Project Polar Bear: '05 Suburban 2500
 

It has been a long time coming but the prophecy has finally been fulfilled. I sold my X5 a few weeks ago and brought home a new DD. I now own nothing but V8 powered vehicles. My kids named it Polar Bear for obvious reasons - it's giant, white, and will live in the cold.

2005 Suburban 2500, 6.0/80E, 4.10s, LT package with heated leather, 3rd row, rear seat entertainment, everything I need and nothing I don't. This popped up on CL in Phoenix and although I considered doing a fly and drive, the schedules didn't work so I just had it shipped. Having driven it for a few days now I wouldn't hesitate to go across country though.

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I already pulled off the crazy dark tint and need to clean the interior a bit. For the mileage it's in nice shape and most importantly there is no rust on the body, and minor surface rust on the frame as it lived in Idaho most of its life.

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Fits in the garage with a little room to spare.

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Stupid amounts of space inside. I love it

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The short term plan is to change every fluid and do a general tune up, plugs/wires etc. I plan to replace the headlights since they're all cloudy and install a Z71 lower valence with the round fog lights. I have a 41930 upgraded hitch on the way and right before winter I'll paint the exposed areas of the frame and then have it undercoated (recommendations on products?).

The long term plan is a small turbo and drive the wheels off it.

Sweet! Very nice find! Congratulations.

I've got a similar but rougher rougher 2004 version I bought several years ago and now just getting to it. I was thinking of starting a thread here as well 😊.

Subscribed for the content!

Amsoil makes a decent spray on undercoating, it's worth a try if you ask me. It's what I'm using on my car that came from Arizona as well before this winter.

So, I've acquired a victim for this project. '05 2500 LT, 6.0/4WD from AZ. I spent a few days after it arrived changing the oil in the engine, trans, and differentials. Still need to do the transfer case.

Slapped on a 41930 hitch and put it to the test towing my M3 300 miles round trip down to Watkins Glen for an HPDE weekend. I slept in the truck for 3 nights at the track with plenty of room for all my overnight and cooking stuff. The rig was comfortable and towed great, no doubt due to the long wheelbase and heavy weight.

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My only gripe was that I wished for a bit more power up the hills. Which brings me to my next thoughts regarding the turbo build...

Definitely going to stick with a stock cam, but will be upgrading valvesprings. I've had good luck with the PAC1218s in my turbo 6.0 Jaguar but may use a high quality dual spring from BTR for extreme reliability.

The two big things I'm still pondering are the turbo choice and torque converter.

I am brainstorming for the turbo build and still need to talk with Viren at VSR, but I'm thinking a cast 6673 or 7875 would be good. I don't plan to exceed 10-12 lbs or 5500 rpm as this is a towing rig, so I think the 7875 might be overkill. The goal is reliablity and instant boost response at a low RPM (2000 or so). Don't think I want or need more than 500 whp.

Regarding the converter - research has told me that sticking with a stock converter for towing is the way to go. I agree with this on the premise that a low stall will heat the trans fluid less, but my concern is that towing up long hills under boost with the stock converter clutch locked may chew up the clutch and trash the trans.

On the other hand, a looser converter like I have in my 6.0 turbo Jag is amazing for getting up to 3000rpm quickly and lighting off the turbo rather than lagging off the line. A triple disc will also allow me to lock the converter under boost up hills, although I'm not sure even that will survive under boost with 6000 lbs of truck and 7000 lbs of trailer behind it.

Other random thoughts...
-HD2 kit in 80E, Trucool 40K mounted low up front
-The 4.10 gears in it will help get the big girl moving
-Cast china log, small 2.25/2.5" crossover and 3" DP into a straight through muffler
-Enable Flex fuel with sensor, run blend of 93 and E85 depending on availability and need
-Suggestions on injector? I like the Deka 80s.
-Wally 450 in tank in the stock basket
3" A2A I/C

Open to suggestions on turbo and converter.

Slightly different but I used to tow with my diesel that had a triple disk and 1200ftlbs of torque with no issues. Can’t imagine a basically stock 6.0 with a turbo blowing through a triple disk. I’d definitely want to stick to stock stall or close to it for towing.

If the plan isn't a ton of power you can run GM injectors from a flex fuel 6.2 truck, they are 52lb/hr at 58psi.

Otherwise I prefer stuff from people like Deatchwerks because the data for the injectors is always correct for them.

Looks like a great rig. Makes me want to get my 05 Denali up and running even more... They do have a lot of room in them.

Got this thing up on jackstands for some maintenance, currently replacing all rubber brake hoses as they are likely original!

One of the issues with the truck is that it arrived without a front driveshaft or transfer case motor installed. Apparently the prior owner had some issues with the 4WD and removed them in an attempt to diagnose.

While under the truck yesterday, I tried to manually move the transfer case selector nub. It seemed to move one click away from what seems to be "neutral", but wouldn't lock into position, and then clicked back into neutral. I am assuming I should be able to manually click the t-case into any position by hand...

I am wondering if the inside of the T-case has some issues. Going to drain the oil out of it tonight and see what it looks like.

Cool rig! I would add that to my collection in a heartbeat!

Been wrenching on the truck a lot but keep forgetting to take pictures. Winter is coming fast so I'm really trying to get all the deferred maintenance done so that I can undercoat this thing.

Pulled the fender liners for a few reasons:
-Wanted to inspect the frame to see if any corrosion was present
-Better access for undercoating
-Needed access to broken exhaust manifold bolt

The frame looks good but was definitely spray bombed by someone in the past. The bare areas show some minor surface rust but that's to be expected for a 20 year old truck. After doing some research I think Woolwax will be the best product for this application.

I zipped off the 5 remaining manifold bolts, and one of those broke coming out. Therefore, 2 broken bolts to extract on the driver's side...far back and up front.

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Best method ever for removing these: weld 'em up. Done this one every LS I've ever owned/swapped and it works every time.
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Pulled the plugs while I was in there, pretty decent but might as well
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Wire wheeled the gasket surface

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Replaced all 5 rubber brake hoses and successfully replaced all 4 bleeders. 3/4 had the bleed hole clogged solid

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While I was waiting on some parts I made a trip to a few junkyards locally. Picked up Z71 front air dam off this 03 Tahoe and also found a pretty rare 06 LTZ that I grabbed the Z71/Chrome roof rack from. Also grabbed the e-fans from that thing for next year.

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