Rawhide and The Burb

[HotWheelsBurban]

A major reason we were interested in this particular truck (Rawhide the crew cab, as he/it has come to be called) is the remarkably low mileage it has. 122,000 and change when delivered.... That, the 5.7 L31 engine (same as Burb), the generally good condition of body/frame/interior, and the AC that works, were prime considerations when making this purchase. Mom and I do a lot of driving in Houston, Texas every day, and this extreme summer heat in the Burb with no AC has been about too much to handle....
My personal feeling is that the previous owner's family (grandson and granddaughter in law were selling the truck) knew it had some issues that they were not willing to deal with, because they didn't need this truck in their family anymore. I suspect whatever farm/ranch they had is greatly reduced, and most people wouldn't drive something like this for a daily. I can work on it,and have people who can do the stuff I can't (just gotta have $$ to pay them!). The used vehicle market/pricing is stupid in Houston, and we have looked at other vehicles before this one. Everything is either too expensive or too beat up....
Thanks again to everyone who responded with suggestions and things to look at!

 

[Dravec]

In this market, it doesn't really matter what you put into it, you're still gonna come out ahead. Give me a week or two, and I might could contribute a bit to help out. Just let me know what you need, and I'll see what I can do to help.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

In this marked, it doesn't really matter what you put into it, you're still gonna come out ahead. Give me a week or two, and I might could contribute a bit to help out. Just let me know what you need, and I'll see what I can do to help.

Okay cool thanks!

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Best I can tell,w/o pulling the grille, the power steering cooler is there,and hooked up. Bottom of PS pump is grimy, and all of the lines look okay(not wet/leaky). The 80's pan is dry now, but the bolts have just a little oily residue on them. So retorquing is in the near future there (my torque wrench is not at the RV park,and not in my JY tools).

 

[letitsnow]

At some point it might be easier to fix the blower motor/ac in your suburban. That way you can take your time trying to fix rawhide. If you are in a hurry to fix your truck, that seems to be when things get expensive...

 

[454cid]

Best I can tell,w/o pulling the grille, the power steering cooler is there,and hooked up. Bottom of PS pump is grimy, and all of the lines look okay(not wet/leaky). The 80's pan is dry now, but the bolts have just a little oily residue on them. So retorquing is in the near future there (my torque wrench is not at the RV park,and not in my JY tools).

How about going to the self serve car wash and cleaning up the bottom of the transmission and engine/PS-pump? If you have the plastic "skid plate" in front of the engine they're not hard to remove. The skid plate maybe only a 4x4 thing. The idea is to clean it up and and make it easier to see fresh leaks.

Rather than using the "degreaser" at the car wash, I'd reccommend getting a bottle of something else, like Simple Green. You can spray it, let it sit a few minutes, spray it again and then start feeding the quarter monster for rinsing.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

At some point it might be easier to fix the blower motor/ac in your suburban. That way you can take your time trying to fix rawhide. If you are in a hurry to fix your truck, that seems to be when things get expensive...

I wish it was that simple.... Burb needs a buncha stuff looked into and/or fixed. On my days off, I'm usually wiped from my job, and it's plenty hot this time of year.
Plan for later in the year when it gets a little cooler, is to get things moved around and cleaned in the shop building, so I can get a vehicle inside and work on a concrete floor instead of a gravel driveway. And get electricity back on in said building,for fans, lights, tools etc.

 

[Dropped88]

Does it have variable power steering junk on it?

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Does it have variable power steering junk on it?

I think there's an evo fitting on the pump, there is a long cylindrical fitting between the pump and the pressure line. It seems to steer okay on a flat parking lot though; isn't that what evo supposed to help with?

 

[Dropped88]

The evo system is finky had an issue with mine just randomly no p/s assist. Was sketchy at times in a curve and loose all assist and then all of a sudden comes back 110%