96 GMC K2500 Suburban Restoration (with a couple of mods)

[GrimsterGMC]

We made it back yesterday from the trip to Stone Mountain; a truly beautiful park, and well worth the drive. The scenery is gorgeous, and the hiking varies from a stroll to quite strenuous. Something for everyone. We've already reserved a campsite for another trip in late September.

Drive time turned out to be just under six hours including one gas stop and another pit stop. Gas mileage there and back was 7 ½ mpg. Once again, the beast did its job well, with nary a sign of any issues.

Towing at 65 mph in third at 2800 rpm seems to work well, as I haven't wanted to tow much faster. The engine doesn't feel like it's straining at all, but doesn't pull up the steeper hills as well as I'd like. I suspect that if I was to bump up the rpms just a bit, it would pull better, as the torque peaks at 3200 rpm. Our next trip is in two weeks, again in the mountains, so maybe I'll try running at 3000 rpms to see if it pulls the hills better.

And thus marks the completion of our first successful mountain trip with the Subdivision. Quite a contrast from this time last year, when we had to turn back just over halfway to our destination, and were grateful that we made it back home without having to get towed.

Some pics:

The campsite, although the picture doesn't quite do it justice. There's a stream about 50 yards away, which provides a nice background sound.

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Stone Mountain Falls

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An 1800s church, in the park, that still holds services and events:

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GF playing in the creek behind our campsite:

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A view from just below the summit of Stone Mountain:

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All in all, a great trip. The terrain is so steep that there are stairs up the mountainside. The hiking kicked our butts!!

What an awesome place to visit and relax. Having completed the trip without issue you will have a renewed confidence in the Subdivision so that you won't have any doubt hanging over you when you head out in future.

 

[South VA]

Camping in the mountains is always a good time, made better by a relaxed and uneventful tow there and back. Glad ya'll made it there and back without issue in the Subdivision.

Thanks! The mountains are our favorite place to camp. Glad we made it this time! Uneventful is a good thing.

 

[South VA]

What an awesome place to visit and relax. Having completed the trip without issue you will have a renewed confidence in the Subdivision so that you won't have any doubt hanging over you when you head out in future.

Thanks! Looking back at last year, it was sooooo stressful constantly wondering when the other shoe was going to drop. My GF was sick of it, for sure. We experienced none of that on this trip. Those nagging doubts are gone, finally.

That said, of course something could happen that could require mechanical intervention, as it could with any vehicle, new or old. I accept that such is a normal part of any vehicular experience, at least to some degree. But the electrical gremlins that plagued this beast appear to have been sorted, and it seems to be functioning as it should, and as I thought it would when I bought it. Plus I’m better equipped to deal with such things than I was a year and a half ago.

Thanks largely to you and other members here, I’ve learned a bunch about this vehicle over the past year and a half, and expect that I’ll continue to learn more. I am so thankful that I found this forum. And am also thankful that I found both a trustworthy mechanical shop and a likewise trustworthy and competent transmission shop.

But it’s the timely encouragement and information that you all have so thoughtfully and freely given are two major reasons that I didn’t simply throw in the towel and sell the Subdivision, as I was sorely tempted to do at a couple of points.

Now it’s a matter of preventive maintenance and fine-tuning, such as taking some play out of the steering, finally installing that sound system, installing the under hood tool box, fixing the hvac blend door actuators, and fixing a few interior plastic bits that arrived to me broken. No big deal with any of it, in comparison to what was happening before.

 

[fancyTBI]

You did it! You took ‘er out on a trip! You should feel proud.

 

[South VA]

You did it! You took ‘er out on a trip! You should feel proud.

Mostly grateful, but proud too. So glad I decided to stick with it.

Even my GF gave it an affectionate pat on the fender when we got back home. Never thought I'd see that happen!

 

[South VA]

Yesterday I towed the camper up to the dealer, to have the wheel bearings repacked and the brakes inspected. Wound up replacing all four brakes and backing plates plus new seals for the bearings. The camper's a 2016, we're the third owners, and those were the original brakes. It makes sense that they'd need replacing. Glad I took it there, as it took them over 3 ½ hours, without a break, to get the job done. I figure it would have taken me days, as I don't know squat about electric trailer brakes. Plus I learned some useful things about the trailer and towing it. And confirmed that my weight distribution hitch appears to be set up correctly.

However, it also turns out that the brake controller in the Subdivision isn't fully functional. It activates the trailer brakes when the vehicle brakes are applied, but the manual trailer brake actuator doesn't work. If I needed to activate the trailer brakes separately from the tow vehicle, I'd be out of luck. Fortunately that hasn’t been an issue so far.

I ordered a new brake controller, a Redarc Tow-Pro Elite, and plan to wire it in next week before our next camping trip on June 3. I'm assuming, because there's already a brake controller in it (albeit a different brand), that I can use the existing wiring harness to hook up the new one, instead of starting from scratch. I also have the Z82 Heavy Duty Trailering Equipment package, which I gather includes some provision for a brake controller and a 7 way plug in the wiring harness. I probably ought to pose the question on the Towing forum.

In other news, I got the OBD2 dongle working again, so as to verify the coolant temperature per @OutlawDrifter ’s recommendation. On the trip back, mostly on interstate, it tracked pretty closely with the analog temperature gauge in the dash. It reached 225º F at the hottest, and varied between 216º and 220º for much of the trip. I was towing in 3rd gear at 65 mph, and rpms were just below 3000. Outside air temp was in the upper 80s, and there were some rolling hills, but nothing very steep. I'm wondering if this is a reasonable operating range for the 7.4. I’ve looked through the GM Shop Manual regarding coolant temperatures and overheating, and see nothing definitive there. Thoughts, anyone?

 

[OutlawDrifter]

I don't think its super hot and you're pulling a different trailer setup than I ever have, so tough to compare. I don't think I've ever seen mine go above 210*, and that was pulling a 12' enclosed trailer in upper 90* temps with a 30mph crosswind @ 70mph road speed.

 

[South VA]

I don't think it’s super hot and you're pulling a different trailer setup than I ever have, so tough to compare. I don't think I've ever seen mine go above 210*, and that was pulling a 12' enclosed trailer in upper 90* temps with a 30mph crosswind @ 70mph road speed.

Thanks. Yes, pulling a 27’ 5500 - 6000 lb camper, 225º doesn’t sound horrendous, but I’ll post a thread in the Towing forum to see if anyone else has experience with a comparable rig.

 

[South VA]

Attempted to remove the driver's side wheel to provide better access to install an inner fender splash shield, and couldn't get the wheel off. Tried the methods suggested in the SM, but to no avail. So I torqued it back on and decided deal with it tomorrow.

Turns out I didn't really need to take the wheel off to install the shield; jacking it up was enough. So I got the driver's side on, which was missing completely when I bought the vehicle. Took all of five minutes. The shield fits great, and is thicker than the GM originals. Plus a bit less expensive. Found it here on this forum. Thanks @Cokeman95 !


Before:

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After:

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I'll put the passenger side shield plus the smaller one on (forget what it's called) probably tomorrow.

 

[fancyTBI]

They are a great product.