The Story Of A Cummins Suburban (Lots Of Pics)

[mosesburb]

Interesting that it was bent enough for you to see with the naked eye! Also interesting that you hated your Detroit so much.

Yeah, something just didn't look right and the digital protractor verified my non-calibrated eye's readings.

The Detroit is a love/hate deal. It's always on but disengages when turning and not on the gas--or so they say. The maneuvering of the truck in a parking lot was terrible. It would bang and clank the driveline and shake the truck etc. Driving down the road, out of the blue, it would let out a big ol' boom that initially scared the crap out vehicle occupants, but shortly became accepted as normal operation. At first I thought something was wrong with it, but after doing research on it I found that is just what they do. Switching to the ARB got rid of all of that and it drives absolutely beautifully now. The first drive after installing the ARB was to a frozen custard joint and pulling into a parking spot my non-automotively inclined wife noticed immediately how the banging and clanking of the driveline was gone. So did I for that matter. Maybe it's better with an automatic. Don't know, don't have any of those in the fleet. I do know I'm glad it's gone.

 

[82355]

Weird, that sounds more like my Lock Right. My Detroits don't behave near as badly.

Maybe it's just because my Lock Right is so noticeable, I don't notice the Detroits.

Martin

 

[mosesburb]

Weird, that sounds more like my Lock Right. My Detroits don't behave near as badly.

Maybe it's just because my Lock Right is so noticeable, I don't notice the Detroits.

Martin

How odd. I put a Lockrite in a buddy's M880 Dodge years ago and that thing was smooth as glass. It could be heard when turning sharply on hard ground, but its road manners were fine. Nothing like the Detroit. Larry's acts the same way mine did, but I don't think he drives his enough to justify swapping it out.

 

[mosesburb]

Soon after I installed the front ARB I learned that my air fitting into the front diff was going to be a big problem because of clearance (or lack thereof) to my ridiculous engine crossmember. A couple options were available. I could rework, or even better, remake the crossmember. While probably the best idea, it requires the most work and I really don't want to, so that is last in line. Another option was to bring the fitting out parallel to the diff housing instead of perpendicular to it. This has potential, but how to do it. I had it all figured out and was talking with my buddy Russ and of course he had a way to improve upon it in such a way that required his skill, time and machines. My idea was easier, but as usual, his was better....

He made a fitting out of stainless that mimics the ARB line fitting that threads into the bulkhead fitting, but instead of pointing straight up, it will point off to one side. Then he made a -03 JIC male fitting to fit into the other part. I stopped by his shop one evening to test fit the first piece into the housing and mark what angle I wanted the -03 fitting to come off at so as to miss hitting everything around it. Once that location was known, he bored a hole to accept the -03 fitting:

I silver brazed them together and ended up with this little jewel:

I was able to install it for maximum clearance around the vent line:

It looks like it hits and or touches everything, but it actually misses EVERYTHING!! It fits perfect and solved the problem beautifully!! Maybe I should discuss my crossmember situation with Russ and stoke the fire of creativity when he comes up with his great idea of how to improve the part....... Where's my phone??

 

[82355]

Strange. Yeah, I have a Lock Right in the 14bff in the rear of my 1982 K30 3+3, and it does exactly like you say. Especially the random unloading going down the highway. It would scare people that were riding with me. They thought something seriously broke.

My 1990 Blazer has a set of CUCV axles, and I have been driving an M1008 CUCV lately. I don't notice the Detroit in either of them.

Martin

 

[BadDog]

<beep> The number you have called is no longer in service...

 

[azblazer]

Nice work Russ. How are ya these days?
Uncle Nick. When i did that 6 months at the Kenworth bodyshop down your way we would measure side to side on a suspect axle from the middle of the tread in 3 spots. That usually told us how far out the housing was and how much Art was going to have to port o power it to get it back in spec.

DW

 

[BadDog]

Thanks. Not to derail Nick's thread, but basically hobbling around like a 90 year man. Legs are shot, can't stand or walk for long, so I don't do much anymore. Just getting old too soon. I hope things are well for you.

 

[mosesburb]

Back in June my buddy Lance and his janke hooptie and my family in our Suburban decided on an nice day trip up to Crown King via dirt. It is a nice, relatively easy trail and offers some very nice scenery. It all went well for a while until the mechanical mayhem began. My truck started running a bit warm which is something it never does. After that, Lances truck was running so lean that it was making no power and running warm itself then the battery launched itself out of the tray and ended up laying upside down on the motor melting the negative cable apart.

While we were stopped for something I noticed my truck had an odd sound coming from the engine compartment. It was a kind of ringing sound. Well, after some amount of time I determined it to be my Horton electromagnetic fan drive. Something was wrong with it and it was engaging and disengaging rapidly. I finally pulled the electrical connector to turn it off completely. This created a couple problems. One was the A/C had to stay off. No biggie for me and the boy, but I like to run it to keep my wife comfortable on the hot, dusty trails. The other problem is the electric fans will not keep the motor cool on a hot day like it was while pulling hills. This trail is almost completely uphill from south to north--the way we were running it. We were able to keep going and occasionally stopping to plug the fan clutch back in to cool the motor down while sitting still. For some odd reason it would still function sitting still. We'd cool the motor down, then climb the hill some more. We finally made it to Crown King and had a late lunch at the bar in town there. We went out the easy way and the electric fans were enough to keep it cool without stopping (even with the A/C on). We made it home later than anticipated, but intact, with nothing blown up.

So, what happened?? After much investigation, I found that where the wires enter the coil housing they had some damaged insulation from getting into the fan a few years back. I had repaired the wires, but I didn't realize at the time the wires had been damaged at that place. The wire/s were broken and *just* making contact (occasionally--thus the ringing sound).

I started researching repair options and I quickly found there are exactly NONE. Nobody fixes these things. I had read that Horton will service them so I called them and got a very nice, helpful lady on the phone who explained that they do nothing to fix them. Horton will fix or sell rebuild kits for their pneumatic fan drives all day long, but not these. They will sell a new one, but this one has been discontinued for many years (long before I bought my NOS unit). There was really nothing she could do to help. I found a place that had an old Horton fan drive that I could check out and buy the piece I need, but the wires were damaged just like mine, so that was no good. I found a manufacturer's sticker and part number on my clutch and called a motion industries establishment with the information. He went so far as to contact the manufacturer but found that it is completely proprietary and only sold to Horton. Uuuugh!! I finally found a brand new clutch assembly on the ebays and got it for a very reasonable price. It was not the same as what I had, but I was rolling the dice that I could make the coil work with my clutch. It turned out that I could. I pulled the coil off the old one and installed the coil from the new one:

So while all of this was going on (several weeks), we had other trails to run so I picked up a stock fan clutch from Dodge to hold me over until I found all the aforementioned parts. I had picked up an aftermarket Hayden fan clutch, but I really hate aftermarket viscous fan drives. The clutch on the left is the OEM Dodge unit and the one one the right is the aftermarket Hayden unit. The differences are quite apparent:

It worked good, but reminded me how much I love the Horton. The Horton is on or it is off, no in-between. The stock unit is always on. Maybe just partially, but never completely free-spinning like the Horton. It makes more noise than the Horton and doesn't cool any better. I was ecstatic when I got my repaired Horton back on the motor.

 

[TREA18]

I like how you go about fixing things

But....You said a couple trail rides and I didn't see any scenic pictures or cool information about the history of Arizona.

 

[campfire]

I like how you go about fixing things

But....You said a couple trail rides and I didn't see any scenic pictures or cool information about the history of Arizona.

I concur.

 

[mosesburb]

I like how you go about fixing things

But....You said a couple trail rides and I didn't see any scenic pictures or cool information about the history of Arizona.

Thanks!! Yeah, I didn't take many pics on this trip as I was watching the temp gauge most of the time. I'll have to look and see what I have for pics of the next trip. That one was mostly hiking. Yes, hiking--as in not driving, but walking across terrain. Very steep terrain. Terrain so steep it was easier going up it than going down it. It reminded me that I like driving.

I concur.

Yeah, yeah....

 

[TREA18]

Thanks!! Yeah, I didn't take many pics on this trip as I was watching the temp gauge most of the time. I'll have to look and see what I have for pics of the next trip. That one was mostly hiking. Yes, hiking--as in not driving, but walking across terrain. Very steep terrain. Terrain so steep it was easier going up it than going down it. It reminded me that I like driving.



Yeah, yeah....

No problem. I just really like the South West and West for that matter, and the pictures and info you share is really cool Plus the truck repairs equals one of my favorite threads.

 

[mosesburb]

No problem. I just really like the South West and West for that matter, and the pictures and info you share is really cool Plus the truck repairs equals one of my favorite threads.

Wow, thanks!!

So here you go, this was the next trip after the Crown King run that my fan clutch failed on and Lance's battery went on its own adventure. We decided to head up to the Workman Creek area. We ran the area a couple years ago and thought it would be a good run again, so with a few adjustments to the plan, we were off.

One of the changes was the direction of travel. We decided since it was hot out to run it backward so as to get into elevation and cooler temperatures quicker. My buddy Lance's Suburban does not have air conditioning yet and with his wife in the truck, getting to cooler temps as quickly as possible would be a good thing.

Seriously, watch out for them:

Neat bridge on the Apache Trail in the Superstitions. If you look under it you can see an old abutment on the left side:

At the end of the Apache Trail we are greeted by Roosevelt Dam:

We turned onto the road heading to our destination when Lance came across the radio with something that sounded like "skateboards". I hit him back with a "what??" I didn't get a response from him, but in a moment was greeted by this sight:

These guys were coming down the hill at a velocity best measured in Mach units. Damn near took the lead nut-job out. There was four or five on boards and a Prius following with a camera filming the stupidity. Never have encountered that before...

We went up Workman Creek and stopped at one of the radioactive day-use areas to have some lunch. It was a nice quiet area with plenty of shade. Gratuitous truck pic from lunch:

Interesting bug hanging out on the bottom of the chair:

One interesting thing about having the trucks out in the wilderness is seeing how bugs react to them. My orange truck is a virtual beacon to bugs, bees and wasps. It is kind of neat in a way. While sitting at lunch a butterfly was trying to get something off of Lance's side marker lens:

Gratuitous truck pic from up by the falls:

A view from up on the fire lookout tower:

All in all it was a nice trip. We came back the next day while Lance and his wife decided to camp in a little shaded area to head back in the morning before it got too hot out. They made it back and I think the trip moved making the AC functional up on the priority list a few notches.

 

[campfire]

A view from up on the fire lookout tower:

All in all it was a nice trip. We came back the next day while Lance and his wife decided to camp in a little shaded area to head back in the morning before it got too hot out. They made it back and I think the trip moved making the AC functional up on the priority list a few notches.

Awesome report! Thanks for sharing!

 

[y5mgisi]

Thanks Indeed! So now that you have had the m55s for a while, are they all you dreamed they would be?

 

[mosesburb]

Awesome report! Thanks for sharing!

Glad you liked it!!

Thanks Indeed! So now that you have had the m55s for a while, are they all you dreamed they would be?

Yeah, pretty much. It took several runs to find any marring of the sidewalls or any pieces of tread removed and at that, there is almost none of either to speak of. They seem to drive well enough. They are not too noisy. There is obviously some sound off of them, but not a full-on mud tire drone. They seem to handle well on dry and wet roads. They will self clean in mud if spun fast enough. Traction in mud is not a full-on mud tire, but still respectable and far better than the BFG All Terrains. That being said, I did sink it to the axles in mud a couple weeks ago, but I don't think it was the fault of the tires....

 

[PGG]

That is one awesome machine you built there.
How many offers to buy that do you get?
I would be a lot if they new what you had in it.
PG

 

[mosesburb]

That is one awesome machine you built there.
How many offers to buy that do you get?
I would be a lot if they new what you had in it.
PG

Thanks!!

I get a few once in awhile. Usually asking if I'd ever sell it. I tell them everything is for sale--for the right price. One of the best ones was in Kalispell Montana, a guy comes up to me in a parking lot and asks a few of the typical questions. He then proceeds to offer (2), count them, TWO, ford expeditions in trade for my Suburban. I laughed when his head tilted in confusion when I said "only two?? That's only enough to get me to the Wyoming state line, then I need more to get home from there...." He might have actually been serious??

 

[BadDog]

I think you would be loosing out on that deal even in terms of scrap weight, much less being stuck with not one but TWO Fords. <shudder>