"Murphy" My 2500 Suburban Expo/Overland build

jerrysull2

Master Lurker
Greetings everyone!

Boy am I thankful I found this site when I did. I am looking forward to taking advantage of all of the knowledge and advice this community has to offer!

Having an overland/expedition rig has always been a dream of mine, and recently I pulled the trigger and picked up a prime candidate for the task:
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It is a ’97 GMC Suburban 2500, used as an ambulance in rural Northern Pennsylvania. A lot of features stood out on this truck, giving me a very nice head start. It is four wheel drive, equipped with a 6.5l diesel motor, and has a full-float G80 axle in the back. Plus it already has 120v wiring in place, and a hookup for shore power. In addition, while rather large and bulky, the AC unit on top is a large added bonus.
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A bit has changed since it was in service. The previous owner stripped most of the emergency equipment off of the truck, coated it in a layer of spray-on bedliner, and used it as a promo-truck for his business. Here is the truck in its current state:
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It will be a little bit of a slow start, as I am currently in the middle of both a move, and a job change. Plus, I am finishing up another project, and some repairs are coming due on my current daily driver, so this may have to step in to fill that role as well. The biggest thing I will be focusing on now will be fixing several electrical bugs that have presented themselves (I don’t think the previous owner knew what he was doing in that regard).

Future planned mods include:

Replacing the power inverter for the shore power and 120v setup (was removed by previous owner)

Rear swing out bumper with storage (to make up for lost space up top from AC unit)

Auxillary lighting (would like the ability to light up area around truck in 360 degree angle)

Privacy curtains and sleeping/storage area in back

Upgraded front bumper with winch

Always liked the snorkel look, also would like the ability to ford water ( but I’m worried about truck’s electrical system, considering its history)

Not sure what to do about the "Paint job". Previous owner used rattle can bedliner and it it looks rather tacky. Want to fix this, but I'm not sure what route to go as of yet.

Open to suggestions/ideas as well (ESPECIALLY regarding vehicle reliability and durability. Don’t want this breaking down on me)
 

jerrysull2

Master Lurker
Why name it Murphy you ask? Simple… Murphy’s Law. Ownership so far has best been described as “Love/Hate”. I originally purchased it at a great bargain price, because the pervious owner couldn’t get it to run right (truck had a bad miss, was spewing out enough coal to suffocate woodland creatures within a 100ft radius, and had zero throttle control ie: a simple touch of the gas pedal was interpreted as full throttle). He replaced the fuel lines and filters, the injectors and injector lines, the injector pump control unit, the main computer, and various turbo parts trying to get it working. When it came time to try the injector pump, he gave up. It sounded simple enough to fix. A quick drive to the parts store and a new injector pump later, I departed from Michigan to Pittsburgh, PA to visit an old buddy of mine, with the plans for a day trip out to replace the injector pump and drive the truck back home. Boy was I wrong about this thing…
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From the get go, I ran into issues. Several critical bolts were seized/stripped, and the selection of tools I had brought along were quite limited. A day trip to buy/fix this truck turned into a 3 day “nightmare”. Then to make matters worse, my friend down there had an emergency and was forced to leave me stranded. Finally, after swapping out the injector pump, and getting everything back into place, it came down to that critical moment. Would this truck I had spent the last three days getting to know fire up and get me home? Well, it fired back to life at least… Did I fix the miss and the throttle control issue? Nope. Would this be getting me home? Nope.

Tired and defeated, I took a bus ride home, and returned shortly after for my “Tow of Shame”
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When I got back, I sent it to a local shop with expertise in these trucks for his opinion. He swapped out the injector pump again, with no luck. Stumped, he turned to a local chevy dealer for help (at no cost to me). Chevy dealer called with “Great news!” the next day. They had reprogrammed the PCM, and the truck was running perfectly now! When I went to pick it up, two things happened: 1- I smoked up the pizza shop immediately upwind of the dealership. 2- The fire department was called to the scene because someone saw all of the black smoke in the air and thought something was on fire.:violent-smiley-031:

After many apologies, the dealer vowed to figure out what was wrong and fix it at their expense. A special team was called in directly from GM headquarters to deal with the truck, and left stumped with no clue as to what was wrong.:(

Things weren’t looking so good. Defeated once more, I took it home with plans to sell it. Then, after going through the engine bay one final time, I noticed something peculiar. It appeared that the previous owner had spliced a ground wire into the main set of wires leading into the injector pump. After a quick splice, the truck now ran fine! Who knew!:rolleyes:

Overjoyed, I planned on driving the truck into work the next day to make sure everything checked out. I turned the key and it began turning over. Two seconds later, the truck was no longer turning over; the starter began to grind up against the flywheel instead. Upon pulling the inspection plate, I found the flexplate had a nasty spot, where all of the teeth had grinded down. So, after a new starter and flexplate, you think I’d finally be ready to drive it? Nope. The rear driver’s brake line blew immediately afterwards. :mixed-smiley-030:

To top it all off, once everything was finally fixed and the truck was road-worthy, on its maiden voyage, someone backed into the front passenger door while it was parked and took off. All in all, I think this truck is more than deserving of its nickname. On the positive side, at least I got all of the bad luck out of the way in the beginning… I hope…
 

superbuickguy

Explorer
neat rig, do be sure and relocated the PCM before it too causes you grief. Most diesel folks hate the detroit diesel in your truck; I don't, I think they get the best mpg for their class and as long as you never, ever overheat it - it'll last 500,000 miles.
 

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