The Big Ugly

[centexan]

Time to add another suburban for you all to look at. For your viewing pleasure (although not much to look at) is my 1989 4x4 suburban. I have affectionately dubbed her "The Big Ugly". I bought the suburban to ferry my group around as we take our trips. I have a group of guys that take 3-4 trips each year exploring our state parks. After next year, we plan on taking our trips out of state and further. We were using my old Tahoe, but I ended up selling it. So I bought the big ugly to take the place of the Tahoe. I grew up with square body Chevys so familiarity was a key reason for choosing it. The great price was another. I wanted a solid axle up front, the ability to easily upgrade suspension and the ability to buy parts anywhere. Since our group can number up to 6 at any time, I had to have the space that the suburban afforded. Even though I got it at a good price, what I got was pretty rough. She has good bones (a little over 100,000 miles on a GM crate motor and less than that on a rebuilt transmission) but she is a little worn around the edges. There are some dents, the doors are sagging and cracked glass everywhere. It does run and drive well. So after sitting for over a year I decided that I wanted it ready for our next trip this January so I am moving forward. That trip will be a 525 mile round trips so I knew I had to put some miles on it. In the last few weeks, I have changed out the steering column and just replaced the passenger side exhaust manifold. I got it inspected yesterday. So today is the first day I took it to work to start figuring out the ins and outs of the old girl. There are lots of long term plans for this truck but for now, get it dependable and comfortable. Priority one - tires! These old mud terrains are howling! Enjoy guys.

 

[Highland doc]

I like it!

 

[Maverick1701]

very cool rig! It will make a great starting point.

 

[centexan]

So after 1 day and over 100 miles put on the odometer, I'm pretty happy. Had the oil changed and all of the fluid levels checked (except for transfer case; didn't have a wrench big enough) and topped off. Runs pretty good. Still needs a tune up, which hopefully happens this weekend. I am having a little bit of an electrical gremlins. I am having issues with the interior dome lights and cigarette lighter. I changed out the stereo and used part of the original harness (that had been used on the previous aftermarket stereo). No fuses are blown. So having some frustration there. I hope to spend some timethis weekend figuring it out and cleaning it up. Washed it too - but it didnt help much; still the big ugly.

 

[87GMCJimmy]

Cigarette lighter is a infamous problem! It'll take out the radio and dome lights, happened to me 5 hours into a 22 hour road trip and I didn't know how to fix it at the time. That was a LOOOOOOONG trip with no tunes! I figured it out shortly after returning home. Had the problem on both of the square body GMs that I've driven. I forget what the issue was (been 5 years ago now) but it's a simple fix for a tricky little problem, IIRC. I wanna say it was a grounding issue? I really can't recall. I think I found the fix by google-ing it.

Anyways, congrats on the new rig! I love square body GMs so, I gotta say you made a great choice!!!

 

[bowstryder]

Welcome to the old burb family. They are a great platform to work with as everything mechanical is easy.

 

[centexan]

Welcome to the old burb family. They are a great platform to work with as everything mechanical is easy.

Thanks for the welcome guys. I appreciate it. I have been doing work to it little by little. This weekend will be a tune-up then more miles. Two days of driving it have been great. Tires howling, although old mud terrains don't make the best expedition tires, and a little bit of a miss. However, the longer I run it the better it runs. Half way though a tank of premium with seafoam added and it definitely is coming around. Tried working on the electrical gremlin yesterday before it got too dark on me but didn't get it figured out. The truck is one part of an ongoing effort to formalize our hiking/backpacking/camping group. If you get a chance check us out on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Texas-Avid-Outdoors/608782792520326 (and like of course) and at our soon to be updated website at http://backpackingtexas.id26.com/. It's the beginning of a long process but I think it's going to be awesome!

 

[Outback]

The Big Ugly is a Beauty!

 

[centexan]

Merry Christmas everyone! Time for a small update with pics tomorrow. Big Ugly got a little face lift. She got her "grill" fixed. Literally. I was able to replace the broken front grill. I did find that there are some differences between an 89 and a 91 as far as mounting points. Have been driving it around and although it's been running good there was a bit of an hesitation and miss. After doing some peeking under the hood I found that I had a vacuum leak. I replaced all of the vacuum hoses that I can find. The one that I couldn't replace was the small one going through the firewall for the climate controls. I even went to a junkyard to poke around and try to find where that comes out under the hood, but short of pulling it all apart, I can't find it. Since, I will be going on a trip with it next month, I don't want to tackle that yet. So I capped that one off and it is running much better. I still haven't been able to fix the electrical gremlin under the dash but I did get the plugs, wires and thermostat replaced and will do the cap and rotor this Sunday hopefully. It'll know easily cruise now at 60-65 but the tires have to go! Into my second tank of gas; so far so good. All signs point to a go for the trip in January.

 

[centexan]

The Big Ugly is a Beauty!

Thanks you sir! I really like reading your thread. You're doing an awesome job. I really want to do the H1 rims. I still have to upgrade to 8 lugs first but one step at a time. How do you like your tires?

 

[centexan]

Time for a little update and see if I can add some pics. I seem to have gotten the electrical gremlins worked out. I am now back to having dome lights, cigarette lighter and a horn again. Not sure exactly what I did to fix it. I know the horn fuse was blown so I replaced that and tightened down one ground under the dash. Seemed to work and very happy about that. I pulled the third row seat out and started cleaning out the back. Man is it grungy. Eventually I will be pulling out the rear carpet and possibly Line-Xing the rear compartment. When I got her there were no door/barn door keys. So I pulled the rear panel off to pull out the lock to get keyed only to find that the linkage was gone. I took it any anyway and had a key made. I came home to reinstall it and try it in the front doors. Nope! It seems that at some point in the past, either the rear or the front locks were changed. So I got on to amazon and ordered a new set for the doors. While I was there I ordered a 3' firestik and a tablet floor mount to use my tablet as navigation as well as a new case for my gopro. That stuff should come in next week. I also took the time to wire the radio straight to the battery since I had had issues before. Ahhhh, music! (out of the front two speakers at least) I have noticed a vibration building in the front end and I think it's from the front tires so this weekend, I am going to swap front to rear and see if that will help me isolate whether it is the tires or the front end. Fingers crossed that it is the tires. I have to remember to take more pictures. The only one I have for you guys is from when I took her to go pick up my new canoe! Surprise christmas gift for me and misses to each other. We love to fish!

 

[centexan]

First trip!

Time for another small update. I'll be taking the big ugly on it's first road trip come Friday. I've slowly been working on her to get ready and I'm about as close as it's going to get for this round. My package came in from Amazon and I hope to have all of that installed along with the cb by Friday. Got the tires balance and the vibration seems to have minimized a little. I'll be taking pics and some videos during the trip and will upload them when I get back. Wish me luck guys, I might need it!

 

[jimed43]

Where are you going to mount the cb antennae?

 

[centexan]

Where are you going to mount the cb antennae?

I still need to figure out where I want to mount it. I do have a mag mount that I can use until then. I want to make sure that I get a good ground.

 

[VTreker08]

Liken the squared body burb. Amazing how much the tires can effect the ride quality.