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| Balancing Rock, Idaho (photo by V.A. McMillan, April 2026) |
Blog Post Title: Mountainman’s Suburban Project – Part II
Date: 13 November 2026
Welcome back. In the previous post (LINK) we covered the build process for modifying the interior of my Suburban from a utility design to something a bit more focused for traveling. In Part Two we will explore the purchasing process, the export/import process, and the lessons I learned along the way. Shall we begin…
As mentioned in Part One, I was searching for a replacement vehicle after my 1998 Chev Tahoe had been taken out of action by an assault by a commando deer while traveling back to Alberta. I had been watching YouTube videos from SUBOVERLAND for a number of years and now I was becoming more serious about making contact. In August 2025 I put down my $500 to get on the list. This began a process to discuss with Grady Bowman, owner of Suboverland, the truck I wanted to build. Unfortunately, I am a difficult person and did not want a standard build. See the standard build forms (available at Suboverland.com):
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| Build Forms from SUBOVERLAND.com |
I was no stranger to building my own mods, I had done a few projects on the Tahoe that I was quite happy with, such as the CARGO ORGANIZER and the SLEEP PLATFORM. So, I did not need Grady’s team to do all the interior mods. However, I am not a mechanic and Grady is; so, I really wanted to get a vehicle sourced, inspected, and prepped by Grady. I believe by the end of September 2025 we had agreed to a basic plan and selected a vehicle from the current inventory. I chose a 1989 Chev Suburban 4x4. I enjoyed the creature comforts of my ‘98 Tahoe, but I wanted to return to the robustness of a Squarebody. I had previously owned two, a 1984 and a 1990, both were two-wheel drive and served me well, even being very high mileage vehicles. For those unfamiliar with the term Squarebody, it refers to the Chev pick-ups and SUV’s produced from 1973 thru 1991, including the Suburbans. The initial estimated date of completion was either the end of January 2026 or the beginning of February. This timing worked well for me.
In addition to ensuring the vehicle was mechanically sound, I had requested a few other upgrades. This included a single drawer unit, the Baseline Overland roof-rack, LED headlights, window vent shades, and mounting an Inergy Flex Tactical 1500 power unit (which I would purchase separately and have delivered to Suboverland. More on this shortly). I also really, really wanted my new truck to be painted a desert tan colour or coated in bedliner material tinted desert tan. I had seen the following Suburban painted in a colour I found favourable, see below…
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| Suburban from Baseline Overland website |
Grady and I exchanged ideas on colour and I agreed to a similar tan colour that Grady’s paint shop had used on a van build previously. See below…
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| Van Project in Tan by SUBOVERLAND |
In the end, getting into the paint shop seemed to be the challenge. Suffice to say, after a couple delays and postponements, the request for painting the Suburban was dropped. As some may recall, in February 2026 a pesky war was started in Iran and geopolitical issues began to escalate. Not the least of which was the Crime Minister of Canuckistan getting in a conflict with the President of the USA, resulting in a bunch of cross-border tariffs...which I will delve into a bit further during the discussion on importing my truck into Canuckistan. As March was already ebbing away, I wanted my truck North of the 49th before this trade war got worse. So, firm dates were set for 13 April 2026 as the date for picking up my truck from Suboverland in Twin Falls, Idaho. As I was working in Manitoba at the time I had to coordinate flights to Alberta where a friend & I would drive to Idaho and I could drive my new truck back. Thanks T.W.!
There was one other challenge with cross-border shopping...payment. Despite trying a number of payment methods, in the end only a wire transfer from my bank to Grady’s bank worked. If I had a bank account in the USA, I could have moved money that way. Unfortunately, banking rules had recently changed and I could not open a USD account at a Canadian bank branch and use an American branch to send funds. I would need to open said account South of the 49th. Wire transfer it is. Just a heads up for fellow Canucks who want to make a purchase from Suboverland. This is a fee for service activity and I made the payments in two parts. A smaller amount first to ensure the transfer would work and then the major portion of the amount owed for the vehicle purchase. Final payments would be made in person on pick-up day.
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| My New Ride (photo by V.A. McMillan, April 2026) |
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| Pick-up Day at Suboverland in Twin Falls, ID (photo by V.A. McMillan) |
The days leading up to the start of my trip, I also became aware that I would need a broker for the export process. Thank you to the team at Dale Adams Automotive for that tip. I was firming up the schedule for my out of province vehicle inspection with Derek at Dale Adams Automotive when I learned about the broker. With the help of my friend T.W., I was able to quickly network with folks at Cole International, who educated me on the export/import process. First big tip, I cannot approach the US Border sooner than 72-hours AND I needed to identify which border crossing I would approach and make an appointment for an Export Inspection with US Border Service. One twist, I could not begin this process until I had the original copy of the vehicle documents. Needless to say, many text and emails were exchanged between myself and broker agents at Cole International. So, I would NOT be in a rush to return...I would have three full days to travel back to the border. T.W. on the other hand had business to attend to and returned home on the 13th. After I received confirmation from Cole International, I stopped at Sportsman’s Warehouse to equipment my rig with a sleeping pad and sleeping bag, removing the need for hotels or motels for the next three days.
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| Sportsman's Warehouse Parking Lot, Twin Falls, ID (photo by V.A. McMillan, April 2026) |
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| Sleeping Gear (photo by V.A. McMillan) |
I would travel through Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve enroute to Idaho Falls. This route also had me passing through portions of Idaho National Labs, which I found mildly ironic as I was working for Canadian Nuclear Labs at the time and recognized some of the buildings before I saw the signs. In Idaho Falls I upgraded my tech and added a Garmin GPS unit. One lesson I learned the hard way in the past was sometimes new tires on an old Suburban can lead to errors with speedometers, a GPS unit is helpful at monitoring a more accurate speed of a vehicle. Money well spent in my biased opinion.
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| Garmin GPS (photo by V.A. McMillan) |
I spent the first night in the high desert at Lower Birch Creek Rec Area, just off the highway and in April there were no fees. I parked near the creek and in the morning learned how mountainous the neighbourhood was.
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| First Morning (photo by V.A. McMillan, April 2026) |
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| Birch Creek Rec Area, Idaho (photo by V.A. McMillan, April 2026) |
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| The Neighbourhood (photo by V.A. McMillan, April 2026) |
The next night was at a community campground in Lincoln, Montana. Again, off season and no charge.
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| Lincoln, Montana (photo by V.A. McMillan, April 2026) |
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| My Suburban in Lincoln, MT (photo by V.A. McMillan) |
The final night was in Choteau, Montana at Choteau Mountain View RV Campground. For about $34/night I had power and a parking spot. They also had showers and laundry facilities, which I took advantage of. The staff at the RV park were very friendly.
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| Site #22, Choteau Mountain View RV Campground (photo by V.A. McMillan) |
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| Choteau Mountain View RV Campground, Montana (photo by V.A. McMillan) |
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| Site Map - Choteau Mountain View RV Campground |
The export process went smoothly. Cole International did their job to the very highest level of service. Their services were worth EVERY penny. The total fees were less than $175. Unfortunately, Cole International was not allowed to assist me with the import process. CBSA and Government of Canuckistan prefer to keep that a personal affair between agents of the Crown and inexperienced Citizens. While agents of the US Border Service were very stern and stoic, they performed their duties with a high degree of efficiency and I was approved to depart the USA with my vehicle, on the understanding I would not be coming back to sell said vehicle. Not without doing all the proper paperwork. For two countries so closely aligned it is strange a used vehicle is subject to such scrutiny. Welcome to Canuckistan...first, the CBSA agents at the Coutts, Alberta crossing were very friendly and helpful. Thank you to them!! The Crime Minister’s regime on the other hand...what a bunch of crooks!!! A 1989 Chev Suburban with an improved value of about $21K USD, would reward me with a tariff & tax bill in excess of $9.3K CDN. Only in Canada, you say...pity! The tariffs caught me a bit off-guard, but I was in for a penny, in for a pound. Welcome home to Alberta!!
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| Welcome Home! (photo by V.A. McMillan, April 2026) |
Driving through near blizzard like conditions I return to Calgary, Alberta to start the next bureaucratic processes – insurance, registration, and mechanical inspection. I have dealt with Alberta Motor Association for decades. This was a new experience for me, as I do not recall the process of bringing an out of province vehicle into Alberta. Last time I did that would have been in 1994...I suspect things have changed. While I had a transfer permit from Idaho which cost less for a 30-day permit than I would pay for a 7-day permit in Alberta. Despite all the mechanical work done in Idaho, first visit to Dale Adams Automotive the Suburban did NOT pass inspection. The park brake system was caked in old grease and did not work properly. This was solved by the staff on the day of the inspection. There was an issue with a steering component, and due to the age of my truck replacement parts had to be ordered in. This could not be accomplished within 24-hours, so I flew back to work and returned to Calgary on the weekend. On this return, with vehicle safety inspection passed, I was then able to register my vehicle. And drive back to work in Manitoba. See Part One for what happens next.
Lessons I learned along the way…
First, with any used vehicle ensure you test every single item and control on the vehicle before you depart the seller’s location. Doors, windows, tailgates, lights, fans, A/C and heater, wipers. It would be weeks later that I would discover the back power window was not operating correctly. My bad! I should have checked while in Idaho. Thanks to Shawn at Conroy’s Collision in Whitemouth, MB for sourcing a manual crank mechanism for the back window of my Suburban.
Second be sure to do your research before committing to a purchase of a used vehicle, especially when it is from outside your local area – province, state, or country. You need to know what you need to know.
Next be flexible, where and when you can. In the end LED headlight systems are not readily available for this specific year of Suburban with the type of lamps I have (4701 & 4703). Also, quality window vent shades were also not readily available. Finally, the paint job I wanted was not completed. These three omissions were reduced from the final price of the vehicle sale.
Inergy Flex Tactical 1500 is a great unit, in my biased opinion. When I was having my truck built at Suboverland, the Flex Tac 1500 was not available in Canuckistan. So, I had to purchase it and have it shipped to Idaho to be mounted in my truck. This process went smoothly except the base mounting plate portion of my order never arrived. My attempts to contact Inergy went unanswered. I love the product, but service after the sale there is an opportunity for improvement. I am sure customers in the USA do not have the same issues. Thankfully, Grady’s team was able to create a mounting solution!! Thanks Grady & Team!!
To be fair to the fine CBSA agents...I did receive a significant refund a few months after importing my Suburban into Canuckistan. The tariff war is wrong and in the long run Canadians will suffer more from this idiotic scheme than anyone else. But, I doubt the Crime Minister is listening nor does he care.
Finally, accept that older vehicles have quirks. This I was expecting. Turns out electrical connectors in a dry climate like Idaho do not suffer the same issues as humid locations like Manitoba. I now have to keep a steady eye on the headlights, as some of the connectors seem to get corroded, despite cleaning the terminals on the light bulbs. Now that I am back in Alberta, hopefully that will occur less.
I believe that provides a pretty good explanation of how things went. I have already added about 10,000 miles to the odometer since I took possession of my Suburban. Four thousand of those miles have been just crossing between Alberta and Manitoba to or from work. I look forward to future adventures and seeing where my Suboverland Suburban will take me.
In Part Three (insert link) we will explore what other projects I have undertaken. This will include a custom tarp from Whiteline Shelters based in Aldersyde, Alberta, the centre console unit, and a discussion on future additions or modifications I would like to have done – front and rear bumpers, mounting my auxiliary lights, and devising a LED headlight solution. Seal beam headlights are no longer $6.95 for low beams and $7.95 for high beams!!!
Until next time…Learn the processes, and be flexible!!!
Mountainman.
Tahoe Project Links:
Suburban Project Links:
Part Three
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