99 Suburban as All Around Fun Mobile

[kilby]

I feel like this truck is now a project. Officially. I bought it a few weeks ago after a long search for a capable trail vehicle that seats 7. We need to carry people around when they come visit, and also we like to take dirt roads into oblivion to find starry skies and stuff. Anyway, I already have a Disco 1, and I figured a vehicle that I could get parts for at any random NAPA would be nice. So I started looking at Fords and Chevys. Landed this 99 Burb from the original owner. An owner whose idea of keeping up with maintenance is changing oil and tires. And it needed front brake pads and an AC valve. I took 'er in to the shop to have the freon dealt with and of course, that ended up being the AC valve and plus one at that party... to the detriment of $600 of my dollars. OK. So since the AC I've done the following:
Cleaned it with chemicals and scrubbing
Replaced engine oil and air filter
Replaced rear driveshaft U Joint
Replaced transfer case fluid
Cleaned it with chemicals and scrubbing
Pieced together a U bolt and Yakima parts roof rack
Drove it on an overland trip to Nevada and back
Replaced damaged CV Axle
Replaced transmission fluid/filter
Replaced spark plugs and wires
Replaced Transfer Case that had oil pump hole problem and made it start sounding like a box of rocks on teh way back from Nevada.
Filled new transfer case with juice
Test drove teh B because it's high time she gets back on the road!



MAybe I'll document some stuff I do with it or to it.

 

[kilby]

Here's the old Transfer case. You can see the hole in it on the little notch in the case toward the bottom of this photo.






And the new case is up and in. Took a couple days and I had a buddy helping me pull the old one out. Putting the new one in is doable solo, but definitely not taking one out. Holy smokes! Thanks for the help, Alex.

 

[UltimaSanctus]

Good ol' GM pump rub claims another t-case. Back in July I took the risk of tearing my t-case apart and putting in the Merchant Automotive pump housing. I could tell that it had been "fixed" before and this one was also on it's way out

 

[kilby]

I could tell that it had been "fixed" before and this one was also on it's way out

Ugh. Was it also fixed with Black RTV that had clogged up the pump?

You caught it before it blew out the side though. That's cool. For mine we were driving back home, and about an hour out we were creeping along in traffic and we started hearing this scraping rattle. First I thought maybe u joints. Then it kept getting worse. And when I got home I found no fluid in the T Case. Pretty sure the gears in the old case are done. So I just went with a complete new unit with Aluminum tail housing.

 

[kilby]

I took some time this afternoon and installed some new rear shocks. I searched around and found the AC Delco Premium monotube shocks. Specs looked a lot like some of the other mono's out there from Skyjacker and Rancho specifically. But about $30 cheaper per piece. I got these on Amazon for about $65 each. ACD part number: 540-5043.



I have not test driven them yet, but they HAVE to be better than the old original worn out paper weights they're replacing. We'll see.

 

[kilby]

Here's a little camp spot we snagged on Buffalo Pass last weekend. We had a few visitors including a huge, beautiful red fox, a couple people in a Discovery stopping to share a beer and a sunset view, and then a couple in a Wrangler who needed a spot to crash. It was crowded this weekend so we were stoked to share some space. It was, like, 30 degrees that night so we just sat around our fire for a while and talked as if we were old friends. I always enjoy meeting cool people out there. And it seriously was the biggest red fox I've ever seen. Colorado is on point this time of year.

 

[kilby]

This weekend I wired up dual batteries in the Suburban. I went with the wicked simple, hopefully effective Expedition Portal $50 dual battery idea. Definitely is NOT $50 anymore. But what the hey. It's a simple setup, and pretty easy to fit into the 'Burb. I used the Cole Hersee solenoid to isolate batteries. It's not manually switched; just wired to an ignition-on circuit. And I snagged that Marine deep cycle from Advance for about $120 (It'd be $90 if you have a core to return). Thought about running black 4g for the ground, but decided to just use what I got. So... that's a lot of red wire. I SWEAR I'm not trying to look like a "tuner". lol

Right now I'm just planning on hooking up a big inverter for some general camp/roadtrip items, aux lights, and such. Nothing major, but definitely need to power stuff without having to run the truck.