The Story Of A Cummins Suburban (Lots Of Pics)

[1985-GMC]

Originally Posted by mosesburb

You could probably find a better one in this thread...... Maybe something without a stinky gas engine in it.

Hey now, I still have those stinky gas engines in my trucks.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by 1985-GMC

Hey now, I still have those stinky gas engines in my trucks.

Hint hint, spark plugs are the enemy!

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by 1985-GMC

Hey now, I still have those stinky gas engines in my trucks.

Mosesburb just likes to poke fun at me about the stinky “gas” engine because when we were at the Overland Expo he had his superburb parked right in front of my truck with the engine idling for like an hour while his fumes filled up my camper. With the fact I couldn’t hear myself think or let alone breathe I tried my best to be as polite when asking him to turn that damn tank off before I went AWAL. I never understood why the diesel types think diesels need to idle all day! I may have said something about his stinky engine at that time so he has enjoys poking fun at me now.

It is actually pretty funny because I too am a big Cummins engine fan but I cannot stand the smell of raw or spent diesel fuel. Diesel fumes even give me diarrhea too! Even funnier is the fact I work for a diesel engine manufacture but can’t stomach the smell of them.

[klmore]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

With the fact I couldn’t hear myself think or let alone breathe I tried my best to be as polite when asking him to turn that damn tank off before I went AWAL. I never understood why the diesel types think diesels need to idle all day!

I am a diesel type and gas, but I have to admit I am bad about letting my diesel rigs idle much more than the gas. I have no idea why, but the AC in the south is worth the fuel. That is why my Duraburb holds 60+ gallons of diesel.
Posted via Mobile Device

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

LOL! Best scene in the movie you lollygagger.

So what were you doing for the 7 days you were not in the ER and hadn't posted. We figured you had a long convalescence in there with tubes and machines that go 'bing' etc. etc. You know, laying around on your lazy ass. Not something as simple as 'my whatzit hurts when I push here and here and here' and the Dr says your finger is broken. Come on! Details dude.

I don't have to answer these questions without my lawyer!!

Originally Posted by 1985-GMC

Hey now, I still have those stinky gas engines in my trucks.

Re-read this thread. It explains in much detail how to fix that problem.

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Hint hint, spark plugs are the enemy!

So are plug wires, distributors and carburetors.

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

Mosesburb just likes to poke fun at me about the stinky “gas” engine because when we were at the Overland Expo he had his superburb parked right in front of my truck with the engine idling for like an hour while his fumes filled up my camper. With the fact I couldn’t hear myself think or let alone breathe I tried my best to be as polite when asking him to turn that damn tank off before I went AWAL. I never understood why the diesel types think diesels need to idle all day! I may have said something about his stinky engine at that time so he has enjoys poking fun at me now.

Jeez man, need a towel to mop up those tears you are crying??

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

Diesel fumes even give me diarrhea too!

<evilgrin>

[1985-GMC]

Originally Posted by mosesburb

Re-read this thread. It explains in much detail how to fix that problem.

I am pretty confident that I could do the swap without much hassle... its just buying all the parts so I can do it seems to be the problem.



Diarrhea from Diesel fumes??? I love the smell of diesel in the morning!

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by klmore

I am a diesel type and gas, but I have to admit I am bad about letting my diesel rigs idle much more than the gas. I have no idea why, but the AC in the south is worth the fuel. That is why my Duraburb holds 60+ gallons of diesel.
Posted via Mobile Device

Ah man, sit down for a while…long post coming….

Ya, that is pretty much the story with most people that own diesels. None of them know why they let diesels idle more than a gas, they just have the misguided notion it is the right thing to do because they saw truckers do it when they were kid and they did it on Smokey and the Bandit. Letting diesels idle today reminds me of the story of the Easter Ham where both ends of the ham got cut off. Wanna hear it? Okay, here it goes…..One Easter as a new bride and her Mother were prepairing Easter dinner the daughter asked her Mom why she cut off the ends of the ham before placing it in the baking pan. The Mother responded that she didn’t exactly know for sure but her Mother also did it too so it must be the right thing to do. The young bride walked into the next room to ask Grandma why she cut off the ends of the Easter ham before baking it. Grandma replied that her baking pan was too small so she had to cut off both ends make the ham to fit her pan. Damn, what a waste of ham all those years!

Same thing with idling diesels, as a diesel engine manufacturer we do not encourage the diesel engines to be idled anymore than a gas engine would be idled unless you are doing something obvious like running a PTO, etc where the engine is actually running above idle speed.

Then why do people do it? Well, what our marketing peeps come up with in regards to idling diesel engines is old school ideas (like the ham) where the over the road truckers years ago didn’t have generators to power the sleeper accessories so they let the engine idle, starter motors back in the day were not the nice low amp gear reduction type we have today and really weren’t reliable when restarting a cold diesel engine. Olden day diesel engines were a SOB to start when cold! No responsible trucker would want to miss his load delivery the next morning so he let it idle. Big rigs years ago also didn’t have neat Espar diesel cab heaters that run independently of the engine like we have today, not to say that idling diesel engines generate much heat at idle anyway. Speaking of diesels being a cold idling engine, when it really boils down to it, about the only time a diesel really needs to idle is after a long hard pull (picture yourself being Jerry Reed pulling a 60,000 lb load of Coors over Wolf Creek Pass or Mosesburb hauling a 12 pack of Mountain Dew over Imogene Pass) where that turbo is hotter than heck. Once you reach the top, yeah…let her idle to cool the turbo down before turning the off the engine where the engine will go into full-on heat soak warpage can settle in.

The emissions emitted at idle (the emissions you cannot see) are higher than the big black plumb of smoke you see under load which is why more and more states as well as the feds have set up laws for diesel engine idle time. At this time, 10 minutes is the target but will probably be reduced very soon. Most fleets already require us to turn the engines off at 5 minutes of idle time for fuel savings. One actually has a 3 minute spec if equipped with an automated manual transmission where the truck it knows it is in “Park”. I have a hard time feeling sorry for all of those Ferd PowerJoke (and GM Dirtymax, Dodge Cummins) guys out there paying $4,000 to $6,000 to have the cab ripped off their Stupid Duty to replace the injectors when the truck spent more than half of the engine hours idling doing nothing but sounding “tough” while the injectors are getting coated with unburnt fuel deposits.

Rant off….. (ah, I love the smell of raw and spent GASOLINE..It makes me horny ).

[jbclassix]

Ha! The Volvo crane truck used to have an idle cut off! It would kill the engine if it idled for more than 10 minutes. Used to piss me off if i had a load suspended for a reason and the truck would just shut off... diesel has its place gas has its place. In 20 years it will all be electric vs. Petroleum anyway. Speaking of which, anyone know how the air conditioning works on a nissan leaf? I can hear everyone saying it. A what?
Posted via Mobile Device

[WIDESIDE72]

I just spent a couple of hours enjoying your thread! I just hit the high points, mainly the posts with photos. My compliments to you on a well built trail ready truck! it is good to see one being used. I wish there were places like that here in Texas to explore.

I have a question about the Suburban. I noticed that the firewall and dash are green. is there a story there?

[RINC]

Originally Posted by mosesburb

When we left, we headed past the scenic SRP Navajo Generating Station:

Oh snap ! I know that place !

We load fly ash there

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

It is actually pretty funny because I too am a big Cummins engine fan but I cannot stand the smell of raw or spent diesel fuel. Diesel fumes even give me diarrhea too! Even funnier is the fact I work for a diesel engine manufacture but can’t stomach the smell of them.

LMAO! Are you sure your woman private parts aren't full of sand and that's why you have weird bowel movements and the diesel fumes aren't just a cover up? LMAO!




























Just messing with you man! When I read that I was like really? HaHa

And on the whole idle situation, not many of the "Newer" heavy duty EPA engines start for crap in the winter. Ask me how I know. The higher injection pressures help from common rail fuel systems, but they pretty much sound like a cold 6.0 PSD starting in cold weather. Sounds real nice. Not!

[1985-GMC]

We don't even need a grid heater in the winter down here, they start up like normal. Now my friend's F*#d on the other hand... Hahaha

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

Ah man, sit down for a while…long post coming….

Ya, that is pretty much the story with most people that own diesels. None of them know why they let diesels idle more than a gas, they just have the misguided notion it is the right thing to do because they saw truckers do it when they were kid and they did it on Smokey and the Bandit. Letting diesels idle today reminds me of the story of the Easter Ham where both ends of the ham got cut off. Wanna hear it? Okay, here it goes…..One Easter as a new bride and her Mother were prepairing Easter dinner the daughter asked her Mom why she cut off the ends of the ham before placing it in the baking pan. The Mother responded that she didn’t exactly know for sure but her Mother also did it too so it must be the right thing to do. The young bride walked into the next room to ask Grandma why she cut off the ends of the Easter ham before baking it. Grandma replied that her baking pan was too small so she had to cut off both ends make the ham to fit her pan. Damn, what a waste of ham all those years!

Same thing with idling diesels, as a diesel engine manufacturer we do not encourage the diesel engines to be idled anymore than a gas engine would be idled unless you are doing something obvious like running a PTO, etc where the engine is actually running above idle speed.

Then why do people do it? Well, what our marketing peeps come up with in regards to idling diesel engines is old school ideas (like the ham) where the over the road truckers years ago didn’t have generators to power the sleeper accessories so they let the engine idle, starter motors back in the day were not the nice low amp gear reduction type we have today and really weren’t reliable when restarting a cold diesel engine. Olden day diesel engines were a SOB to start when cold! No responsible trucker would want to miss his load delivery the next morning so he let it idle. Big rigs years ago also didn’t have neat Espar diesel cab heaters that run independently of the engine like we have today, not to say that idling diesel engines generate much heat at idle anyway. Speaking of diesels being a cold idling engine, when it really boils down to it, about the only time a diesel really needs to idle is after a long hard pull (picture yourself being Jerry Reed pulling a 60,000 lb load of Coors over Wolf Creek Pass or Mosesburb hauling a 12 pack of Mountain Dew over Imogene Pass) where that turbo is hotter than heck. Once you reach the top, yeah…let her idle to cool the turbo down before turning the off the engine where the engine will go into full-on heat soak warpage can settle in.

The emissions emitted at idle (the emissions you cannot see) are higher than the big black plumb of smoke you see under load which is why more and more states as well as the feds have set up laws for diesel engine idle time. At this time, 10 minutes is the target but will probably be reduced very soon. Most fleets already require us to turn the engines off at 5 minutes of idle time for fuel savings. One actually has a 3 minute spec if equipped with an automated manual transmission where the truck it knows it is in “Park”. I have a hard time feeling sorry for all of those Ferd PowerJoke (and GM Dirtymax, Dodge Cummins) guys out there paying $4,000 to $6,000 to have the cab ripped off their Stupid Duty to replace the injectors when the truck spent more than half of the engine hours idling doing nothing but sounding “tough” while the injectors are getting coated with unburnt fuel deposits.

Rant off….. (ah, I love the smell of raw and spent GASOLINE..It makes me horny ).

Good gawd man, do you like the sound of your own keyboard or something?? I used to idle mine because of all the starting issues I had with the old two stroke Detroits back in the 1940s and 1950s. I realize times change, but old habits die hard. Now I just idle mine to give you the squirts.

Larry is the one in the back seat in this vid:

Number 3's - Babylove T.V Commercial - YouTube

Originally Posted by jbclassix

Ha! The Volvo crane truck used to have an idle cut off! It would kill the engine if it idled for more than 10 minutes. Used to piss me off if i had a load suspended for a reason and the truck would just shut off... diesel has its place gas has its place. In 20 years it will all be electric vs. Petroleum anyway. Speaking of which, anyone know how the air conditioning works on a nissan leaf? I can hear everyone saying it. A what?
Posted via Mobile Device

Man, I'd love ten minutes. Our junk shuts off in five.

Originally Posted by WIDESIDE72

I just spent a couple of hours enjoying your thread! I just hit the high points, mainly the posts with photos. My compliments to you on a well built trail ready truck! it is good to see one being used. I wish there were places like that here in Texas to explore.

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by WIDESIDE72

I have a question about the Suburban. I noticed that the firewall and dash are green. is there a story there?

Oh yeah. When I bought the truck ten years ago, I planned to do a color change to green. While I had the dash and firewall apart I decided that there was no better time than then to paint them green. The truck sat for many years and the orange grew on me and the price of paint went through the roof and I no longer had the desire to change the color, but I still had a green dash and firewall.

Originally Posted by RINC

Oh snap ! I know that place !

We load fly ash there

Hopefully the current administration does not get their way so you can continue loading there.

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

LMAO! Are you sure your woman private parts aren't full of sand and that's why you have weird bowel movements and the diesel fumes aren't just a cover up? LMAO!

Nah, it is the fumes. Been like that since I was a kid smelling idling diesel ambulances as they were being worked on at my dad’s shop (old 6.9L engines in Econolines) After a while of that I am running to the can.

Originally Posted by mosesburb

Good gawd man, do you like the sound of your own keyboard or something?? I used to idle mine because of all the starting issues I had with the old two stroke Detroits back in the 1940s and 1950s. I realize times change, but old habits die hard. Now I just idle mine to give you the squirts.

Hehe, I do own the keyboard….well, this one here in front of me anyway.

[mosesburb]

After a couple days of triple digit temperature camping, the missus was ready for a room with some a/c. Works for me too. So after a bit more we roll into Moab.



Larry and Lynn head off to a camp area and we got a room at the five star, super luxurious, Motel 6. We wandered around town a bit, got some food and went back to the room. At the room we had wifi, so I was checking out the news and what I was finding was that most of the fires in SW Colorado had been put out. Huh?? Larry had gone through Durango on Saturday morning and it was full of smoke from the State Line Fire. Outside of Durango in Mancos, the fire was almost up to the side of the road. He had some pics of the fire and it was right there. The news I am finding is saying it is out. It wasn't even under control when he rolled through and it out now?? Hmm, a change of venue may be in order. This entire trip had been planned to be in Colorado, but everywhere(!!) we wanted to go was either on fire or full of smoke from a fire next to it. Hmm, getting into CO would be a good thing.

We get up the next morning and load up. We head up the road a bit to Arches National Park. Amazing scenery. I have been to Moab several times, but I had never been to Arches. Glad we got there this time. The visitor center is probably one of the best visitor centers I have seen. There is a great amount of information there about the park and local geology. We spend a little bit there and head down the road into the park. It takes no time to start seeing cool stuff. We went in and hit the stuff we wanted to stop at on the way out.

This is Double Arch. It is kind of hard to see in the pic, but there are actually two arches in the pic:









This is the arch that was represented on Utah's license plates for many years: It's called Delicate Arch



This pic does this area no justice whatsoever. It is like a garden of spires:

[hgs_notes]

That last pic of the rocks makes it look like they were shaped by someone making an arrow head. Like scallops were knocked out of it rather than the erosion seen in most of the other pics. Pretty cool stuff. Maybe I'll have the Jimmy ready for a trip out there next year. I'd like to take a road trip with my son before he moves out of the house.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

That last pic of the rocks makes it look like they were shaped by someone making an arrow head. Like scallops were knocked out of it rather than the erosion seen in most of the other pics. Pretty cool stuff. Maybe I'll have the Jimmy ready for a trip out there next year. I'd like to take a road trip with my son before he moves out of the house.

Those last two pics were of/in the same area. It is absolutely impossible to try to convey the view obtained while standing there with a picture. The widest angle lens could not grab the unbelievable optical overload obtained at that one point.

[mosesburb]

So we meet up with Larry in a parking lot and head out toward Mesa Verde National Park. Initially, this was to be our day two stop, but because of the aforementioned fires, well, no such luck.

Some scenery along the way:



I like this pic, but I wish I held the camera a bit straighter. One of the detriments of drive-by photography I guess:



We ended up rolling into Durango for the evening while Larry and Lynn went to a camp ground in MVNP. We came across one of these--actually a few of them:



We spent some time wandering around downtown Durango, got a room and the next morning headed back to MVNP to meet up with Larry. On the way we passed what had been the Mancos fire that was burning wildly when Larry passed through a few days prior:



Pretty amazing those houses were saved:



We arrived:



Old Suburbans that have a Cummins in them with a straight pipe sound really cool in tunnels.....



We took the Balcony House tour. Pretty neat deal. You have to climb that 35' ladder. Kind of an odd feeling after about ten feet or so as the ladder has a harmonic motion/frequency when there are ten or twelve people on it.



This is where Balcony House gets its name: That balcony is how they got into and out of the rooms.



Now this little gem is how you leave the lower area of Balcony House. You climb a ladder then proceed up the rounded rock face that has little flat spots cut into it for your feet all while traversing it at an angle. Little bit sketchy to say the least.



This is another area to view more ruins. This place is almost more inpressive than Balcony House. It is the Spruce Tree House. Really neat.



Apartment living at its finest:







On the way out:

[RINC]

Wow !

I have seen a lot of that area .......... from the paved road.

Thanks for the up close pics !

[mosesburb]

So after we left MVNP, we headed over to Durango to meet up with our buddy Bill in his well-equipped Ramcharger. We got some Serious Texas Bar-B-Q and lit out towards Imogene Pass. First view of Silverton:



Rolling into town:



The Wyman Hotel. Super-cool looking building.



In this pic is the Idarado Mine Trestle, the Vanderbuilt Mine, the Genessee Mine, the Yankee Girl Mine, Red Mountain number 2 and Red Mountain number 3. Yep, all in one pic.



Colorado suffers from surface water contamination from mine runoff too. Neat looking in an odd sort of way, but really bad when you think about it:



Close up of the Yankee Girl Mine:



Head frame of a tram:



View down Hwy 550, also known as the Million Dollar Highway as it cost a million dollars a mile to build back in the 1800s.



Tunnel on 550 before Ouray:

[mosesburb]

So we just barely get to Ouray and we take a left onto Camp Bird Rd. This leads us toward Imogene Pass.

Neat overhang on the trail:



This is right about where Camp Bird Rd turns into Imogene Pass: The bridge looked a little too sketchy for some heavy full-size trucks



Our camp that evening on a nice point looking out over a nice valley with some fantastic views of the surrounding peaks: (We were actually chilly/cold that evening--slight change from the triple digits of our previous camps)



Up the trail a little ways:



Old miner's cabin:



Still furnished:



Just past there, a view over Camp Bird Mine 14 Level is quite the spectacle:



On an unrelated, but related side note, a company is in the process of purchasing the Camp Bird facility and 11,000 acres surrounding with plans of restarting the operation and renovating the victorian era buildings on site. As of today they have built a building to house heavy equipment and have about ten or so employees on the project. The portal on 14 level has collapsed recently and needs repair to allow access to the workings. The 14 level portal is also a flowing stream currently and, quite ironically, is flowing some extraordinarily clean water that they are planning on holding and using in buildings and offices.

Quite a drop-off here:



We were getting a kick out of these people in the tour truck. They paid a bunch of money to see the sights and the people in the last two rows were constantly turned around watching us crawl over the trail behind them. They were taking pictures and videos of us for a couple/few miles.



Larry demonstrating why a low center of gravity is a good thing:



Up toward Yankee Boy Basin:



Tundra flowers in bloom with Bill's Ramcharger at the top:



Top of Imogene:



Proof that we all made it:

[hgs_notes]

Love that 1st pic with the overhang. My first thought at the sight of the wheelchair was "I wonder what kind of ride that would be going down from there?" Looks like a helluva trip. You almost done with it so you can start posting pics from the next one or 3?

[kikkegek]

oh man!

pics just get better and better:

are you some kind of sebatical leave from work?

[FrankieD]

Great Pix my wife would be beating my arm up in fear of the cliffs. We did Pikes Peak and she flipped.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Love that 1st pic with the overhang. My first thought at the sight of the wheelchair was "I wonder what kind of ride that would be going down from there?"

Nah, Bill is a complete professional. No worries of an errant ride to the bottom.

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Looks like a helluva trip. You almost done with it so you can start posting pics from the next one or 3?

Not done. I already posted pics of the one after this. Pay attention.

Originally Posted by kikkegek

are you some kind of sebatical leave from work?

Just the mental one that I am always on. But, no. This trip was eight days at the end of June, beginning of July. I am just real slow on the loading of pics.

Originally Posted by FrankieD

Great Pix my wife would be beating my arm up in fear of the cliffs. We did Pikes Peak and she flipped.

Pikes Peak was on my original itinerary, but with the fire in Colorado Springs, we were not able to go. My wife is not a real big fan of the shelf roads, but she is a great passenger and will only say something like "I'm glad you're driving". I think by now they have learned not to panic unless I am panicking. If something is so wrong that I am already there, we may as well all be doing it then.