The Story Of A Cummins Suburban (Lots Of Pics)

[lower50's]

Great job!! Using all the space you have effectively is good for saving time and adding comfort. I will have to use some of your ideas in the back of my jeep.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by notchbackgta

Thats awesome, I need to do something like that in the future

Thanks!! It really helps use space more completely.

Originally Posted by lower50's

Great job!! Using all the space you have effectively is good for saving time and adding comfort. I will have to use some of your ideas in the back of my jeep.

Thanks!! Yeah, use the ideas, just pay me royalties. It's nice because now I can move stuff around and keep it there while traveling. Some of the stuff never gets removed from the truck, so it can just stay put. I don't think I added any gear since the remodel, but having more room sure makes it easier to deal with.

[mosesburb]

So after all of these miles, one thing I was not liking so much were the Rancho RS9000 shocks. I did some research and finally settled on a set of Fox 2.0 Performance Series IFP Smooth Body Shocks. I went with the non-reservoir units on the recommendation of a Fox representative. He said if I was going to Baja, I needed reservoir units. If I wasn't going to Baja, the non-reservoir units will easily handle any other roads in North America. So, I got my measurements and started shopping. It's always a challenge shopping for shocks by dimensions as the shock specs don't always match up with the specs you have to fill. I found the ones that were as close as possible and ordered them up.

Fronts:



On the rears I opted for the Roost Shields. They protect the shock shafts from flying rocks and debris.



It was an expensive upgrade, replacing seemingly "good" parts with other good parts, but the result was a ride that seems much more controlled on the rebound side. The oscillations seem more controlled. Less "bucking", if you will.

Somewhere along the way and another 30k service came up. Along with other things, I serviced the trans with another load of liquid gold from the GM store in the form of the specific NV4500 lube. I also serviced the trans filter:



For such a simple device, this thing works amazingly well. The lube I drained out still looks fantastic. Good enough I have saved the lube from both services so far (thought about reinstalling it both times too). One I carry in the truck as emergency refill and the other I keep in the shop as backup lube. Since both services have yielded such good looking lube, I'm considering running the interval out a little bit--especially if I install a cooler on the box.

Another issue I had to address was replacing some more junk-ass reproduction chinese parts with some good old domestic NOS GM parts. I installed the reproduction tail light lenses when I built the truck and they are already looking pink at best. I couldn't bring myself to install another set of the junk-ass chinese crap, so I scoured a set of NOS GM lenses:



Junk-ass chinese crap vs real domestic high grade NOS greatness:



Keep your GM vehicle all GM......Good words to live by.

[lower50's]

Funny how your filter looks like a ball of yarn. I have the bucking issue in my '87 Jimmy maybe time to ditch the rancho's.

[mosesburb]

So some time ago, a friend of mine that I buy parts from, dangled this carrot in front of me:



Yes, that is a factory cable driven diesel tach setup from a 67-72 medium duty truck equipped with a Detroit. I very wisely passed on it for some time, but then I started having issues with my ISSPRO tach reading strangely. I'm not sure if it was a pickup problem or an actual tach head issue, but I would have been waaaaay bucks ahead to buy a whole new tach setup (or two), (or three), than convert to this tach setup. Anyway, I bought the tach cluster then proceeded to empty my wallet (a couple times over) getting it adapted to function in my truck and spend a huge amount of time tracking down parts for it (and cleaning that funk off the lens--that stuff was like a crackhead resisting an eviction notice).
After searching out a bunch of parts and having the tach head gone through and recalibrated by a speedo company that doesn't listen very well, I finally was able to assemble and install the converted cluster.



Astute observers will recognize the ammeter is no longer an ammeter. It is a converted volt meter and is made to look accurate for the cluster.

A close up of the gauge in operation:



Backside of the cluster showing the wiring for the volt meter conversion as well as the tach drive adapter. Ever wonder why the tach printed circuit had that strangely shaped hole in it?? Here's your answer:



In the end I found out the drive adapter is not needed for my application. It actually reverses the rotation making the tach try to read backwards. It sucks because it made the cable easier to attach. Oh well.

So a cable driven tach has no place to attach to a Cummins. The nice thing is, the Cummins B series has been used in so many different applications that it is only a matter of combining the correct parts to make a tach drive off the front of the motor where the original oil fill pipe used to reside:



Oh boy, a clearance issue with my GM fan on the Cummins. Goody. With some good old school file work, I was able to maximize the clearance between the fan and tach drive adapter:



I figured if the fan moves fore or aft, it would only move forward thus creating more clearance between the two components. It has been in there for over 10k with no issues so far and there has been some flogging along the way....

"Action" shot of the cluster:



So with the addition of the "factory" volt meter in the cluster, I was able to get rid of my aftermarket volt meter under the dash and with the factory tach I was able to get rid of my aftermarket tach up in my dash-top gauge pod. This allowed me to move my trans temp gauge up into my dash-top pod:



I also removed all of the crappy switches in my switch panel with Carling round bat toggle switches:



I like the look of the duckbill switches, but they were just junk.

I have been putting off making a panel for my coolant heater controls, so I took the opportunity to make a home for those as well:



I included a dual 2.1A USB charging port while I was at it.

So all in all it was a ridiculous amount of time and money completing this tach install. In the end, was it worth it?? Meh, who knows. It does look cool and that's all that matters, right??