Great pics. Thanks for takings us along for the ride.
CK5
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The Story Of A Cummins Suburban (Lots Of Pics)
- Thread starter mosesburb
- Start date
Thanks!! Glad you liked it!!
Thanks!! Yeah the mileage is pretty ok considering what we were doing to it. I haven't sat down with my stack-o-gas receipts, but I did check a couple tanks while we were on the road, just to judge whether our cruising speed was worth the extra money in fuel and on one tank that saw no speed less than 80mph, it was somewhere in the 22mpg range. That blew my mind when I saw that. But, if there was a 22mpg tank or two, there was a lot more less than 19 to get the average down to the 19ish we ended up with. Still, I can't complain, because if it still had the 454 in it we would have been absolutely ecstatic to see a 14 or 15mpg tank somewhere along the way.
14 in a suburban with a 454? Where did you see continuous down hill runs that long? Steep downhill at that, I would guess at least 4% at a minimum...
Congrats, and love the reports! This weekend I spent all my time and energy (pain) on house paint prep. <sigh> Haven't even had a chance to try out the new TIG since I got it running.
I always enjoy the ride!! 
Thanks for taking us!
Thanks for taking us!
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Nick, do you know the model number to the unit you installed? Or if not, about how much a model like you have costs new?
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Something like this one?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Webasto-The...Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a33968208&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Webasto-The...Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a33968208&vxp=mtr
That was in reference to my 22mpg tank. I would never have expected the 14mpg out of a 454 on a normal day in this thing, nor would I have expected the 22mpg out of the Cummins on the day I did it. I was honestly expecting low teens for the speed and terrain. Good thing you didn't ride along........
Very cool!! This is a tiny amount of payback for all of the work you put into the crazy-ass parts I dreamed up for this thing. I probably *could* have done it without your help, but it would not have been anywhere near as cool.
Wow, all that and you still had time to hang out at my house in spirit
.I always enjoy the ride!!
Thanks for taking us!
Anytime!! You are a great passenger. You don't tell me 50 miles after a fuel stop that you have to use the can!!
That looks similar, but the picture of the information tag is too blurry to read. If you can find out the information on the tag, I could tell you for sure. I don't know what the price of a new one from an actual distributor is, but when I was shopping I was finding them new from $850-$1300. If you are shopping, make sure you get EVERYTHING!! Every little piece not included will cost a bunch of money, so it is worth the time to verify contents before purchase.
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Gotcha. I should also ask, Are you happy with the setup? Do you feel its worth the $1000?
Do you ever run your heater when you are running down the road?
Martin
Martin
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Your talking to Moses right?
You're talking to me, right?
Yeah, I was asking about his auxiliary heater. I use to install ESBAR brand heaters in semis quite a bit. I was just curious if he used it to heat his Suburban when driving down the road. I would assume it would help heat that big Suburban.
Martin
Yes, I am very pleased with the setup. My only issue is of my own design and I have plans to correct it. The issue is my fan setup. It does fine keeping the truck warm, but warming up a cold interior is a bit much to ask of the computer fan. I'm going to hook the Webasto controller up to the main blower motor as well, with a switch, so when it is real cold out the main blower motor will come on as well as the rear unit. That way if it's not too cold out I can run the rear heater occasionally to keep the chill out of the interior, but if it is going to be cold out I can flip a switch and the main blower motor will come on as well. The Webasto puts out some crazy amount of hot water, so that will keep the truck nice and warm even in cold temps.
For what I'm using it for, I'd say yes. I paid a lot less than that for mine, but I had to buy stuff to adapt it to my truck, spend a bunch of time removing it from the truck that I bought it from and a bunch of time figuring out how it works, rewiring some of it and a bunch of time installing it in my truck and I got a used unit with who knows how many hours on it. With all of that, I would have probably been bucks (and time) ahead paying up for a new unit that had not already been installed and had instructions with it.
Now, if I was just using it to warm up the motor when it is cold out as opposed to using it for cabin heat primarily, I'd say no--BUT, I live in Phoenix. If I lived up north or back east, it would once again be worth it. Even if I had it and didn't use it that much, I doubt I'd ever be saying that I wished I had never installed it.
I have not used it while driving. The Cummins puts out a ton of heat (very quickly too), so I have not had the need to use it while driving (keep in mind I don't go where it is THAT cold). Now I do run the rear heater fan occasionally to supplement the main blower motor without running the Webasto unit. Kind of like running the rear a/c in summer to supplement the main unit up front. There is a lot of air inside that interior, so running the fan on the rear heater core helps even out the interior temp front to rear.
Gearing Question
I have read through this thread several times now, and it has been good reading each time. You have done a remarkable job on each phase of the project, and I have gained several ideas for my own projects. Thanks for the inspiration. Especially all the trip pictures. They are a good reminder to get my rig out of the driveway more often.
I do have a question about gearing, though. If I remember correctly you said you're running 3.73 gears, but I can't tell how large the tires are (it's probably buried in the thread somewhere, but I couldn't find it).
As your rig is seeing both highway driving and trail driving, do you ever wish you had higher gearing for the highway miles that you drive, or do you ever wish you had lower gearing for the trail miles that you drive, or has 3.73 turned out to be a good overall ratio?
I have read through this thread several times now, and it has been good reading each time.
You have done a remarkable job on each phase of the project, and I have gained several ideas for my own projects. Thanks for the inspiration. Especially all the trip pictures. They are a good reminder to get my rig out of the driveway more often.I do have a question about gearing, though. If I remember correctly you said you're running 3.73 gears, but I can't tell how large the tires are (it's probably buried in the thread somewhere, but I couldn't find it).
As your rig is seeing both highway driving and trail driving, do you ever wish you had higher gearing for the highway miles that you drive, or do you ever wish you had lower gearing for the trail miles that you drive, or has 3.73 turned out to be a good overall ratio?
I have read through this thread several times now, and it has been good reading each time.
Thanks!! That was my original intentions for posting my trip pictures
.It does have 3.73's now. The tires are 33" tall. The gearing is the best mix for what I do. The 4.10's I had were just too much. It actually feels like it accelerates better with the 3.73's than it did with the 4.10's. The 4.10's just spun the motor too much without working it. The 3.73's use the abundance of torque that the motor makes down low rather than making the motor spin to get it up into a higher power band. On the highway I really like this gear and tire combo. I do occasionally wish I had some more gear on the trail. Not very often mind you, but it does happen. I think if I had a NP241 with the 2.72 low range or the Lo-Max 205 it would be perfect, but it doesn't concern me enough to actually do anything about it.
Thanks for the info! I will keep that in mind as I am building my next rig.
Whatever happened to the "We The People" decal on the windshield? Did that disappear after the hail damage episode? It looked neat while it was there...
Well, it looks like I have some unwanted free-time on my hands here so I guess it's time to catch up a little. Things have been going on and time has been tight so no updates have been given. After having to search out this thread and wondering where to start, I wandered through some picture files and found some stuff that had not been posted so I figured I'd start with those first and see where it goes from there (or how long it takes for my PB to meltdown).
This trip happened a couple years back. I took the usual few hundred, but somewhere along the way some setting on my camera got bumped and the pictures turned out with a horrible cyan color. I was able to correct a lot of it out, but it took forever, really didn't look right, and I actually never finished, so I bagged the trip report. It was actually the trip that illustrated the need for a more reliable method of heating for the cabin of the truck while parked. It was early October in 2012. We headed up to an area a little bit south of Williams AZ for a day of wilderness first aid. The pics of that portion are not too exciting, but a lot was learned. After that we retired up the hill a little to an old cinder pit and set up camp for the night. This was the night that I had so many different problems with the propane heating of the truck. So after a chilly night, we packed up and set out for a little town called Parks over near Flagstaff. I needed to pick up a winch from a member up there whose wife had picked it up for me in Flagstaff a while back.
One neat thing about that town is it is on a old alignment of Route 66. There is quite a bit of old 66 still in Northern Arizona. The longest remaining stretch runs between Seligman and Kingman (covered in a previous post), but with a little investigation, you can run most of the way from Flagstaff to the California border on the old road. It won't be the most direct, nor the quickest, but a lot of it is still there. Williams AZ was the last town to be bypassed by I-40 in late 1983. October I think.
Route 66 near Parks:
Right near here is a very old alignment of 66. Looking back at the truck you can see it off to the left as a void between the trees:
It looks pretty obvious as to where the road went and that it was a lot narrower then, but it is a little deceiving as shown in this pic:
The trees that look like they frame the road are actually growing on a concrete bridge from the original alignment. A shot of the original pavement:
So we picked up our winch and had to decide what to do. I asked my boy where he wanted to camp that night and he said Jerome. With that we decided to head back to Williams and head south from there running dirt instead of pavement. I decided it was a great day to run some 66 back to Williams as we are not on a time schedule. On our way we pass some neat old roadside history.
An old gas station/grocery store:
Along the way we pass an old "wayside". I haven't seen a wayside in probably 30 years. It wasn't fenced off or gated, so I swung in to take a look. It had the old vault/pit toilet house (still open and maintained) and some picnic benches here and there. Pretty neat slice of history of how the modern "super rest areas" began.
Gratuitous truck shot at the wayside:
A neat look down the narrow two lane back towards Parks:
This is a much lesser-used portion that was paved at one point, but probably fell into disrepair and was deemed less expensive to maintain as gravel than the cost of repaving it. Just a guess though. I do believe it to be an original alignment because of one of the tell-tale 66 identifiers--the telephone poles.
So we got down into Williams which is a really neat town to wander around--which we did, but the pics are really bad and the color correction really didn't turn out well, so I'll hold off on those for another trip. Just south of Williams is a neat stone masonry dam:
It doesn't take too long to get off of pavement going this way:
This is coming into the lowest elevation of the road. Nice looking scenery here:
This is not too far out of Jerome. A view across the valley:
We got into Jerome and grabbed some grub at a diner and then headed south out of Jerome to find a place to camp. We headed down a trail that I have wanted to check out for years. We ended up widening it for a while until we found a good spot to pull off of it. That night was significantly warmer than the previous night. We packed up the next morning , went back into Jerome and did some wandering. I can neither admit nor deny wandering through some neat areas outside of town. I took some great pics, but those turned out horrible too. We ended up heading back home mid-afternoon. Other than freezing our hinders off in the truck the first night, it was a great time.
This trip happened a couple years back. I took the usual few hundred, but somewhere along the way some setting on my camera got bumped and the pictures turned out with a horrible cyan color. I was able to correct a lot of it out, but it took forever, really didn't look right, and I actually never finished, so I bagged the trip report. It was actually the trip that illustrated the need for a more reliable method of heating for the cabin of the truck while parked. It was early October in 2012. We headed up to an area a little bit south of Williams AZ for a day of wilderness first aid. The pics of that portion are not too exciting, but a lot was learned. After that we retired up the hill a little to an old cinder pit and set up camp for the night. This was the night that I had so many different problems with the propane heating of the truck. So after a chilly night, we packed up and set out for a little town called Parks over near Flagstaff. I needed to pick up a winch from a member up there whose wife had picked it up for me in Flagstaff a while back.
One neat thing about that town is it is on a old alignment of Route 66. There is quite a bit of old 66 still in Northern Arizona. The longest remaining stretch runs between Seligman and Kingman (covered in a previous post), but with a little investigation, you can run most of the way from Flagstaff to the California border on the old road. It won't be the most direct, nor the quickest, but a lot of it is still there. Williams AZ was the last town to be bypassed by I-40 in late 1983. October I think.
Route 66 near Parks:
Right near here is a very old alignment of 66. Looking back at the truck you can see it off to the left as a void between the trees:
It looks pretty obvious as to where the road went and that it was a lot narrower then, but it is a little deceiving as shown in this pic:
The trees that look like they frame the road are actually growing on a concrete bridge from the original alignment. A shot of the original pavement:
So we picked up our winch and had to decide what to do. I asked my boy where he wanted to camp that night and he said Jerome. With that we decided to head back to Williams and head south from there running dirt instead of pavement. I decided it was a great day to run some 66 back to Williams as we are not on a time schedule. On our way we pass some neat old roadside history.
An old gas station/grocery store:
Along the way we pass an old "wayside". I haven't seen a wayside in probably 30 years. It wasn't fenced off or gated, so I swung in to take a look. It had the old vault/pit toilet house (still open and maintained) and some picnic benches here and there. Pretty neat slice of history of how the modern "super rest areas" began.
Gratuitous truck shot at the wayside:
A neat look down the narrow two lane back towards Parks:
This is a much lesser-used portion that was paved at one point, but probably fell into disrepair and was deemed less expensive to maintain as gravel than the cost of repaving it. Just a guess though. I do believe it to be an original alignment because of one of the tell-tale 66 identifiers--the telephone poles.
So we got down into Williams which is a really neat town to wander around--which we did, but the pics are really bad and the color correction really didn't turn out well, so I'll hold off on those for another trip. Just south of Williams is a neat stone masonry dam:
It doesn't take too long to get off of pavement going this way:
This is coming into the lowest elevation of the road. Nice looking scenery here:
This is not too far out of Jerome. A view across the valley:
We got into Jerome and grabbed some grub at a diner and then headed south out of Jerome to find a place to camp. We headed down a trail that I have wanted to check out for years. We ended up widening it for a while until we found a good spot to pull off of it. That night was significantly warmer than the previous night. We packed up the next morning , went back into Jerome and did some wandering. I can neither admit nor deny wandering through some neat areas outside of town. I took some great pics, but those turned out horrible too. We ended up heading back home mid-afternoon. Other than freezing our hinders off in the truck the first night, it was a great time.
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Good fun as usual!
again!
Jealous as always.
Martin
Martin
