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Urban 'burban

Boyink

Boyink

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 20, 2002
My hobby of late - shopping vehicles - came to a close today. I picked up this 2000 Suburban 2500 (3/4 ton), 6.0, 4WD with ~ 175K miles over in Fayetteville, AR (about a two hour drive from Tulsa).

I went round and round on all the options (fullsize van, AWD minivan, truck/truck camper, etc) before coming back to the simple Suburban. True 4WD, relatively simple to work on, parts still available, known for going 300K, and big enough to build a camper out of.

I realized the easiest and cheapest way to get everything our current campervan lacks (comfy hang out space, AC, heat, shower, potty) would be to buy a small travel trailer. So the rough plan is to build this to about the same level as the Sienna - usable as a 3-4 night rustic camper - and then tow a trailer to drop as a basecamp.

Pretty happy with this rig - it has a few scuffs and one small dent in the hood, but otherwise it's in great shape and just needs general maintenance, new headlight & turn signal lenses, etc. Eventually the solar panel and awning will move over, but otherwise the exterior will stay as is - no plans for crazy roof racks or offroad bumpers, etc.


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Nice truck, With the 3/4 ton running gear, if you drive it kinda like for a family car I bet you get way more than 300K out of it. Twice the room and load capacity of the mini van. And not much harder on fuel economy. easily self repaired, probably cheaper parts, cheaper taxes, and insurance too. I would never consider selling my 2000 diesel, 4x4 ford excursion. Remove the 3rd row seat, haul full 4x8 sheets of plywood with room to spare. You will love that truck!
 
That is one amazing truck. 6 liter is just about the best gas motor ever made for towing. Cadillac comfort and turns around on a dime.
 
Ol Fogie said:
Twice the room and load capacity of the mini van. And not much harder on fuel economy
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Not quiet 2x the room - the Sienna is a bit of a Tardis with more room on the inside than you'd expect. I haven't gotten out the tape measure yet but expect the Sienna floor to ceiling height to be more than the Suburban. And the 3rd row seat in the Sienna stowed into the floor, so you get all that "deep trunk space" to play with when removing those seats. That's where our fridge, water, and food pantry all live. I may end up completely blocking the rear window of the 'burb with a chuck box because I have to build up from the floor level. We'll see.

And 21 MPG Sienna vs....maybe 12 or 13 MPG on the Suburban? Sounds worse at that level, if I do the math for our recent 2K mile trip fuel cost difference would be $238 vs. $416 - not enough to sway a purchase decision.
 
The solid rear axle eats away the rear floor space. The Expedition isn't as bad but you still have a hump for the driveshafts and diff housing.

The suburban is still something like a foot or more bigger than the Expedition max. I've been thinking about a 3/4 ton suburban myself to tow over 6600lbs. You can option up an Expedition to 9k towing but I don't think the ecoboost is a good match at that weight when you could turbo a 6.0 and be ahead.
 
man, thats a clean suburban. even the driver's seat is intact! those leather seats are like lazyboys, i've spent many an hour riding in all 3 rows back and forth across the country, no rig i'd rather do it in. i've even been in a few wrecks in them, and they've protected me well.

one of the nice parts about those trucks is how much is available/upgradeable on them. the computers are super easy to tune/modify, there are 2 or 3 different open source softwares that can do pretty much any modifications you want. i'd HIGHLY recommend the lean cruise patch, which will lean out the AFR under certain conditions to save fuel. it's ported over from some holden vehicles that use it with similar computers, it was just never used in the U.S. due to not being able to satisfy EPA emissions standards. it can bump your mileage up a few mpg, which is quite nice in a gas guzzler like that. the software i'm used to, and what seems to be the simplest to get into, is universalpatcher.net it has several common patches available natively in the software, and has a flashing utility built in - for $0. all you need to buy is a cable to interface between the vehicle and a computer. with this setup, you can also do any other work/diagnostics on the computer, like checking/disabling DTCs, increasing the max speed (a fun tool if you're young and dumb like me) and even tuning the engine.
 
colojeepguy said:
Pretty nice rig! I wish the GMC that I just picked up was a 3/4 ton.
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I was holding out for 3/4 ton. The 1/2 tons are available all over the place and for $2-3K less than I spent, but between wanting to build it out and then tow something the weight limits were just too close. I like the ride height/tire size of this one as well, I don't feel any need to lift it or buy bigger tires.
 
Mr_Vaughan said:
man, thats a clean suburban. even the driver's seat is intact!
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I almost wonder if the driver's seat has been repaired - the leather is slightly different in color. Doesn't matter - for some reason seat condition is a big flag to me on how the rest of the vehicle was maintained. May be true or not, but big rips in the seats are a deal-killer for me.
 
I really like my ‘04 3/4 ton Suburban with the 6.0. You will find like any “LS” series they don’t really come alive until about 2200/2400 rpm unlike the Vortec that is more lower end. There are coolant (heater) hose connections that are plastic at the back of the engine that are prone to failure. If you have the tow package there are two different radiators possible if replacement is needed. Cold weather and warm weather. Make sure you get the right one. I had mine replaced and they installed the cold weather (Alaska, etc.) and it would not warm up enough. Engine would not run right and no heat until right one was installed. Just things to be aware of. Having said all that, I love mine. Runs good, drives good for a full size vehicle like Daryl said, tows well. Only bad thing is as was said is fuel economy. Mine has a 30 gallon tank (tow package) so don’t notice much except when filling up.
mine has bucket seats for second row seating which I don’t care for as it leaves a gap between them. I also camp in mine but being single with a narrow air mattress not a huge deal but annoying. I love the front and rear air and heat. Makes it nice on those cold or hot trips. I have a rear dvd player but have no idea if it works, but it is there. Both my ‘04 Silverado and Suburban Stereo’s have issues. I’ve replaced the one in the Suburban. Silverado is next. Both are Bose systems.
 
Thanks Nick.

The dealer replaced those hose connections, I think. I'll double-check the paperwork I got.

I did notice it took more pedal to get things moving than my former 2WD '02 2500 with the 8.1L and Allison - but I figured there was more driveline to get spinning with this being 4WD.

This truck actually has a VHS player under the rear seat connected to the flip-down 5" TV screen. Haven't looked at it yet. Main stereo is a ~12 year old Kenwood system with DVD and Garmin nav (never had a car with video and now I can run two movies at once?).

Sounded horrible at first, played with it last night and found the factory subwoofer and the left rear door speaker are blown. Once I disabled those speakers and re-EQ'd the rest it sounds pretty good. The installation looks professional with an amp under the second row seat next to the VHS player (and a small aftermarket 120V inverter).

I also found a non-op backup camera and got it working - just had to enable it in the head unit. Can mark that off the to-do list.

I realized it has an aftermarket security system, so the key fob isn't original. OTOH I learned this era Chevy truck is really easy to break into so maybe thats good, but from what I can tell manufacturer isn't in business anymore so that's bad. I'll look into that more today - there's a small on/off switch on the dash that I'm dying to understand.
 
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