2006 Suburban 2500

[Bill 1960]

Can you have the new cats welded to the old pipes? You can sell the old cats to a scrap yard--for good money.

I know someone did exactly that when he bought cats that fit a similar vehicle by mistake. Took them to an exhaust shop and they fabricated them right in.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I know someone did exactly that when he bought cats that fit a similar vehicle by mistake. Took them to an exhaust shop and they fabricated them right in.

It'll be less of a headache for you--and cheaper.

 

[imi4tth3w]

Can you have the new cats welded to the old pipes? You can sell the old cats to a scrap yard--for good money.

I'm really considering doing this. But there's a couple issues with it.

The original cats in this truck are effectively gutted, leaving none of the valuable recyclable catalyst material. So it only has worth as scrap metal. They could have been worth $400 each in a core return but since the previous owner hacked off the ends, GM won't take them. Guy on the phone at GM parts said that GM is very particular about catalytic converter core returns. If the piping with the cat has been cut or modified at all they won't take it.

I think the Engineer in me just wants the original parts so everything bolts in exactly as it would from the factory. And i know that if i don't get it back to "factory" configuration, i'll pay for it later on when something goes wrong.

So, i'll be offloading the wrong replacement catalytic converters i bought and stomaching the hit for new correct OEM cats. This will still have to wait for me to recoop some funds from selling the wrong cats i bought. So i guess if i have to move the truck it will have open headers for a little bit LOL

 

[imi4tth3w]

Never knew the 2500 burbs had dual tanks. Only truck I knew of with that feature was really old f150s

while I’m learning. Do them beef up the rear suspension with leaf springs on the 2500s. Vs coils

Edit. I answered my own question. I can see leafs in one of the pictures. Nice truck have fun building it up

I've been obsessed with suburban 2500's for over 10 years and i didn't even know these had dual tanks LOL. Definitely seems like it was a bit of an afterthought with the tank being crammed above the spare tire. But with the MPG's these things get it was definitely needed. 27 vs 38 gallons is a 40% improvement in fuel capacity which is certainly worth it.

And yes the 2500's have leaf springs in the rear. I believe it is nearly identical to the suspension of the 2500 trucks since all the lift kits for the 2500 suburbans seem to work for 2500 trucks as well. The only difference i could guess would be the spring rates but physically they are the same.

I also found out that while i thought i had a 10.5" rear axle, i actually have a 9.5" 14 bolt. But from reading around i think i'm happy with the 9.5" since it should be more than capable of the 37's i plan on running in the future and i get the added ground clearance of the smaller 9.5" differential carrier. Still a long way out from those mods though. Just surprised me a bit since i assumed all suburban 2500's had 10.5" 14 bolts. The way to tell is to look at where the wheel mounts and if there's a full floating hub or not. Its definitely a semi floater which only came on the 9.5". All 10.5" 14 bolts are full floating.

There's a lot of small nuances to these 2500 suburbans that aren't very well documented. I'm hoping to help document some of those things with this build thread for anyone else who works on these trucks.