The Story Of A Cummins Suburban (Lots Of Pics)

[justcuz]

Nick,

If you have any troubles with the PSC box, try this guy. Lee MFG. Sun Valley California. He has been doing steering boxes for all kinds of race cars and hot rods for years. He was the go to guy for most of the Off Road race guys in the 60's and 70's. I know Sandy Cone still sends his stuff to him and I just turned on a buddy of mine from Pirate on to him and he is very happy. My Pirate buddy has PSC stuff that was puking oil out of the PS reservoir. Lee diagnosed it and had him fixed up in less than an hour.
Of course it sounds like you are under the gun time wise to head out somewhere and I am sure you will probably build your own if you have the time, but if you need more info I can get it to you.

[ryanroo]

Lee is who i planned on going with next time. i have Howe in my jeep and their box is great but the ram is kind of weeny. in chasing down pump performance issues i was pointed to Lee and have had a few conversations with them. i am planning on a ported box and assist for the 72 just to help out with the bigger wider tires and the weight of the cummins. Lee is who i was planning on going with. they always seemed more concerned with helping me fix my problem as opposed to selling me something. i like that in a company. and they have a darn good reputation, just not as much in the Offroad and 4x community

[justcuz]

They were big in the 70's in off road when Tom was racing and working on Mickey Thompsons stuff.

[hgs_notes]

Great job on the fixes and updates. Been a while since we had some pics of rocks and twigs and old broken down buildings and vehicles buried in dust, etc.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by justcuz

Nick,

If you have any troubles with the PSC box, try this guy. Lee MFG. Sun Valley California. He has been doing steering boxes for all kinds of race cars and hot rods for years. He was the go to guy for most of the Off Road race guys in the 60's and 70's. I know Sandy Cone still sends his stuff to him and I just turned on a buddy of mine from Pirate on to him and he is very happy. My Pirate buddy has PSC stuff that was puking oil out of the PS reservoir. Lee diagnosed it and had him fixed up in less than an hour.
Of course it sounds like you are under the gun time wise to head out somewhere and I am sure you will probably build your own if you have the time, but if you need more info I can get it to you.

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I always build my own stuff, but time was the issue that made me buy a rebuilt steering box for the first time in my life. I instinctively wanted to tear it down to inspect it, but time (and my wallet) would not allow it.

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Great job on the fixes and updates.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Been a while since we had some pics of rocks and twigs and old broken down buildings and vehicles buried in dust, etc.

Spending too much time working on it and not driving it. In the first six months of this year I have only taken it on three trips. San Diego (oof), KofA, and Overland Expo in Flagstaff. The rest of the time has been spent working on it. That ratio is way off in time invested vs fun return. I may have to do one massive trip just to offset it.

[mosesburb]

Anybody ready for a vacation?? I sure am.

All of this working on the truck and not driving it is getting old (I'm getting the feeling that nobody likes my truck modification pictures anymore ). I really needed to do something about that so I mashed up as much available time off that I could and put a loose plan together. It didn't exactly go as planned and there are a few things I would have done differently, but it is what it is and that's what we got. The initial plan was to head out early Saturday, June 22, but they have been forcing maximum overtime at work lately which puts me back at home pretty late. I didn't think the chances of success were too great loading the truck that late at night, getting up at dawn and driving about 12hrs to make our destination for the day. That, and, my wife had something she wanted to do that morning. She was willing to bag it in order to hit the road early, but I decided it was a better idea to amend our plans and aim for an 1100 roll-out so that I could get some sleep and she could do what she wanted to do. It ended up working out good, but sort of came back to bite us down the road a ways, but I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. So, without further adieu, fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the ride!!

We ended up getting out almost exactly at our planned departure time. I stopped and topped off the tank so I could get an exact fuel mileage number and also know exactly how far we traveled. I ended up putting exactly one gallon in the tank. I had filled it earlier in the week, but I had done some running around in it and thought I had used more fuel than I actually had. Oh well, we know it's full NOW.

We hit 17 north to 74 west and took 93 north up to Kingman. We continued on 93 north and came across a neat old tow yard:



Tons of old iron in that place. We didn't stop, but it looks like a place that won't let you in and would charge way too much for anything in there if they did. I could be wrong, but I have learned from past experiences that if a yard is full and the vehicles are complete (notice no open hoods??), usually it is for a good reason.

So we continue up the road and get to the new bridge that replaces all of the switchbacks going to Hoover Dam. If you didn't know it was there you would not even notice it.



The bridge itself is a spectacular piece of engineering, but you can't see it from the road. Hell, you can't even see Hoover Dam anymore:



So we cross the bridge and make it into:



We rolled up the strip taking a look at all the new hotels that have been constructed since we were there last. This town is always changing. Something is always going up or coming down. Pretty amazing when you stop to thing about it.



This was the hot ticket the last time we were there:



The farther north you go, the older it gets. There are some neat places along the way. As you travel further north the hotels get a bit seedy and the cleanliness of the area seems to go away quickly. We went a bit further and came upon this place:



When we were discussing our plans for the trip I had mentioned a couple ways of getting to our first destination and my boy quite nonchalantly asked if we were going through Vegas. I said that we might be and he asked if we could stop at the pawn shop. At the time we were planning a high-ball express run to our first destination and we probably would skirt Vegas instead of going through it. Well, with our amended initial plan, I figured we had some time to spare and I knew he'd dig it, so we stopped. Let's just say the producers of the show make it out to be a little nicer than it actually is. It's not a total dump, but there are some areas of the shop that are not shown on television. My boy absolutely loved it. My wife got a picture of him with a smile that Olan Mills couldn't buy if they wanted to. He ended up buying an $8.00 refrigerator magnet (yep, $8.00 for a magnet) and was thrilled with it.

We left out of Vegas and found ourselves back in AZ??



We continued on and the relatively flat terrain turned into a HUGE cut through a mountain:



I took a bunch of pictures while we were in the cut, but the lighting was not good and most came out blurry because of it. This one turned out kind of ok:



So this ends our travels for day one. We got a room in St. George Utah for the night. We grabbed a quick dinner and headed back to the room for hopefully a good night's sleep. I was really looking forward to some good sleep as I had been running around 55hrs/wk for the previous several months and then coming home and putting another few hours in the shop before finally collapsing in bed preparing myself for another day of it. Relaxing on vacation?? I hope so. We'll see how that works out....

[kikkegek]

Cool..love your updates..
# kikkegek grabs some popcorn and sits back
Posted via Mobile Device

[ERASER5]

I figured it out. You don't need a strut to hold your new swing out rack. You just give that Superwinch cap a 1/4 turn and lock the rack at any of about 25positions right?

I went back a nd checked, you did not mention the axel stub, but I saw it peeking out in one picture. Sort of a "Where's Waldo" moment.

And now back to our regularly schedualed program... on the TBS network. (Truck Broadcasting Station)

[jbclassix]

Gotta love the Virgin River pass going into Utah. Not to steal your show, but that was my wife's first experience somewhere other than SoCal and AZ. it's like the gateway out of jail for me too! We usually plan our trip so that we top off and eat in St. George. Have fun on your trip. I hope you got to enjoy the natural beauty of Utah.

[1leglance]

Oh man...I know all about this trip and yet I am still eagerly waiting more pics and more of the story.
Get going Nick, we all enjoy the travels of the orange burb.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by kikkegek

Cool..love your updates..
# kikkegek grabs some popcorn and sits back
Posted via Mobile Device

Might want to get a popcorn machine; even if I get it done in the amount of time we were on the road, it's going to be a while.....

Originally Posted by ERASER5

I figured it out. You don't need a strut to hold your new swing out rack. You just give that Superwinch cap a 1/4 turn and lock the rack at any of about 25positions right?

I went back a nd checked, you did not mention the axel stub, but I saw it peeking out in one picture. Sort of a "Where's Waldo" moment.

And now back to our regularly schedualed program... on the TBS network. (Truck Broadcasting Station)

You are right. I forgot to mention the stub part. The non-swingout parts got machined off of the stub and it got welded into the inside of the spindle and the hub allows it to lock in about 8-10 positions. It works great.

Originally Posted by jbclassix

Gotta love the Virgin River pass going into Utah. Not to steal your show, but that was my wife's first experience somewhere other than SoCal and AZ. it's like the gateway out of jail for me too! We usually plan our trip so that we top off and eat in St. George. Have fun on your trip. I hope you got to enjoy the natural beauty of Utah.

That is a really neat drive. I had never been through there before and I was really amazed at the size and beauty of that cut. We did it when the sun was starting to set and the colors were just crazy in there. Some of the cuts had to be near 4-500' high!!

Originally Posted by 1leglance

Oh man...I know all about this trip and yet I am still eagerly waiting more pics and more of the story.
Get going Nick, we all enjoy the travels of the orange burb.

I'm working on it. As you well know my free time has been, how we say, a bit limited lately. I'll see what I can do here. A progress pic of your truck might help motivate me on this .

[mosesburb]

We got up the next morning and after the required Starbucks stop (not for me), we were on the road. Utah has a different law regarding maximum speed than does Arizona.



I had no idea how common of a sight this would become over the next several days:



Now, normally, I tend to run between 70-75mph as a top speed, but with all of my steering repairs and modifications the truck was handling this new found speed very well. So far, so good.

We headed north with a destination of Sandy UT for the day. I friend of mine that retired last year moved up to Sandy and offered us a place to stay. It was a very nice offer so that, coupled with the fact that he and his wife are great people made us decide that a short travel day, stopping in Sandy, was the best plan.

Now I've heard of beaver oil, but never beaver water. I bet it is good though....



There is some nice scenery along the way:



So we stopped in Sandy and met up with my buddy and his wife. We went out to dinner, came back to their place and my boy and our hosts played several sporting games on their xbox. I find it is more fun to watch other people doing the funny things it makes you do than actually participating in the activity (looked a lot like exercise to me??). I found out my buddy is a bowling shark on xbox. Never would have guessed it.

So we got a good night's sleep that night. In the morning they would not let us get out of town without going and getting a great breakfast. On the way up into SLC, we passed some neat signs. I like old signs that have character--not so much the sanitized plastic blob-like signs of today.

Arby's. I remember these signs many years ago. Obviously they still exist, but I haven't seen one in a long time.



A bowling alley. The AMF and Brunswick signs have no class compared to this classic:



So we had a great breakfast that couldn't be beat and hit the road. The only drawback was we got on the road a fair bit later than we had wanted to, making our final destination for the day look a little less feasible. We'll see how it works out.

To get there we have to keep going. Soon enough we found ourselves in:



I had traveled through Western Idaho many years ago while transporting a Z28 back to AZ for my Grandma. I had forgotten how beautiful the state is. Rolling hills. Bright greens. Good stuff.

On thing I was not expecting as I came over a rise in the road was fiding something like this on the interstate:



First time for everything I guess.

Soon after we found a sign that said this:



With weather like this in our future, arrival at our intended destination is looking a bit less likely.



We did catch up to that weather. It was rain. It was getting late and with the weather and the late start we got, we decided to shut it down in Rocker for the evening. Rocker, what a bad-ass name for a town.

[hgs_notes]

Nice it handled well at 80. The long wheelbase probably helps. Looks like you went through my wifes hometown of Idaho Falls. I love it out there. Heading to Glacier I'm guessing.

[ryanroo]

Originally Posted by mosesburb

We got up the next morning and after the required Starbucks stop (not for me), we were on the road.

NASTY. i should have taken you guys out for real coffee. starbucks is like a kick in the man parts, almost unbearable.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Nice it handled well at 80. The long wheelbase probably helps. Looks like you went through my wifes hometown of Idaho Falls. I love it out there. Heading to Glacier I'm guessing.

It actually handled great at 80. No issues whatsoever. We did blow through Idaho Falls. Looks like a nice area, but I never even lifted on our way through. Most of the area we traversed at the beginning of our trip was new territory for us and one thing we do when traveling in a new area is make mental notes of places we want to return to and spend more time at on a future run.

Originally Posted by ryanroo

NASTY. i should have taken you guys out for real coffee. starbucks is like a kick in the man parts, almost unbearable.

I wouldn't know because I don't touch the stuff. She will hit a mom-n-pop if we see one, but the Starbucks have large, beckoning signs that can make a coffee stop a shorter ordeal and get us on the road quicker.

[chevy_mike]

Nice upgrades and work as always.

Now where is the rest of the story and pics!!!!

[84chevyguyid]

Hey you passed through my neck of the woods! I live a little ways north of Idaho Falls. When are you guys coming back through again? I think we need to meet up so I can buy you lunch and take a look at your burb.

Mike

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by chevy_mike

Nice upgrades and work as always.

Now where is the rest of the story and pics!!!!

Thanks Mike. Well, as you WELL know, I have spent most of this year working on this instead of taking care of other things requiring attention. I do the vehicle PM's and repairs that pop up, but I have been putting off some things around the house that could wait. Well, a couple of them managed to balloon up into larger projects, so I have been dealing with a few of those lately (and the usual fleet repairs along the way). Don't worry, we'll be back on the road here again real soon.

Originally Posted by 84chevyguyid

Hey you passed through my neck of the woods! I live a little ways north of Idaho Falls. When are you guys coming back through again? I think we need to meet up so I can buy you lunch and take a look at your burb.

Mike

Probably won't be for a while. When we pass though an area for the first time, we take mental notes of cool places we see along the way for a more detailed stop on a future adventure. I have found that you can read all kinds of information about an area, but until you see it firsthand, you really have no idea what you are going to get. Now, with that being said, we found a few places on this trip that we would like to return to, so the possibility exists that we will one day pass through your area again.

[justcuz]

Can't wait for the rest.
We hit the road too, to Portland, Oregon and met up with Cort (Corts60) here on the board and up to Port Townsend, Washington to visit some friends who have their sailboat there. Drove up to Hurricane Ridge, beautiful country. Then over to Spokane to visit a retired friend and his wife. We went through Coeur D Alene, Kellog and stopped in Wallace. Then back to Port Townsend to give our sailing friends a ride back to Southern California. We actually saw farm equipment on I5 heading back down around Kettleman City! That was a first. Got back home the 16th of August, left on the 5th.
My favorite was being on the water, the Olympic Peninsula and Idaho.

[Dova]

Hurrican Ridge is nice, especially if they have the road next to the ranger station open. Would be great for the burb to go. Hiked it and the road is 7 plus miles with gorgeous views of the bay.

[justcuz]

The road next to the station was open that went to the picnic area and the trail too.
Looking at the mountains and glacier were very pretty and looking into the forest from the ranger station deck made the trees look like a big green carpet. The denseness of the forest is unbelievable!
Also about halfway up a state Suburban was parked with a snowplow on it. It had a 4 spd and some serious rear springs. My wife cracked up when I stopped to look at it. (I am a serious Suburban fanatic, we have 3 of our own and I want more!)
We own a 2000, 1993 and a 1973. I would still like a 67-72 burb and a 60-66 burb, 4wd of course.

[mosesburb]

So we stopped in Rocker for the night. We do our load-in to the hotel room in the rain. Not much in Rocker but the hotel and a couple truck stops each with their respective fast food eateries. Neither Subway or McDonalds(??) sounded very appealing so we decided to head over the hill (literally) into Butte. Butte Montana eh?? Really didn't expect much when we crested the hill, but I don't think I could have been more wrong in an assumption of what was in store. What a cool town!! We hit some random choke-n-puke for dinner and when we left I didn't state my plans, but rolled past the entrance to the freeway we came in on to do a little wandering around town. For those of you who have never been to Butte MT before, to say it is a mining town would be like saying the Pope is kind of Catholic. The mine at the north end of town is massive. Enormous. Huge. At this point I *think* I recall reading something about the mine being shut down, but with everything that is visible from the lower (elevation) of town, I want to check it out.

So we roll north just following the road we are on until I find something that goes in the direction of the mine. We take a turn here and a turn there and end up finding a little visitors center for the mine. Hmm, this could be cool. We go into the little shack/gift shop thing and find out that there is an overlook that you can pay a few dollars to go view. Sounds good. I pay the girl the few dollars and we go through a tunnel out onto a viewing platform overlooking the pit.



We get out to the platform and we find ourselves overlooking the Berkeley Pit. The Berkeley Pit is more like the Berkeley Lake or the Berkley Toxic Reservoir. It looks neat, but you sure wouldn't want to go swimming in it. It is 900' deep and contains 41.2 billion gallons of water:



The pit originally was a tunnel and shaft mining operation, but with falling copper prices after WWII and the reduction in ore quality it was decided to switch to an open pit operation. In 1955 the operation began as an open pit. In 1982, the Atlantic Richfield Company (Yep, the same ARCO) stopped active mining in the Berkeley Pit due to falling copper prices. The pumps that dewatered the original Kelly shaft operation at the 3800 foot level, and later the open pit operation, were shut down. The pit started filling with water from surrounding aquifers. Filling to the tune of one foot per month. The water is very acidic and this dissolve minerals out of the host rock that makes up the pit area. Arsenic, cadmium, zinc (the typical offenders in old mining runoff) and sulfuric acid laden the water in the pit. Ironically, the water also dissolves copper left in the host rock leaving the water with a copper content of approximately 187PPM. There is a small mining operation going on in the adjoining Continental Pit and while they do mine the rock, they also mine the water from the pit removing the copper from it. The remaining water in the pit is a very serious issue and has earned Superfund status as the critical level of the water (when the level of the water in the pit reaches the natural water table elevation) is only about 150' above where it is today. The mining operations and the water treatment plant on site actually keep the water level fairly even, but if copper prices fall and the mine shuts down a serious problem is going to appear very quickly. The State and Federal Governments along with MDEQ and the EPA have contingency plans in place to hopefully keep this from happening because it would flow into the groundwater reservoirs and then into Silver Bow Creek which becomes the Clark Fork River. Not a good situation. The nice thing is, if the mining operation shut down now, the critical level is estimated to occur in 2020, giving the agencies time to figure out their Plan B. Hopefully it never comes to that.

Another angle of the pit. The buildings in the pic are the water treatment plant that opened in 2003.



This is the small mining operation going on in the adjoining Continental Pit:



Some cool looking rocks decorating the opening of the tunnel leading to and from the pit:



As a history buff, a geology buff and a generally curious individual, this was well worth the price of admission. There is a lot of neat history right here and even more that we'll be seeing in our next installment. Stay tuned!!

[hgs_notes]

Pretty cool. Its been a long time since I was in Butte, but the water level was no where near what it is now when I was there last.



I found this interesting...


I found that last pic and several more here...
http://www.pi****ch.org/2009.htm

[Coboyle04]

What did you do in place of the old crossmember/engine mounts....can you post some pictures

[Coboyle04]

also some pics and descriptions of your motor mounts, trans mount, and t-case mount

thanks