Converting nose of Suburban to HD style

[tbyrne]

I have a 2002 8.1 Suburban on order and am planning on pulling off the stock hood and grill and replacing them with the HD style. The hood is a bolt on that I could do and leave the grill alone, but it won't look aggressive enough. To use the grill I will either need to replace the whole bumper or just the top portion of it (the plastic piece). But the big question is will anything else need to be replaced. I compared my 2001 6.0 Suburban to a friend's 2001 HD and we couldn't see any major differences besides the parts listed above. The plastic piece on his HD was about 1.5" taller and it also had more of a gap under the headlights. I'm wondering if the radiator support is a little taller. If so that will need to be replaced too. The picture below shows both trucks, but it's hard to see the details on my Suburban because of the brush guard and it doesn't sit as high as an HD.

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

Thanks,

Tom

[Shaners]

Tom,

 

I think the HD may actually sit higher on the frame (actually the frame is bigger).  You might have to lower the front bumper 1 1/2" in order for the bumper cap to fit.  The hood on the other hand should bolt on.  The grill won't work unless you use the HD bumper cap and possibly modify the bumper support brackets.

[tbyrne]

A friend of mine owns a bodyshop so I picked up his crash data book so I can go through it and compare the differences. I'm a determined man, it will fit

 

Tom