Question What seats have you successfully in a 99 (or similar) Suburban?

We finally had our new baby AND sold our Volvo wagon. We are currently looking to purchase a 98 or 99 Suburban and I am curious what seats you have successfully installed and in what positions. I know this is a tall order but I would be very appreciative of any information you might have. It would especially be helpful if you have successfully installed any of the seats we currently own.

FYI
Almost 5 year old, 37 lb, 42 inches
Almost 2.5 year old, 27 lb, 36 inches
Newborn (1 week old), 8.5 lb

Current seats we own:
2 Radian XTSL
1 Britax Frontier 85
1 Britax Chaperone with base (obvi. for the newborn)

Thanks in advance!

Graco Nautilus - anywhere

Britax MA and BLVD old style, anywhere rear and forward facing

Cosco Scenera - rfing both center seats, ffing both center seats - haven't tried others

Britax Frontier - fits everywhere but center of the 2nd row

Graco TB

Old Britax Parkway

Chicco infant seat - center of 2nd row

Radians do not fit in either lap belt position either way. I've tried a few times. I never tried on the shoulder belt positions because I needed them for other kids.

Great! Thank you so very much. I actually tried to install the Frontier 85 in a friend's 99 Suburban in the middle row driver's side outboard position. I could not get that thing secure. I first tried the short belt path but the buckle seems to be incompatible with this method of install. I also tried the long belt path but I think I might have messed that install up. Either way, I couldn't get it to work. Any tips or tricks to that install?

So we finally found a Suburban! Yay! We LOVE this thing! It is the best setup for our family thus far.

Anyway, I thought I would add my experience with installs so far just in case someone else is curious about what works and what doesn't.

Radian XTSL Forward Facing
--Second Row Outboard Driver Side - Tight Install at Belt Path (not tethered so it does have wiggle in the upper portion of the seat) Is this okay?
--Second Row Middle Position (lap belt only) - Tight Install at Belt Path (not tethered and same play in upper portion of seat)
--Second Row Outboard Passenger Side - Not as tight of an install as the other two Second Row positions and I suspect this is caused by the difference in the buckle (female end)

Britax Chaperone with Base
--Second Row Middle Position (lap belt only) - Tight Install - Borderline on Overhang (Thinking it is about 20% overhang)
--Second Row Outboard Passenger (lap shoulder belt) - Not tight enough; too much movement at the belt path. I suspect this is because of the fixed female end of the buckle.

Britax Frontier 85
--Second Row Outboard Driver Side - Not tight enough for my liking. Any tips on how to make this work?
--Second Row Outboard Passenger Side - Install was too loose for my comfort; even looser than the Driver Side attempt. Any tips for this position?

On your RN installs, is the buckle complete inside or outside of the belt path? It must be one or the other and that's where I ran into problems.

The FR85 installs tightly with the long belt path in the outboard positions. It's tricky and takes every bit of belt there is, but once in it's worth it. You'll have to put your knee in the seat and bounce to get the buckle to click in. After doing it a few times, I could even tighten the belt a bit once installed.

In my dad's '99 Suburban, we HAVE NOT been able to get a successful radian install FF with the lap belt. Also could not get a successful install with the CCO with the lap belt. Here are the seats we have installed successfully.

RF & FF MA middle row, all positions (tethered to the 3rd row middle seatbelt when FF)

RF Scenera 3rd row middle, 2nd row middle, 2nd row passenger side

GN passenger side 3rd row, 2nd row all positions

RSTV
Turbobooster

Chase 2nd row middle

KF30 2nd row middle and driver's side

We plan to spend a significant amount of time tomorrow working on this again. I will check, uninstall & reinstall the Radians and try the long belt path on the Frontier. Can I ask you what you know about tether anchors in the Suburbans?

I haven't been able to get any retrofitted.

There is a strap for the 3rd row that goes between cargo anchors, but no one has any idea what I'm talking about and hasn't been able to find it.

Wanna buy my '98 sub? Runs great! lol, seriously we're ready for a BIG van next.

You CAN install radians FF or RF in my 98 in all positions except the flip seat, haven't tried that recently so I don't remember the deal there. But it. takes. a. lot. A LOT of effort. For those having trouble, here's what I've done:

Pull the base of the RN out a bit from the seat bight. An inch or two .
Push DOWN not back while kneeling in the RN.
2.5-3 full twists of the female end. You have to cut the rubber thing that keeps the belts neatly together in the 3rd row, and in the 2nd row you have to pop that hard plastic rectangle out, then twist, then you can reinsert the rectangle or leave it off.
Flip the male end 180 degrees.
Move the RN as far away from the female buckle side as you can without going past where the other end of the belt comes out of the seat.
*repeat all steps without swearing this time.
*try it again with a helper



As for the top tethers, you MUST find out what is available for YOUR OWN particular vehicle. They'll go off your VIN. I called a dealer, they had no idea, called GM they got back to me a few times saying they were still looking, never found it. I waited a year (didn't need it before) and called straight to GM. They didn't know, but called my local dealer and put me on a 3 way call with them and they knew exactly what I wanted and ordered it right up. HERE's the link to my post showing the retrofit available for **MY** 98 sub. Doesn't mean yours will be the same.

glockchick I can't find the paperwork from my retrofit, but there are some numbers imprinted in the metal. I actually think the numbers represent the metal pieces themselves, not the strap-hook set up, but here they are in case it helps anyone locate for you: on the center metal piece, "AT 832 191" and on the two end clips, "9470.298" and "9470.299". Did you try using the GM service bulletin #? I don't have it, I think jeanum does.

sorry forgot to answer the original question. We've done Roundabout, Marathon, Boulevard, RN 80, XT, and XTSL (should all be the same, but all had new boot I think), My Ride, Snugride and Keyfit. The only things I've done on the flip seat though are RF BLVD/MA and RF My Ride.

country.mama.bear said:

- Tight Install at Belt Path (not tethered so it does have wiggle in the upper portion of the seat) Is this okay?

Click to expand...

Yup, just check at the belt path.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I feel much better now. We have been playing car seat shuffle for days and weeks. We returned the Frontier 85 because I still could never get the belt even remotely close enough for a long belt path install. I wonder if my belts are shorter?!?

We also bought a Cosco Scenera to see if it would be a better install for the middle boy. NO GO! That thing is just flimsy and would literally rub a hole in our seats in no time. It will be returned tomorrow.

We also bought a Graco Nautilus to test but I don't even think we will take it out of the box. If we get the Radians the way we want them, there is no need to upgrade my oldest son's seat yet. So it will be returned as well.

We are going to use the Radians and the one Chaperone. When the baby outgrows the Chaperone we will continue to rear-face him in a Radian and buy the oldest a new Combo Seat that will keep him harnessed as long as humanly possible. LOL.

My big question now is - Should we rear-face both the 2 year old and the almost 5 year old? I don't know how well the 2 year old will do with turning him back around (he has been forward-facing for a few months) without big brother doing the same thing. Is there any reason not to rear-face the almost 5 year old? He is only 36-37 lbs so he has a while to reach the limits of the seat. I know that 4-5 years old seems to be the magic number for turning forward. Any input?

country.mama.bear said:

My big question now is - Should we rear-face both the 2 year old and the almost 5 year old? I don't know how well the 2 year old will do with turning him back around (he has been forward-facing for a few months) without big brother doing the same thing. Is there any reason not to rear-face the almost 5 year old? He is only 36-37 lbs so he has a while to reach the limits of the seat. I know that 4-5 years old seems to be the magic number for turning forward. Any input?

Click to expand...

No, no reason NOT to RF him as long as he fits height wise and is willing. The 2 yo I'd do it whether he complains or not, but I wouldn't RF a 5 yo if he really truly doesn't want to. Might think it's pretty fun though. I also wouldn't do it if it'd be a major hassle for getting a good seating arrangement.

I bought and returned seats like that before, but through car-seat.org I found out that when you return seats they destroy them, which is a waste that eventually ups the prices for everyone. So I don't do that anymore. Babies R Us will let you try the seats in the parking lot. I don't have a BRU nearby, so I just consider very carefully before purchasing seats now and keep them or sell/give away if I don't need them or can't use them.

zeo2ski said:

Pull the base of the RN out a bit from the seat bight. An inch or two .
Push DOWN not back while kneeling in the RN.
2.5-3 full twists of the female end. You have to cut the rubber thing that keeps the belts neatly together in the 3rd row, and in the 2nd row you have to pop that hard plastic rectangle out, then twist, then you can reinsert the rectangle or leave it off.
Flip the male end 180 degrees.
Move the RN as far away from the female buckle side as you can without going past where the other end of the belt comes out of the seat.
*repeat all steps without swearing this time.
*try it again with a helper

Click to expand...

I'm glad to see this - I FINALLY got a FF Radian installed in the second row center seat of our 99 suburban! (yesterday - before I saw this!) Because I kept seeing all the "it can't be done", I though maybe it wasn't as good as I though it was!
I didn't take the plastic rectangle out though, I managed to get 2 twists out of it anyway. I also took the seatbelt out of the leather "holder" that is supposed to help it stay forward when you flip the passenger side of the 60/40 forward - don't know if that helped any or not but I didn't do that the first time when I was unsuccessful at getting a tight install.
Flipping the latchplate (male end) was what did it for me though, I could get a tight install without it but it wiggled loose in no time because it just wouldn't lay flat.
Buckle is completely OUT of the beltpath.

In case someone is searching old threads and comes across this...

Please disregard my above posts about getting a Radian in the 98 suburban--I was getting a false tightness and have since found the Radian to be incompatible in the 3rd row both RF and FF, and in the 2nd row RF. I did not try FF in the 2nd row just because I don't have top tether anchors there, so it would not do me any good.

We had a 99 suburban and we had the manual. The only tethers were outboard 3rd row. They are the cargo hooks closest to the rear doors.

We had a cosco touriva/scerena and used it about everywhere rf and ff. Never rf in 3rd row.

Old style bv rf and ff all spots 2nd row. Only ff in 3rd row.

Husky was usually long belt path passenger side 3rd. But has been installed 2nd long belt path drivers side.

Graco turbos in all outboard locations.

We have 4 kids so the passenger 2nd row was usually flipped unless we were taking a friend with us.

Our set-ups were: drivers/middle/passenger
Rf bv/snugride/flipped
Turbo/empty/turbo

Rf bv/ rf scerena/flipped
Turbo/empty/turbo

Turbo/rf bv/flipped
Turbo/empty/husky

Turbo/ff bv/ flipped
Turbo/empty/husky

Stefanie, cpst in iowa - mom to 4 great kids

Nisha said:

I'm glad to see this - I FINALLY got a FF Radian installed in the second row center seat of our 99 suburban! (yesterday - before I saw this!) Because I kept seeing all the "it can't be done", I though maybe it wasn't as good as I though it was!
I didn't take the plastic rectangle out though, I managed to get 2 twists out of it anyway. I also took the seatbelt out of the leather "holder" that is supposed to help it stay forward when you flip the passenger side of the 60/40 forward - don't know if that helped any or not but I didn't do that the first time when I was unsuccessful at getting a tight install.
Flipping the latchplate (male end) was what did it for me though, I could get a tight install without it but it wiggled loose in no time because it just wouldn't lay flat.
Buckle is completely OUT of the beltpath.

Click to expand...

Disregard this... It wasn't long before the install became loose and I can't get it to stay tight! =( How insanely FRUSTRATING! I have to say, the 99 GMC Suburban has made me hate my Radian's! =(
I have successfully installed them in the 3rd row Drivers side and Center - just not where I WANTED them!

Just wanted to update this a little since I've tried a few different seats in our '99 GMC Suburban...

(| Driver | Center | Passenger |)
3rd Row:
| FF Radian | FF MR65 | FF Radian |
Radian's are tethered to the far back cargo hooks, per the manual.

2nd Row:
| HB Turbo | Scenera (both FF or RF work) | Seat Down |