Like Bill, I have been driving two Tortugas that many of you know. The first was a 59 1/2 ton I bought in 1961 , the second the 3/4 ton with a one-ton front axel that Ken Laidlaw bought new. When he got tired of his Big Toy, I bought it and put it to Real Work . I ended up after 30 years with over 480K on that one (with four hart transplants) . In 2003 I gave it to my son in Albuquerque. I was trying to get it to an NSS convention and put it in the auction, but it did not quite happen. Pity!
The 3/4 ton 1988's were about at the peak of Suburban toughness and durability, although there wa s a sight degrading compared to my 69, but only an expert would see it. A far cry from the truck-on-a-passenger -car-chassis that have been produced since. I really would not want one of the new ones - there are better vehicles out there for my - and most cavers - purposes. The really smart upgrade (along with a bunch of other things) t hat Dan added to this one is the 25% Gear Vendors overdrive. I think he is probably quite honest when he says he got 16-17 MPG in overdrive driving 75MPH on the interstate from Seattle to Estes Park ( 1500 miles). That truck is about 6000 pounds, empty. You should read all the upgrades he has done to the thing - on the DropBox link. DirtDoc ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mixon Bill" <[email protected]> To: "Cavers Texas" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 8:51:00 PM Subject: [Texascavers] Suburbans I owned serial Suburbans back in the day, starting back when they were actually trucks and not all tricked out like rolling whorehouses with headliners and the like. There was actually metal on the interior that you could screw stuff to. My first one had only three doors, two on the curb side and one for the driver--not counting the tailgate, of course. The second seat was optional back then, and had to be unbolted to be removed. My experience with them has made me swear to never buy anything from GM again, and I haven't. Mostly nuisances like broken door handles, failed light switches, snapped speedometer cables, leaky driveline seals, etc. etc. etc. An engine-mount bolt fell out up in the Purificación cave area in Mexico. When a fuel pump failed on one of them, a dealer fixed it but returned the truck to me with the sparkplug wires mixed up. (Not clear why they were even removed.) The last straw was when my last one had a total ignition failure on the way home from a Sunday swim two days before I had to leave for an NSS convention somewhere in the NW. Then on the way home the fuel pump on that one went out, too. I suppose some people think things like that just add spice to a trip. I kept none of them beyond ~ 130K miles. "Your mileage may vary." -- Mixon ---------------------------------------- Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them more. ---------------------------------------- You may "reply" to the address this message came from, but for long-term use, save: Personal: [email protected] AMCS: [email protected] or [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
