bigBURB1989

Ladies and gentleman, greetings. I am a new user to this site so bear with me. I recently purchased a what seems to be to good to be true:
1989 gmc suburban
454 big block rebuilt doug thorely headers
holly 4 barrel carb , dual flow masters
Edelbrock performance intake, 3/4 axle 12 bolt
4x4 13 inch lift, 4 door.
For the price of 2800$ dollars. Now I come to you and ask, did I get a decent deal? Now for the real questions, whether or not I got a steal of a deal there is two main issues with my truck.
1. Needs front sway bar
2.needs longer front drive shaft due to lift
As for the sway bar, my only concern is, would it be easy for a novice like myself to purchase and install on my own? For the front drive shaft, where can I get a "custom" or longer one to accommodate the lift? Could I install it on my own? I'm not a complete dummy as I know my way around a tool box. And from what I've seen these two procedures seem fairly simple. Thanks for all the help, if I've posted in the wrong spot/asking the wrong people I apologize in advance.

SWHouston

I'd say you got a very good deal. You could recover your money, even if you were just to part it out.

On the Sway Bar...
What happened to the original ?
Customarily on a Lift, one just need to lengthen the Tie Studs between the Axel and the Bar. If it's all missing, I suggest you just buy a standard 3/4 Ton bar off of a (like model with all the clamps and washers) wreck/whatever, get some new grommets and put it back together with longer studs. With a 13" lift (did I read that right) you may need to get the Machine Shop to turn you new studs out of Cold Roll. Also possible to find a couple long studs on the internet. I'm surprised they weren't furnished with the Lift Kit.

On the Shaft...
Just about any good Machine Shop can do it.
Take your old Shaft put it (finger tight) back on your Ride, and measure the length distance needed to stab the Yoke back to it's original running position. Give that length to the Machinist and he'll machine off the ends of your old shaft, and weld them onto a new (longer) piece of tubing. If the travel (up/down) of your Front Axel hasn't changed all that much, the above will work. You'll need to get the shaft Balanced then. Usually they can do that too.

This all sounds like finalizing busywork for a standard lift, certainly DIY.

One question remains...
Why did they (original/previous owner) stop where he did ?

bigBURB1989

Thanks for the help! I'll definitely get to work on it. The old owner was in a wreck with his old suburban. The sway bar was snapped. The old front drive shaft smashed into the yoke and broke. He rebuilt another suburban and put the lift old lift on it. Hence the broken parts.

SWHouston

Ok, I see now...

I suppose when you go get the Sway Bar, you need to find a 4WD and get the Front Shaft out of it, and use the parts to make your new shaft.

Hope that crash didn't damage the transmission/case !
You've driven it, and it shifts ok ?

bigBURB1989

yes Ive driven it. it definately needs work. im pretty sure the transmission wontshift in to third but i dont know for sure. maybe you could trouble shoot that for me also. i hear it shift into second, then it revs really high and eventually bogs out. going up hill it also bogs out. when in neutral the motor runs perfectly fine though.

SWHouston

UOO.. I'm not a transmission guy...

Maybe some of the other guys can chip in here on that

bigBURB1989

alrighty thanks for all your help thus far! this is my first project so i expect alot of trial and error. not much to these trucks i suppose though. just blew a coolant hose to xD

SWHouston

"blew" ?, did you overheat, maybe have a bad Cap ? (too much pressure)

bigBURB1989

yeah i think too much pressure. its not blown out its just spraying out a significant amount of coolant from the hose that flows into the motor.

bigBURB1989

could just be a lose clamp though.