The Story Of A Cummins Suburban (Lots Of Pics)

[mosesburb]

I'm actually loading some as I type right now. Where are the rest of yours??

[kikkegek]

Originally Posted by mosesburb

I'm actually loading some as I type right now. Where are the rest of yours??

[71CumminsBurb]

Sorry about the messy response....

Anyway, my fab skills are lacking...severely compared to yours and as much as I know I could build stuff on my own, I fear that it will look like a redneck trainwreck or a buzzbox bomb aftermath.

So simple tips are greatly appreciated....

[71CumminsBurb]

Last question for the night and if it's in here somewhere and I missed it or forgot about it you can smack me....but are you running a tach and what are you using to create a readable signal?

[mosesburb]

ISSPRO tach. It uses small magnets epoxied to the balancer and a pick-up mounted to the oil pan rail to create a signal.

[mosesburb]

So when we left here we were camped on the base of Baker Butte in Valley of the Gods, UT. I didn't get a good pic of the camp but I did get one that was mildy presentable after dark on a timed exposure. It is not as clear as I would have liked, but it is all that I have:



The view when we woke up was fantastic. Ironically, we had cell service and I was able to send a pic of the view to a few people around the country so they too could see what we woke up to:



Eventually, we found it necessary to pack up and leave. Larry was first out.



Some generic beautiful scenery on the way out:



Once we got back on the road we were greeted with this sign--and they mean it:



I'm no stranger to narrow dirt shelf roads, but this one was a little creepy for some reason--no idea why. A view of the road from near the top:



A view from the top:



There are two old square bodies in this picture:



Generic scenery on the way to Hall's Crossing. There are six finger mesas in this pic:



This area was really cool. It looked like it should have been a dump for industrial waste back in prehistoric times.



We made it to Hall's Crossing on Lake Powell. Larry needed gas because he runs a stinky gas engine in his truck that is not very fuel efficient. I really didn't, but decided to top off because I have no idea where we are going and how far it is to get there. I followed Larry to the shack. Our destination is the building directly behind the shack in this pic--maybe forty yards in??



Larry's MIL had a pass of some sort and they rolled in for no charge. My truck had no passengers with a pass so the old battle-axe that was working the booth demanded fifteen dollars to enter the Glen Canyon Recreation Area. I tried to explain to her that I was just going to the gas hut right there and I will be gone in ten minutes and that she would never see me again. In some old battle-axe scratchy voice she rather impolitlely told me that even going that far is using the Glen Canyon Recreation Area and I have to pay fifteen dollars to enter. I paid. When all was said and done I paid just over six dollars a gallon for the fuel I bought. My boy actually does a pretty good impression of the battle-axe demanding her fifteen dollars.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by mosesburb

My favorite. Actually looks like a nice road, condition wise, steep though.

I had to work up in Alaska one summer long ago. Doing boiler inspections up there means traveling a lot of miles in a rental car (among other means) out into the bush. I had a ford thunderbird rental car that I took up to Eagle, AK, north of Chicken, AK. It is just a few miles from the Yukon border. There were a lot of washouts and no other traffic. That made the sphincter tighten up I can tell you. I wonder if I got pics of that trip somewhere. I probably saw more of Alaska in 3 weeks than most Alaskan natives see in their lives.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Filters on the inlet to a pump are used to protect the pump and are common on many fuel injection systems where the pump is not in the tank. The tolerances on the pumps are close and they are too easily messed up. The inlet side filter is usually not as fine as the outlet side so it doesn't hurt the suction head for the pump as much.

The problem is 99% of people do not know the difference and 99.9% of todays "parts guys" have no clue how to find one. For that reason alone, I stand by my statement.

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

My favorite. Actually looks like a nice road, condition wise, steep though.

Yeah, there was nothing wrong with the road. Still have no idea why it bugged me. We were on roads much worse and much narrower than this on this trip and those didn't phase me at all. Who knows.

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

I had to work up in Alaska one summer long ago. Doing boiler inspections up there means traveling a lot of miles in a rental car (among other means) out into the bush. I had a ford thunderbird rental car that I took up to Eagle, AK, north of Chicken, AK. It is just a few miles from the Yukon border. There were a lot of washouts and no other traffic. That made the sphincter tighten up I can tell you. I wonder if I got pics of that trip somewhere. I probably saw more of Alaska in 3 weeks than most Alaskan natives see in their lives.

Reason number one to never purchase a car that was once a rental car. Sounds like a very scenic trip if nothing else.

[ThreeQtr]

If you had jerry cans, could Larry have filled them for you?

Maybe next time.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by ThreeQtr

If you had jerry cans, could Larry have filled them for you?

Maybe next time.

Yeah, he probably *could* have, but the issue with that would have been his rack was already full of two jerry cans, so he would have had to haul them inside. Ok for a short distance I guess, but I would hate to be responsible for a leaking can and a cabin that smells like diesel fuel.

I learned a lot of things on this trip. What works, what doesn't, what is good, what is bad, what I should bring, what I brought and didn't use (utilitarian things--not safety/survival items), what I need more of and so on. Changes to the equipment are occurring as we speak (or type??). Really in the whole scheme of things 6.00 a gallon isn't SO bad--probably not even worth a plan B to get around. It was more frustrating than anything I guess having to buy a five day or two week pass to buy a few gallons of fuel that in the end I really didn't need, but I always prefer to head into the wilderness with a full tank just in case..

[hgs_notes]

The easiest solution is to have Larry go in with the pass, then the passenger walks back out and rides in with you, with the pass.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

The easiest solution is to have Larry go in with the pass, then the passenger walks back out and rides in with you, with the pass.

Uh, yeah. Under normal circumstances maybe, but the battle-axe in the shack would have NEVER permitted THAT. That would have been cheating the Glen Canyon Recreation Area out of fifteen dollars. I wish I could liken her voice to something you would recognize. It was awful. That, coupled with the fact she was a royal bish, just made the whole experience grand. The wimmens that work in the gas shack say that she harasses them about entering if they forget their ID or pass or whatever they have. Makes THEM pay. She has the compassion of an IRS tax collector and the personality of a seasoned DMV agent.

[DirtyLarry]

Ya, she was a beeoitch!

[hgs_notes]

I hear ya. Something like this?

I'm watching you, Wazowski. Always watching....

[mosesburb]

So we got back to Hole in the Rock Road. After airing down we hit the trail. The road starts out as barely a low spot in the sand. Larry is making the only tracks this road has seen in quite awhile.



After we got in a ways the road became a bit more discernable:



Down the trail a bit we came upon this old soldier: (it was a running driving truck when we got there, but Larry took it for a spin and well, the picture tells the story)



I think this may have been the only life form we saw on this trail other than us humans:



At this point Larry remembers going down a side road to see something (he was not the trail leader/navigator on that run). We take a right and head off towards some point unknown. Not too far in we come across another relic:



Well, we get down the road a bit further and Larry starts questioning our location and whether we are on the right trail or not. Obviously I can be of no help. Now, if you are ever wondering if you are lost and you see this out of your window, the answer is probably and you should probably turn around now:



So we turn around and head back to the remnants of the half-track. We get back there and continue down Hole in the Rock Road. We get quite a ways in and we come to a giant slickrock monolith.



The trail zigs then zags up the face and then over to an obstacle that we decided would prevent our forward progress. Could we have made it through and continued on?? Probably. The problem with doing things like that where we were is if something bad happens it can turn into alife and/or death situation almost immediately. I would guess we were 4.5-5 hours from the nearest town (not city) and probably six or seven hours from a hospital--just a hospital, not a tauma center. Being in places like this, with our tracks being the only ones in sight, keeps the adventurous side of me a little quiet. Had we been around home and with a few others and closer to civilization, I might have been a little more willing to attempt it, but not where we were. We decided to make this area our camp for the night.

Larry was leading so he went up first. He zigged and then zagged to get up the face. It seemed a bit difficult making the turns on the face. I decided to give'r straight up the face. That was the ticket right there.

[kikkegek]

nice man! really love your updates...

[DBear]

Moses....you might have posted this already....but there are A LOT of posts in this thread lol! When you mounted the Cummins in your burb, did your original engine cross member stay in the stock place? Also, can you provide any detail pics of your motor mounts? Just needing the specifics because I might put a Cummins in another burb I have. Thanks again. By the way, love the travel pics......

[lowrollin70gmc]

"Hey, I would like to be in there"

"Larry, give it up already"

Two quotes that made me bust up laughing.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by kikkegek

nice man! really love your updates...

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by DBear

Moses....you might have posted this already....but there are A LOT of posts in this thread lol! When you mounted the Cummins in your burb, did your original engine cross member stay in the stock place? Also, can you provide any detail pics of your motor mounts? Just needing the specifics because I might put a Cummins in another burb I have. Thanks again. By the way, love the travel pics......

No, the stock crossmember got sold. I made a crossmember out of 2x4 .250 wall tubing. I can't really take any pics of them because I can't see them anymore. This post has a little bit of them in sight.

Originally Posted by lowrollin70gmc

"Hey, I would like to be in there"

"Larry, give it up already"

Two quotes that made me bust up laughing.

Kid is a character. Then Larry plays it like it was scripted.

[Mr Pops]

I enjoyed the vid! It purrs so nice!

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by Mr Pops

I enjoyed the vid! It purrs so nice!

I agree!! Believe it or not, this is the first time I have ever seen it driving and the first time I have ever heard what it sounds like from outside. I like it!!

[mosesburb]

This is a view of camp that night: That is Larry and my boy up on top of the hill. He has a great pic from up there that I need to steal and post up.



This is the pic of the view from the truck that I sent out in the morning (had cell service here too).



After the load out, down the trail a bit:



I thought this looked cool:



Closer. I like how the dirt has eroded from around the bottom.



Gratuitous truck shot:



Some generic scenery:



Larry had a Code 14 on the way in: (I had a Code 60 on the way out)



More generic scenery:



Another gratuitous truck shot:



More scenery. It is very difficult to convey in pictures how awesome the scenery was in this area. I need a super-mega wide angle lens, but even that would not do it. Horizon to horizon. Amazing.



After we got back to the highway, we aired up and I found out my new compressor was only good for 2.5 tires. This is good when you have a motorcycle, but I happened to bring a truck on this run so it was not so good. Luckily Larry's compressor was good for at least six tires so we finished off my other 1.5 with his. After we hit the highway we rolled through a massive area of petrified sand dunes.





Pulling a hill that was part of the Hole in the Rock Trail long, long ago:



Random road shot that I liked:



Yep, that's where we are going:

[kikkegek]

supersweet shot man!

[RatRod68]

The thing i like the most about this rig is that it just works. Thousands and thousands of miles on it, and it just keeps on keeping on. I really hope my 2 diesel swaps turn out this way.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by kikkegek

supersweet shot man!

Thanks!! I like that one and the following one because if you focus on the leading edge of the hood it is a good representation of how it looks while we are ripping along at speed. That hill we were pulling was at least a 7% grade if not a little more. Neat place.

Originally Posted by RatRod68

The thing i like the most about this rig is that it just works. Thousands and thousands of miles on it, and it just keeps on keeping on. I really hope my 2 diesel swaps turn out this way.

Thanks. That is my favorite part about the truck too. We passed 35,000 a while back and it is not showing any signs of slowing down.

I checked out your Ranger in your sig. Now I am no fan of Rangers, but that thing is sweet!! Very nice job!!