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One Piece at a Time: My 1985 Diesel Suburban

Overview Gallery Discussion
CriticalAction said:
My only question is beings that your rig is on the heavier side and you obviously wheel it have you ever been concerned about body flex? I would imagine the sliders help some but in my admittedly very limited wheeling experience I always see guys wanting to stiffen the frame/body. I have seen Stephen Watson recommend installing cages to keep these frames/bodies alive.
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Body flex is definitely a concern. I’m not planning to run a cage, but a stiffer frame is warranted. I’ll either pull the body and do a GMT400-type plating to the front half, or finagle a Patriot Chassis from our buddy, @sreidmx.

But right now, the Charger needs all my attention. Plus, Trail to SEMA 2019 is going to be decidedly suburban-unfriendly, so I’m running with Kurt and his Toyota (hoping he can go again), or another buddy that has strong squarish tendencies. I’ll eventually build something a bit smaller.
CriticalAction said:
I was a Boy Scout and we did a 10 day 62 mile trek through Philmont as well. They have a scale for the boys to weigh there packs as you exit base camp and mine weighed in at 57 lbs. That terrain is beautiful and I would love to go back someday. Enjoy the trek!
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It was great. The boys did very well, and I rucked my 57 lb load all over the south country - a fine use of vacation time.

David
 
I have been keeping an eye on that Patriot chassis development as well. Curious to see how it progresses for the squares.

Glad you enjoyed Philmont as well. Hopefully you had nice weather as we got rained on 7 of the 10 days we were there...
 
BlazerBash task list:
  • Alert my wife that I’m going (timing is everything)
  • Register
  • Magnum update - gen2 shifter fork, make new shift rod
  • Front driveshaft - redesign to eliminate vibration at 10+mph
  • D60 brake upgrade - need to gather a few more parts
  • Remount steering ram - tired of accidentally rotating the tie rod and backing off jam nuts
  • Change the oil
  • Change ATF
Other than that, I might have a line on some beadlocks, and I should rotate my two spares in anyway.

Need to get on the stick and get to work.

David
 
Lots of parts arriving from PSC, ORD, and KMC - OMG!

Non-rhyming manufacturers, too. The winch gets a refresh kit from Warn, more Amsoil dominator diesel oil goes down the gullet, and I’m trying to eliminate the Tom Woods high angle u-joints from my front shaft. I should get a full day of work on the truck Saturday or Sunday. I’m balancing some Charger stuff that’s hurting my brain.

David
 
AgDieseler said:
Lots of parts arriving from PSC, ORD, and KMC - OMG!

Non-rhyming manufacturers, too. The winch gets a refresh kit from Warn, more Amsoil dominator diesel oil goes down the gullet, and I’m trying to eliminate the Tom Woods high angle u-joints from my front shaft. I should get a full day of work on the truck Saturday or Sunday. I’m balancing some Charger stuff that’s hurting my brain.

David
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Those Woods u joints are useful, but I also get why a guy would like to get away from them
 
AgDieseler said:
Kris from Powerstop is riding with me, and hopefully Kurt is bringing his Toyota buggy. Might be a game time call.

David
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Let them guys know we will have shirts at the BBQ, but reserving them is always a better bet. We try to sell them out
 
Hey man, I have a question for you. Early in the build thread, you cut the rear quarters for better clearance. You added some impromptu plating to block debris from getting in the panel cavity. Did you ever finalize that part? Did you notice an increase in road noise or anything? I’m debating doing this on mine and I was wondering if it would be worth it...my vehicle is daily driven and geared towards travel, but I’m not afraid to drag it over some boulders. I’m reluctant because it’s rust free and I don’t want to introduce corrosion to the inner panels when they occasionally salt the roads. I also wanted to tie my rear bumper wrap around to the frame since dat ass is the most vulnerable part. Thanks for any input.
 
Bent77 said:
Let them guys know we will have shirts at the BBQ, but reserving them is always a better bet. We try to sell them out
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Kurt is a t-shirt kind of dude. I'll make sure he knows. @Spork929
ZooMad75 said:
So Kris was selling his JK I thought...Bringing him over to the darkside of Foolsize wheeling huh? Right on.
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His JK is sold, and a pretty neat little TJ has replaced it. It will be a bit before we turn him, but I'm playing the long game.
nutt7 said:
Hey man, I have a question for you. Early in the build thread, you cut the rear quarters for better clearance. You added some impromptu plating to block debris from getting in the panel cavity. Did you ever finalize that part? Did you notice an increase in road noise or anything? I’m debating doing this on mine and I was wondering if it would be worth it...my vehicle is daily driven and geared towards travel, but I’m not afraid to drag it over some boulders. I’m reluctant because it’s rust free and I don’t want to introduce corrosion to the inner panels when they occasionally salt the roads. I also wanted to tie my rear bumper wrap around to the frame since dat ass is the most vulnerable part. Thanks for any input.
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Like all good temporary repairs or stop-gap efforts, it's still in place....6 years later. I still intend to build in the old lower quarters and make the finish have the appropriate radius and taper, but I spend all my sheet metal time on the Charger these days. The plates do fine, and keep the big clods from getting in that cavity, but I won't recommend it if you daily in an environment that gets salted roads and you think corrosion is a risk.

Do it right, trim all you want, but seal it back up entirely like it came from the factory. I’ll catch up to you.

David
 
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Has kris cut the back off that TJ yet? He had mentioned possibly getting some new corners from us when we had lunch with him.
 
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