The Story Of A Cummins Suburban (Lots Of Pics)

[MaxPF]

Those are exactly what I need! How much are a pair?

Also, one unrelated question: What are your RPMs at 65MPH? What is your tire size, rear gearing, and trans OD ratio? Im basically using your rig as a gauge to figure out how to gear mine

 

[mosesburb]

Those are exactly what I need! How much are a pair?

I don't remember, but KU71090BK is the p/n.

Also, one unrelated question: What are your RPMs at 65MPH? I don't remember--it might be in a post around the time I put the rear diff in it--might be. What is your tire size,235/75R16 I think--the size is listed in the thread somewhere and I'm too comfortable to go outside and look rear gearing3.73, and trans OD ratio? Whatever a NV4500 has Im basically using your rig as a gauge to figure out how to gear mine

That might actually work as it is a pretty drivable unit. You mentioned water injection. Were you planning on buying a kit or engineering one yourself??

 

[MaxPF]

I don't remember, but KU71090BK is the p/n.

That might actually work as it is a pretty drivable unit. You mentioned water injection. Were you planning on buying a kit or engineering one yourself??

I will DIY a water injection kit.

As it turns out, the gearing question is a non-issue. I have decided to stay with the manual trans after all. I was doing some digging, and it looks like guys break Allison bellhousings and tailhousings on regular trucks that aren't even being wheeled Since I don't like Dodge autos, reliability is my main concern, and my ankle seems to no longer be bothered by operating a clutch, I figured I will keep what I got and go have fun rather than messing around endlessly with the drivetrain.

 

[mosesburb]

I will DIY a water injection kit.

As it turns out, the gearing question is a non-issue. I have decided to stay with the manual trans after all. I was doing some digging, and it looks like guys break Allison bellhousings and tailhousings on regular trucks that aren't even being wheeled Since I don't like Dodge autos, reliability is my main concern, and my ankle seems to no longer be bothered by operating a clutch, I figured I will keep what I got and go have fun rather than messing around endlessly with the drivetrain.

When the time comes, I want a lesson on how to DIY a water injection setup.

Good to hear about the ankle--makes life alot easier when you can leave what you've already done alone and work on other things instead.

 

[MaxPF]

When the time comes, I want a lesson on how to DIY a water injection setup.

You got it. It's not too complicated from the looks of it. The main thing is finding a HP pump capable of pumping water that doesn't cost a fortune.

Good to hear about the ankle--makes life alot easier when you can leave what you've already done alone and work on other things instead.

Yup. I've also gotten quite fond of the ol' handshaker. Also, I rode with Brent (reddog) out to Butcher and did some wheeling, and I was very impressed with how elegantly the stick wheeled. I cant wait to get my front gears swapped and a driveshaft installed

 

[mosesburb]

I cant wait to get my front gears swapped and a driveshaft installed

...and you are waiting for what??

 

[MaxPF]

...and you are waiting for what??

I have an aversion to swamp ass, so I have been waiting for the weather to become at least tolerable

 

[mosesburb]

I have an aversion to swamp ass, so I have been waiting for the weather to become at least tolerable

Wuss. Hey, it was only 108* today, did you take advantage of the colder weather??

I had done the window/vent window weatherstripping on the drivers side awhile back and with this and that it took all day, so I had been successfully putting off doing the passenger side since. Well, I figured today is the day. The only problem is the passenger door has an issue that the driver door did not. It has some minor damage around the upper hinge area:

I figured, no problem half an hour to get the door off, an hour of welding, half an hour back on, boom, done. Simple. Right. As soon as I grabbed one of the upper hinge bolts and it turned but didn't loosen up, I knew I was in for a long day.

I finally got the upper hinge bolts out. One hole was completely galled out. Then the fun started. Unfortunately I did not photo-document my misery, so a quick blurb will have to suffice. The pic I really wish I would have taken was when I cleaned the area to start welding and found the whole are was spider-webbed with cracks--a few pretty good ones. Oof, the day just got a bit longer. Now, most of that big perimeter crak in the pic I did with the MIG, while most of the smaller spider-web cracks I did with TIG. I used over three feet of 1/16" TIG rod welding up all those little cracks. I probably would not have paid any attention to it other than I had to grab a fresh piece before I was done and thought holy cow, that seems like a lot of filler for some sheetmetal cracks. All of this welding ended up taking a few hours with all of the welding and cooling and welding and cooling and welding....

Anyways, I got it done and welded up the galled hole to drill a new hole and tap some fresh threads into it. That all went well until I couldn't fine my 3/8-24 tap. Tore the place up--couldn't find it. Called a neighbor, he couldn't remember who he lent his set to. Finally ended up putting everything away just so I could go to the store and buy another one to finish my day.

So I got the tap and cut the threads and blew some paint on it. It turned out pretty good. I did not get carried away grinding down the welds that were not under the hinge as I figured the less heat and thinning of the base metal the better.

This is what I ended up with:

It works very well now and only has one thud when it closes--not two.

So, after all of that, I ran out of time/gumption to do the window weatherstrip. Probably tomorrow.....

 

[mtnman]

Famous last words.... this should only take a couple of hours to fix.......Happens to me ALL the time

 

[mosesburb]

Two days in a row of progress. Wow. Well today went a helluva lot better than yesterday. All I had to do was pull the glass and the vent window asm out of the door and re-weatherstrip them and put a different piece of glass back in (while it sat in my driveway for years, somewhere along the way, I either ground some steel too close or welded too close and got some sparks or spatter on it and pitted the glass).

Everything came apart great except the lower screws for the vent window behind the door panel. Sometime in this truck's past someone put large sheetmetal screws instead of 1/4-20 screws. One of these sheetmetal screws took the welded nut with it, so I did have to do some welding today. Anyways, everything went very well compared to yesterday and within a couple hours I was done. Wow, this leaves me time for another problem.

Yesterday, after I got the door hung and adjusted, I had something to repair in the kitchen and I needed some small sheetmetal screws for it. My boy and I jump in the truck and head over to the store to pick up an assortment pack of them. We get what we need and go back out to the truck and hit the key to have nothing happen. Nothing. No click, no rrrrr, nothing. Now, I know I was getting power down there because I could hear a relay that triggers bulb checks in the dash during cranking, cycling with the key. Well, WTF?? Just then a truckload (literally) of dudes pull up next to me and ask if it has a diesel motor in it. I said it did when I parked it, but it has nothing in it now. The driver offered a jump start, but I told him the batteries were fine. I said I was going to go in and buy a hammer. He said he had one and let me use it. I had my boy hit the key when I told him to and just barely touched the starter with the hammer and it cranked right up. We chatted for a few and I gave them the hammer back and we headed home. We went out to dinner after that and it worked fine--no problems at all.

Well, ironically, the last time I ordered from Geno's I ordered a heavy duty contact kit for the starter for no reason. I figured if I needed one I'd have one. Well how about that. Now all I have to do is find it. I actually walked right to it and after my easy day, I dropped the starter out and swapped the contacts. The replacements (left) are substantially larger than the originals (right):

The kit also comes with a replacement plunger that has a heavier contact ring and a stouter spring on it. I got it all put back together and reinstalled. It seems to work fine, but it was only that one time that it didn't so I hope that is what the problem was. We'll see. I did install a hammer under the seat, just in case.

 

[lectric80]

Pretty common problem like that is a bad spot on the comm in the motor itself. By tapping with a hammer it will move past the bad spot and the brushes will get good contact and work great. I would check the winding and comm for safety sake, as this issue is usually not the solenoid.

 

[Chevy305]

I've seen this happen on some caterpillar engines that I've worked on.

 

[mosesburb]

Pretty common problem like that is a bad spot on the comm in the motor itself. By tapping with a hammer it will move past the bad spot and the brushes will get good contact and work great. I would check the winding and comm for safety sake, as this issue is usually not the solenoid.

Normally, I would completely agree with that, but there was no click to indicate that the solenoid was working. Normally I get the hammer out when I hear a click and nothing else, but this one had nothing happening at all. So I figured when I tapped it, it freed up the sticky solenoid as opposed to the typical bad spot on the motor as the solenoid was not functioning at that time. These starters have been known to have sticky solenoids, so I figured I would try the contacts first.

I've seen this happen on some caterpillar engines that I've worked on.

What was that on the Cats??

 

[lectric80]

Ah ok, that makes sense then.

 

[MaxPF]

Wuss. Hey, it was only 108* today, did you take advantage of the colder weather??

Yup, I changed out the solenoid that parallels my batteries while cranking. This past Saturday I pulled the trans and oil pan intending to replace a leaky rear main seal. Turns out the seal wasn't leaking It gave me a chance to re-seal the oil pan and replace the throw out bearing that I f**ked up when I was making the collar it rides on. Anyway, the new bearing works great - oil pan still leaks though

 

[mosesburb]

Yup, I changed out the solenoid that parallels my batteries while cranking. This past Saturday I pulled the trans and oil pan intending to replace a leaky rear main seal. Turns out the seal wasn't leaking It gave me a chance to re-seal the oil pan and replace the throw out bearing that I f**ked up when I was making the collar it rides on. Anyway, the new bearing works great - oil pan still leaks though

Wow. Really?? All of that stuff?? So why does the pan still leak??

 

[Chevy305]

What was that on the Cats??

Not sure exactly, I would get the solenoid click but no motor turn. So I tapped the casing with a hammer and have yet to have a problem with either Cat starter. These are 3400 series motors fyi. Being in a marine environment, the port engineer wanted them changed out and rebuilt regardless.

 

[mosesburb]

Well, no real big update right now, but I filled the tank on Thursday and got a new high mileage to report....

20.88!! Yessir, almost 21mpg in town, stop and go, front and rear A/C cranked, fan clutch on, rush hour--pretty much everything that will kill mileage numbers and I got 20.88.
Woo-hoo!!

Well that was wierd. After this tank I got 15.11 out of the next tank and 16.49 out of the one after that. The conditions they were achieved under were no different from the high mileage tank and I always buy my fuel from the same vendor. I could tell from the gauge that fuel was being burned faster than previous, but I was not driving it any differently or anywhere differently--everything same-same. After the second tank I was beginning to wonder what was up as a five mile drop in mileage is quite significant and could indicate a component issue or something failing.

So this last tank of fuel which ended today, seemed to burn at a slower rate than the two previous tanks. I filled up on the way home and lo-and-behold, I was rewarded with a new high mileage--21.66!! Almost 22mpg!! I felt that this was going to be a good one, but I am wondering what was up with the last two as they are complete anomalies in regards to previous mileages of late. Strange. Anyways, I have a new record and I am liking it. Hopefully it will be followed by a similar tank next time. We'll see.

 

[y5mgisi]

huge truck + monster power = 20+mpg! Sweet!

 

[MaxPF]

Wow. Really?? All of that stuff?? So why does the pan still leak??

Im not sure its the pan, actually. I think ity may be coming from the plug in the oil cooler housing, and running down along the pan rail to the rear where it finally drips off. Waiting for a cool day to fix that...