Considering a Suburban
- Thread starter SUP Dude
- Start date
RockyMtnFamily
Explorer
Buliwyf
Viking with a Hammer
Transmissions are really easy to pull and rebuild. Looking at about $2-3000 to get one rebuilt up right. Don't sweat it.
The 4L60e, in my experience, deosn't really have any design flaws. It's a good transmission. But it's assembled by GM. The GM trans's in our work truck fleet have a 25-33% failure rate around 100k miles.
Usually it's:
1.) Defects. Bad flywheels. Crooked machined mounts cracking flywheels. Parts fragging, from parts that have little or no load on them. Piss poor UAW assembly, etc. etc.
2.) GM has a cheap skate streak a mile long. How a big heavy 1ton truck can come without an oil cooler is beyond me. We think a lack of coolers on some trucks helped them die.
3.) Idiot maintenance. Somewhere some idiot thought it was needed to change all the transmission fluid at once and get every last drop of the old stuff out. Dumb, If you drain perfectly good ATF before it's so old, then a little left over old ATF in the Torque convertor hurts nothing and deludes right into the new stuff. So we started to use those stupid flush machines. Trucks that got flushed had an increased failure rate. Trucks that got drained and refilled were noticeably more reliable. If you really need to flush your transmissions out because your OCD about the left over fluid in the torque convertor: Drain fill, drive. And a week later do it again. Close enough. What ever is left over deludes nicely with the new fluid. Change the damn filter!
4.) This is thew biggest killer: Wheelspin. Techs who spin tires on icey roads kill transmissions. When the tires are spinning and catch a grippy part of the road that is thousands of pounds of torque and shock load on the tranmission. Also rocking a cold transmission in a icey mud hole will destroy it quickly. Proof? 2wd and 1wd Cheveys killed transmissions 4 times as often a 4wd trucks. More experienced techs that often find themselfs installing new gear on muddy jobsites also killed transmissions more often.
I can't blame the transmission. Even the POS Allison trans. Allmost all failures had clues to some bad decissions at GM or from the driver. Over all the GM engines are slightly more reliable than thier competitors, but thier transmissions are middle of the road. I prefer Ford Transmissions.
The 4L60e, in my experience, deosn't really have any design flaws. It's a good transmission. But it's assembled by GM. The GM trans's in our work truck fleet have a 25-33% failure rate around 100k miles.
Usually it's:
1.) Defects. Bad flywheels. Crooked machined mounts cracking flywheels. Parts fragging, from parts that have little or no load on them. Piss poor UAW assembly, etc. etc.
2.) GM has a cheap skate streak a mile long. How a big heavy 1ton truck can come without an oil cooler is beyond me. We think a lack of coolers on some trucks helped them die.
3.) Idiot maintenance. Somewhere some idiot thought it was needed to change all the transmission fluid at once and get every last drop of the old stuff out. Dumb, If you drain perfectly good ATF before it's so old, then a little left over old ATF in the Torque convertor hurts nothing and deludes right into the new stuff. So we started to use those stupid flush machines. Trucks that got flushed had an increased failure rate. Trucks that got drained and refilled were noticeably more reliable. If you really need to flush your transmissions out because your OCD about the left over fluid in the torque convertor: Drain fill, drive. And a week later do it again. Close enough. What ever is left over deludes nicely with the new fluid. Change the damn filter!
4.) This is thew biggest killer: Wheelspin. Techs who spin tires on icey roads kill transmissions. When the tires are spinning and catch a grippy part of the road that is thousands of pounds of torque and shock load on the tranmission. Also rocking a cold transmission in a icey mud hole will destroy it quickly. Proof? 2wd and 1wd Cheveys killed transmissions 4 times as often a 4wd trucks. More experienced techs that often find themselfs installing new gear on muddy jobsites also killed transmissions more often.
I can't blame the transmission. Even the POS Allison trans. Allmost all failures had clues to some bad decissions at GM or from the driver. Over all the GM engines are slightly more reliable than thier competitors, but thier transmissions are middle of the road. I prefer Ford Transmissions.
I have both a 1992 FJ80 and a 1984 6.2 4x4 1/2 burb
When choosing it is really what you want it for. When comparing here i'm going to talk about stock vehicles
my burb and cruiser will both haul 7 people... but the burb will do it in more comfort due to a bit more leg room on the 3rd row
burb +1
Gas mileage.... this all depends on engine and model of course.... the gas models are around the the same with the diesel burb getting the nod
+1 for a diesel option burb
offroad ability ..... not really a contest Cruiser all the way all across the spectrum (not saying the suburban is horrible but not in the same class)
Cruiser + 1
driving comfort/suspension.... it depends on the years but year vs year the cruiser will give you more luxury and comfort
cruiser +1
Reliability..... while suburbans are very reliable, cruisers are rock solid reliable..... suburbans aren't bad at all but at the same time not quite a toyota land cruiser
Cruiser +1
Parts price and availability...... suburban all the way not even close
+1 suburban
so its a pretty close race but it depends what you want it for
My cruiser is much more modified than the suburban because it is my offroad vehicle of choice. The suburban is much closer to stock, my DD and my main camping vacation vehicle mostly for the better leg room and the much better gas mileage of the diesel in it.
When choosing it is really what you want it for. When comparing here i'm going to talk about stock vehicles
my burb and cruiser will both haul 7 people... but the burb will do it in more comfort due to a bit more leg room on the 3rd row
burb +1
Gas mileage.... this all depends on engine and model of course.... the gas models are around the the same with the diesel burb getting the nod
+1 for a diesel option burb
offroad ability ..... not really a contest Cruiser all the way all across the spectrum (not saying the suburban is horrible but not in the same class)
Cruiser + 1
driving comfort/suspension.... it depends on the years but year vs year the cruiser will give you more luxury and comfort
cruiser +1
Reliability..... while suburbans are very reliable, cruisers are rock solid reliable..... suburbans aren't bad at all but at the same time not quite a toyota land cruiser
Cruiser +1
Parts price and availability...... suburban all the way not even close
+1 suburban
so its a pretty close race but it depends what you want it for
My cruiser is much more modified than the suburban because it is my offroad vehicle of choice. The suburban is much closer to stock, my DD and my main camping vacation vehicle mostly for the better leg room and the much better gas mileage of the diesel in it.
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