1961 Suburban- Joe, new member.

[Bigffjoe]

Hello everyone, my name is Joe,
it is nice to be able to use this great forum to help with fixing up my 1961 Chevy suburban 4x4. I am not sure what is stock or upgraded/different, but I have leaf spring, drub brakes, power steering, 1/2 ton running gear with 33" BFGs, pto winch, custom front bumper, pontiac 400 v8, manual transmission, 2 saddle fuel tanks.

I am 37 and have 2 boys,5 and 6, and a lovely girlfreind. I work for the City of Sandy (4yrs) as a public utility worker and am a volunteer firefighter/Engineer with Sandy Fire Dist. #72 (approx 15yrs) in Sandy Oregon witch is between Portland and Mt. Hood.

My Dad has had this carryall for as long as I can remember(early to mid 70's) and I have always thought it was a awesome rig that was unique. After growing up with this truck in the family I now own it and have been fixing it up, slowly, for the last few years. Having my boys, and a couple years ago getting divorced, I am financially challenged with not much at a time to allow for fixing. With my girlfriend, together for about a year now, and my Dad helping out to get problems tracked down and fix/upgrade many of the aging damage. I'm ready to get my carryall back on the road and make some memories with my family now as my dad did with me.

Back in the day my Dad also had put in a pontiac 400 and I rebuilt the motor about 10 years ago, got busy with life and the carryall got back burner-ed.
About a year and a half ago I resumed working on it, I replaced all the wheel cylinders due to rusted and leaking old ones. Also replaced the master cylinder. Clutch still works and now the brakes are working too. I cleaned out the edelbrock carb and installed a electric choke.... Working great and starts up nice.

We are looking into replacing the rusted out dual(4 lenses) headlight globes with newer ones and upgrading the headlight wiring. Lots of things to work on... Fuel tank with junk in it, wiring issues, body rust from sitting outside for most of its life and rust holes in the floor from a leaky front window seal.

Looking forward to meeting new people and sharing info about our classic rigs, and also see if there is some locals in the Portland Oregon metro area.

[ChiefRocka]

Welcome aboard !!

Nice Burb ...

Before anyone hassles you .....

[perro13]

Welcome,Glad to see another 4x4 Sub

[glos55]

Welcome Joe, Any pics of your Sub?

[1963c-10]

Welcome to the forum....pretty nice looking rig from the avatar pic.....we'll want to see more. Always great to have history on the trucks...helps to know what the previous owners have done or not done.

[MusicMan70]

"Come on down, Big Joe!" Great story and history on the truck... How's about some Mo' Pics?!
Welcome as well...

[MikeS.]

Hello Joe, what'cha know? Welcome to another K10 Burb owner. Do yourself a big favor and take a good hard look at the wiring. My 63 was a fire just waiting to happen. And like the others have said we need pics.
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[jchav62]

Welcome Joe!

From Joe in NM...

[Bigffjoe]

I only could upload my avatar picture. 2am was getting too late to keep looking for the photos and albums link. I didn't see it on my user cp page.... Maybe it has not been activated yet?? I will do a photo shoot soon and get some basic pictures where it is parked in the barn staying dry.
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[gostranger]

nice to see another suburban!!

[MikeS.]

Next to the userCP button tabs says gallery click on that and then look for the tab that says upload pictures put them in there. The board will let you store unlimited amount of pictures, we love pictures.
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[Bigffjoe]

Oh now I see it. I was looking IN the usercp menu. I will get pictures loaded up tonight. Thank you MikeS
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[MikeS.]

Welcome.
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[Bigffjoe]

Lets see if this picture makes it...
This is shortly after I got it home a few years ago from my dads old house.
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[Captainfab]

Welcome to the forum Joe

That's great that this Burb has been in your family for so many years.

Looking forward to more pics of your Burb.

[MikeS.]

A good pressure washing and some CLR that Burb might just look pretty good. I'd like to see more pics of the interior and of the dual saddle tanks. Are they in the cargo area? I see where the fill pipes are up high on both sides.

[62 Longbed]

Welcome to the site !!!! I use to live in Sandy ..... I still have family there .... Very cool story and a very nice start !!!!

If your interested ... Just come on out and say Hi !!!

Some of us are having our 2nd Annual Pre-Christmas Get Together ..

Saturday December 15th , 2012 at 6:00 pm ...

We are gonna meet at the same location as last year ...

Next to Jantzen Beach Mall at :

BJ's Restaurant & Brewery
12105 N Center Ave
Portland, OR 97217

503-289-5566

All Years of Chevy / GMC Trucks !!! Oregon / Washington

Bring yourself / spouse / friend / just come on down and meet up with some of us .. Just a little Meet & Greet , chance to talk , show your truck and just hang out ..
We might also drive around PIR for the Christmas Lights as well ...

Welcome again !!!

[Bigffjoe]

Here are some exterior shots from a couple years ago but are the same as now. Only have the one interior shot for now other than its cleaned up. I will get some engine compartment and interior shots soon.







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[lucifer]

Joe Welcome to the encyclopidia of 60-66 GM trucks! Great having another Sub in the group. Truck looks great and teh story makes it better.
Good Luck!

[Bigffjoe]

Thank you for the warm welcomes,
62 longbed... Thank you for the invite, I already have plans that evening. My rig is not quite road ready yet. Still need to get some fluids check and or changed, and lights more reliable, along with the motor.




I'm having issues with the pontiac 400 motor once it gets good and warm I can drive up and down my driveway, or sneak down the road a bit, and once I got back, had the motor not want to start back up. One of my co-workers thinks it might be the electronic fuel pump pushing too high of a pressure causing it to push past the float valves and flood it out. He is going to let me borrow his fuel pressure guage and see if that might be one of my issues.

Anyone know where to check for the linkage for the gas pedal to the carb might be found? I have a metal coat hanger through the firewall wired to the carb... I don't want to push my luck with a temp fix for normal running.

[Brad54]

Awesome truck! I'd love to have a 4x4.
My '61 Suburban is 2 wheel drive, and will stay that way, but I'd love to find a second one to lift... or a short-step.

One thing I'd STRONGLY recommend is swapping to a dual reservoir master cylinder set-up. It'll be expensive, because you have to account for the hydraulic clutch, but I've had a rebuilt single reservoir system fail (blew a new right rear wheel cylinder) in a '54 Buick a few years ago, and lemme tell you, a vehicle will not stop on one rear drum with the e-brake. (The other was hosed with fluid, which apparently, makes a fantastic anti-friction additive to brake shoes!)

I did it on my '61, and added power brakes while I was at it. GREAT improvement. And while I'd like to have front discs, I've gone over 50,000 miles on 4 wheel drums with this truck, so discs aren't a necessity.

-Brad

[Bigffjoe]

Good advise Brad54. I have considered putting power brakes on as a upgrade, yes very spendy for my budget. I will be saving for that one for a while.
These burbs stop on a dime like a old tank... they don't. Little by little I will get my rig cleaned up and looking good and running strong.

[88lowrider]

It also has real power steering, not power assist. Just can't remember what car or truck I took it from.
It will turn those bigger tires lock to lock setting still on asphalt with that little steering wheel with no effort.
Also I didn't see mention of the horns. They are air and extremely loud. One of the first things he got working again.
As you may have guest it already, I'm the dad. I am Really glad he has her and fixing her up.
She's Imported from Detroit

[vectorit]

Welcome to the forum!
Love your burb, it is the year and style I'd go for if I wanted another 4x4 burb.