1978 K10 Suburban

[FCM]

Unsure of what I wanted to do this weekend, I walked back to my one of my old projects that I am planning on stealing the saddlebag tanks from and started looking at the tanks usability. Two seconds later, I am no longer planning on using those tanks.


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With nothing to do yet, I decided to go through the extra parts from my other build and install the steering box reinforcement plates. It is fairly straight forward. Removes all the things in your way and weld the plates up. I tell you what though, those plates did not fit up quite as well as I hoped. They need to be flush with the frame rails so I can weld them up, not a quarter inch away. Yes, I can actually weld a quarter inch gap, but for the purpose of this project I think a gap would be unwanted. I tried forcing the plates into position with some vice clamps. Then I tried again. Then I grabbed a couple of bolts & nuts and bolted the darn side plate up. The bottom plate did go on with vice clamps. Both plates still aren't flush, but next weekend a little heat and a hammer will do the trick I think.



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While I was disconnecting the pitman arm, I noticed a bit of water from the ball joint and then a lack of anything but rust. That along with the way this darn build is going, I decided to pull the axle out from under BOPAS.


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I also noticed the steering arm was stock and I just so happen one out back that is better for a small lift.


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I also saw a snake as I was walking back and forth during the day.

 

[chilliwak]

Wow:Wow1:cool snake and nice build on that fine old GM product!:drool:

 

[FCM]

Between life happening and trying to get motivation to spend some time with the burb, it has been a little over two months since I've reported anything. A couple images during the few spouts of work.
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This is my new way of pulling the locking hub out. Thank you, Dad.
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The leaf spring center pin had rusted and sheared off. In order to remove it, I drilled a hole and used an easy-out with some PB Blaster to break it free.

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The reinforcement plate has now been beat into shape with the help of a rose bud torch and a B.F.H. My dad's welder is currently out of service so that will have to wait until I can either fix his or sack up and buy my own.

 

[Larry]

Cool burb project!

Was the frame cracked near the steering gear?? If not, welding in the plate is unnecessary and probably does more harm than good to a virgin frame by super heating that part of the frame when welding the brace in place. Seems to be a trend of people welding those brackets in when they don’t need to. If you were running 44” tires on a rock crawler rig I could see where adding it might be cheap insurance but in all reality the bolt-in ORD bracket that runs from the crossmember to the steering box bolts is more than enough for non-rock crawler rigs.

This is really all you need on a rig that doesn’t have a cracked frame. This stops the cracks from forming in the first place.

 

[FCM]

Cool burb project!

Was the frame cracked near the steering gear?? If not, welding in the plate is unnecessary and probably does more harm than good to a virgin frame by super heating that part of the frame when welding the brace in place. Seems to be a trend of people welding those brackets in when they don't need to. If you were running 44” tires on a rock crawler rig I could see where adding it might be cheap insurance but in all reality the bolt-in ORD bracket that runs from the crossmember to the steering box bolts is more than enough for non-rock crawler rigs.

This is really all you need on a rig that doesn't have a cracked frame. This stops the cracks from forming in the first place.

Larry, thanks for the recomendation. I have no cracks at the moment and welding was going to be my way of preventing them. I did purchase the brace and will have it installed next time I get back to it.

 

[superbuickguy]

I've had dozens of those trucks - if you go with bigger than 35" tires, the brace is pretty much necessary. The problem with waiting until it cracks is the frame will bend, and depending on the year of truck, that will misalign your bumper and worse put a hole in your radiator... anyone want to guess why I know this? 74 Blazer on 44s... what a mess, eventually I cut a new frame horn from another rig, then boxed and fishplated it on... I've even seen, on a friends' rig, where we had to ratchet strap his box to the frame to get him to the end of the trail where we could get a tow truck to haul him home... the problem is the frame can crack and bend in a matter of a few miles off-road.

simply putting heat in the horn doesn't make it brittle - putting heat in it can relax the metal to give it more plasticity, putting cold air or water on hot metal will create brittle metal that will crack.

 

[Larry]

Everybody has an opinion. The company I work for inherited the old P-chassis division from GM, which was basically a straight rail version of the 67-91 1 ton pickup rail. Legacy engineering from GM and our engineers had it written right in our body builder’s manual where unnecessary welding to the frame would result frame performance damage where it could become soft. I would not weld on them unless it was a matter of saving a rail or junking it. Obviously welding little thinks like exhaust hangers aren’t an issue. Cutting a frame in half to modify the wheelbase or something like welding this steering bracket would be something that the original engineers would be against.

 

[FCM]

The frame brace is installed. It is really easy to put in if you have a drill and a couple of washers. All in all, it really is a bolt in item.
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This is why I utilized the washers.

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The drill was for this lonely bolt on the cross member. There was actually a hole already there, but it was not centered and too small anyway.

 

[FCM]

Ok, so nearly six years later and I am just now getting back to thinking about BOPAS. A lot has changed for me and my suburban. For example, I am married with child, the body of the suburban is full of cancer, and I have a proper daily driver.

A week or two ago I was at my dad’s house and walked to the back corner of his property. There was my old sunburn, sitting in sorrow. Being bored with life (that’s an oversimplification) and seeing how much fun getting BOPAS running would be, I decided to resurrect this project. This weekend while visiting my folks, I jotted down a broad overview checklist of what I needed to accomplish.

BOPAS checklist

• Remove body
• Clean frame
• Rebuild engine
• Rebuild transmission
• Rebuild transfer case
• Buy/rebuild axles
• Add tires/wheels
• Buy driveshafts
• Clean/replace body
• Build roll cage (maybe, maybe not)
• Rebuild steering system
• Replace suspension
• Repair brake system
• Wire electrical system
• Repair/replace interior

The intent is to accomplish all the tasks in that order.

 

[twodollars]

To each his own, but with that list you may want to consider starting over with a clean truck from somewhere without salt or winter. Just my .02 good luck though, that's a heck of a to do list

 

[FCM]

Yesterday morning I went rucking for a bit. During that time I was thinking about the suburban and decided to rename it. My wife, Amanda, was quite pleased to hear that since she didn’t want to need to explain the name to her parents or our kid when he is old enough. As of now, I think I am going to refer to it as RSQ-78. It isn’t much of a name so I need to still come up with an actual name. Maybe I’ll call it Sue?

 

[Todd n Natalie]

Maybe I’ll call it Sue?

Only if it's a boy, lol

 

[FCM]

I went to my parent’s place to help my dad assembly and raise a small radio tower. It wasn’t an all-day affair so I spent a few hours making an inventory of all the item that I had previously purchased and other random parts that I had laying around from other trucks. I took a bunch pictures of everything and then blew out all the leaves and spider webs from the interior and off the exterior, especially under the roof rack. I know this isn’t a sexy kind of update, but it was good for my organizational needs. Next weekend I am hoping to get enough time away from the radio tower to reseat the tires on the wheels and get the suburban rolling on all fours. If that happens and there is time still to work, it is my intention to start removing the body from the frame. I doubt I will actually separate the two, but I need to start thinking about how I am going to store the body while I do all the frame and mechanical work. I’m thinking about just blocking it up on a couple of wood blocks, although I still need to source them. Other than that, I talked with my dad and my uncle about retrofitting the suburban with ABS. They seemed to think it would be easy enough to do once I found a good donor truck. We also talked about adding a roll cage, five-point harnesses, and how adding airbags would be way too complicated to tackle.


We raised and lowered the radio tower with my Jeep. It was just a temporary solution until my dad can get a decent winch to raise and lower the tower himself.

 

[nitro_rat]

Honestly if you want ABS and airbags and all that modern safety stuff you're far better off getting a newer vehicle that has those features installed from the factory.

Curious to know what "donor" you'd get ABS parts from. The rear wheel only ABS that was installed in the 89-ish to 91 Suburbans is the only "bolt-on" ABS system you'll find. It was kinda crappy when it was new and if you can find a truck that still has a functioning system it will probably be too nice to cut up for parts.

Roll cages and harnesses are only safe when you're suited up and helmeted. You won't care that your roof didn't cave in if you're melon whacks the bar in a crash...

 

[zoomad75]

I'm not sure of the direction of what you intend to do with the truck to require a cage and abs. I deleted abs on my '91 K5 because like Nitrorat said, the system was problematic at best even when it was new. Add to the fact parts are long discontinued from GM and any aftermarket source means you can't find replacements anywhere but in a boneyard. At best the stuff in the boneyards is 30+ years old at least which doesn't lend itself to trouble-free reliability. Going to bigger brakes from the 3/4ton or 1 ton trucks with hydroboost would give you better brakes without the complexity.

The idea for a cage is fine if you are going for competition or serious rock crawling. For anything else, the idea of a cage is overkill. It adds complexity and cost to the build. Tube benders and DOM tube aren't cheap for sure.