Another vehicle from my past, memories triggered from events from more recent times.
Many, many years ago, I got the short lived bug to own a four wheel drive, full sized SUV. Low and behold, a friend just so happened to have a rather rough, but running 1984 Chevrolet Suburban available (traded a need-much-work 1970 Dodge Coronet 440 to him. Over ten years later, I am still kicking myself over that decision and he still has the car).
The picture above is a near perfect match to how it was painted, however there were some more noticeable differences between that image and my memory. Some were like the paint not being as shiny, sporting minor corrosion in the wheel wells and the factory slotted Rally rims were swapped out for aftermarket "White Spokes" wrapped in Kumho 33x12.5R15's. I do recall all of the exterior trim was there and thinking this was a bonus at the time.
As much as I wanted it to have rear "barn doors," this Suburban was equipped with an electric roll down window, mounted in a truck-like fold down tailgate (I will come back to this, later).
It was equipped with a 5.7 litre (350 cid for you old school folks) V8 that ran really good. It would have produced around 175 horsepower at it's peak, when it was still fueled by gasoline. Sometime during it's life, it was converted to run on straight propane (which was a real trend during the late 80's through mid 90's where I lived at the time), which robbed it of about 15 to 20% of it's remaining power output, yet still having to move almost 5,000 lbs (nearly 2,300 kgs for the rest of you) around....yeah.
The only part missing from the drive-train was the driveshaft that would have connected the front axle to the transfer case, so no four wheel drive for me. I do remember I was going to find and install one, just never got around to doing that set of tasks.
The interior was all there and in fantastic shape, no rips or tears in the seats and the carpet was like new (or somebody took the time to have it detailed not too long before I got it). Despite the fact that older propane systems were notorious for stealing away a lot of engine heat to function, I had hot air blowing from the vents when I needed it.
The only part missing from the drive-train was the driveshaft that would have connected the front axle to the transfer case, so no four wheel drive for me. I do remember I was going to find and install one, just never got around to doing that set of tasks.
The interior was all there and in fantastic shape, no rips or tears in the seats and the carpet was like new (or somebody took the time to have it detailed not too long before I got it). Despite the fact that older propane systems were notorious for stealing away a lot of engine heat to function, I had hot air blowing from the vents when I needed it.
It could have been a keeper, but it just wasn't meant to be.
The first problem to rear it's head involved the powered tailgate I mentioned earlier. The rubber seal at the top of the tailgate, bottom of the rear power window, had been compromised and allowed a lot of water to pass through for years (best guess), rotting out the inside and burning out the electric when I tried to raise the window again. There was a "manual" way to get the window up, which required opening the tailgate and removing the interior panel. The window problem was fixed, but the shell of the tailgate was warped out of shape, thanks to it's internal corrosion issues.
The next disaster was associated with the after market White Spoke rims and wheel studs. One day, about a week after getting the Suburban, I was driving around and minding my own business when I felt the front end on the driver's side just drop. I managed to enter a parking lot just off the road I was driving down and took a look at what had happened. Much to my surprise, the rim was just barely hanging on to the rest of the vehicle (all the wheel studs except for one had snapped off at the same time).
Needless to say, I called the friend I made the deal with and told him what just took place. Lucky for me, he had a collection of parts and came to where I was, jacked up the front-end and went about replacing the broken parts in the parking lot. I was informed this was a common problem with these rims and I should re-torquing the wheels about once a week. I wasn't impressed with that development at all.
The final issue came along when it started to get cold outside. It was coming up to being late in the year, just before that first, but brief snow touched the ground, signalling a change of the season. Having lived in these conditions for years, I always plugged my vehicles in (if it had an equipped block heater), not taking any chances on being stranded at home with a non-starting mode of transportation.
The upside was the Suburban had a block heater, the downside was it didn't seem to make much of a difference. I used an anti-freeze tester and the fluid was of adequate strength, so it was that. The block heater, from the angle I could see it, was either really clean or relatively new (the brassy outside where the electrical cord plugged in looked new and shiny), so my final conclusion was the propane system suffered from something serious.
All of the Suburban's aliments were enough for me to become very motivated to just get rid of it and found a buyer in short order. One day, I visited a muffler shop I had been to before, to have the exhaust on another vehicle I had at the time fixed. I don't remember how the conversation got onto the topic of my Suburban, but by the end of that business day, the owner/operator of the shop had a new toy and I had some extra money in my pockets.
Needless to say, I called the friend I made the deal with and told him what just took place. Lucky for me, he had a collection of parts and came to where I was, jacked up the front-end and went about replacing the broken parts in the parking lot. I was informed this was a common problem with these rims and I should re-torquing the wheels about once a week. I wasn't impressed with that development at all.
The final issue came along when it started to get cold outside. It was coming up to being late in the year, just before that first, but brief snow touched the ground, signalling a change of the season. Having lived in these conditions for years, I always plugged my vehicles in (if it had an equipped block heater), not taking any chances on being stranded at home with a non-starting mode of transportation.
The upside was the Suburban had a block heater, the downside was it didn't seem to make much of a difference. I used an anti-freeze tester and the fluid was of adequate strength, so it was that. The block heater, from the angle I could see it, was either really clean or relatively new (the brassy outside where the electrical cord plugged in looked new and shiny), so my final conclusion was the propane system suffered from something serious.
All of the Suburban's aliments were enough for me to become very motivated to just get rid of it and found a buyer in short order. One day, I visited a muffler shop I had been to before, to have the exhaust on another vehicle I had at the time fixed. I don't remember how the conversation got onto the topic of my Suburban, but by the end of that business day, the owner/operator of the shop had a new toy and I had some extra money in my pockets.
How does this all tie into The Crew and a Cadillac Escalade?
Well, both are big, four door SUV's built by General Motors and can be off-road capable....yeah, that's about all I got.
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