The Great Smaug

[diesel4me]

I've posted about my "luck" with the 60G plugs..they rusted away in 3 years so bad they looked like 20 year old bleeder screws !..a few had died in what I considered a relatively short time too,but I do cycle them a lot because I'm always taking short stips in cold weather most of the time,and even if its 60 degrees or warmer I sometimes still have to "glow" them a few seconds to get the engine to fire up..

I've had the tabs the wires go on snap off easily too--some claim the AC's are actually Bosch's or some other german brand (Beru?) in AC's boxes and AC numbers stamped on them..I cant say if thats fact or fiction..

I have had an Autolite 1110 glow plug decide to break while I was putting along about 30 mph going to the dump one day--engine started hammering like it spun a bearing,and my heart sank--I pulled over,left it running,figured if it was going to seize up the damage was already done,and I may as well just finish it off by driving it home..it still had good oil pressure,so I headed home ,3 miles away,and babied it all the way there--it kept clicking and clattering all the way,and sometimes made a few louder crunchy type noises,like something was getting chewed up...

When I got about half a mile from home,I decided to put it in low and wind it up till it hit the govenor a few times--being pissed,I was sort of hoping I'd finish it off,and probably end up finding a good 350 for the truck and kiss the diesel goodbye...
To my surprise,it sounded like on the third good "flooring",it spit whatever was getting chewed up out the exhaust,and it quieted dome a lot..

Since that day ,after I pulled the glow plugs and found #3 was only half there,I put a new AC 60G in it,and it now has a noisy lifter type noise after a cold start for the first 4-5 minutes,that eventually goes away after its fully warmed up...maybe a pushrod bent a little or the valves kissed the piston when a chunk of glow plug got crunched up,who knows?..I doubt it did it any justice,but its still running...

I've heard other diesel enthusiasts had that happen with Autolite glow plugs,so I would avoid using them --Champions suck too ,everyone I know who tried them say they failed in no time,some swelled up so bad they busted off before coming out of the heads too..

I would try taking the injector out and use a shop vac with a smaller hose in the crevise tool to suck out the glow plug peices,rather than run it and possibly do damage..
I didn't take that option because my injector lines were crispy and likely to break and I did not feel like having to replace them in the dead of winter...(I'd rather have yanked the motor and put another one in and got it over with if it came to that)..

 

[campfire]

Small Update

I haven't put many miles on the Suburban yet. Mostly due to life circumstances right now, but partially because it's a pain to drive with the PS pump out of commission (yes, that includes the brake booster). The PO told me that an eyelet snapped off of the pump bracket and the pump tore out of the reservoir (which is still attached to the engine). He gave me the bracket to fix, along with the eyelet (which I promptly lost). Having seen it prior to losing it, I was able to fabricate something close to what is missing. We'll see how close it is when I try to install it.

 

[Highpsi]

We'll see how close it is when I try to install it.

You'll be fine! I had to fix that same bracket once, but different mount point. There's usually a little bit of flexibility in the mount to make up for some inconsistency! (Sure as heck was the case with my old hack weld)

Been up through Wausau lately?

 

[campfire]

You'll be fine! I had to fix that same bracket once, but different mount point. There's usually a little bit of flexibility in the mount to make up for some inconsistency! (Sure as heck was the case with my old hack weld)

Been up through Wausau lately?

Good to know. I'll prolly try to mount the bracket this weekend.

I came through Wausau a couple weeks ago. It reinforced how much I miss the Northwoods. Would love to get back up to the Northern WI/UP region again.

 

[campfire]

Successfully finished installing the power steering pump a few days ago, and the truck became oodles more fun to drive. And now Wifey wants to drive it everywhere. So I may not get to drive it much. Pretty much what happened when I finished working on Big Blue. This time we have enough square-bodies to go around...

The truck has also been named "Smaug." Mostly owing to the smoke it belches upon startup or when loaded down. And its peculiar lop-sided growl at lower engine speeds (driver side has glass pack, passenger side has standard muffler). Pun was not originally intended, but it sure has stuck!

So that's the update this week. Tune in next time for more small improvement projects and grand adventures.

 

[Highpsi]

Congrats on getting it up and going again! Glad to hear its much more fun to drive now.

Successfully finished installing the power steering pump a few days ago, and the truck became oodles more fun to drive. And now Wifey wants to drive it everywhere. So I may not get to drive it much. Pretty much what happened when I finished working on Big Blue. This time we have enough square-bodies to go around...

The truck has also been named "Smaug." Mostly owing to the smoke it belches upon startup or when loaded down. And its peculiar lop-sided growl at lower engine speeds (driver side has glass pack, passenger side has standard muffler). Pun was not originally intended, but it sure has stuck!

So that's the update this week. Tune in next time for more small improvement projects and grand adventures.

BTW, consider yourself lucky! I think I'd just about keel over if my wife would even want to be seen in one of my square bodies, much less drive one!

Smaug.. Now that's just priceless! Maybe the next destination trip is Middle Earth?

 

[campfire]

Congrats on getting it up and going again! Glad to hear its much more fun to drive now.

BTW, consider yourself lucky! I think I'd just about keel over if my wife would even want to be seen in one of my square bodies, much less drive one!

Well, I wasn't in the market for another truck until it became obvious that Wifey would always choose Big Blue over our toy truck. For short trips, for long trips, for every kind of trip. She really liked that truck. And I hardly ever got to drive it. So we decided to get another. With nearly exactly the same specs. So we can both drive square-bodied trucks now (although I still have several things to fix on the truck). We decided on a Suburban after our camping adventures got soggy last summer. Thinking the Suburban will offer dry camping in the back (in addition to passenger hauling, which has been lacking thus far). Can't wait to find out!

Smaug.. Now that's just priceless! Maybe the next destination trip is Middle Earth?

Well, given the smoke-belching nature of the truck(s), it just had to be a dragon-themed name. As for future destinations...stay tuned! (although it missed out on this week's trip).

I have another dragon name picked out for the M1009 if/when it gets road-worthy.

 

[campfire]

Build Has Begun

Extra free time in the last few weeks has allowed several projects to get done on the suburban. So this thread is being transformed into an official build thread.

The Great Smaug was purchased to fulfill several roles:

1.) Move people (our pair of trucks has been decidedly lacking in this area)
2.) Accommodate longish road trips (Mileage being a large factor)
3.) Provide a shelter for primitive camping
4.) Provide moderate off-road capabilities to accommodate primitive camping in fun locations.

At the end of the day, we'd like to have something we can cheaply drive to the Rockies, pull off the road, and camp out in the middle of the high desert. Or some other fun place. Campgrounds just aren't fun when they get full. But much more emphasis will be placed on daily drive-ability than the few off-road miles it's ever going to see. Also, being an expedition rig, I want all parts to be both rugged and cheaply available at any Autozone in the remotest parts of the country, as far as possible. So crucial hardware (drivetrain, suspension, engine, etc) will mostly be creative arrangements of stock parts. Non-essential parts have no such restraints.

With these goals in mind, I have been collecting parts and ideas to get the truck better equipped (Props to CK5 for providing many of the ideas). The truck came with a good set of traits for an expedition rig. It already seats 9 between the 3 bench seats. My other 6.2 averages about 24MPG on the road when lightly loaded (hoping to get something similar here). The original 31" tires are a nice step up from the 29" tires that Blue has. And, with two cross-state trips under its belt, I'm getting to know the truck's issues (no huge ones yet).

Modifications I'm considering include (in no particular order):

1.) Manual transmission with at least 5 speeds. I'm not a fan of automatics. NV3500 is a possibility, but I'm leaning toward the NV4500.
2.) Increasing tire size to 33" (depending on how much suspension work is required).
3.) 2nd generation 14bff in the rear. Mostly because I think it's easier to service (and I've seen 2 10-bolt gov-lock axles fail).
4.) Adding matching 8-lug hubs to front 10-bolt (since Chevy doesn't offer a 6-lug ff axle).
5.) Swing-out spare tire & cargo rack behind the barn doors.
6.) Auxiliary heater to provide warm camping in cool weather.
7.) Adding 6.5TD turbo to the 6.2 engine


Additionally, if any of my diesels experience engine failure, I'd consider a 4BT swap for fun and mileage purposes. But I'm not particularly interested in ripping out a nicely running 6.2 at this time.

It's worth noting, for those just tuning in, that this is a vehicle I'm building with and for my wife. So some requirements, like "it must have running boards," are not originating from me. But it also means that she often helps out with the projects. So I'm teaching mechanical theory as much as I'm building. This is truly a team project.

So...Daily Driver/Expedition Rig or bust!

 

[campfire]

Initial Progress

After getting the truck running, I started tackling little projects. Power Steering, Fuel Lift Pump. This week, with some prompting from Wifey, I started on the axle upgrade. After some confusingly-conflicted research, I determined that my '78 8-lug D44 with drive flanges was a potential hub-donor and proceeded to strip off the outers.

Donor axle in front of my favorite blazer:




It has seen its share of rust, but the calipers came right off.





Drive flange out:

 

[campfire]

Thanks to my newly-purchased hub socket, removing the hub and backing plate was a very speedy job.



Grease wasn't clean at all. Bearings/seal didn't look so great either:



Backing plate had its share of rust flakes:



The outer-less D44:

 

[campfire]

Having practiced inside the shed, I then went outside the shed to where the suburban was parked and did the drill over again:



This rotor looked fairly nice. The grease seal was still shiny blue. I'm guessing it had been done recently.



I then took the backing plate inside and found that there wasn't much size difference at all. Why, GM, did you make two parts so very similar in size? The 3/8" difference in caliper placement could not have been worth stocking different parts...right?
Makes me wonder if you could re-drill the 3/4t backing plate to support 1/2t caliper placement...
I did notice that the 3/4t backing plate is solid plate while the 1/2t is only about half plate (with the non-caliper half being thin sheet metal).



Meanwhile, Wifey was cleaning up the 3/4t backing plates with a wire wheel:



And when finished we applied some paint and called it a night:

 

[izzy1776]

Love your build plan! Simple is good.

 

[campfire]

Got up the next morning to rain. Decided to proceed with the swap anyways. Got the backing plate on:



And soon had the hub (with its new bearings) installed:



New calipers were so much more fun than old ones:



And the icing on the cake-the old metal brake line didn't snap!
Doesn't happen to me too often.



Installed the new wheel (20 years younger than the truck ) and wrapped a rag around the open hub area.



After taking a minute to admire the new stance, I took my soggy self to town to buy a new hub assembly for the other side (the other '78 hub had a specially-enlarged bearing hole. Rattle, rattle, rattle. ). Of course, while I was in town the rain stopped.

 

[campfire]

Love your build plan! Simple is good.

Thanks! I think my goal of having an ultra-reliable 30-year-old truck will be enough challenge without complicating things further. The standard list of off-roading mods won't really help my purposes anyway. Big Blue sees thousands of highway miles each year. And dozens of off-road miles at best. So I'd rather compromise off-road handling than reliability or mileage. Simple is good!

 

[campfire]

Came back (less-soggy) and found an issue with the axle shaft. The suburban axle had housed stock automatic lockouts. I plan to switch to manual lockouts. I had swipped a lockout from the M1009 for testing purposes, and it fit nicely on the D44 during its test fit. It was held in place by an outer snapring (engaging the inside radius of the hub) and an inner snapring on the axle shaft. But now I found that my '84 ten-bolt did not have the snapring groove in the end of the axle shaft. It had a snapring groove 3/4" back from the end (too far). So I could use the outer snapring, but not the inner one.

D44 shaft:


M1009 shaft (with '78 drive flange temporarily installed):



Suburban shaft:



Not sure what to do. At this point the one installed lockout is held in by only the outer snapring. Thoughts? Concerns? I'm not sure if this would cause problems down the road...

 

[campfire]

The other side went even faster.



Mostly because this was new (with races already installed):



Greased and ready to roll:



Tightened up the spindle nut



And found that the lockwasher fit on the first try!



And I wasn't soggy this time!

 

[campfire]

As with the first side, the brake line cooperated again! Lots of shiny new parts here!


Second new wheel attached (with dust cover until I can get a real lockout for it):



Picture of the lockout on the first side (illustrating where it expects a snapring groove in that inner shaft):



The finished product:



Moving forward, it need lockouts and 8 more lugnuts. The old ones, incidentally, seemed to be somewhat suicidal when I tried to retire them. I'm not a fan of capped lugnuts, but a couple of these were just nasty:

 

[campfire]

My front tire is now significantly outward of my rear tire. For now.



Next project:



Went to the junkyard and found that the U-pull price for 14bff axles from cargo vans amounted to $125 (less than a set of rims to accompany it). That particular yard wanted $200 for a 10-bolt. The price setter there says they're cheap because they don't sell (unlike 10-bolts).

So...given the slightly leaky state of my rear 10-bolt, I quickly talked myself into an axle swap. In fact, I talked myself into buying two, as the blue truck is riding on a G80 10-bolt:


They're both 3.73:1 (unlike most CK5 rigs, I'd actually prefer steeper gearing for a diesel highway truck), and the one I've selected for the Suburban is also a Gov-lock (not sure whether I'm keeping that or not). And when I got it I discovered that the removable brake drums came off a little too easily. When I arrived home I was missing a brake drum. Which lead to a hunt to find where (along the roadside) it had fallen off. Inside the reclaimed drum, I found that the whole brake system, excepting the slave cylinder, looked brand new:



No dust, springs still have bright colors, uncorroded E-brake cable, pads still have plenty of wear left in them. At least one of the drums is still shiny-new. Not sure why the P.O. would perform such thorough brake maintenance so shortly before scrapping the van. I'm grateful, though!



The second axle is in rougher shape (I found a large wad of black goo inside the brake drum ). But that's a project for a different year. For now, I'm working on getting this axle swapped (spring perches and shock mounts).

 

[diesel4me]

I've seen more "like new" parts on scrapped vehicles than you could imagine..seems like sometimes a person will replace a LOT of parts on a vehicle,then when the last original part fails,the say "That's IT--I'm junking this p-o-s!"...I see freshly installed altenators,starters,brakes,and exhaust systems,shocks on a lot of salvage yard vehicles!..

I also am baffled why GM makes some parts "almost" the same,just "wrong" enough so they cant interchange..though Ford is a worse offender in that department..but Ford made their transfer case inputs all the same,GM must have 20 different configurations and adapters...so I guess one is as bad as the other...

The hubs on my '82 K2500 are like the ones in the second picture--only the phillps screw holds that inner gear in place,my axles have no outer snap ring groove and evidently they dont need one..

 

[Stomis]

I like this build.

K.I.S.S.