses!)

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After I received the new support, I dug into it, got it all torn down and the old support out and then noticed the frame was rotted at the mounting point for the steering gearbox. (don’t have pics of that apparently, but I do have a pic of the area)

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The whole outside rail where the bolt heads are, was pulled through. No wonder I had alignment issues.

That’s when the restoration started. This has been ongoing since 2016. With life happening and stuff, me and my dad started it before he passed away. It has been on and off again like a bad relationship when you just don’t know when to quit..

Honestly, I was 18 and when I saw the frame rot I thought it was time to get rid of the truck. I told my dad expecting him to say the same thing, but he said the opposite surprisingly.. he knew how much I loved this truck I guess.

rare bird. Where did you get the glass lenses? Been looking for a set.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

rare bird. Where did you get the glass lenses? Been looking for a set.

Spyder makes them, I have a set on my 'burb as well.

 

[Jman95]

rare bird. Where did you get the glass lenses? Been looking for a set.

I believe they were by Spyder, I bought them back in 2016. Only the actual headlight lenses were glass, the parking lenses were still plastic. The corner lenses were clear but I liked the OEM amber better though so I left them alone, these were on Amazon though.

https://www.amazon.com/CPW-88-98-Pickup-Crystal-Headlights/dp/B01LWAPXRE

 

[Zar7285]

Awesome looking build so far! You're doing what I want to do with mine other than I plan to solid axle swap and do a 8.1 swap as I have a TBI motor, which isn't great. Mine is so covered in grease and oil, I don't think there's any place for rust to start haha. Great thing about these trucks is they are so simple to work on, parts are cheap as dirt, and everything is pretty easy to access. Looking forward to seeing more progress here.

 

[Jman95]

Awesome looking build so far! You're doing what I want to do with mine other than I plan to solid axle swap and do a 8.1 swap as I have a TBI motor, which isn't great. Mine is so covered in grease and oil, I don't think there's any place for rust to start haha. Great thing about these trucks is they are so simple to work on, parts are cheap as dirt, and everything is pretty easy to access. Looking forward to seeing more progress here.

thank you sir! A SAS is probably gonna happen sometime in the future! They are simple to work on and most parts are reasonable for sure. I want a RCSB eventually that I want to turn into a street truck. As for progress I’m waiting for my new MIG welder to show up so I can do some rust repair on the interior before sealing it all up. Pics coming soon on that stuff too.

 

[thegawd]

Amazing build! Those spyder glass lenses are awesome but have a couple design flaws.... they will eventually leak, just seal them with silicone. The holes for the light bulbs, one of the 4 is sloppy, i swapped the o rings on the bulb to a larger gauge, also something about them is not tight, like the lense shakes on the plastic frame.... I put rubber washers in between them to tighten them up. I put antisieze on all the threads so hopefully they will move in 20 years.

Yes I would buy them again, I have 2 trucks with them. 4 high and low beam mods, and basic oem bulbs. With the 4 high mod basic bulbs seem like expensive ones... some expensive bulbs are garbage.... such as any blue colored bulb... sylvania silverstars are garbage.

Al

 

[70stroker]

love the attention to detail, thats probably going to be one of the cleanest obs suburbans when its done.

 

[Jman95]

love the attention to detail, thats probably going to be one of the cleanest obs suburbans when its done.

Thanks man, I’m planning on clean lol.
Progress has halted with the holidays and also my brother just bought a new house and I’ve been helping him with renovations before he moves in.. Hopefully will have some more updates after the new year. Need to get a new welder to address some of those body issues and then full speed ahead haha.

 

[Jman95]

All right guys, it’s been awhile. Still been working slow but steady, upon sanding of the interior I found more rust popping through the firewall behind some brackets..

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Rust sucks lol, got myself a new Hobart Handler 140 welder for Christmas, so onto body work. This is my first time ever doing bodywork and welding sheetmetal so be easy guys lol.

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My strategy was to clean the steel and tack the patch on top, and then cut with a thin grinder blade on a 45 degree angle a little at a time while pushing the patch flush and spot welding it in place. Once I went all the way around, the old piece just fell inside the car, and then just continued to weld until it was sealed up. Ground the welds until I was happy with it.

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This is the finished patch for this side, after I spray some epoxy primer over this section and scuff the existing raptor around it. I will drill the holes to remount the fender bracket back where it needs to be, and when I paint the rest of the truck I’ll shoot over these spots with more raptor.