This has suburban badging, shop claims it's a 2025 but doesn't have the 2025 infotainment that I can see if you zoom in.
Curious as to how this show got a true 3500 or if this is a conversion.
2025 8 Lug Suburban
- Thread starter t_bergman
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This has suburban badging, shop claims it's a 2025 but doesn't have the 2025 infotainment that I can see if you zoom in.
Curious as to how this show got a true 3500 or if this is a conversion.
Tonyv__
Full Access Member
I remember seeing a headline a while ago about gm making government issued 2500hd suburbans. So they do exist as far as I’m aware but not for just anyone to get their hands on it.
t_bergman
Full Access Member
They are supposed to be built by GM Defense and should technically not have any consumer GM badging.
GM like all companies likes money, just like the 3500HD I bet dealers can order them as fleets such as ComEd here in IL has a few of the 3500HD burbs under their own SKU. I'd assume this will also eventually leak out to a few dealers for private sales.
basketballmail2
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Marky Dissod
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Gubbuhmint would get more bang for their unlimited bucks from a 6.6L V8, whether petrol L8T or turbodiesel L5P.
Interesting.
As I remember GM stopped building the Yukon XL/Suburban 2500's for "consumers" - when the GMT900 line ended in 2013. Pretty sure the were using the old "weren't selling enough of them" excuse.
Duraburb has a video up on Youtube where they pulled apart one of the 2015-2020 generation Suburban 3500's - and showed how the frame under it - was pretty much the exact same frame as was used in the 2007-2013 2500s and in the 2000-2006 2500s. I had a 2003 Suburban 2500 - and have a 2010 Yukon XL 2500 now - and can attest to the fact that the frames underneath each are pretty much identical. Duraburb had a govt. contract I believe - to up-engine some of the 3500s - to Duramax 6.6L power.
It was my understanding that - the current generation was never going to be made into a 2500 or 3500, because of the independent rear suspension. Obviously if you throw enough money at the problem you can do anything - so I guess GM figured out how to make a 3500 Suburban from the new gen using that government money.
It would be pretty cool if they brought back the 2500 Suburban / Yukon XL for the consumer market - by cross pollinating that .gov paid for HD frame/suspension setup back into the "civilian" product line. It's been more than ten years since the 2500 has been commonly available , there must be some pent-up demand.
As I remember GM stopped building the Yukon XL/Suburban 2500's for "consumers" - when the GMT900 line ended in 2013. Pretty sure the were using the old "weren't selling enough of them" excuse.
Duraburb has a video up on Youtube where they pulled apart one of the 2015-2020 generation Suburban 3500's - and showed how the frame under it - was pretty much the exact same frame as was used in the 2007-2013 2500s and in the 2000-2006 2500s. I had a 2003 Suburban 2500 - and have a 2010 Yukon XL 2500 now - and can attest to the fact that the frames underneath each are pretty much identical. Duraburb had a govt. contract I believe - to up-engine some of the 3500s - to Duramax 6.6L power.
It was my understanding that - the current generation was never going to be made into a 2500 or 3500, because of the independent rear suspension. Obviously if you throw enough money at the problem you can do anything - so I guess GM figured out how to make a 3500 Suburban from the new gen using that government money.
It would be pretty cool if they brought back the 2500 Suburban / Yukon XL for the consumer market - by cross pollinating that .gov paid for HD frame/suspension setup back into the "civilian" product line. It's been more than ten years since the 2500 has been commonly available , there must be some pent-up demand.
Marky Dissod
Full Access Member
My educated guess involves studying the differences between a 1500 Suburban and a 2500 pickup truck with an identical wheelbase.
From there figuring out how to remove the IRS subframe and swap in a live rear axle and its commensurate suspension should not be too hard.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that GM added more interior space to the latest gen of Burb/Yukon XL - because they didn't need to use up as much space to fit in the independent suspension rear end. That seems like a solveable problem though - by just adding a little more height to the suspension ( lift it), maybe they could fit in a live-axle rear end.
The thing I like about the 2500 series Suburban/Yukons - is their towing rating. You get an SUV with all of the interior space - plus more towing. I'd love to see a 3500 Suburban with like a 12K tow rating.
Marky Dissod
Full Access Member
Think the same applies to the Tahoe / Yukon.
With a live axle, the pumpkin must have as much freedom to move up / down as the tires.
With an indy rear, everything inboard of the tires moves up / down less and less as you approach the center, which does not move up or down at all - leaving some more room for 3rd row riders.
Would keeping the leaf springs on top of the axle be enough?
Putting the axle on top of the leaf springs would let the pumpkin get very close to the body.
olyelr
Full Access Member
Cutting out the irs and grafting in a solid axle would be relatively easy. Issue is there is most likely not much room at the bottom side of the body to allow much uptravel in the suspension with a solid axle, so it would probably need to be “lifted” quite a bit from factory height.
swathdiver
Full Access Member
These were just on an episode of Jay Lenno's Garage.
Arlington makes the bodies and ships them to a shop in North Carolina who marries it up with their custom frame and GM drivetrain. The armored ones are taken completely apart, armored up and then put back together.
Arlington makes the bodies and ships them to a shop in North Carolina who marries it up with their custom frame and GM drivetrain. The armored ones are taken completely apart, armored up and then put back together.
I'll have to go lookup that Jay Leno's garage episode. I did a quick Google search and there's a bunch of info online - apparantly the product is called the "Suburban Shield"
There's a PDF on the above link with a bunch of info in it.
There's a PDF on the above link with a bunch of info in it.
Just finished watching that Jay Leno's Garage episode. Most of it was blah blah blah , but they did do a tour of the undercarriage - pretty cool that they stayed with the independent rear suspension and just beefed it WAY up with custom control arms and so forth.
Looks to me like GM has all the pieces now to build a 2500 or 3500 series Suburban for the civilian market - maybe with a 6.6L gas engine to orient the truck more towards towing. They said in the episode that GM Defense is closely tied into the rest of GM - and that the frame is custom built by some GM supplier - not sure why that relationship couldn't be used to build a civilian HD Suburban.
It would probably end up being way too much money for my wallet though.
Looks to me like GM has all the pieces now to build a 2500 or 3500 series Suburban for the civilian market - maybe with a 6.6L gas engine to orient the truck more towards towing. They said in the episode that GM Defense is closely tied into the rest of GM - and that the frame is custom built by some GM supplier - not sure why that relationship couldn't be used to build a civilian HD Suburban.
It would probably end up being way too much money for my wallet though.
swathdiver
Full Access Member
They can be ordered with different engines too, like the 3.0 diesel. In a few years they'll start showing up on government auctions.
I don't know about that. I've been trolling government auctions for years and I don't ever recall seeing any of the GMT800 or GMT900 ex-.gov armored Suburbans ever show up there. My takeaway from watching that Jay Leno video is GM now has a heavy duty enough frame to build a civilian 2500/3500 Suburban (that frame looks WAY more beefy than the frame under my 2003/2010 2500 SUVs) - so the only piece that's missing to have an SUV that can have a 10k-14k tow rating..... is a better engine. Putting the L8T in there would create an awesome truck.
The thing that would likely kill it - is that I bet that frame wouldn't pass some sort of NHTSA crash tests or something. The State Dept. probably doesn't give a shit about stuff like that.
swathdiver
Full Access Member
They show up somewhere. We have guys on here who have bought them. I've seen them for sale on AutoTrader.
Huh, guess I'll have to look harder. I don't think I'd want one of the armored-up ones anyway - like Leno said they weigh in at like 12,000 pounds. I'd want the thing for towing and that's just dead weight. Maybe some place like Duraburb could get hold of the frames and bodies in white and some Duramax 6.6 engines and be a custom manufacturer? That would definitely put it out of my price range though.
Bigburb3500
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Hey guys, I am one on here with K2 gen 3500 Suburban. It was originally available as a fleet only purchase and that’s the biggest difference between the new Shield unit. It’s truly a “custom” vehicle and will only be in armor trim because as was stated on Leno’s Garage the body is taken off the line and shipped direct to get the armor and special frame.
The frame is not GM manufactured and likely will not be for consumer use on the roads. MAYBE one will slip thru but it will not be for a long while before that happens and will be armored. It will be a dang tank on the road and not designed for towing.
The K2-gen 3500 Suburbans were upfitted with armor AFTER it was manufactured and a complete truck. Hope that helps!
The frame is not GM manufactured and likely will not be for consumer use on the roads. MAYBE one will slip thru but it will not be for a long while before that happens and will be armored. It will be a dang tank on the road and not designed for towing.
The K2-gen 3500 Suburbans were upfitted with armor AFTER it was manufactured and a complete truck. Hope that helps!
Marky Dissod
Full Access Member
A 6.6L L5P also fits underhood, like it was meant to be there ...
t_bergman
Full Access Member
DuraBurb can absolutely do this; in fact I’m sure it’s probably cheaper as they’ll take the new body and mount it on a consumer 3500 chassis.
Like I tell my clients, anything is possible if you write enough 0’s on the check.
