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Alaska Build

Some progress updates on the “Irish Twins”

Burb 1 (91)
Engine would not stay running so dove into replacing the plugs, wires, cap, rotor. Replaced most of the vacuum hoses while I was at it. Also replaced the power steering pump as the bearings were shot.
Engine still would not stay running and now the injectors were just dribbling gas. Off to the parts store for a new fuel filter only to find out later that the one on their looked okay. well, got a spare now.
Still the engine would not fire up. Fired up fine with a shot of starter fluid. Back to the parts store to rent the pressure gauge…. No pressure at the filter. Time for a new fuel pump. Tore into the tank and the 3” hose atop the pump was eaten way. Felt like a gummy bear that was left out in the heat for a few hours. Figure the pump is good just needed the hose replaced… but replaced it anyway. (And yes I checked to make sure it had gas before I changed the pump J )
Engine fired up just fine. Had a little smoke as it warmed up. Might have a valve going bad. No knocking or pinging so I figured I would take it round the block. That is until I put it in reverse and didn’t go anywhere. Put it in drive and moved forward. Looks like a rebuild is in the future. Although I am not looking forward to dropping the T-Case and tranny without a lift.

Burb 2 (90)
Took the day to tear apart the steering column so I can tighten up the tilt. All four bolts were completely undone. A little lock tight and two hours of trying to compress that damn spring to reinstall the snap ring and all was great. Tilt worked fine and the whole unit was nice and tight. Did a quick inspection on the front end as when I took it for a spin after fixing the tilt is seems to wander a little also pulled hard to the right.
Upper and lower ball joints seem a little loose when I jacked it up and pulled on it. Tie rod ends also seemed to have a little play in it. So new ball joints and tie rod ends along with a break job. Break job was already planned. Also, the tranny has a slight leak as well. Trying to decide if I get two rebuild kits for the 480Le’s and swap out the th400

Guess at this point I need to finish the punch list on both to figure out which gets the attention. Both were going to get a 4” lift and tires. Just not at the same time. I was going to swap out the lift on the buggy that came with burb 1 but the springs seem shorter. Did a quick measurement before the rain started yesterday and the buggy was 42” from bolt to bolt.. the burb was 48” (I think. Have to measure again). Still need to open up the buggy's diff’s and check out the gears to see how they look.
 
twins update

Okay, so a quick update on the Irish Twins, Thelma (90 burb) and Louise (91 burb) as the wife now calls them.

Thelma – Front end inspection turned up that the upper and lower ball joints on both sides needed replacing along with all the Tie rod ends.
Spent the weekend pulling everything apart. Found a few old threads on here regarding proper procedures on how to do this.
When pulling the driver side hub off I found it covered with copper colored grease. Can you say a little rust. Also found that the last washer before the last spindle nut had spun a little.
The key was 180 degrees from where it should have been. Had to spin it to get it aligned back with the grove so it could be pulled out. Threads on the spindle seem to be flatten a little but the spindle nut came off. Disc, calipers and pads all seem to be good. Pads look like they are newish. Passenger side looks 100% better. No rust color to anything.
Both axles look good. The driver side has a little surface rust up by the joint. Both have shiny spots where the inner seal is back by the differential. There is a bit of dirt and grease at the end of the axle tube. I thought I read someplace that if there was grease at the ends you should pull the gears and replace the seals?? Didn’t really plan on going that far but for another $50 and half day of labor just might do it. Also, I was told that the steering box needed to be replaced along with the power steering pump.

I still have the Project Buggy so I was thinking on grabbing the manual Spicer hubs and dumping the auto locking units. I have heard that they fail when you really need 4x4.also could grab the spindle if the threads are messed up.

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rustyHub.jpg

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Louise – got the new fuel pump in and now she run like a champ. Threw it into reverse to go for a spin and didn’t move. Cleaned up the spare 4L80e I have and ordered a rebuild kit when I picked up all the front end parts for Thelma. Spent the week pulling some minor dents and one big on the rear door. Should have re-skinned it but she is going to see more off road adventures then Thelma. That is if I keep her. Have my eye on a 62 Impala. Will post pics of the body work tomorrow. wife pulled them onto her computer and its not available right now.
 
all parts out cleaned and painted. also going to replace the steering box. is there anything I should be aware of when installing? any special adjustments or setups after getting it bolted into place? Also, I have that spare differential and was thinking on grabbing the manual hubs off it and swapping them for the auto hubs? anything special to watch for on that as well. figure they should just swap out.
 
all parts out cleaned and painted. also going to replace the steering box. is there anything I should be aware of when installing? any special adjustments or setups after getting it bolted into place? Also, I have that spare differential and was thinking on grabbing the manual hubs off it and swapping them for the auto hubs? anything special to watch for on that as well. figure they should just swap out.

I haven't done a steering box yet, but the hubs should be very straightforward. I have a writeup toward the end of my Suburban thread, if you'd like to see pictures of how it works out (Note: I just checked, and the pictures in that thread are more focused on the hub swap than the lockouts. But it'll still give you and idea of how it works).

For both the automatic and the manual lockouts, you'll take the external bolts off, and inside will be a snapring on the inside diameter of the hub, and sometimes (but not always) a snapring on the outside diameter of the axle shaft (looks like you've already gotten this far). The snag that I ran into is that my (formerly automatic-hub) axle shafts did not have their snapring grooves in the correct location for manual hubs. Still not sure why, nor do I know if this is a common snag (:dunno:), but I ended up using only the hub snapring and not the axle shaft one. Staying with the hub is the important part, so I'm not worried about it. But it was still a surprise to find that the hubs did not fit that axle quite as well as I had expected. It looks from your spindle picture like you'll have the same problem. Not completely sure, but you can check the pictures in my thread if you wanna compare.



Progress is looking good!
 
I wouldn't be concerned at all about running a 10bolt front end under a suburban with 33" tires.

Personally, I would run 2-4" of lift, the stock drivetrain (with the SYE), running gear and some 33" tires. Simple, cheap, and it will get around fairly good. If your not planning on big tires or rock crawling, that setup will be great. If you put too big of tires on it, then you have to re-gear or it will be gutless.
I guess you could wheel wal mart on 33" tires....
Low slung and lookin' good :pimp:

Check out my 1995 SAS build thread. The resemblance is crazy. (New life starting soon)

I basically just wanted to bookmark this for when I have more time to read every reply and write a decent and informational post.
 
So after 6 hours of working on getting the ball joints i still have not gotten one out. :-(
have the ball joint kit from auto zone but could the C clamp would not clear the fittings. had to find a piece of pipe and cut it down to get it started. after two hours of working on it it still didn't not move. have it soaking in PB blaster again. have to reinforce my work bench as the vice is starting to bow the top. guess 3/4 plywood top is not going to cut it.

guess i will start pulling the hubs from the buggy and see if they are going to work on the burb
 
Okay. so I am a dumb ass. spent 4 hours trying to push out the ball joints.. only I was pushing in the wrong direction!!!!!:doah::doah:
after a quick consult with the Interweb... I was able to get them done in less then an hour.
figure before I install the new steering box I will do another consult with mr. interweb and make sure the rest go smooth. then it is on to putting the knuckles and axels back in.
Or I might take the kids for a ride in the Willy's and start fresh tomorrow.
 
so got the whole front end done week before last. took it down to get aligned and have the transmission fluid flushed and new filter. Now it will not idle. starts up and surges between 1k and 500 rpm. I noticed antifreeze around one of the intake manifold bolts so I replaced both the intake manifold and throttle body gaskets. still happens. disconnected the MAP sensor vacuum line and it smoothed out. so replace the MAP sensor seemed to be the logical choice. NOPE. still happens. was told it had to be a vacuum leak. so off with the throttle body, distributor and torque the manifold again.(yes in the proper order :-) ) still doesn't want to idle. disconnected the MAP vacuum line again and plugged the connection at the throttle body and it smooth's out. connect the vacuum line and disconnect the electrical connection and it smooth's out.

Anyone have any Idea's as to what I should look at next. don't think it is a vacuum leak at this point.
 
It has been awhile so I thought I would post an update.

Burb 2 has a new front end, steering box, power steering pump. Tires and new fuel pump.
Once I got the new tires on I noticed the passenger side was closer to the rear fender then on the Driver side.
Took it down to the shop and they took measurements and said that looked good.
They said the leaf springs were flat so guess those are in the near future.
Figure I will go with a 2.5 inch lift and possibly 1 ton in the rear.
 
So with all the front end work done it doesn’t roam all over the road now.
Took it out for a Sunday afternoon drive and noticed when braking it was starting to pull to the right.
Pulled the calipers off and the pads had a concave ware to them. Also pulled the rear and noticed a slight leak in one of the wheel cylinders.
Off to the parts store for new calipers and wheel cylinders. Back shoe’s looked good so I didn’t replace them.
Drums are at limit so I could not turn them either but they looked good.
Got a new vacuum gauge so I decided to replace all the fluids while I was at it.
Now I cannot maintain pressure. I have spend 4 hours bleeding the system and can’t believe I have air in the lines.
So I figured I would replace the master cylinder. Seems to have made things worse.
I bench bled it before installing, and bled the system again.
Now when you pump the breaks it grabs and there is a popping sound coming from someplace.

So..
With the engine off I can bleed the breaks to get a firm peddle
Engine running the peddle softens as if there is air in the line
Pumping the break while driving the breaks will suddenly engage and sounds like a banging noise. Not sure if it is in the rear or front.

Time to pull everything apart… again.
Could there be something wrong with the RWAL ECU? No hydro boost
 
well break issue has been fixed. the adjuster screw on both sides were rusted and would not adjust. all new hardware and shoes... now a completely new break system to go with the new front end.

also found a used tilt trailer for $250 for the jeep. just needs some new tires.
 
Personally, if I was going to make a road trip through Alaska with some trail driving, towing a Jeep, needing an XL SUV for the whole family....

I'd buy a 7.3 PSD Ford Excursion. Even a 6.0 Excursion if the right things were done to the engine. Reliable, powerful, big running gear, etc. Lets face it, a good 7.3 Excursion is better than any Suburban any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
 
Well, there were a number of ways I could have gone. I could have just used my 09 F250 power stroke and called it done but what's the fun in that.

The fun part for me is building something and then taking it out and using it.
I fell into these two suburban's. Purchase price for both was right at $1300 and one came with a rock crawler project so I have a spare 14bff and 3/4 ton front end. Not to mention a few other spare parts. Once I get the new springs I will have a brand new suspension and break system and only have another $1300 into it.

Also, there are plans for a new motor and tranny to drop in. I have two 4l80e's sitting around ready for a rebuild. Have not decided on the motor yet but have a spare 350 sitting around ready for action.

right now I am just enjoying the frustrations of getting a 25 year old vehicle back into reliable service with my two girls helping me, and if I happen to slide into a rock, tree, or ditch I am not out 70G's
 
You might think about 56 inch springs all the way around or 52s in the front, both with a rear shackle flip. instead of buying lifted springs. less money, better suspension travel, way better ride. lift would be about 4 inches.

money spent on 2.5 lifted springs will not get you what your wanting
 
If he is driving it all the way to Alaska and back, he may not want the 52" front springs.

Martin
 
thanks for the link 82355. the link was for 73-87. my burb is a 90. will have to look around more before I purchase the springs. this is going to be a month or two out. kid got bit on the check by a horse so have a few medical bills now. good thing is it didn't take a chunk of flesh off. got real luck and didn't even need stitches.
 
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