Is it blasphemy or entirely sensible

[diesel4me]

Well,all I can say is you need what you need,with a growing family and a shrinking budget as a result...you have to do what is right for you and them..

I've come to realize that my old square body trucks are what I prefer as far as mechanically,but as they are rusting away,I can no longer keep up with the amount of work they'll need to remain safe and reliable..parts are getting scarce or only cheap china junk sheet metal is available,and I'm no body man--never was,but I'm good at patching up old junks with sheet metal and pop rivets and welds,but I'm also tired of owning half restored old clunkers in a way too..

--they are OK for short local chores,but if I had to go to say,my older sister or brothers house 65 to 85 miles away,I have sincere doubts I'd even make it there or back in any of them,and I'm not in any condition to be replacing parts like oil pans,engines,transmissions,and I'll admit I'm getting sick of seeing everything I own rust and rot to the point they are only good for a "yard truck" or parts ..I will regret it if I sell my old plow trucks,but I probably wont miss having to suffer driving them as a "daily driver",especially if I want to go more than 20 or so miles from home..

I'll be forced soon to "upgrade" (not in my eyes),to some newer less rotted computerized P-O-S I'll probably hate because I wont be able to do "simple " repairs like change belts and hoses (on the side of the road if need be),or figure out why it's not running right because I'm not very experienced with EFI and electronics...personally I'd rather go to AZ or some other dry climate and buy something OLD that is still NICE,and keep it till I die..rather than have some new truck I can never get the check engine light to stay off ,for more than a month in a row..and have to pay a ransom to get it to pass inspection,smog tests,etc..

 

[Russell]

Well,all I can say is you need what you need,with a growing family and a shrinking budget as a result...you have to do what is right for you and them..

I've come to realize that my old square body trucks are what I prefer as far as mechanically,but as they are rusting away,I can no longer keep up with the amount of work they'll need to remain safe and reliable..parts are getting scarce or only cheap china junk sheet metal is available,and I'm no body man--never was,but I'm good at patching up old junks with sheet metal and pop rivets and welds,but I'm also tired of owning half restored old clunkers in a way too..

--they are OK for short local chores,but if I had to go to say,my older sister or brothers house 65 to 85 miles away,I have sincere doubts I'd even make it there or back in any of them,and I'm not in any condition to be replacing parts like oil pans,engines,transmissions,and I'll admit I'm getting sick of seeing everything I own rust and rot to the point they are only good for a "yard truck" or parts ..I will regret it if I sell my old plow trucks,but I probably wont miss having to suffer driving them as a "daily driver",especially if I want to go more than 20 or so miles from home..

I'll be forced soon to "upgrade" (not in my eyes),to some newer less rotted computerized P-O-S I'll probably hate because I wont be able to do "simple " repairs like change belts and hoses (on the side of the road if need be),or figure out why it's not running right because I'm not very experienced with EFI and electronics...personally I'd rather go to AZ or some other dry climate and buy something OLD that is still NICE,and keep it till I die..rather than have some new truck I can never get the check engine light to stay off ,for more than a month in a row..and have to pay a ransom to get it to pass inspection,smog tests,etc..

Truth is, those newer EFI rigs don't often need much work. They're pretty incredibly reliable. And when they do have problems the PCM is quite happy to tell you what the problem is via a cheap scan tool. I personally use my phone to scan newer vehicles these days

Rene and I have considered buying you an 1987 square body from Arizona and dropping a modern LS drivetrain into it to give to you as a new daily driver. Simple, but with all the benefits and reliability of a newer truck. Just were not sure how we'd work out the logistics of buying a truck, swapping the motor in and delivering it to you so it hasn't come to be yet.

The newer trucks are really no more difficult to work on than the older stuff. My 2014 does not intimidate me any more than my old 1974 GM used to. Its all nuts and bolts either way. The electronics are simple to deal with as long as you have the right tools or know someone else who does.

 

[Big Ray]

you know what you need better than we do...

actually been thinking the same thing myself. get rid of my diesel 2x and get a nicer, cleaner rig for travelling use with the family.

Guy on 2nd shift drives his in, we pass on my way home. he has a pretty 94-ish 'burb.

 

[shady]

Dump it hopefully to a good owner. Get the newer truck and be sensible with it. Once you lift a IFS and put bigger tires on it..... the wear sucks. Wheel bearings, TREs, and ball joints is what I'm talking. Even on a 1 ton, sh** is still weak. I'm not even gunna get into poor tire wear......

All I want to do is clear 35's or 37's. not sure it would be hard to do right. not afraid of cutting fenders or doing cut out flares on one if I had to.

You owe money on the Suburban?

Martin

when I quit my last job and sold my 401k back I was miss informed by 3 different people at the 401k place and ended up with a $6000 tax bill I couldn't afford to pay put a lean on the burb for the full amount

It's blasphemy Rick. Your gonna be damned to an eternal fate of regret sorrow and remorse. Repent o though sinner that your square soul may be saved and not rounded off with a newer truck.

LMFAO!your probably right eric

I DO use it as a truck/4x4. and the ride and such is WHY I like it lol. its just that around here its mostly muddy tree limb filled dirt roads to wheel on. and with a 6000lb truck on open 10b's, Im constantly afraid of getting it stuck and/or breaking chit trying to get out. I don't know anyone else doing the same stuff so i'm by myself (truckwise) when I go. I've walked many miles and paid quite a bit due to wheelin alone and getting into trouble due to breakage/ stuck in the past. I want a burb I can safely take down the roads in our area with the family in them and not worry about if we'll make it out. 35's, a reliable somewhat tough engine/trans, and lockers would pretty much do all I do around here.

I can do that to mine probably decently cheap. but it still comes down to a gearing swap, adding a locker of some sort, etc. so an axle swap would be the better route. then I need wheels/tires, a HP increase, and I'm running on a stock 700r4. how long would that last?

I really don't like the idea of destroying a decent square body with still very minimal rust either. and it being the not as common grand luxe adds to that. With a newer one I wouldn't care as much because they're EVERY where. plus the added safety of nearly 20 years of collision/ rollover research and improvements. airbags, carseat anchors, etc.

I'm not sure I could even get close to the $4700 I owe to do this even Lots of people comment on my truck even in its current condition. And it still turns heads around here so maybe...

the pedals and seats I think could be done..... seat is just a newer power seat swap. and I could drill through the pedals and wing nut aluminum blocks to them for extentions. she will almost NEVER drive the burb. but if the denali goes down for a few days ever she needs to be able to.

I guess I'll just have to get my burb running reliably again and drive it around some... that might swing me back to the "NO F'N WAY!" thinking that I had before lol. sorry for the long a$$ rambling post LONG night with the baby since the wife cant do much yet (C-section) had a LOT of time to think about it last night lol

 

[vandelay industries]

All this talk about buying new has got me thinking;

Also, please see my upcoming thread entitled "Last small block equipped vehicle."


The last small block chevy vehicle is either soon about to be produced or has recently been produced. It is a van with the 4.3 v-6 (not to be confused with the newer 4.3 based on the LS engine).

Do you feel this van has any special significance or financial prospects being that is it the very last production vehicle to be equipped with a small block chevy.?

It's also interesting to note that the SBC started as 265 inches and 60 years later it ends as 262. So pretty much ended where it started......


2) i will address my thoughts on the taxachusettes situation shortly.

 

[shady]

there were 262's in the 70's also


im not sure any more what I want to do I think the fact that I haven't been able to really drive my burb in over a year my be biasing my decision some

 

[blazinzuk]

Biggest difference between me and you Rick, I have a place to store stuff.

You could plan a sf 14 bolt swap. It's way easy and no new wheels.

I don't know man. I would really hate to see ya sell it. Wish I were closer to help ya work on it man.

I do hope you keep it though

 

[vandelay industries]

there were 262's in the 70's also


im not sure any more what I want to do I think the fact that I haven't been able to really drive my burb in over a year my be biasing my decision some

Yes, my biggest problem is that i need a truck, but this is taking a long time (should have just swapped in another v-8 instead of reverse-engineering in a 4.3 v-6........)

So, i'm leaning towards a Colorado, S-10, or fullsize truck or van in the neighboorhood of 2002-2009 range....

P.S.: The S word has been uttered at least 50 times and the F word probably 10 times during this project which proves i don't like to work on cars and i'm not that good at it---i don't work as a tech.

This truck has been down since Nov. In fairness i haven't seriously started to work on it until April.

 

[diesel4me]

I find it best to have the whole "donor" truck the "different" engine came from available for cannibalization ,until the swap is 100% completed..

I think I spent more hours searching junkyards for all the "trinkets" I needed every time I did a motor swap ,especially when I swapped a small block in place of a straight six...or a small block to a big block..they "look" the same ,until you go to hook the "simple" things up like throttle cables,radiator hoses,power steering pumps (the straight six ones have a shaft about 1/2" longer,will bolt up to a V8,but not allow a belt to line up !)..stuff like that will drive you bonkers..

 

[vandelay industries]

I find it best to have the whole "donor" truck the "different" engine came from available for cannibalization ,until the swap is 100% completed..

I think I spent more hours searching junkyards for all the "trinkets" I needed every time I did a motor swap ,especially when I swapped a small block in place of a straight six...or a small block to a big block..they "look" the same ,until you go to hook the "simple" things up like throttle cables,radiator hoses,power steering pumps (the straight six ones have a shaft about 1/2" longer,will bolt up to a V8,but not allow a belt to line up !)..stuff like that will drive you bonkers..

You got that right. These are not simple bolt-in swaps in a sense that, literally, everything is sitting right in front of you ready to be bolted in. Unless the donor truck is sitting right next to you, be prepared to make about 17 trips to the parts store and/or salvage yard.

Now if you did have the donor truck right next to you, then why swap in the first place...........

But back to the whole, should i buy new topic;

i see that a new Colorado can do everything my 1/2 can do AND get 27mpg? ----with a $20,000 price of admission......

i think i'll bite the bullet with the old.....

 

[shady]

Biggest difference between me and you Rick, I have a place to store stuff.

You could plan a sf 14 bolt swap. It's way easy and no new wheels.

I don't know man. I would really hate to see ya sell it. Wish I were closer to help ya work on it man.

I do hope you keep it though

No.... wish I were closer to you..... Iowa sucks and that would be sweet. lot more ck5er's that direction...

I've been contemplating this pretty hard for a while now.. I DONT wanna lose my truck. It's hard for me because I watched my dad spend $17,000 and 20 years doing a frame off on his 81 bronco. New body from Arizona, built 393 stroker, Emron'ed frame and everything. just for it to rot off the frame (even Fully Zbarted) and he sold it for $400.... I'm afraid of doing the same thing. A daily driver in iowa, even occasionally driven but stored outside, is gonna rot.

newer 1 i'd buy it, drive it, and replace it when I just cant feasibly fix it no more and think nothing of it. but I gotta lose my truck to do that

I would have bought one when I got the 01 2wd pickup, but I needed closer to 20 mpg for work and a dump run vehicle..

I'll hold off and drive my burb till tax time and either pay mine off and get anoth then or sell mine and buy a newer 1 out right

 

[diesel4me]

You got that right. These are not simple bolt-in swaps in a sense that, literally, everything is sitting right in front of you ready to be bolted in. Unless the donor truck is sitting right next to you, be prepared to make about 17 trips to the parts store and/or salvage yard.

Now if you did have the donor truck right next to you, then why swap in the first place...........

But back to the whole, should i buy new topic;

i see that a new Colorado can do everything my 1/2 can do AND get 27mpg? ----with a $20,000 price of admission......

i think i'll bite the bullet with the old.....

The real a$$ kicker is when I'd go boneyard hunting for those "trinkets",I'd often find myself stripping them off trucks WAY BETTER than mine was!--many junked only because of "no title" or some "minor" mechanical defect,that could have easily been remedied by swapping the needed part off my rotted hulk--some were from out of state and almost 100% rust free!..
...more than once I was very tempted to just buy the whole truck off the salvage yard and take my chances of not getting caught swapping my tags onto it,and painting it the same color !..

 

[Chief Brody]

"From my cold dead hands" will my squarebody be wrested....of course they don't ride like a new truck...they never will...it's all about what it is...a big old square anti-aerodynamic tree-huggin' hippie fartcan crushing block of manly truck from an era when a truck was a truck and not "Caitlin"

 

[shady]

the ride isn't an issue for me really. with Alcans all around, It rides as good as my 05 crewcab 1500 did.

crossover would have been nice though

 

[Chevy305]

I'm going to be honest with you, it makes no financial sence to sell the burb while you're currently underwater with it even if it isn't an ideal vehicle. And plus why do you want to get into another loan just get another newer SUV when you just bought your wife a Denali. That Denali should cover all your SUV needs.

 

[shady]

I want an suv I can still wheel with the family in. denali may do it.... but I don't wanna lol.. around here Im not really under water on the burb. I can get what I owe easy enough around here. VERY few square body GM's around here in as good of shape. and some in worse go for more. I just figure if im going to pay $225 a month on a burb, why not the newer one that fits what I want better.... the more I go through this thread the more I lean towards keeping mine though...

It'll end up being the money pit constant project, ending up a worthless rusted POS that ALL squarebodies do. but damn it I LOVE the thing


Maybe when I decide that the 2wd isn't cutting it I'll trade it on the newer burb lol

 

[campfire]

And plus why do you want to get into another loan just get another newer SUV when you just bought your wife a Denali. That Denali should cover all your SUV needs.

This was my thought as well. How many trucks do you need at any given time?

 

[shady]

I have the 08 denali, 01 sierra 2wd, and my 88 burb. I want my wife to be able to drive at least 2 of them. And I'd prefer the second one be AWD/4x4 also. that leaves the burb to modify for my shorter legged 4'8" wife. I don't wanna replace my sierra because my normal DD miles a month is about 500 and the difference in MPG would be about a 13.5 gallon a month difference... ( I get REALLY bored at work and figure s**t. lol) Plus I want the pickup bed for dump runs and material runs since im still remodeling the house I bought and gutted and its easier than a trailer.

modifying my burb pedals and seat sounded hard at first so I haven't tried it yet. And it only ran well for about 6-8 months after we met anyway

while looking for a Tahoe or denali, I found out that 03-06 burbs had the adjustable pedals and that she fits them (looked at an 05 denali).

Which rekindled an old idea I had about buying one of the '00-'06 3/4 ton burbs as a fun truck/ camping rig. since it would be more than capable and durable enough for the wheeling I want to do.
So that I can pamper my burb and do a slow resto on it like my dad did his bronco.

and realized that the idea of following down my dads foot steps may end up with the same outcome as his. I don't want that. so I thought why not sell mine and just have he newer burb.......

Thus why this thread exist's

 

[campfire]

I still don't get what a Suburban will give you that you don't already have in the Denali.

It sounds like you have need/use for:

1 Wife-mobile
1 Truck (4x4 preferred)
1 DD vehicle
(more or less)

Why not look for a commuter car for the 500 miles/month and enjoy the SUV/truck combination you already have? Or something like that?

 

[shady]

I can if the commuter is AWD. im looking at the fact that the denali is gonna go down at some point. ALL cars are sh1t. had 39 of them and know this well. we haven't found a CAR yet that she can drive. its odd I know but the seat, pedals, steering wheel, dash combo never lines up n fits

I want 3 vehicles so theres always a spare... If I can mod my burb so that she can drive it and retain the stock seats ill gladly go that route... had a few ideas lately... and I have all the tools/knowledge to fab something. Just gotta get to looking into it closer.

but the newer burb would cure that.

and as for thinkin BURB the whole time.... Im a suburban guy I love em and will have at least 1 most always. I've liked every version of burb ive ever seen.

plus the denali is NOT going 4x4in lol wife would shoot me