The RedBurb

[AugustDiesel]

Catching up, and enjoying the work you’re doing.

220 was my top end, too, before the updated radiator. The 130gpm pump, dual thermostats, a big fan, and the dual pass keeps everything steady at 210 while running 2700 in 3rd and cresting the pass at 55mph. These engines make a lot of heat, and it took a race car radiator to keep it cool.

You’ll enjoy the process and the payoff.

I agree. The noise break over is significant from 1800 to 2200, as is the mpg hit.

If I ran my 37s with a big stinking turbo and intercooler, I’d run 4.56s at the max. With enough air, the engine will build torque nicely as boost catches up on a grade in the 1800-2100 range, and you have room to downshift and use 3rd at 2500-2800.

Everything has a rev level, and this box you’ve made seems to work very well.

David

Appreciate the encouragement. Regarding the gearing, my current plan (subject to change) is to stick with the 4.10s when I go to 37s I seem to remember my NA 6.5 being very happy with the military 37s I had before. So I should see a better RPM range.

As for the box, it’s been kind of cool putting my wood skills and tools to use building this. It’ll probably be used for quite a while and will make a good prototype for whatever I come up with next.

 

[AugustDiesel]

Got the box done. Here it is sitting in my office waiting to go in



Some rough cable management underneath:



Here you see my “mounting system” if that what it can be called:



Here’s what it looks like underneath:



Everything plugged in:



And the topside view. Sorry for the sunlight:






It’s not perfect. There are some flaws and some mistakes, the shelf brackets the inverter is mounted to that also double as the securing points for the box are somewhat flimsy, which allows for quite a bit of wiggling, but having the third row install will help as the third row butts right up against it.

Bottom line: everything works. It’s a prototype and I am sure I will be improving upon the design, but for now it will get the job done.

Andy

 

[Truckman4life]

Looks good.

 

[AugustDiesel]

The full setup

 

[AgDieseler]

That looks really good - functional and clean. Nice work.

David

 

[AugustDiesel]

Looks good.

That looks really good - functional and clean. Nice work.

David

Appreciate the kudos. It’ll definitely get put to the test in the morning brewing coffee for the campsite.

 

[AgDieseler]

You should consider sending a few high quality trail snaps to @Can Can for the calendar. You’ve come a long way with the suburban.

David

 

[AugustDiesel]

You should consider sending a few high quality trail snaps to @Can Can for the calendar. You’ve come a long way with the suburban.

David

Thanks I appreciate it. I suppose I could get some 2wd trail photos, can’t do much more than that with a dead 10 bolt haha. I actually have not taken the truck off road at all since I bought it due to it requiring such extensive work.

 

[campfire]

Thanks I appreciate it. I suppose I could get some 2wd trail photos, can’t do much more than that with a dead 10 bolt haha. I actually have not taken the truck off road at all since I bought it due to it requiring such extensive work.

They don't need to be trail shots. Just shots of your truck doing things. You have plenty of those opportunities all around you.

 

[AgDieseler]

You have plenty of those opportunities all around you.

Adventure is out there.

David

 

[campfire]

Adventure is out there.

David

It is indeed. Sometimes even up on top of a cliff, when you're least expecting it!

 

[AugustDiesel]

Hmmm, I’ll have to think about what I have coming up that would be photo worthy. I did discover a fire road in my area that might be good for trail shots.

 

[campfire]

Hmmm, I’ll have to think about what I have coming up that would be photo worthy. I did discover a fire road in my area that might be good for trail shots.

I think you already have at least one winner:

And I'd submit these ones, too.

And then I'd hit the fire road for a few more. All the pictures!

 

[AugustDiesel]

Decided to take a two day vacation to the hospital. Should hopefully be going home today. I’ll send those pics to @Can Can soon.

Something that’s been in the back of my mind for a while that I wanted to ask about: the ride quality in this truck has been notoriously horrible ever since I bought it. I’ll admit, the bilstein 5100s and 4” front springs have made a massive improvement, but the truck still bounces all over the road - and I think the culprit is the rear spring packs. Each one has NINE leaves sitting on top the 2” blocks. My guess is the PO put some add-a-leaves on the original spring packs to get some lift. So the question: if I remove a couple leaves from the rear packs, will that help with ride quality - and - will the ride height remain the same or will I have to do some more work to counter the loss in ride height?

Thanks in advance.

Andy.

 

[stan1688]

My guess is that ride quality will improve, but right height might suffer a little. You can usually tell which leaves are helping with the ride height by the amount of arc they have (like if they're from a different pack/add-a-leaves). Maybe leave the ones with more arc and pull a couple of the flatter ones?

 

[AugustDiesel]

My guess is that ride quality will improve, but right height might suffer a little. You can usually tell which leaves are helping with the ride height by the amount of arc they have (like if they're from a different pack/add-a-leaves). Maybe leave the ones with more arc and pull a couple of the flatter ones?

Thanks for the advice Stan, I’ll take a look when I get home. I checked some old photos and can tell that at least the bottom two springs are flatter than the rest, so at some point I’ll try to remove those and see if it helps.

 

[Truckman4life]

Also look at the ends of the leaves and you can usually see a difference in how they are cut or tapered compared to the rest of the leaves in the pack, that is unless they just bastardized some more chevy leaves in there and not actual add-a-leaves.

 

[campfire]

Decided to take a two day vacation to the hospital. Should hopefully be going home today. I’ll send those pics to @Can Can soon.

Something that’s been in the back of my mind for a while that I wanted to ask about: the ride quality in this truck has been notoriously horrible ever since I bought it. I’ll admit, the bilstein 5100s and 4” front springs have made a massive improvement, but the truck still bounces all over the road - and I think the culprit is the rear spring packs. Each one has NINE leaves sitting on top the 2” blocks. My guess is the PO put some add-a-leaves on the original spring packs to get some lift. So the question: if I remove a couple leaves from the rear packs, will that help with ride quality - and - will the ride height remain the same or will I have to do some more work to counter the loss in ride height?

Thanks in advance.

Andy.

Pulling leaves will decrease lift. Not just because of the 1/2" thickness each leaf contributes, but because pulling them makes the pack less stiff. That's what you want, but a more supple pack will deflect more under loading. So the remaining packs will flatten out some.

 

[campfire]

What valving do the 5100s have? That makes a difference, and sometimes it's a large one.

 

[AugustDiesel]

What valving do the 5100s have? That makes a difference, and sometimes it's a large one.

Not sure about the valving but I was able to pull the part # and specs off 4wheelparts website.

Also look at the ends of the leaves and you can usually see a difference in how they are cut or tapered compared to the rest of the leaves in the pack, that is unless they just bastardized some more chevy leaves in there and not actual add-a-leaves.

Heading home now will take a look and post up what I see.

Andy