ejs262's Suburban(s?)!

[ejs262]

well, I don't have anything to cool to report. I picked up some steel at an auction, in the pictures, it looked like it was 1/8" wall, turns out, it's 1/4", so I'm not sure whether or not I will make bumpers out of it.

I got the driveshaft back and installed, and the new master cylinder in, but I need to bleed the brakes again. hopefully everything goes off without a hitch and on Saturday I can take it for a shakedown tour around the block or something.

I'm still contemplating whether or not to go ahead and install the 40 gallon gas tank I have in it now, or after the Alaska trip. I'll most likely run most of the fuel out of the 31, and then swap them, as well as a new fuel pump.

 

[ejs262]

did a little interior work today, I pulled the back seats out, and am making a panel that lays flat to replace them, it will have two hinges center, so that it opens gullwing style and allows for a bit more storage. I am going to remove the seatbelts too, I just don't have the right torx bit on hand to do it.

one of the seatbelts had a regular bolt in it, I removed it to find the hole torn and stretched. I'm begining to think this truck was hit HARD on tha passenger side. I think I might start looking for a 3/4 ton in better shape to do the duramax swap into.

 

[chilliwak]

Some people say that the frame is stronger on the 3/4 ton burbs as compared to the half ton trucks. That might be a good reason to upgrade. Otherwise it looks like you are making some progress. Thanks for posting up. Cheers, Chilli... ?

 

[ejs262]

They are the same height and width, but the metal used is slightly thicker. I'm not sure that it's enough to write home about though.

the "bedframe" is coming along nicely

in the truck:

rough cut plywood thrown on top

further cut with hinge added

both hinges

lifts up gullwing style. I still need to add a filler piece in beneath the side rails to keep things from rolling out the bottom, but it functions ok. it's held in place by the hinge the seatback would have used, and I'm going to add a bracket to bolt it to the floor near the front on each side. I also need to add a hole to lift it by, and a kickstand to hold it up while it's open.

I also got a new favorite toy, Hypertherm Max40 plasma cutter, it's probably 30+ years old, but ti works and was about $700 less than a new one!

 

[chilliwak]

Nice work there my friend. Me262 ingraved in metal. Cheers, Chilli... ?

 

[ejs262]

the flexibility that machine gives me is insane! I can cut whatever shape I want!

The brakes on this thing have been giving me hell, turns out, my brand new master leaks... that'll prevent you from stopping for sure.

the trans cooler lines were a bit too long, and the ends had the wrong angle to them, so I chopped the slack out and put 90 degree ends on instead. I gained a pretty good bit of clearance with it.

 

[chilliwak]

Looking good Mr 262. Always good with extra clearance. Was your new master cylinder defective? i find that a lot of the parts that I buy now are made in China with a life of 2 years or less compared to the 20 plus years I used to get out of domestic parts. Keep up the good work. Cheers, Chilli..?

 

[ejs262]

yeah, the new master was junk. I have a new one installed, so far the pedal is way better, but I still need to finish bleeding the brakes. I wish domestic parts were easier to find locally, unfortunately, they aren't.

in the process of redoing the trans cooler line ends, I noticed the fluid looked pretty bad, I also remembered that the trans didn't really like to shift right, and being that I plan to drive this thing to Alaska(4000+ miles in a relatively untested truck... ) I decided to have it rebuilt, I called around, and after a couple hours of talking to very incompetent sounding shops, I found one about an hour away that said he could do it for a reasonable price. I set a new personal best, from the time I hung up the phone, to the time I had the transmission out in the back of my other truck pulling out of the driveway was less than 2 hours! he told me that unless something crazy happened, he could probably have it done tomorrow before he closed up shop! if he does, I'll get it installed before I go to bed tomorrow!

 

[ejs262]

well, transmission isn't done...

in other news, I found out that if I bolt my tow hooks up differently, they become tusks!

lol! I'm definitely doing this now!

I started work on the front bumper, but I'm not sure what route to take, I need to make sure there's room for a winch, I think I'm going to run one of these:

Quadratec RES-Q Teton Series Winch

Unparalled Line Performance: Synthetic rope is highly-popular because it is lighter and more durable than steel. Additionally, synthetic lines are easier to handle and do not rust or kink like steel lines.

www.quadratec.com

or these

Smittybilt 97417 XRC-17.5 Gen2 Winch

The new Smittybilt XRC winches have been thoroughly updated with heavy-duty features for enhanced performance and durability. Ranging from 9,500lb to 17,500 lbs capacities, Smittybilt''s XRC Series winches can handle any situation you can get into. Every XRC winch features a Series Wound 6.

www.quadratec.com

anyone have an opinion on synthetic rope instead of steel? my biggest concern would be abrasion of the synthetic.

the bumper progress is otherwise nothing to write home about, so far, I've cut two brackets and held the tube up to it.

it will be significantly more contoured to the truck than a straight line, but I'm not sure quite how much.

 

[chilliwak]

I made my own bumper out of scrap metel...

turned out good... ?

 

[Overlandtowater]

yeah it did!

 

[ejs262]

not much in the way of updates, I got the transmission back, it's installed, as well as the new master cylinder. the brakes are still a little squishy, and I have some driveline vibration I need to look into, I think I may need some axle shims to get the pinion angle right in the back, it's at a kinda odd angle right now. adjusting the TV cable proved to be way more of a pain in the ass than I expected, the automatic adjustment feature of the cable didn't want to work, so I had to manipulate it by hand to make it work, which made for lots of short minute drives followed with me under the hood for 10 minutes doing adjustments. the cable design is great when it works, but when it doesn't, it sucks.

Chilli- that bumper looks awesome, mine looks like crap so far, but I'm going to start over sometime this week. hopefully I can get something suitable built without too much work, I also need to find a winch so I can figure out mounting to said bumper.


most of my neighbors have been shocked to see the thing moving again... lol.

 

[ejs262]

A quick shot of the transmission awaiting the t-case

this was the first start of a bumper, I wasn't happy with the results though, so I scrapped it.

I then got 4 pieces of flat stock, drilled the appropriate holes, and bolted them to the frame. once they were bolted in place, I tack welded them to ensure they didn't move relative to each other.

then I tacked the tube to it,

then I cut two V-notches into it at each frame rail.

and, with the assistance of a 2x4 and a ratchet strap, bent the ends to a fairly close match to the grill.

Next, I am going to cut pockets to hold a couple of ammo cans and allow for storage of a recovery gear. if I can find on before I leave for alaska, I will also notch it and install a winch between the frame rails.

 

[chilliwak]

Nice progress 262. You will make this bumper work for you. Take your time and it wil come out just the way you want it. Keep up the good work. Cheers, Chilli.. ?

 

[ejs262]

Thanks, the bumper is almost done now. I have other stuff I want to do, but it'll have to wait.

I snagged this bad boy pretty cheap, it's a mile marker SI12000, rated to 12000 pounds of line pull.

I don't like it sitting this high in the grill, or this high above the frame rail.

I made a piece of channel to mount it in out of some of the box steel I have.

then I drilled and notched it for the fairlead

here's the assembly on the bumper

next step was to cut a notch. the plasma cutter made short work of it.

initially, the tray overhung the front of the bumper by a large margin, so I notched the frame a bit so I could recess it some.

hard to tell by the pictures, but it made a big difference.

then I test fit the whole thing.

I also started trying to drive it as much as possible, to work out any little problems while I'm still close to home.

I pulled the whole bumper back off, added some angle stubs to the ends to contour the truck a little better, and capped off the ends of the tubes. I also capped off the fairlead mount, and added a gusset. can't forget the custom paint either!