85 Chevy Flatbed

[Zimnij Volk]

I finally got rid of the Jimmy and found a nice replacement. On the way back from Madison (To Milwaukee, WI) it got me 25.33 MPG! I'm not sure how much of an Expo rig this will really be, besides a hauler and tow rig, seeing as it's 2WD, but I thought I might share it.

What I know about it;

- According to the owner it only has 85K on it. I'm not sure how much I believe that, but it's lack of rust rings some truth to that.
- It's got a Jasper tranny and a shift kit that's a few years old.
- It's glow-plugs are now manual (Which takes some getting used to)
- Has an electronic pump

And now, of course, everyone loves pictures.

I'm thinking about replacing the grill with a later 80's-91 Suburban grille. A bit of nostalgia.


Someone was proud of their 6.2


Not much for the blue. There's someone trying to offload a brown Blazer with a 305 on Craigslist, might look for the brown interior there...


The new seat would be great. I was wanting to just swap it out for a brown bench, but I might take the 2 buckets from that Blazer...


Rust free, but dirty behind the seat.


The roof of the cab is rust free and free of anything else but nice white paint.


Electric pump.


Flatbed. Steel frame with wood on top. Not quite sure what to do with it yet...


Just a few hints from it's past.


Someone liked it right away. (She also got real mad when we went inside the house.)


Not nearly as bad as I was expecting for rust on a WI truck. I'm wondering what you all think can be done with it, seeing as most of you have multiple times more experience with trucks and have probably seen much more than I have. Nothing too extreme, as it will be my DD. And how useful do you think a 2WD truck can be?

~ Volk

 

[huntsonora]

My dad had a 2wd suburban with a 6.2 and when we were at the ranch he would tell me to not take a leak by the rear tires because we might get stuck

:sombrero:

I always liked dads burb but we didn't take it out when it was muddy

 

[FellowTraveler]

Great lil flatbed

The 6.2 is a trouble free diesel and that's a nice flatbed.

I just the past week completed a resto for my daughter while not an expo type rig its an ole school 1984 c10 short-bed stepside,was a 6 banger with a three speed manual column shift now a chevy small block w/worked turbo 350 transmission and floor shifter, auburn posi w/3.08 gearset she loves it and actually gave up a Mazda Miata for it.

 

[warrpath4x4]

thats a mr gasket fuel pump from o'rielly, they are not the greatest but cheap enough to carry a spare.

 

[Zimnij Volk]

Ah, good times with old Suburbans. I wonder if that was also because of the weight.

Well, I've already had a few issues with it. Mostly all yesterday. (But I already had this all written up and was too tired to go into detail about what happened.)

When I got to work yesterday my power steering and brakes went out when I got off the highway. After driving it to the parking lot at work (Felt like I was driving a big ol' deuce and a half.) it kicked back on as I pulled into my parking spot. After talking to a guy at work and I was done with my shift I headed to AutoZone to look for some new belts. (They both need to be replaced.) Came back out and, spent the next hour trying to start the truck. Finally gave up and walked home. Came back a few hours later and still nothing. It would crank, puff a little smoke, but wouldn't catch. I came back this morning and, behold, it started on the first try. No idea what's going on there, but it worries me as it's only been a few days since I got it.

 

[Rot Box]

Cool!

The hard starts could be a number of things. For starters (lol) be careful not to crank the motor over for long periods of time. I believe the manual says something like 15 seconds with 1 minute to cool in between cranks :Wow1: Either way it doesn't take much to fry a 6.2 starter. Also holding the GP button for much longer than 10 or so seconds could burn out the plugs I would give them plenty of time to cool between cycles. Lots of people think "cycling" them multiple times before cranking helps with starting--it doesn't. The idea behind the electric pump is being able to prime the fuel system without having to crank the motor over. Its a good idea IF you have a high quality electric pump. I've been down that road a few times and in the long run I switched back to the manual block mounted (factory) pump because they seem to hold up better for me. If you choose electric make sure it is turning on and I would keep a spare and tools to change it on the road. 99 times out of 100 its the GP's or fuel delivery causing hard starts and luckily the 6.2's are simple to troubleshoot once you get familiar with them.

Push button glow plugs are a good idea due to the fact if one or more plugs burn out the others will still work. Troubleshooting the system is much easier as well. I actually prefer this setup because your GP's don't have to cycle every time you start your truck.

As for the 2WD you should be fine. I had a 2WD 82 GMC and it was constantly getting stuck in the snow but studded tires will help with a lot of that. Just carry some extra recovery gear and don't talk yourself into trails you know are a bad idea lol. Beyond that have fun I wouldn't let 2WD hold me back from having a good time :bike_rider:

 

[Zimnij Volk]

Let the trouble shooting begin. Boy is it a doozy...

So, I got in the truck after my shift, no troubles starting, and pulled off onto the road, then onto the highway to head home. I don't know the gear ratio in the truck, so I've been driving it at 55 mph. Not 5 minutes down the road and it starts to act a little funny. I looked at the gas gauge and noticed it had enough to go at least another 50 miles. Not 2 seconds after it sounds like the RPMs are going down, makes a few hollow sounding strokes, a "CLACK", then silence. By the time I stopped on the side of the road the only sound I could hear was the fuel pump. There was a little smoke at first, but it went away nearly before I got out of the truck. There was a trail of fluid from the road to where I stopped, and it was pooling and seeping off to the side. It was getting dark, and I had no flashlight, so I wasn't able to tell what color the fluid was or check if a rod had popped out anywhere. I had to leave it behind. Haven't even had it 4 days.

Help?

 

[REDROVER]

Let the trouble shooting begin. Boy is it a doozy...

So, I got in the truck after my shift, no troubles starting, and pulled off onto the road, then onto the highway to head home. I don't know the gear ratio in the truck, so I've been driving it at 55 mph. Not 5 minutes down the road and it starts to act a little funny. I looked at the gas gauge and noticed it had enough to go at least another 50 miles. Not 2 seconds after it sounds like the RPMs are going down, makes a few hollow sounding strokes, a "CLACK", then silence. By the time I stopped on the side of the road the only sound I could hear was the fuel pump. There was a little smoke at first, but it went away nearly before I got out of the truck. There was a trail of fluid from the road to where I stopped, and it was pooling and seeping off to the side. It was getting dark, and I had no flashlight, so I wasn't able to tell what color the fluid was or check if a rod had popped out anywhere. I had to leave it behind. Haven't even had it 4 days.

Help?

first thing will be to find out what was that fluid .atf? motor oil? dif oil? diesel fuel? 6.2 is super simple motor , if the motor died on u it must be diesel. and bad old fuel lines,

also injection pump return hose put it clear one,so u can see if u eve get air in the system. glow plugs put 60G self timer in them. u cant burn them. electric fuel pump with check valve , and that's about it on 6.2 diesel.

Eric

 

[chilliwak]

Jimmy, what can i say, ?Nice :Wow1:Truck! I say keep the flatbead and build a camper for it. The extra weight will give you good tracktion. Look at my sig if you need inspiration on building your own. Cheers Chilli.

 

[Zimnij Volk]

Well, yesterday I got it towed to work. (So much cheaper than towing it home, where I wouldn't be able to work on it anyway, and have no place to put it.) I'm making sure to document all this thoroughly to show the previous owner when he get's back from his trip to California. Thus meaning pics.

It was a busy day yesterday, so I really didn't get time to do too much with it accept make sure it was in it's place and make a few checks.

The trail I thought I saw in the dark last night seems to be real. It left a strange orange-brownish residue.


Taking a quick look underneath, to make sure there weren't and holes where I rod might be popping out, I saw this. Random tube. I'm not sure where it's from, but looking up at it, it could sure be replaced.


Some of the leakage from Thursday night.


Flatbedding while I flatbed.


It wasn't doing this Thursday night, so I'm not sure where it came from, but there's oil and diesel on the flatbed. (I'm wondering if when they turned to key to put the truck into neutral, the electric pump pushed fuel through a new leak or something.)


Also, looking around the truck while on my 30 min lunch, I noticed the coolant in the radiator was completely drained. Which is weird because the night before this happened I topped it off. I could get the glowplugs to cycle, according to the light, and the electric pump fired up, but when I turned on the key, nothing.

 

[Zimnij Volk]

Actually, the picture was taken on the passenger's side.

Would you guys recommend going back to the mechanical pump or a better electric pump?

 

[warrpath4x4]

That hose looks to be the drain hose from the overflow tank on the radiator.

What color antifreeze was in the radiator?

Get under your truck and see if you can turn the crank pulley by hand, might need a breaker bar.

Hate to say it but it sounds like your temp guage wasn't working, you boiled your coolant out, and siezed the engine.

But that's just from the info I have here.

 

[REDROVER]

Actually, the picture was taken on the passenger's side.

Would you guys recommend going back to the mechanical pump or a better electric pump?

no mechanical pump . put made in USA electric pump and check valve and done . . ( when mechanical pumps fail, it lets diesel to go inside the engine oil and your motor is done. or if u run out of fuel. it will kill your starter before it starts.)

Eric

 

[Zimnij Volk]

Well, good news and bad news. Good news is, I found the problem. The bad news is... Well, look for yourself....

There looked to be some water/coolant in the oil...


Oil all over the bottom.


Mysterious tube led me here.


But.... Then I had this feeling I should look under the front again... And I found it...



Where there goes my hopes of just a blown headgasket. I wanted to get my hands into the engine, looks like I got my wish...

And that's good to know about the mechanical pump. When I find myself another 6.2 to swap in I'll be doing a lot of parts replacement ahead of time. Honestly it's the best I can really do at this point.

 

[warrpath4x4]

that sucks