The BlueOx - evoloution of a working brute

[mybigwarwagon]

IN the past several years I have worn out 2 different half ton Chevy's. One pickup and one Suburban. Then I came across this 1994 K2500 Suburban. It had everything I needed in a starter vehicle. In the past year and a half I have worked on making it the perfect vehicle for my needs.

I don't do and expeditions, but I own a small scrap metal business and I do wind up off road more than the average person towing a 22 foot 3,000 pound trailer with only Lord knows what piled up on top of it.

Every time I get on here I find more ideas for the truck. Here is the progress so far.




This will all be copy and paste till I get to something new.

Important numbers 1994 454 4l80e (rebuilt 500k ago) 2500 14 (bolt) 3.73 (g)80 4(wd) 160(K)

Yes the huge trailer is hooked to the LUV, it kept trying to wander off and I had to restrain it.

It didn't even know that trailer was back there.

Hood needs paint

PO stuck on stupid Z71 stickers they have to go

Tiny rust spot

Small dents

Drivers door needs repainting too.

Not going to do a whole lot to it. here is the list

Needs tires desperately.
The bucket seats have to go they are too soft and hurt my back. I have a set of 96 seats for it.
Side mirrors are crap and wont adjust - looking for a set of towing mirrors
Swap tach dash from another truck

Get a horn that can be heard
Install louder exhaust. I can't hear the truck run
Remove body lift
Paint hood and door
remove Z71 stickers
Tint windows
install center console
install radio
Install brake controller
Probably something else that I forgot.Just got her back from the tint shop Got it 5% in the back and 35% up front with a 6 inch visor.

Also managed to find a set of H2 wheels that I swapped and traded for.

Pic I took at Home Depot

It has been a long hard day getting ready for the trip to Virginia. Had a long list of stuff that I needed to get done to the camper and truck to get them all ready. Had to rewire the camper plug which took wayyy too long and replace the tail lights ( sorry no pics).

Then had to replace the 7 pole plug on the truck because it was completely corroded.

Then the fun stuff
Jerked out the old buckets and stuck in a center console

and buckets out of a 96 Tahoe. They aren't perfect, but my back thinks they are great. I will find some covers for them soon.

Installed a brake controller

and a stereo.

Swapped the instrument panel for the one from the WarBeast and got rid of the knee banger tach.

The old dash panel was cracked and broke so I stuck the grey one from the WarBeast in there for the time being. That is why some of the switch delete plates are black and not gray. I have another Panel somewhere I just didn't have time to dig it up today.
Now we just need to get up at the crack of early tomorrow and head north to VA.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

I drove it about 400 miles to visit the mother-in-law with a 28 foot camper in tow. It tows like a locomotive and drinks like Lindsey Lohan. Not sure what kind of mileage I got because of the tire swap and not having things recalibrated yet. The dogs loved the open back, and the wife and I loved the AC. However, I do need to find some way to get more air circulating because the dogs were hot back there.
The seats were great. I didn't realize how much higher they sat until I drove all day looking through the tint strip on top of the windshield. I may have to have it cut back to 4 inches instead of 6.
I do miss cruise control, but I will live.
And after driving it about 250 miles the muffler got louder and deeper. I am guessing the exhaust is brand new and never got run in good. I did notice yesterday while I was under it that it has a 3 inch exhaust and factory manifolds.
Filling up on the way out

At a rest stop somewhere in VA

After pulling the camper to Virginia and basically guessing what was beside me I had to find some towing mirrors. Hopped on Ebay and found this set for $50. I guess no one wanted them because they are bright red. One tip got broken in transit. I will be using a bit of JB Weld on it later and painting them black. Then they get mounted on the truck tomorrow in place of the broken cracked non adjustable ones that are on it now.

---------- Post added at 02:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:31 PM ----------

I got my towing mirrors on today. Had to enlarge the two bottom holes a bit and drill a new top hole and they fit great. It will be nice to see what is behind me.

---------- Post added at 02:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:32 PM ----------

I will try posting this again, Let's see what happens.

Took some time to finish up a few things today.
Put in another instrument panel with the correct mileage on it. Other one goes back in the WarBeast. Also painted the bezel so it isnt silver anymore.

Painted glove box door and installed it for the complete blue and grey look.

Replaced this broken piece from under the steering column.

Best little pneumatic screw gun I have ever had. Low torque so it is great on plastic parts.

Took a few pics. Yes, the grass is tall. Parts for the mower are on order.

Doing a little work out on one of sheds today I found something I forgot I had. On overhead console complete with the correct screw and retainer clip. Wife did the awesome photography.

Made two minor changes today. The truck has not had an accessory position on the switch since I bought it. This week a guy contacted me looking for a steering wheel and I sold him the one that was on the truck. SO while I had it apart I put in a new lock cylinder and added a different wheel that I have had down in the building. Here is a crappy cell phone pic.

Well to update this thread – the BlueOx ran into trouble. Last week we went to get a car and it barely made it home. It was missing and had no power, but true to her name she pulled on home. She was throwing codes for EGR, TPS, Knock sensor, and Low voltage on the fuel relay. So I replaced those ( and oddly enough it had good fuel pressure) and it was still missing. I pulled the distributor cap and the distributor was in pieces so I put a new one in. It still ran like crap. So I towed it up to a friends garage and let him have it. He checked everything I did and said it was all good. Then he checked compression and it was down on several cylinders. He pulled the intake He sent me this picture.

SO today he pulled the heads. They were frozen to the block. He got the bolts out and the heads refused to budge. At some point before I bought it this engine got real hot. I just went up and took him my life savings and took a couple of pictures.

6 valves are bent one is stuck. The drivers side head gasket was about to blow on all 4 cylinders and the back cylinder on the passengers side was only holding on my a prayer. But the block, and camshaft look perfect. It turns freely and neither the water or the oil were contaminated.

After a lengthy discussion with both him and the wife we decided that the smart money was to fix it since I couldn't buy another truck or even an engine for what the repair will cost. $1600 and it should run like new. I wasn't looking forward to having to put the WarBeast back together and work it again. She is old and tired I think that 400k miles is plenty on a work truck and she has earned her retirement. So by next week I will have the Blue ox back and she will be better than new.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Ok now not C&P stuff

In the past year she has had some ups and downs.

Got a dashmat for the cracked dash.


About a month after I got the truck it rained and I needed 4wd to get it out of the yard. When I engaged it the front drive shaft decided to leave the truck. Fortunately it didn't do any major damage to the truck, but the drive shaft was now square so I had a 2 wheel drive for a while because no one could had a 3/4 ton drive shaft. PO had done some transmission work and only put one bolt back in the front shaft for some reason.

About 9 months ago I was pulling a Pontiac Firebird out of the woods using a long tow strap and a J hook. The J hook broke and it all came flying back to the truck at the speed of ouch. There was a big bang and then my back doors were redesigned.

Fortunately I have a spare set of doors and a friend that owes me a paint job.



About 4 months back I had an odd electrical short. I searched and searched and couldn't figure it out. It seemed to move all over. So I took it to my buddy who is an electrical guru and he couldn't find it. We searched all over for a wiring diagram and no luck. His scanner kept telling us it was a ton of different things. None of which had any problems.

Finally his friend at a dealership came through. He called and asked if I was sure the truck was a 94. I am positive it is. He said what I had was a factory frankenstien 94 truck with a 95 transmission wired into a 94 wiring harness with some 95 only wiring. Once we had that all figured out and we looked at a 95 wiring diagram.

In 5 minutes we found this plug on the ignition wiring

Fixed everything. Since it was on top of the column we couldn't see it.

It has hauled a couple of things


Had a nice chat with a Trooper


And just last week my son was playing with a junk car in the field. He got stuck and I had to go pull him out of the weeds. On the way to him I hit the brakes when I got close planning to throw a cloud of dust into his window. However the wonderful antilock brakes decided that I didn't need to stop and released the brakes and I hit the car.


Fortunately I haven't cashed in that OIU for paint yet.

NO pictures but a friend at a junk yard came across a front drive shaft for it. It is nice to have it pulling up front again.

Future stuff includes

Paint
Non dented doors and fenders
True dual exhaust
Front bumper/brush guard (already have one just don't have it on yet) with winch.
Rear winch.
Roof rack with lights (hate working in the dark)
backup lights
Onboard air
air horns
backup camera
Some sort of rear fan to pull the ac to the back. It has an aftermarket front only AC unit that is great if you are in the front seat. Not so good past that.
Third seat.
Built in toolbox.

 

[chilliwak]

Well Warwagon it has been fun reading your thread and watching your progress. It seems like you have had a couple of things to look out for but you seem to get the `Burb´rolling every time. Looking forward to seeing more pics on your progress and hopefully seeing some wheeling pics of your ride. Chers, Chilli...