GMT400 Suburban - poor life choices MkII

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

And a pair of turbos?

I agree, looks like a nice trans cooler, especially for the price. 

I put an enormous 40k cooler on my GMT 400 truck, so it had to center in front of the radiator and over top of the center core support. I had already moved the horn. I built vertical supports from aluminum 1x1. 

I'd post pictures if P bucket still worked. Time to learn a new skill!

In reply to Pete Gossett :

Nah. Its a cruiser!

I got the trans cooler hooked up this morning & took it for a short drive. No leaks, so that's good. I'm going to take it out on the interstate for the first time this afternoon & see how it does at 70+ now that I have tires I trust.

I took a pic of the new headlight in contrast to the original parking light, and it's not even as yellowed as the original headlights were. 

The test drive was uneventful & the truck drives nice up to at least 78mph. I briefly fiddled with the cruise control, but I don't think it works. I need to google the controls though as the markings are worn off.

I'm amazed how quiet, smooth, and rattle-free this truck is after just a bit of work. Though I think the u-joints will need replaced soon, now that I can hear them. 

I used my IR thermometer to check the coolant temp, and the thermostat housing measured 155-degrees after returning home, so I think it probably has a thermostat & the gauge just isn't accurate. 

Oh, I almost forgot the best part of today - I sold them  22s for $250. 

Pete Gossett said:

Oh, I almost forgot the best part of today - I sold them  22s for $250. 

Depreciation on dubs is worse than on German cars.  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

So true! They also don't seem to be particularly high quality wheels, or built to last either. 

ALL GM cruise controls since the late 70's: push the tab selector on the turn signal to the middle (all the way in is a momentary and is your accel/resume button), push in hte button on the end to set the cruise. all the way to the left if off.

On my '93 GMT400 the cruise would not work as the VSS was giving a wonky signal.  Speedo and odo would work intermittently.  VSS is a 5 minute repair, screws into the transmission.  i replaced mine and cruise works fine.  

Thanks guys, pretty sure I tried that, but it didn't work. I'll check again next time to confirm. 

Ok, I have a drivetrain question - with the truck being so much quieter now I'm hearing some drivetrain noise when pulling away from a stop, or occasionally when going from R to D or vice-versa. I was thinking u-joints, but it's not that bad if I'm holding the brake solid while shifting between gears. I also crawled under the truck, but can't feel any wiggle in the driveshaft by hand.

However, while I was changing wheels this weekend I noticed a lot of slop in the rear end - with it in park & both rear wheels in the air, I could turn one wheel almost 1/4-rotation before the other would start to turn the opposite direction(open diff). 

Is that normal???

10 bolt GM rear, right?  Wife's truck has that.  They kindof wear and wear and wear until one day the pinion shoots out of them.  Sounds like yours is pretty well on its way.  But it might go another few years before it gives up the ghost.  Like everything else GM, they give a LOT of warning before leaving you stranded.  

If the truck is on the ground, parking brake set, with the trans in 'N', how much rotational slop is there in the pinion?  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

I'll check which rear end it has & try that test. Do they start howling before failure or just keep getting sloppier?

Looks like I have another project for this weekend... I just ran some errands, it's about 40-degrees here today and after driving about 20-minutes at speeds up to 50mph the heat was barely warm. So I'm going to pick up a thermostat & gasket, then pull the coolant neck and see what I find. I might also try to swap hoods too if one of the kids is around.

Alot of times you wont feel the slop when manipulating the drivehsaft by jand. I always check by getting on the ground where i can see the u joints, not under the truck, and have someone go from drive to reverse and bavk and see of there is any movement in the joints like that.

I had the flu from last Friday night through Tuesday, so unfortunately didn't get any work done. I was out running errands last night though & since the gas gauge was just above 3/8s tank I decided to fill 'er up. 

Unlike the first time, I just let it keep running(and running, and running) until it clicked off...32-gallons $73 later. Interestingly, when I started the truck the gas gauge went a 1/4-tank PAST full?!??!

Is it likely I was closer to empty than the gauge showed, or does this thing have a 40-gallon tank???

My 99 truck had a 39 gallon tank. So i could see that!

In reply to dropstep :

Wow, glad to know. It sure didn't look that big while I was installing the hitch, but I do recall it being deeper than I expected. 

'that's what she said'

I'm sure looking up a VIN decoder could tell you for sure

1992 suburban had 40 gallon fuel capacity

All said if it's the correct fuel Gauge it should read Full,  not+ a 1/4. but that sure as hell wouldn't make my drop the Tank.

In reply to onemanarmy :

I went through all the RPO codes, but didn't see anything about the tank size.

interesting.

well, run it empty, fill it up, and report back.  That's one way to get close.

We had an 88 Suburban with a 40 gallon tank when I was a kid.  I remember my Dad complaining when it took $50 to fill the tank.  Seemed like a ton of money to me at that age, but now I often go past $50 trying to fill my 23 gallon tank.