Tailgate to double doors???

[twxsby]

I have an 84 Burb with a tailgate my wife can't open. I want to switch to the double door setup. Is this a difficult conversion? Any info would be greatly appreciated

[junkyardpartseeker]

2 different size openings in the rear. They won't mate up. I have a 84 suburban w/ tailgate and a 84 suburban w/ doors.

What I did was buy a body only, no motor and trans of one with doors and am taking my motor and trans out of the tailgate one and putting in the doors one.
Then you can sell the tailgate one.


Just letting you know.
Tommy

[Twisted Liquid]

Check the rear pillars for hinge slots. I did this conversion on a 77 Burb. The body was made for either barn doors OR a tailgate. If the hinge slots are there ( 2 each side), you should be able to do it. I had to purchase a new sill plate from a dealer. The sill plate for a tailgate will not work.

The actual changeout was a little scary. After cutting the original sill plate out, I had to spread the rear of the body apart with a high lift jack to insert the new sill plate. Thought for sure the glass would blow. Once the sill plate was in, the rest was a breeze. Hope this helps.

GA

[junkyardjohn]

I WORKED AS A LAYOUT INSPECTOR AT GM TRUCK & BUS IN FLINT MICH. IN THE EARLY 80s. THEY MADE SUBURBANS ,BLAZERS & PICKUPS. THE REAR PLATFORMS WERE DIFFERENT FOR TAILGATES & HATCHES THAN THEY WERE FOR BARN DOORS. JOHN

[Captkaos]

If the Burb is older than 1980, Twisted Liquid's option is out of the question. They stopped using the same body after that year, as
junkyardjohn said.

[perry]

hey guys
i have a 1989 suburban with a tailgate and it now has barn doors,
i installed nut inserts into the body after locating where the hinges would be. you will need to change rear sill and do something with the inside top to make it look pretty. i had the doors on now for a year with no problem,im doin rear sill in the next few weeks i hope

any questions just ask

[perry]

more info
there was a small dimple where the plastic cover hides the bolts, so if you center that you can use a 1/2 hole saw drill holes put in nut serts, i used a wiz wheel to cut slots in rear body for hinges to slide into. doors line up real nice and you cant tell at all except for the sill i didnt change yet, it can be done good luck

[BigBlockBurris]

It can be done, me and a buddy of mine did it to his 90 model. We had a complete barndoor truck to rob parts off of. Made it alot easier. You will have to cut the mounting pieces for the hinges out and put them on your truck. You will have to cut the latch out at the top and weld it on yours and finally you will have to change the bottom sill. We used a spot weld drill bit to remove it from the donor truck. It is a good bit of work but worth it IMO. If you can weld and measure you can do it. I would recomend getting a whole donor truck, it made it ALOT easier. E-mail me if you have any ?????.

BBB

[rstein]

I want to go just the opposite way. I want to put a tailgate on a 1986 Suburban that came from the factory with double doors. I have a 1976 donor truck to move everything over to make it a tailgate truck. According to some members, the swap can be done. Others say that the trucks come from the factory set up for EITHER barn doors OR a tailgate. If you change the mounting plate at the bottom over along with the top track of the tailgate glass, will the tailgate bolt in or not? What else is there to change?

[chrisMacDonald]

Hey Guys -

I am in the middle of this conversion myself. I have an 87 Burb with tailgate and I acquired the barn doors with hinges.

I ordered latches, bolts for the hinge plates all the parts the parts that "would be" needed. When going to set the doors in I see that there would need to be a slot for the hinges and the bottom sill would need to be changed, I just need some more direction on how to go about this.

Anyone have pics? An overview of some sort of what is needed maybe. I didnt look before I jumped and read posts from 70's burbs and assumed it was a direct bolt on switchover.

Help!

[mcrich65]

I know this is an old post but do you hav any pics to.show your work