nitro_rat
Lunchbox Lockers
My '09 Ram 2500 Hemi proved too problematic to continue with, it was liquidated earlier this year. I recently picked up an '04 Excursion Eddie Bauer V10 dirt cheap. A friend of mine has a dealer license and this thing is coming back from the brink of an insurance auction. I'm honestly not sire of the title sratus as I haven't gotten it back yet. I don't really care as I plan to keep this thing.
I have always had a Suburban, I have been running an '84 K2500 6.2 diesel 'Burb for a long time. Almost a million miles long time. I used to be an automotive mechanic by trade and me and my friends can't ever really remember working on a Triton V10 other than an occasional spark plug hole repair on the early models.
Long story short, the Dodge was a failed (and expensive) attempt at a replacement for the Suburban. This is a low buck attempt to do the job right. If there's any interest I will keep track of the exact costs (something I was afraid to do with the Dodge). Here goes:
As delivered. I wish I took more pics to detail exactly how bad it was. The interior was NASTY. The PO's had spit tobacco all over the console and the floor. The bottoms of the front fenders are hammered back (think hack NorCal mod), both bumpers are trashed, scratches all over, both mirrors destroyed, etc.
Someone had previously deleted the auto hubs and replaced them with factory plastic lockouts. One of these was frozen in the "locked" position. I found a set of new in box Superwinch huns for $50 so on they went...
The wheels and tires were a mismatch of steel and aluminum 16" and 17". One of the original aluminum 16's remained (pictured above). I was able to secure three more at a local tire store for $60/each. I had recently put a new set of load range E 285/75R16's on the old Suburban before the transmission gave out.
That made it driveable. It still needs shocks, bump stops, sway bar end links, steering stabilizer, etc., but it's surprisingly solid. i've been getting a (corrected) 12 mpg average.
Most of the interior cleaned up but I had to trash the rear carpet. I bought some carpet at Lowe's to replace it with.
I made a maiden voyage to the beach this weekend and all was well. Money well spent so far...
I have always had a Suburban, I have been running an '84 K2500 6.2 diesel 'Burb for a long time. Almost a million miles long time. I used to be an automotive mechanic by trade and me and my friends can't ever really remember working on a Triton V10 other than an occasional spark plug hole repair on the early models.
Long story short, the Dodge was a failed (and expensive) attempt at a replacement for the Suburban. This is a low buck attempt to do the job right. If there's any interest I will keep track of the exact costs (something I was afraid to do with the Dodge). Here goes:
As delivered. I wish I took more pics to detail exactly how bad it was. The interior was NASTY. The PO's had spit tobacco all over the console and the floor. The bottoms of the front fenders are hammered back (think hack NorCal mod), both bumpers are trashed, scratches all over, both mirrors destroyed, etc.
Someone had previously deleted the auto hubs and replaced them with factory plastic lockouts. One of these was frozen in the "locked" position. I found a set of new in box Superwinch huns for $50 so on they went...
The wheels and tires were a mismatch of steel and aluminum 16" and 17". One of the original aluminum 16's remained (pictured above). I was able to secure three more at a local tire store for $60/each. I had recently put a new set of load range E 285/75R16's on the old Suburban before the transmission gave out.
That made it driveable. It still needs shocks, bump stops, sway bar end links, steering stabilizer, etc., but it's surprisingly solid. i've been getting a (corrected) 12 mpg average.
Most of the interior cleaned up but I had to trash the rear carpet. I bought some carpet at Lowe's to replace it with.
I made a maiden voyage to the beach this weekend and all was well. Money well spent so far...
