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One Piece at a Time: My 1985 Diesel Suburban

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One Piece at a Time: My 1985 Diesel Suburban [Gauges]

Come to find out, the PCS TCM-2000's speedometer output signal is not compatible with Dakota Digital gauges. It was originally designed to work with Autometer, VDO, and Racepak gauges. I'll splice into the tailshaft speed sensor and feed that directly to the PC board.

I did get everything test fit and lit and fully up to temp.
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David
 
One Piece at a Time: My 1985 Diesel Suburban [Gauges]

Thank you! So far, I'm very pleased with the purchase. I hit it early this morning so move my speedometer input and get out to calibrate it, but the universe wasn't having it.

The car alarm power wire had chaffed at some point many years ago, and my mounting of the DD PC board was enough to push it against a metal surface. Circuit 39 (ignition power to gauge cluster and several indicators) goes all over the place, and I took everything apart to trace down the short and repair it. I'll end up redoing that whole setup, but right now I've got to get this thing rolling with some proving miles before a hiking trip that's coming.

This evening, I put jacks under the rear tires, ran the engine in gear, verified the TCU read the tailshaft VSS signal, and went into the speedometer calibration menu on the gauge cluster to verify that it was seeing signals from the VSS, too. Everything worked.
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For reference:
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Now, I'll put everything back together (hopefully) for the last time, and run a measured mile to set the calibration on the speedometer.

David
 
Speedometer calibrated! It's a strange feeling not to have to grab my GPS to drive the truck.

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David
 
One Piece at a Time: My 1985 Diesel Suburban [June 6, 1985]

It was 30 years ago today that I went with my dad to pick up his new suburban from the dealership. The truck has since become an archaeological record of family history.

My parents moved houses one summer in the late 80s. It was hot. At some point, my mom had folded up the Uhaul receipt very tightly and wedged it in the side of the passenger side AC vent to keep it from flopping downward and wasting her share of the cold air. It's still there doing its job.

One day somewhere around 1990, my dad was on his way to work and the insulation on one of the wires that runs inside the steering column had worn through and developed a short. In his telling of the story, he goes on to describe a surprising puff of smoke coming out of the steering column. Yesterday, I discovered what was left of his duct tape repair; no doubt performed quickly that morning so that he could get to work.

I actually show up in the record about 20 years ago. The very first piece of maintenance I ever did was replace the turn signal relay.

It finally went out last week.

David
 
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AgDieseler said:
It was 30 years ago today that I went with my dad to pick up his new suburban from the dealership. The truck has since become an archaeological record of family history.

My parents moved houses one summer around 1987. At some point, my mom had folded up the Uhaul receipt very tightly and wedged it in the side of the passenger side AC vent to keep it from flopping downward and wasting her share of the cold air. It's still there doing its job.

One day somewhere around 1990, my dad was on his way to work and the insulation on one of the wires that runs inside the steering column had worn through and developed a short. He went on to describe a big puff of smoke coming out of the steering column. Yesterday, I discovered what was left of his duct tape repair; no doubt performed quickly that morning in the driveway so that he could get to work.

I show up in the record about 20 years ago. The very first piece of maintenance I ever did was replace the turn signal relay. It finally went out last week.

David
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nice!! i love the family history you've got with your suburban! i can't wait to check it out next may.
 
I like this Suburban! You've done a very good job of building it. I also like the fact that like my Yukon, it's been in the family since day one, so you know how it was treated and maintained the whole of its existence. That tends to make it extra special.
 
That's a good story! My dad has all kinds of stories to tell about my burb! I was 3 when he got it. Didn't go with him to pick it up cause it was delivered to the house! I have loved it as long as I can remember.
 
hey, i just realized you're running some GM center caps with your H2 wheels. lets see some pics of those, which caps are you running?
 
It's a bit old, but here's a photo. I have run a modified set of work truck center caps from the GMT800 platform (2003ish I think). The silver is close to the H2's.
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The center is cut out on the front to allow for access to the hub dial, and they are trimmed at the base so they pop into the H2 centers. I usually remove them for offroad trips.

David
 
One Piece at a Time: My 1985 Diesel Suburban [Gauges]

y5mgisi said:
That's a good story! My dad has all kinds of stories to tell about my burb! I was 3 when he got it. Didn't go with him to pick it up cause it was delivered to the house! I have loved it as long as I can remember.
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It's great you still have your dad's truck, and it has a long history! If you have a thread, you might consider sharing one or two of those stories.

David
 
noJeepshere said:
I like this Suburban! You've done a very good job of building it. I also like the fact that like my Yukon, it's been in the family since day one, so you know how it was treated and maintained the whole of its existence. That tends to make it extra special.
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Thank you for the kind words. It's been a source of joy and some minor frustration, but I think it's difficult to overestimate the amount I've learned through this truck. Like your Yukon, it's treated me well.

David
 
It's 650 miles to the mountains, we've got a full tank of diesel, two Fuente cigars, it's bright, and we're wearing sunglasses.
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We really enjoy road trips, and this year we headed to Taos for a bit of hiking and camping with a stop in Santa Fe to visit some friends. Gauges full installed and communicating clearly. It's taken a while to get accustomed to their new positions:
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I know it's a windshield photo, but as you leave Cline's Corner heading north on 285, this is your first view of the Sangre de Cristos. For a flatlander from Texas, this is why we made the trip.
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Neat caboose at their railyard park:
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Some folks at the Farmers Market recommended the Atalaya trail as a good day hike. Dallas elevation is about 550', while the Atalaya tops out around 9,000. We were huffing and puffing, but it's exactly what we needed to rapidly acclimate.
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We took the high road to Taos through Las Vegas and the southern part of Carson National Forest. Looked for a fellow suburban owner, but I think I was in the wrong town...
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Obligatory...
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Then, it was 10 days in the Questa Ranger District. There was still a lot of snow at the higher elevations, which made for knee deep water crossings (12 of them), and snow drifts large enough that trails above 11K were greatly obscured. We rerouted away from some of the peaks to a meadow and spent a couple of days. We day hiked from there to some of the ridges and alpine lakes, and descended. June is just a bit too early for the route we originally planned.

Sobering, there was a death on the mountain while we were there - someone ascended too late, got caught in the lightning, rushed to descend, fell and drowned in the high water.
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https://vimeo.com/135625361

Round trip: 1671 miles, 14.5MPG at 65-70MPH at 2100-2200RPM. Engine ran like a top.

Other highlights - the gauges have been a great addition, the front driveshaft never turned, I need to install more sound deadener, the idle screw on the injector pump disappeared somewhere along the line and I had to reset idle using my Lokar throttle cable in the motel parking lot, and we saw a woman talking to her Parakeet like it was a child.

What a great trip.

David
 
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