Hello Fellow Cheers and Gears members.

So since I became unemployed, while I search for a new job I started to clean up to office of the few piles I had and came across the following:

http://www.thedieselpage.com/duramaxconversions.htm

I had purchesed my conversion book about 3 or 4 years ago as I was planning to convert my clean 1994 C1500 suburban to diesel. I still dream of having it that way but recently had a interesting idea I wanted to float out to the fellow Gear heads here and get some solid feedback. So here goes the questions / thought and I look forward to your responses.

I found a 2004 crewcab 4x4 GMC Duramax with 135,000 miles for 10K. If I was to buy this truck, remove the body, bed, etc would my 1994 c1500 suburban body fit on this frame?

I know I would have to adjust for the 4x4 connections and use at least a 2" body spacer to fit over the Allison tranny. I figure at this time since the 93-99 suburbans were so close to each other, I could pull out my existing dash and replace it with a more modern one, maybe even use what is in the truck.

My concern is the frame, I know the mounting points will be different and I will have to manufacture mounting points.

So what are your thoughts, feelings, etc?

Would it be better to get a late 90's 4x4 suburban and go that route with adding the diesel? This is my other thought on moving to a 4x4 with diesel in a suburban setup.

I have attached what my current Suburban looks like right now.

Thank you all in advance for your input.

Interesting project idea...wheelbase would be different also, wouldn't it?

I have a '04 Silverado CC 2500HD, wheelbase there is 153". Yours should be the 131.5" chassis.

How about giving the Suburban a slight body lift and swapping the powertrain? As long as you aren't pulling major weight, well beyond what's pictured above, I would think the chassis would handle that fine.

Edited October 28, 201114 yr by balthazar

There is a company out there that does the Duramax/Suburban swap. I don't remember the name, or the details, but you ought to try doing a search for them. Maybe a swap kit exists? Might be better than a chassis swap.

Edited October 28, 201114 yr by Camino LS6

For what you'd have in the whole thing, I'd honestly just buy a totaled Duramax pickup and a totaled later model Suburban and make one out of the two. Look for a '99 and up Duramax pickup that was rolled over with heavy damage to the cab and body work and look for a '00 and up Suburban with front end damage that lot drives. If you did things right, you would have about $10 to $15k invested and that's about what you would've spent on that truck you found to begin with, right?

GM used to make diesel Suburbans...when did they stop making them?

GM used to make diesel Suburbans...when did they stop making them?

When the '91 and up full-size SUVs rolled out. A friend of mine had an '88 GMC Suburban with a good ol' Detriot Diesel under the hood.

GM used to make diesel Suburbans...when did they stop making them?

When the '91 and up full-size SUVs rolled out. A friend of mine had an '88 GMC Suburban with a good ol' Detriot Diesel under the hood.

The 6.5 turbodiesel was available in the '92-99 generation for some amount of time and on the Tahoe also according to the Book of Knowledge.

GM used to make diesel Suburbans...when did they stop making them?

When the '91 and up full-size SUVs rolled out. A friend of mine had an '88 GMC Suburban with a good ol' Detriot Diesel under the hood.

The 6.5 turbodiesel was available in the '92-99 generation for some amount of time and on the Tahoe also according to the Book of Knowledge.

It was (at least in the 2-doors) and they are very,very, rare.

As for why GM didn't make the Duramax available in the Suburban, the story I got back then was that they didn't have the production capacity to even meet demand in the pickups - so no diesel for the Suburban.

Of course that doesn't excuse the fact that they still haven't managed to do it.

GM used to make diesel Suburbans...when did they stop making them?

When the '91 and up full-size SUVs rolled out. A friend of mine had an '88 GMC Suburban with a good ol' Detriot Diesel under the hood.

The 6.5 turbodiesel was available in the '92-99 generation for some amount of time and on the Tahoe also according to the Book of Knowledge.

It was (at least in the 2-doors) and they are very,very, rare.

As for why GM didn't make the Duramax available in the Suburban, the story I got back then was that they didn't have the production capacity to even meet demand in the pickups - so no diesel for the Suburban.

Of course that doesn't excuse the fact that they still haven't managed to do it.

I would think they will for the next generation...with the new CAFE standards looming, I would think they would want to improve the mileage of their biggest gas guzzlers..

This is where the 4.5L Duramax diesel for the 1500's would come in handy, especially on the Suburban/Yukon XL models that could benefit from fuel efficiency to keep them fresh in the marketplace... of course those wanting a 2500 Suburban/Yukon XL with the 6.6L Duramax diesel will not be happy unless GM offers it too along with the smaller diesel.

GM used to make diesel Suburbans...when did they stop making them?

When the '91 and up full-size SUVs rolled out. A friend of mine had an '88 GMC Suburban with a good ol' Detriot Diesel under the hood.

The 6.5 turbodiesel was available in the '92-99 generation for some amount of time and on the Tahoe also according to the Book of Knowledge.

It was (at least in the 2-doors) and they are very,very, rare.

As for why GM didn't make the Duramax available in the Suburban, the story I got back then was that they didn't have the production capacity to even meet demand in the pickups - so no diesel for the Suburban.

Of course that doesn't excuse the fact that they still haven't managed to do it.

Working at the plant that is what I was told both before and after GM took full control. They couldn't build enough, applications are P/U's Express/Savana HD4500-6500(RIP) Van Chassis AM General

The plant was updated last year but only to update product not to increase production. They need to open a new plant or reopen an exsisting plant . The BabyMax would be the real answerwith the loss of HD trucks that would be taken up by 2500 Burbs and BabyMax for 1/2 tons.

What is the annual production of the Du-Di engines?

So revisiting this as a potential project. I found this web site and they had a Pickup Truck Project they did that is pretty freak-in cool.

http://www.thedieselpage.com/features/project2-16.htm

I purchased their conversion book:

http://www.thedieselpage.com/duramaxconversions.htm

It is pretty cool, even a pattern on how to build your new motor base mounts that the Duramax mounts would connect to. They do say for Suburbans, you have to do a 2" body lift for the Allison transmission to fit in properly.

Your thoughts on this now?

a coworker has done this. he loves it...but still only gets high 8's mpg pulling a triaxle camper behind him. best he's got was ~22 on the interstate.