Looking for Older Truck

[Alexb2000]

If we are talking about the TTB (twin traction beam) suspension. Give me a solid axle and leafs or control arms and coils. Or a more conventional independent front suspension setup.

The TTB combines the unsprung weight of a solid axle, with the weakness of IFS. Its weird and I don't really like it.

Thanks for the heads up on the pre 1997 F250's. I think a late 80's or early 90's F250 is what I am going to wind up with. Unfortunately these ads suck but i'll give you an idea of what i'm looking at. I should be ready to buy in about two weeks. Have two vehicles right now and in the process of selling one.

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/4075761580.html

http://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/cto/4117567441.html
http://norfolk.craigslist.org/cto/4030466558.html

Of those choices I like the last one EFI, 5speed vs. 4 (big item), 351 from jasper.

 

[dell30rb]

Of those choices I like the last one EFI, 5speed vs. 4 (big item), 351 from jasper.

I agree. I hope he still has it by the time I am ready to buy it.

 

[denverpilot]

There's one parked down the road with a For Sale sign on it but since I'm not in the market, I haven't stopped to look. If you want a truck from a dry climate I could stop and shoot photos.

 

[dell30rb]

Nate, if the truck is in really good shape and is a good deal, I might be interested in it. Sure, the ticket to denver and gas to drive it to NC would blow the budget but I don't care.

I'm looking at this one on Sunday if I can get enough free time to travel down there. Already talked to the owner.


Ext cab 5 speed, EFI with the 460 V8. Pros - has winch bumper, 5 speed and EFI Cons- Prefer the 5.8l motor
http://florencesc.craigslist.org/cto/4158911666.html

 

[denverpilot]

Argh. This post got lost in the flood of posts. I'll see if it's still there. Or did you find something?

 

[dell30rb]

After about a month of active looking and several test drives...

I ended up with a '94 GMC Suburban 2500. 4x4 with a 350. 250,000 miles, transmission has 75k on it. All the maintenance was recorded and everything is up to date. No leaks I could find, drives well. Truck is clean and rust free. Good tires, heat and AC work. I negotiated a deal for $1800, picking it up this evening.

I wanted a pickup but I could not find anything decent in this price range that was near me. Everything I looked at was pretty much beat. This should serve me well, I need it to tow a utility trailer and a small skiff from time to time. Duck season is upon us! In the summer I might leave it at W75 so I have an airport car for weekends.

 

[Ted]

I find the Suburbans are really excellent to have. The 3/4-ton is a good choice - they're built tougher. I'm not a fan of 1/2-ton trucks. 350 TBI is slow but reliable.

 

[SCCutler]

Looks good. My Suburban is only ten years and 160k old, drives like a new truck.

 

[dell30rb]

I find the Suburbans are really excellent to have. The 3/4-ton is a good choice - they're built tougher. I'm not a fan of 1/2-ton trucks. 350 TBI is slow but reliable.

It wasn't exactly a screamer, but it drove okay I'm not hauling a large boat or anything, and the 350 is supposedly lower maintenance and definitely better gas mileage than the 454.

I think its got the 14 bolt rear end and a stronger transmission than the 1500 series. I'll probably put a temp gauge on the transmission.

I've got some work to do, but not much. The heat/AC works but the blend doors make some racket after I shut the truck off. The thermostat is also stuck open and it wouldn't get up over 150 degrees. Steering has too much slop and I need to adjust the steering box. That's pretty much it.

 

[N747JB]

For $1800.00 if it lasts much over a year, you've gotten your money's worth! Hard to get anything decent under $5K

It wasn't exactly a screamer, but it drove okay I'm not hauling a large boat or anything, and the 350 is supposedly lower maintenance and definitely better gas mileage than the 454.

I think its got the 14 bolt rear end and a stronger transmission than the 1500 series. I'll probably put a temp gauge on the transmission.

I've got some work to do, but not much. The heat/AC works but the blend doors make some racket after I shut the truck off. The thermostat is also stuck open and it wouldn't get up over 150 degrees. Steering has too much slop and I need to adjust the steering box. That's pretty much it.

 

[AggieMike88]

After about a month of active looking and several test drives...

I ended up with a '94 GMC Suburban 2500. 4x4 with a 350. 250,000 miles, transmission has 75k on it. All the maintenance was recorded and everything is up to date. No leaks I could find, drives well. Truck is clean and rust free. Good tires, heat and AC work. I negotiated a deal for $1800, picking it up this evening.

I would safely bet that having the mx logs was significant buying point for you.

I wish keeping logs on our motor cars like we do for our aircraft was more common.

 

[dell30rb]

I would safely bet that having the mx logs was significant buying point for you.

I wish keeping logs on our motor cars like we do for our aircraft was more common.

I keep good logs on all of my vehicles. Due to the good price of this one, it wouldn't have mattered to me. But it is really nice to see that the diffs have had the fluid changed, transfercase too... many people neglect that stuff.

Going off on a tangent here but slightly related. Now I am dealing with a warranty issue on my girlfriend's 2011 Equinox 4cyl 74k miles, she bought it new. Long story short she took it in to a dealer for an intermittent rattle at least twice in the last year. They couldn't find anything wrong with. Then, last friday the timing chain snapped on start-up and pistons hit valves, motor is destroyed.

The dealer is making her run around on a wild goose chase for all of the oil change receipts for a warranty claim. It was regularly serviced and I do have the last receipt of an oil change done at 69,500 miles. Would be a lot easier if she kept all of the receipts though. Anyway i'm headed down there this afternoon (its an hour out of town) and I might just get it towed to a more local dealer that has serviced the car in the past. I don't really appreciate the goose chase. The dealer claims no oil was showing on the dipstick when they checked it. I don't really see what this has to do with the warranty claim, if it burned all of the oil out from an oil change 4,500 miles ago its got a problem. I'd think they could scan the ECU to see if an oil pressure warning was ever triggered. Also look in the engine for signs of starvation.

2 years ago a friend's new VW passat TDI had the fuel pump break and release shards of metal all in the fuel system. $10,000 repair and they wanted him to pay for it because they claimed he had put gas in the diesel tank. I went down there, made them give me a sample of the fuel and then had it analyzed by the NC DMV motor pool and sent them the results *it was fine*... and they covered it under warranty without any more problems.

 

[Ted]

For that year, it should be a 4L60E or 4L80E. I don't know if the 3/4 ton trucks had a 4L80E, but you can tell by the shape of the pan. It's a much better transmission. Right now I'm dealing with two 4L60E issues at around the 150k mark. One isn't locking up consistently but is otherwise fine, the other is having slight slippage/revving on the 2-3 shift when cold only.

 

[dell30rb]

For that year, it should be a 4L60E or 4L80E. I don't know if the 3/4 ton trucks had a 4L80E, but you can tell by the shape of the pan. It's a much better transmission. Right now I'm dealing with two 4L60E issues at around the 150k mark. One isn't locking up consistently but is otherwise fine, the other is having slight slippage/revving on the 2-3 shift when cold only.

I know the 4L60E is a bit of a weak one. My uncle had 2-3 suburbans over the years and averaged about 100,000 miles on a transmission.

From what I understand browsing through a few chevy forums, I can't say for sure which one I have until I crawl under there and look at it. FWIW i drove it for 15 minutes and it shifted fine, locked up nicely on the highway. Fluid looked fine.

I'll add a transmission temperature gauge anyway and add an external cooler if it runs even a little bit hot.

 

[Ted]

The 700R4/4L60E is a good transmission, but it is lighter duty job. I do think they made significant improvements, especially since the early models. It seems that if you tow regularly with one, you'll probably expect to not get the same life. 100k was a more typical number, but it seems that 150k or more is more common in newer models that aren't used as heavily.

 

[Dr. O]

The best thing about an old truck - especially one like the red truck on here with the big rusty steel bumper - is you can always make the turn into a line of heavy traffic. Watch for a shiny ego trip, Caddy/Beamer/etc. and wait till he's close then make a little rabbit jump towards him. When he sees 6000 pounds of rusty steel he will lock up the brakes and let you in. Might even wave and smile.

 

[SCCutler]

The best thing about an old truck - especially one like the red truck on here with the big rusty steel bumper - is you can always make the turn into a line of heavy traffic. Watch for a shiny ego trip, Caddy/Beamer/etc. and wait till he's close then make a little rabbit jump towards him. When he sees 6000 pounds of rusty steel he will lock up the brakes and let you in. Might even wave and smile.

Heh.

Never occurred to me that my Suburban could be intimidating. :wink2:

 

[denverpilot]

The best thing about an old truck - especially one like the red truck on here with the big rusty steel bumper - is you can always make the turn into a line of heavy traffic. Watch for a shiny ego trip, Caddy/Beamer/etc. and wait till he's close then make a little rabbit jump towards him. When he sees 6000 pounds of rusty steel he will lock up the brakes and let you in. Might even wave and smile.

ROFL. Works with airplanes too.

 

[denverpilot]

Congrats on the truck by the way. You got a good deal. We sold dad's '91 for double that and the guy was basically pushing the cash into my hands.

 

[dell30rb]

Congrats on the truck by the way. You got a good deal. We sold dad's '91 for double that and the guy was basically pushing the cash into my hands.

I may end up putting a motor into it eventually, though I can probably get a few years out of it. Its got 250k on the bottom end. Just had the valves done and head gasket. Oil pressure is within tolerance but a bit low. No knocking though and it does not appear to burn any oil.

 

[AggieMike88]

FYI; I have a few of the TBI (pre-96) 5.7L's available... Let me know if you desire a price quote. Long warranties are available. Also have a lower mile 96-99 5.7L somewhere in the warehouse...

On the Chevy's (and Ford and Dodge), try the vin decoder site, www.compnine.com. I use it daily to get details I need to help customers when they are not able to tell me what option is correct for their request. It might determine if you have the 4L80 or 4L60. Usually it was the 1/2-ton's had the 60's and the 1-ton had the 80. But the 3/4-ton did see both installed.

 

[Bill]

Watch for a shiny ego trip, Caddy/Beamer/etc. and wait till he's close then make a little rabbit jump towards him. When he sees 6000 pounds of rusty steel he will lock up the brakes and let you in. Might even wave and smile.

Hah! Learning to drive in the late 70's, Dad had this old ratty looking Chrysler Newport, a giant tank of a car. After learning to drive in the 'burbs, he took me to downtown PIT to learn to drive in rush hour afternoon traffic. I rememeber trying to merge from the northside onto the parkway to get across the fort pitt bridge and into the tunnel.

"Pick a nice car, aim for the front fender, and punch it. You'll get in"

Lesson learned!

 

[Ted]

I may end up putting a motor into it eventually, though I can probably get a few years out of it. Its got 250k on the bottom end. Just had the valves done and head gasket. Oil pressure is within tolerance but a bit low. No knocking though and it does not appear to burn any oil.

350s don't need much oil pressure. 10 psi at idle and 40 at 2,000 RPM is plenty. You can throw in thicker oil if needed, but I wouldn't invest too much. The heads seemed to be the weak point on those engines. More likely the suspension is shot, but again probably doesn't matter for what you do. $200 or so at Rock Auto should get you new Moog tie rods (inner + outer), pitman arm, and idler arm. Think they offer poly control arm bushings for those, too.

Or you could just drive it.

 

[dell30rb]

Ted you are right about the oil pressure.

However mine was reading about 5psi at a hot idle and maybe 30 at 2k rpm. Oil looks clean and the level is fine. I don't know what weight is in there. I checked the oil pressure sensor, it was obviously a new aftermarket sensor. Added half a quart of Lucas oil stabilizer. Now its running 15psi at idle and 40 on the highway.

Soon i'll change the oil and put a mechanical gauge on there to see what its actually running at. I got a tip from a chevy forum that aftermarket sensors tend to read low and that I should replace with an AC Delco unit. I prefer not to run additives in the engine or transmission as a band aid fix. However this motor has good power, runs smooth, no leaks and does not smoke or appear to burn any oil. If Lucas oil allows me to get another 50,000 miles out of it i'm cool with that.

Right now i'm searching for a pre-heater hose to go from the exhaust manifold to the air intake. Thought they ditched these when carburetors became a thing of the past. The guy who did the state inspection this morning pointed out it was missing. Only thing keeping it from passing.. d'oh

I haven't had a chance to look for the transmission type yet. Too busy last night fixing a side mirror and doing other minor things to get it ready for inspection. Right now my priority is getting it inspected, putting in a new thermostat... then moving on to getting rid of the steering slop, put some new shocks on it, and add a transmission cooler and temperature sensor.

FYI; I have a few of the TBI (pre-96) 5.7L's available... Let me know if you desire a price quote. Long warranties are available. Also have a lower mile 96-99 5.7L somewhere in the warehouse...

I'm not ready to give up on the old three fiddy yet but I might need some other used parts as I start wrenching on this thing. I'll send you a PM, I do need some knobs for the A/C and some other obscure small things. Maybe a rear cargo door latch if I can't fix what's on there.

 

[Ted]

For the steering slop, get a new pitman arm, idler arm, and inner and outer tie rods. Buy Moog, the rest is junk. RockAuto has them cheap. Just did that on my wife's Avalanche, and tie rods on my brother-in-law's Suburban. Most of the time, the major slop is in the pitman arm, but chances are all the components are old and then you can do an alignment. Steering box you can tighten up, but probably not more than 1/8 to 1/4 turn or it'll stick.

For shocks, I've been happiest on GMs with either Bilstein or OEM. Others I've used I haven't liked.

Thermostat, also buy a good one. Use the stock temperature. Colder really won't buy you anything but a less effective heater in the winter.

I loved my 95 Suburban, but it nickeled and dimed me to death. Most of that had to do with it being poorly maintained by the previous owner. With 148k on my wife's Avalanche that she's owned since close to new, it'll be much easier to keep up with things as they break. One of my problems is I have a hard time leaving well enough alone in many cases, which is why things keep on getting upgraded.

 

[dell30rb]

Most of the time, the major slop is in the pitman arm, but chances are all the components are old and then you can do an alignment.

You are correct, most of the slop is coming from the pitman arm. I hate replacing pitman arms.

I couldn't find any noticeable slop in any of the other steering components. I may or may not replace them all at once.

Some good news though, I have the heavier duty 4L80E transmission. Has a stock external transmission cooler too. I'm still going to add a temp gauge to it at some point.

 

[Ted]

Pitman arms are a pain, and that'll get 80% or so of the slop, probably 85% if you tighten the steering box a hair. After you change the arm, you'll end up needing the alignment done anyway, so I'd tend to suggest just doing the others anyway while you're there, otherwise you'll probably need to do them soon. Just one man's opinion.

Good that you have the 4L80E. That should be a pretty much trouble-free transmission. The only time I've heard of one going out was in a Jaguar V12 application where they were doing burnouts.