Author Topic: lowering a suburban  (Read 19780 times)

Offline caddylow

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lowering a suburban
« on: June 25, 2009, 01:37:34 AM »
Does anyone have any 1/2 ton frame and suspension specs or knowledge of rear of vehicle differences between the suburban and truck frames? Are the frames different ,gas tanks ,leaf springs? I know that the sub has more leaves and the front shackle on the suburban is shorter! Also the sub has a body mount in the rear wheelwell. Can anyone add any of their knowledge to this?

Offline Captkaos

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Re: lowering a suburban
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2009, 01:34:08 PM »
Frames are completely different as far as the rear goes (frame rails) How deep you want this?
As far as lowering, they use the same components.

Offline caddylow

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Re: lowering a suburban
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2009, 04:26:01 PM »
I want to go 6" with a flip. I called DJM and they said they do not make a specific kit for the 73-91 Sub! I called stylin trucks and they said that only BellTech makes a specific kit for the Sub! So I called Belltech and they said they Do not make a kit for the Sub but that they do make one for the Blazer. Either company said that I would void the warranty if another Kit, say for a truck or blazer, was used on my Sub!!!! I'm thinking it's probably a liability issue maybe because of the added weight?  DJM said that no R&D was ever done by them on the square body Subs and if anybody used one of their kits on a Sub that they don't know about it. I know that the front end is exactly the same as the truck but that the rear is different. Anyway Stylin said that BellTech does make a flip kit but that BellTech's sidenotes say to make sure the axle is 3" dia. and that the rear of the spring has to be re-arched about 2" or it will sit about 7"- 8.5" lower instead of the 6"on the trucks. So what's The real deal?????

Offline Captkaos

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Re: lowering a suburban
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2009, 04:37:45 PM »
There is less clearance on the rear of a burb, you won't get a flip kit under it as it will be banging on the axle.  you will need to get springs to lower or drop hangers.  There are a few here with lowered burbs.

Offline Monzter

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Re: lowering a suburban
« Reply #4 on: September 10, 2009, 01:10:15 AM »
You can flip an axle on a Suburban, it's just a little more work than a truck. The biggest thing to overcome on flipping the axle on a Suburban is you've gotta raise the floor for the differential. The Suburban floor in the rear is right over the frame rails, a pickup or Blazer has a 2" gap. You don't have to raise the whole floor, what works is to just raise the section over the axle, like some guys do when the do a monster notch & air bags on their trucks, this is how it was done on the Suburban that I got my extra frame for to do my stock floor body drop with. You will also have to C-notch the frame, use a good C-notch, the one on the frame I got was a hacked up home made round tube notch.

Offline scooterskoolkustoms

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Re: lowering a suburban
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2010, 04:28:28 AM »
the front leaf spring hanger on the burbs are what they use to lower a c10.( the eye is higher up ) you can replace these with c10 front hangers and get an inch or 2 .I will try to find a thred of some one that did this but put burb hangers on his c10 instead of buying the hangers .shows the 2 side buy side.This is why the burb sits lower with just a flip kit,It already has the lower spring hanger in the front.Just food for thought.
82 burb 350-700r4

Offline Captkaos

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Re: lowering a suburban
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2010, 10:23:57 AM »
It isn't really lower on a Burb, the frames are just different, but the clearance is closer since they are designed to carry extra weight all the time.  Someone here dropped their pickup with burb hangers.  There are pics here somewhere.

Offline justpball

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Re: lowering a suburban
« Reply #7 on: May 04, 2010, 01:54:51 PM »
you can use the same flip kit or just buy some new spring saddles and weld them on... about 10.00 bucks, and very easy if you or a buddy can weld...

Offline scooterskoolkustoms

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Re: lowering a suburban
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2010, 01:20:54 PM »
I'm doing the rear flip.Got the saddles,new bolts and spring plates.need to drill a hole 1" from the center on them also same with the spring plate otherwise driveshaft wont fit.
82 burb 350-700r4

Offline bigbodyburb

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Re: lowering a suburban
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2014, 07:19:50 PM »
Sorry for the necro. ;D

I have a 85 1/2 ton burb with heavy duty brakes (you need to note that, apparently there are two types of spindles) that I have slammed with various beltech stuff. Oh and it's a 5/6 drop. I had bought it dropped, but went behind and fixed everything wrong with it. It would drag on everything, wore tires out, tires didn't fit right, etc. Alot of the stuff I had to buy came from c-10 trucks. Thus far, everything is holding up. My truck isn't a heavy lifter, so going over weight isn't an issue.

2.5 inch drop spindles and lowering springs up front (guy I bought it from cut 3 coils... totally miffed it). For a total of 5 inches up front. He had tried to remount drop shocks in different places, messing up the geometry of the front, same with the back, I ended up blowing out both sets of welds on one speed bump... less than idle speed. Put everything back in their intended places and not a problem since.

Shackle and flip kit with a baby c-notch in the back (again, previous owner miffed the c-notch, I'm going to have to repair it).

I have 20 inch rims tucked up in there with no fender rolling, the rears have a pretty deep offset and are 305 rubber. I used a solid aluminum spacer that was about 1 " thick, direct bolted to hub with lugs of it's own.

Offline bake74

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Re: lowering a suburban
« Reply #10 on: July 30, 2014, 09:27:13 PM »
Sorry for the necro. ;D

I have a 85 1/2 ton burb with heavy duty brakes (you need to note that, apparently there are two types of spindles) that I have slammed with various beltech stuff. Oh and it's a 5/6 drop. I had bought it dropped, but went behind and fixed everything wrong with it. It would drag on everything, wore tires out, tires didn't fit right, etc. Alot of the stuff I had to buy came from c-10 trucks. Thus far, everything is holding up. My truck isn't a heavy lifter, so going over weight isn't an issue.

2.5 inch drop spindles and lowering springs up front (guy I bought it from cut 3 coils... totally miffed it). For a total of 5 inches up front. He had tried to remount drop shocks in different places, messing up the geometry of the front, same with the back, I ended up blowing out both sets of welds on one speed bump... less than idle speed. Put everything back in their intended places and not a problem since.

Shackle and flip kit with a baby c-notch in the back (again, previous owner miffed the c-notch, I'm going to have to repair it).

I have 20 inch rims tucked up in there with no fender rolling, the rears have a pretty deep offset and are 305 rubber. I used a solid aluminum spacer that was about 1 " thick, direct bolted to hub with lugs of it's own.

      Not sure if you noticed or not, this thread is 4 years old.  The original poster might not even be on here anymore.  But welcome to the site and thanks for the input.
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