1987 Suburban - Experiences?

[Slade797]

Guy offered to trade me a 1987 Suburban for my wrecked Chevy pickup. He wants the 6.5 Diesel engine in my vehicle. I am driving a Jeep right at the moment, so I'm not hurting for a vehicle. What I'm wondering is if anyone here has any experience with this particular year and model. It has the 350 engine, but that's about all the detail I have right now. My Jeep is 2WD, if you can believe that, so I'm kind of in the market for a 4x4.... just in case. The Jeep is paid for, which is its best feature. I'm kicking around the idea of maybe getting this thing and parking it, going over it top to bottom, and making it into a "just in case" bruiser vehicle.

Any and all input appreciated.

[XSAPPER]

Is the suburban 4wd? If it is they can be good camping/SHTF vehicle.

[Slade797]

Originally Posted by XSAPPER

Is the suburban 4wd? If it is they can be good camping/SHTF vehicle.

Yep, it's 4x4. I just talked to a third party whom I trust, says he's actually driven the Suburban. Says the only downside he could see is that it likes the gasoline. No surprise, really.

[SethTx180]

The suburban is a great vehicle. I drive a 94. LOVE it too.

Parts are everywhere.
Its a 'you can fix it vehicle'
best trailer puller there is

[Slade797]

Originally Posted by SethTx180

The suburban is a great vehicle. I drive a 94. LOVE it too.

Parts are everywhere.
Its a 'you can fix it vehicle'
best trailer puller there is

Hey, thanks for the input. I already have a receiver hitch that will fit it.

[GMBshootingclubM60]

Does it have a towing package or any other heavy-duty stuff? A friend had a suburban from the late 80s, 4wd and lots of beefy options.. he went ANYWHERE with it.. good vehicle!

[XSAPPER]

I say jump on it! What good is the wrecked pickup doing ya?

[KernelKrink]

As mentioned, other than a healthy appetite for Petrol there are few downsides to a Suburban. 87 was a good year, they finally updated the new (then) 700R4 tranny internals so they quit breaking. Throw a trans cooler ($50) on there if it doesn't have one, especially if you tow. If it doesn't already have one, there is plenty of room under the body to install a second fuel tank for added range.

[abuklashinkov]

Cant go wrong with a good ole American Chevy

[Slade797]

See, I knew y'all could give me some insight. Thanks!

[Geist762]

Trade. I'm not exactly sure, but you can put Detroit
Lockers on the old ones. Alot of good 4x4 stuff will
fit it. They make nice crawlers, and there's room in the
back for many many jerry cans.

[tedbo]

You would do just as well trading the 2x4 jeep for a 4x4 jeep by the time you do the finagling.

[motorhead]

good solid rig. avoid the early 80's with feedback carbs. (this applies to everything)

[6526]

I never heard anybody I know bad mouth em ,cept for the mileage thing,and my buddy can't keep them on his lot when he can find em

[Pvt.Joker]

ONLY downsides I've ever seen from them is A) the cost of gas (especially IF gas ever climbs back up to $4 a gallon) and B) the transmissions can be the weak link with the 700R4, although behind the gas 350 motor, it won't be near so bad as it was behind the diesel 6.2 engine's torque.

Does it have the barn doors on the rear, or the tailgate and window? Barn doors are preferable, IMHO.

[motorhead]

the lockup converter was the weak link tranny wise. the 454's tore them up also. many aftermarket hd converters available now.

[GMBshootingclubM60]

motorhead's right, beef up the powertrain as needed.

The ford electric carbs of the early 80s were also bad news, too...

[Etek]

Chevy 350 is the Cat's Ass (Good).

Have the 02 sensor(s) checked or changed out if high milage. They get slow switching or die and fuel economy sucks.
Dunno if GM went to better timing chains by 87 but they were always a weak link. Mileage went to trash and they'd get so loose they's whip a hole in the front cover.

[knall]

Originally Posted by KernelKrink

As mentioned, other than a healthy appetite for Petrol there are few downsides to a Suburban. 87 was a good year, they finally updated the new (then) 700R4 tranny internals so they quit breaking. Throw a trans cooler ($50) on there if it doesn't have one, especially if you tow. If it doesn't already have one, there is plenty of room under the body to install a second fuel tank for added range.

The 87 w overdrive trans still had issues. The 3 speed was the good one.

[fry]

i have had an 1987 3/4t 350tbi th400 4.10 geared chevy sub for over ten years. my x father in law bought it new. its been a great rig. the 3/4t rigs came with t400's

[Czechsix]

I'll second the comments about beefing up the tranny. I've got an '85, highly modified, but the base vehicle is easy to work on, you can still find parts for it, and it's a capable off road truck. I think you'll be getting the better end of the deal. Is it a 1/2 or 3/4 ton? Big difference in them, but this being an '80's chevy you can find upgrade parts all over the place, so if you want to beef it up more, easy to do.

[Slade797]

Turns out the Suburban was a junker. On the other hand, he has a 1983 K10 4x4 pickup with a 350 in it. I opened the hood and immediately noticed that it has NO electronics. That's closer to what I want: mechanical fuel pump, no electronic crap, just fire and fuel. Only way it could be better is if it had a manual transmission.

[thumper]

I had an '83! GMC suburban with a 6.2 diesel. It had about a mollion miles on it when I sold it. It was a tank. My young son degignated it as 'the (sub)urban assault vehicle'. I was the balls, and I got 22mpg the entire time , rain or shine, town or country, uphill or down. I did a lot to keep the thing up and running, but was worth every cent. It was falling apart when it went away, but I still got $800 for it, and the guy was happy. It was, in fact, a major piece in the SHTF plan back in the day. The 350 is a good setup especially in a light truck applicstion. the truck ones have the 4 bolt mains and are less likely to ever fail. Do the trade.

[XSAPPER]

Originally Posted by Slade797

Turns out the Suburban was a junker. On the other hand, he has a 1983 K10 4x4 pickup with a 350 in it. I opened the hood and immediately noticed that it has NO electronics. That's closer to what I want: mechanical fuel pump, no electronic crap, just fire and fuel. Only way it could be better is if it had a manual transmission.

So did ya get the p/u?

Fun times in a 4wd.

[Pisces]

I have a 99 2500 4x4 with the 8.1 liter vortec 496. No problems at all, rides like a cadillac, but gets about 10 MPG.

[gunplumber]

+1 on the 700R4 - when they work, they are great. When they need repair, its a whole lot more money. Mine (on a blazer) blew at 2 AM in the middle of nowhere. I was not pleased.

[allesennogwat]

There were a lot of "upgrades" to the 700R4 over the years. They were mostly patches to problems. Besides some beefing up of some parts that broke the fluid pump housing is aluminum. That had it's own internal problems but the biggest is it expands more than the front seal and the front seal pops out. The GM fix is a spring clip on the front of the seal. Not great but it holds up a bit longer. All of the GM trannies with overdrive and a throttle cable needs some full throttle runs when first rebuilt. The young guys at GM dealers don't know this one and pay to have tranny shops "fix" the shifting problems after they rebuild one. For a sticky torque converter clutch, two bottles of posi-trac additive in the tranny fluid will keep the clutch from sticking. The 1980's American cars and trucks had plenty of issues.

[KernelKrink]

I work at a tranny shop, we don't see too many 700s anymore due to the age/value of the vehicles they are in but we still do a few every month. Usually a bit less than $1,000 for an overhaul, which is a lot for a vehicle that sells for not much more than that around here. Prior to 1987 they had some issues which were dealt with and upgrded by the factory a bit each year, by 1987 they had most of the factory improvements incorporated. Larger input shaft was the main one. The 700 was the last "mechanical" tranny Chevy used, the later 4L60E was essentially the 700 converted to electronic shifting with the deletion of the governor and the addition of shift solenoids. If you think the 700 had problems, add to them electronics and you get a real headache.

If you get a pre-87 and it needs a tranny overhaul, I would recommend you get one from a junkyard out of as late a model vehicle as is available (1991) and have that one overhauled and installed in your vehicle. Ask the rebuilder to install all the heavy duty aftermarket upgrades, it may cost a bit more but they are worth it in the long run if you want to keep the vehicle. Also install an auxiliary cooler, a cool running tranny lasts a lot longer. It also helps with the front seal issue by running cooler, along with glueing in the seal and enlarging the drain hole a bit.

There are two main causes of failure in the 700s, the main one is lack of battery power for lockup. When the torque converter locks up in 4th the oil normally used to hold the clutch disengaged is rerouted and dumped over the planetary gearsets as extra lube and cooling. If the tranny doesn't lock up they overheat and self destruct. The solenoid inside is normally supplied 12 volts positive and the ground side is switched by the vehicle computer in all but the earliest models. If your builder puts in a "4th gear switch mod" the control is taken away from the computer and an internal pressure switch turns on the lockup whenever the tranny hits 4th. The positive power comes off the ignition and pases through a "hi-lo vacuum switch" under the hood and then through the brake pedal switch that is used to cancel the cruise control. This prevents lockup if the vacuum is low (accelerating hard) or you press the brake. The brake switch (NOT the one that turns on the brake light) is commonly burnt up and no power is sent to the tranny, no lockup and soon no tranny. Cheap $15 insurance to replace even if it is working but old.

The second is a broken or misadjusted throttle valve cable. On the throttle linkage is a cable going to the trans, it controls internal pressure based on throttle position. It is the one that is pulled when the throttle is pushed. To adjust, there is a pushbutton release where the cable attaches to the bracket. This releases the cable from the part secured to the bracket and lets it slide. Release it and pull the cable away from the carb/TB as far as possible. Let go of the pushbutton and then give it full throttle. You will hear the mechanism ratchet as the cable is pulled back into the proper position. This is set at the max pressure position and works fine most of the time. If a test drive reveals the shiftts are too high and harsh, the cable can be moved an additionnal 3/8" toward the carb/TB to lower the pressure a bit. No more, too low and they burn up.

Once rebuilt to the latest heavy duty standard, they last a long time. Of the available American 4 speed autos out there, it is one of the better ones.

[Slade797]

Originally Posted by XSAPPER

So did ya get the p/u?

Fun times in a 4wd.

Nah. Out of nowhere, the guy said he wanted $800 IN ADDITION to my truck! Not gonna happen.

Anyway, I'm going to be patient, find myself a decent body to set over on my frame. Be nice if I could find a truck with the motor ant transmission already removed.

Hey, keep an eye out, would ya? Something in the 1990s, preferably 2WD, 1500 or 2500.