GM Dirt Dobbers 03 suburban build (1 Viewer)

[dirtdobberoffroad]

I picked up a 2003 suburban LT last August from an old fella for cheap, I was needing something to get me to and from my fishing spots and the wife was tired of me tearing the valance off the minivan, I was planning on starting the build then but I suffered a stroke, I am now back to normal and now thinking about the build again.

2003 suburban LT
fully loaded
flex fuel
g80 that still works
265 Cooper AT3s OEM 16" wheels

so far all I've done to it has been valve cover gaskets, the previous owner replaced both front bearings, cv axles, water pump. I have the knock sensors and all associated stuff to replace it after a jaunt around the Mississippi river bottoms its started throwing the code...

Like a said before my plans are to build it up to take the kids out exploring the Ozarks, camping and to get me to my out of the way fishing holes.

I have a set of torsion keys to raise the front, I'm fixing to order a set of H2 coils for the rear to add some height and load capacity (as of now when I load my family up it sags the rear.

Plans are to install drawer system in the back for fishing and camping gear, install a rack on the top for my kayaks, take running boards off and install some sliders, install a front bumper for higher clearance thinking of a prerunner style sides with a center section for a winch, install rear bumper with swing out to get the tire out from under the truck and to haul my bikes, I would like to find a stock aux tank from a 3/4 suburban to put in, and put on a set of 285's and that's about it.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

So I took it out at the end of February to do some exploring the part of the Ozarks around my In-laws, Day tripped the Glade Top Trail in the southern Missouri Ozarks with the kids it was fun wish it wouldn't have been so foggy and we could have seen the views. There are more roads down there I want to run but I will wait on it to dry up some.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

(March 4th) I orders a stage1 shift kit for the 4l60e form Oregon performance transmission it should be in today. I will pick up a auxiliary cooler and plumb it in series with the factory trans cooler, I hear heat is the death of the 4l60 but in the farm trucks around hear they seem to burn up the clutches and bands too, so I thought process is I can put the shift kit in it to firm up the shifts and minimize slippage and save the bands and the clutches. 200 is cheap insurance to keep the bands alive as long as the sun gear don't explode on me now.



Also last week I noticed my oil pressure went form running 40+psi all the time to now running 20psi at idle and a lifter tick....I can run it up and get the pressure and the ticking stops and it will run for 5 minutes or so and it starts ticking again. The last oil change I switched form conventional to full synthetic and put on a fram filter. I think Im going to change the oil and use a wix or napa filter but I hate to change the oil and not solve anything. You guys think its worth going ahead and changing the oil pump? 150k on it.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

(march 10th) Bye-Bye station wagon, H2 springs and keys. Shift kit to help improve line pressure and quicken the shifts, I still got to pick up the universal trans cooler. Knock sensor, wiring harness and intake gaskets I hope the intake is not full of oil when I pull it off....if so I will pick up or make a oil separator for the PCV line....and then a fuel pump the P.O. said if he let it run below a 1/4tank it would quit, I pushed it to a little under a 1/4 but never had it die. Thought I would just change it for the peace of mind, and who knows when the weather warms up it might have quit sooner.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

(March 12th) Changed the oil last night with conventional high mileage and a wix filter instead of the fram, fired it up and oil pressure never dropped below 38~ no more knocks...idled that way for well over 30 minutes....I forgot I had it running..

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

(March 12) Got the H2 coils put in the rear also. My helper had a blast while I changed the oil he rolled around under the suburban the whole time, I let him take off all the hub caps he felt like he completed the whole job I loved it. The Lt springs measured 15 1/4" the H2 springs measured 17 7/8", I disconnected the shocks and sway bar links and still had to put a bottle jack between the axle and frame to get the H2 spring in. The 265 look tiny in the wheel wells now.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

(march 13th) I picked up...it might be a little big 12" x 15" x 1.5". My truck does have the factory trans cooler but its tiny in comparison.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

(march 17th) I got the front keys on and the front shocks on....The keys went on super easy, 3 whacks with the baby sledge (10lb head on a 12" handle)and they were both loose. The guy at the parts store called me a liar.... there was no way I changed them both and had the tool back in an hour. LOL front measures 36 1/4" on both fronts from the ground to the fender on 265 16's and the rear measures 38 3/4" on the driver and 39 on the passenger side... I was disappointed on the Zone front shocks the threads where painted over and I tried to use a where brush but a no go. I had to break out the tap and die set to clean the treads, not a big deal but to an extra bit of time to do. The torsion keys I picked up doesn't do much do they? One thing I did notice was the passenger side had a yellow sticker and the driver side had a blue sticker. I assume they blue is a stiffer spring. So I did some driving around and did some more tightening on the torsion bars, got the front to 37" on front with the bolts tightened all the way up. Still have about a fingers width of down travel before the droop stop hits the upper a arm. I still have to put in the shocks on the back but my arthritis started acting up by the time I got done with the front. The truck drives so much better than before.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

(March 18th) Front, rear, and side I will run it like this for a little while to see how bad the front is, on the street it rides better now than before but I'm use to driving an overloaded f250 work truck for 8 hours a day so I don't mind the rough ride.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

(March 19th) I got the rear shock on after work and started to drop the tank and spun the weld nut on the front tank strap.....ARGGGG! So I guess I will just have to cut the strap pull the tank completely out and weld the nut back on. unless anyone knows another trick. (turned out not to be as bad as I thought.


zone shocks gave me 2.5" more shock I didn't realize the stock self levelers where topped out with H2s on.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

(March 24) So after crawling round under the rig after buttoning up the lift I found the sound in the frontend.......I grabbed the flange on the driver side front axle shaft and what it wiggles.....no oil dripping but I can wiggle it so I assume its the bearing, it has new wheel bearing and cv shaft on the driver side. I figure the previous owner was searching for the sound also and never found it, that or they did find it and gave up.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

(March 27) So the trans cooler I bought is not as big as I thought..... What do you all think take out old and put in new or run it in series with the factory cooler?

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

(March 28) I changed out the fuel pump it would run fine and it had good pressure all the way to a 1/4 tank and it would kit running like it was out of fuel.....dropped the tank with 4" left I the bottom of the tank. everything was going smooth until the front bolt spun the staked nut, I broke out the dremmel and cut the bolt out, I almost cut the strap...glad I didn't, straps were 56 bucks and the bolt repair kit was 7.... the Delphi was a direct swap no plug swapping. Also changed out the filter that was a trick the filter takes a special insert tool to remove the line (it needs to be hollow and a bit larger on the bottom to fit a ledge on the filter....I just cut the hose barb off the filter and then used a normal insert tool to remove it...

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

( March 29th)
I started the knock sensor job.....not too bad the only thing I had a problem with was trying to get the hose off the vacuum line above the throttle body, I don't know what its called but it has a hard plastic vacuum line and a electric plug. It has a c-clip style lock but I was not able to get it to slide out and broke it.

I thought I would be smart and pull all the connections on the passenger side of the motor so swing the wiring over the top and lay it on the driver side...wrong there is one ground wire on the back of the block that keeps you from doing that....

The intake has oil in it like 99% of LS engines so I will be putting together or picking up a catch can. There was not too much crud on the top of the valley but is still has plenty. Also there is a lot of oil build up in the intake runner on the plastic part of the intake and the intake ports in the head, I will try and clean all of that up before putting it back together. Its suppose to rain tomorrow so I wont be working on it I pulled it apart in the open drive way at the house and not under the car-port...

The knock sensors are both corrodes as all get out. I cannot believe it wasn't constantly throwing a code.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

29th picture of the vacuum switch and what's left of the clip. (But it locked back in place!)

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

Also if you are doing the knock sensor and you plan on extending the vent lines now would be the time, easy access. here is the dirty valley and the corroded knock sensors. the vent tubes are the last picture, I would hate to have to find them with the intake still on. So I did the hot water and dishwashing liquid, the hot water and degreaser (purple power and simple green), carwash pressure washer and the Steam cleaning pressure washer at the farm shop on the plastic intake the oil and grease came off with just the dishwashing liquid but in the intake runners there is a rough almost like 36grit sandpaper on the sides I could take my fingernail an scrape some off but that was the only way I used a brass bottle brush too and it didn't take it off after steam cleaning it I gave up. On the intake ports in the head the goo came off easy with WD40. Surprisingly the knock sensor on the front of the engine was worse than the rear. Got it all back together, HT RTV silicone around the knock sensor boots, I pulled the foam blocks out. Also cleaned the grease build up off the throttle body. I still have to go down to harbor freight and get a couple of water separators for an air compressor to put in the PCV hoses, They are 10 bucks and have a petcock on the bottom to drain the oil when it gets half full. I deleted the codes, ran it hard down the road, then drove maybe 30 miles normal, seems to be using more gas.... one thing I have noticed is the intake no longer whistles at 1/4 throttle like before.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

And painting the bow tie white catches me up on mud!

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

So the next mod will be the shift kit, kind of makes me nervous but I will give it a go. My thought are that sense the Trans is in good working order if I can stop the long shifts and band slippage now it should stop failure, but I guess without band slippage it would be harder on the sungear? I don't know.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

Completed the shift kit it was pretty easy the only thing was Transgo and Sonnax differed on some of the directions so I went with the Transgo directions. All seems good. The shift is quicker when driving normal but doesn't shift hard, at 1/4 throttle and over the shift is firm but not so firm it barks the tires in second but really close. I do have a couple of problems or maybe not.....the shift between 1 and 2 kind of feels mushy that's the only word I can think of almost like when you dump the clutch in a truck with leaf springs and it twists the springs.. and cruising at 60 I can punch it and it will down shift and bump bump...jump to 5 grand and instantly bump to 4500...I don't know if its a band slipping then catching or what. Its consistent and the RPM drop takes the same amount of time every time. I was able to bend the shift linkage bracket back to the driveshaft to drop the pan instead of dropping the exhaust that made it a lot better.

 

[dirtdobberoffroad]

I bought the Oregon performance transmission stage one kit (transgo shift kit, with Sonnax goodies, and a transgo hardened separator plate), to start off the drain plug would not come out and I rounded the plug off (its soft), so I pulled the pan bolts and drain I over the front of the pan, the repair guide I have says you have to drop the exhaust to pull the pan I took one look at those bolts and thought nope! The shift linkage bracket keeps you from pulling the pan back far enough to drop it without removing the exhaust, it has two bolts on top that you cant get too so I just bent the bracket until it touched the driveshaft and the pan fell out easy. Removal of the wires and valve body is simple, I started taking things apart and realized it has aluminum actuator in it already and noticed some other signs that make e think some one has been in it already (some what rounded bolts on the valve body, clean filters in the separator plate)……...