Grabbed a replacement door today, $161 with tax:
Took off the plastic, yep, definitely B-Pillar pushed in:
Pushing in on the seat.
Had to do some cutting to get the door off:
That's the rear door hinge,it's tweaked.
Pillar was pushed in at least 3 or 4 inches.
Chain and the Armada to the rescue
Had to jerk it several times and different heights
Battled for way too long to get the rear door reinstalled. WHY Chevy did you weld the hinges on? We had to line up four pins (2 top and 2 bottom) and none of it was straight.
Then the rear door was really tweaked:
Note the new distance from the pillar to the door 
Battled some more to get the top pulled back in:
Gave it some relief cuts to get it to move enough:
This is where we ended up for the night. Driver door yet to be installed. Stay tuned.
The struggle is really!
The determined shall overcome!
Nice work.
Wow, that's some serious convincing back into shape. Nice work!
Indy - Guy said:
RacetruckRon said:
..... Post a picture of the RPO code sticker in the glovebox once it lands at Indy-Guy-landia.
Here ya go:
3.73 gears(GT4) and auto leveling air suspension (Z55) on the rear. That should make a pretty solid tow rig! The Z55 rear is great when it works but can make for awful towing if the shocks are blown out, I learned that one the hard way.
I wish my Suburban was a cool color like red. Instead I'm stuck with Chevy Tan/Gray/Brown.
In reply to RacetruckRon :
Is there anything I should do for preventative maintenance on the rear leveling system? Or just run it?
In reply to John Welsh & glueguy:
It was indeed a struggle, more so than I anticipated, to get it to this point. I haven't even installed the new driver door yet. Shout out to Indy-kid #2 for his help.
Plus, I had NO idea how hard it is to turn a big rig like this on two flat front tires that have de-beaded.
In reply to Indy - Guy :
Just run it, if it works. If the shocks are blown and the compressor runs all the time I would replace the shocks pretty quick to prevent the compressor from going bad.
These make great tow pigs. The extra wheelbase length and general mass really helps keep a trailer stable. As mentioned the 4L60E should be fine as long as you keep it happy with clean fluid and a new filter. A popular and cheap upgrade is the TruCool 40K trans cooler to replace the tiny OEM unit. Once the 60E blows, slap in an 80E as it will outlive the rest of the truck.
When does the turbo go on?
In reply to nsogiba :
Thanks for the tip about the trans cooler.
The turbo goes on this engine, years from now, when it gets pulled out for another LS engine swap. 
Wheels and tires acquired from Gariation last night
It was after midnight when we got home, so it'll have to wait until later today to get 'em on the Burban.
garaithon said:
In reply to Indy - Guy :
Just run it, if it works. If the shocks are blown and the compressor runs all the time I would replace the shocks pretty quick to prevent the compressor from going bad.
Yep basically this. Load the truck up with a lot of tongue weight or a bunch of junk in the trunk and see if the compressor kicks on to level it back out. The compressors go bad from running too much on a leaky system or from all of the road debris they are exposed to in their location. Should you need to replace it, the Dorman compressor is ~$180 and takes like 15 minutes to swap out. There's a few options out there for rear air shocks that aren't horribly priced.
Here's another look at the status of the interior:
I don't know what end of a person that came out of: Kids have been here.
In brighter news, the wheels from Gariation fit as expected:
In reply to Indy - Guy :
I have center caps for them somewhere. I'll find them!
In reply to garaithon :
I just assumed the ones from the old wheels would fit the new ones. I didn't even try.
It's berkeleying frigid out. I had to take 5 ten minute breaks to warm up my hands while just swapping them. I was throwing them on so I could move the beast out of Indy-Wife's parking spot. I've gotta get that front door on first before I even think about appearances.
wawazat
UltraDork
2/19/25 8:02 p.m.
The 6x139.7mm BCP on those wheels is still used today. I've got some older Sierra wheels on my Yukon for winter snow tires. Wheels are everywhere as GM made a few of them over the years.
It was briefly above freezing today, so I decided to throw the door on .
We were able to get the door on the hinges A Million times easier than the rear door.
Of course the B pillar is tweaked, so it needed some persuasion:
Got it good enough and the door shuts completely, but you gotta really slam it shut to get it to latch all the way.
Then I took it for a couple loops and got it up to 65mph. It has all gears and drives decent for being on three different brands of mismatched tires
At 65 mph, how loud is the whistle coming through the drivers side door seals...Ha.
Does it seem like the left side occupants will remain dry on a rainy day drive?
Again, impressive work and creative command of geometry!
In reply to John Welsh :
In hindsight, I was too aggressive last time & pulled the B pillar too far out. Probably 1.5 to 2 inches too far. That means the tops of the doors had to be pull very aggressively to get them to seal up in the top.
LoL. It's got some wind noise for sure, but I also didn't have the driver's side mirror installed yet and made no more attempt to close any gaps with additional seal thickness yet. I know I can get it better. We'll see if I can get it good enough.
And yes, I believe it's water tight at the moment.
Rotated the wheels and tires from Gariation to the rear. Here's the condition of the axle and brakes:
Because the door I swapped in was from a truck, it didn't have switch gear for the rear windows and as a result they were inoperable. So I had to correct that:
Pull the wiring harness out of the wrecked door. (Yes, I have my own scrap metal pile now)
Pull out the one from the truck.
Compare the two.
Here's the needed switchgear.
After installation, all is good again.
With the sale of the Armada, The Burban is now plated, insured and I've been driving it daily to get a feeling for if it's up to the journey of towing the Challenge Volvo 1000 miles down to Gainesville and back.
Posting an update from the road....
Indy-kid #2 is getting some seat time as we drive South to Gariation's for a garage night wrenching.
It cruises pretty good at 75. Also doing a mpg check for this trip. Wind noise from the door seals is going to need some improvement, but ironically, the front passenger side (undamaged by the crash) makes about as much whistling as the driver's side.
I wonder if it will make wind noise better or worse but could be worth a try, especially for a long haul trip...
$1.78 at Home Depot for black, foam, split, pipe insulation for 1/2" pipe. Apply to the door edge via the split. Will the foam fill the gap? Or, some version of cut to fit, "arts and crafts" project.
