New to me 69' C20 Suburban

[ranger danger]

Hello all, Ranger Danger here. Im new to the forum and I hope to be of value here and look forward to the help I will be needing. I will be picking up my 69' C20 on Friday and driving it home. It's in south central Washington and I live in NorCal (Vacaville, 700 miles). As for some of the good stuff, its got a crate 454 with electronic ignition and Turbo 400 both with less than 500 miles on them. Its got Yukon interior, fresh paint, new tires and wheels, all new brakes, new exhaust, new fuel tank, lines and electronic fuel pump, tinted windows, hidden towing hitch and more stuff I can't remember. I intend to use it for a daily driver as well as camping and towing my custom Jeep to and from the mountains. Its been lowered but I intend to put it back to stock ride height and add air assist. It has no A/C but that will also change before summer!! I'd like to put Vintage air front and rear. I have an idea about putting one of vintage air's trunk mount systems in the top of the rear of the truck. I am uploading a few pics but I have a question about one pic. It shows the coil spring which looks to me like its almost completely worthless in its current state. Am I wrong? Thank all, Ranger

Let me spend a little more time on the pics.

[ranger danger]

Pic of spring.

[ranger danger]

Pic of Suburban.

[ranger danger]

Pic of motor.

[ranger danger]

Pic of inside.

[ranger danger]

Pic of rear.

[unclefreddy]

Very nice .........

[Bigdav160]

Clean. It'll make a great towing machine

[Average Joe]

Thats a sweet ride. I've seen it on Craigslist. Glad to see it going to a board member and welcome to the forum!

[sduckworth13]

Your right about the coil spring, it looks pretty well worn out. Really nice truck you have and welcome to the forum.

[4shongo]

Nice Burb. Welcome to the forum. That coil looks either worn out or someone has put some heat to it at one point.

[ranger danger]

I looked around a little and found a few places to buy replacement springs. Then I located a local guy, Valley Spring, in Dixon Ca. He can make them any way I want. I want stock ride height, heavy duty, progressive rate. He said $235 a pair or $450 for all 4. Does that sound reasonable?
What shocks does everybody recommend? I was thinking Rancho 5000's.

[LockDoc]

-
That spring has been heated to lower the truck. It should ride like a lumber wagon with that setup. I don't know anything about the cost of new springs or those shocks.

Here is the price at Rockauto.com.

http://www.rockauto.com/

You will have to go through the selection process, the direct link didn't work. They have Standard and Variable springs.

LockDoc

[ranger danger]

Well I picked it up today. I'm driving it from Yakima WA to home in Vacaville Ca. It originally had a 396 engine and manual trans. With this info, what rear gear ratio did it likely have originally?

[Already Gone]

Originally Posted by ranger danger

Well I picked it up today. I'm driving it from Yakima WA to home in Vacaville Ca. It originally had a 396 engine and manual trans. With this info, what rear gear ratio did it likely have originally?

Unless an optioal ratio was ordered it should have 3:54's.

[ranger danger]

I believe the diff is an Eaton HO52. My research shows they came stock with 4.56's and a few 4.10's. You could special order them with 5.12's. I don't think mine has anywhere near 3.54's. Its running 3000 rpm at 60 mph. I'll be lifting it up today to find out. If it is what I think it is, the highest ratio I could find made for it is 3.90.

[ranger danger]

Ok, its confirmed! I have the 4.56 gear ratio! I am now officially on the hunt for the elusive 3.90 gearset for the Eaton HO52! Wish me luck.

[fourspeedwagon]

I thought I recognized that 'burb. It's from very close to me.
Rear gears- I was able to find a set of 4.11s out of a pickup this fall. Gonna be nice to ditch the 5.38s in my GMC. Yeah- you think 4.56 is a pain on the interstate.
Was gonna say the same about those springs- torched!

[twistedchevy]

Nice burb, puts mine to shame. how's it lowered in front

[engairuph]

By any chance do you have gauges in the cluster? I'm looking for some may be able to help me in a little wiring issue problem and I have a 69 also?

[ranger danger]

Sorry about the delay in answering questions, life's been very busy!
It looks like the front and rear was lowered by torching the springs to allow them to collapse. The cluster has the original speedo and gas gauges. The PO put in 5 Stewart Warner gauges as well. Temp, Amps, Tachometer, oil pressure and a second fuel gauge. They all work accept the ST fuel gauge.

The new rear axle goes in on Saturday. Its a Dana 60 with 3.54's along with new springs and control arm bushings. The axle is in the shop getting new bearings and races. After that, the next project is a disk brake kit I picked up from a guy who had it for a truck he was building but sold before he used the kit. Got a pretty good deal.

When I got the truck home, I found I had an overheating problem. I replaced the fan clutch and thermostat but that didn't help so I had the radiator rebuilt. That seems to have fixed the problem although I may have some heat related damage I'll have to fix. The exhaust manifold is cracked and it might have a blown head gasket, i'm not sure yet.

More later.

[twistedchevy]

Overheating is never good to hear, my dad has 7pairs of exhaust manifold. That he would be willing to sell, all diferant types for our burbs and trucks.