1995 K1500 Burb "Big Momma"

[BurbWithNoName]

As I alluded to in my intro thread, a combination of issues and aspirations have lead me to graduate from my beloved '90 350 TBI v2500 Burb to the now affectionately named "Big Momma." Truth be told, I had looked for a 6.5 before getting into the square, but good specimens seemed hard to find.

Growing up, my grandfather had a gold '96 3500 with the 6.5 that we took on countless road trips. I always liked the sound it made and it's slow, steady pace. After combing through pages and pages of basic obs ads, I finally found a nearly mint looking burb. Not only that, but GoLions had written the most epic, red-blooded, American ad I have ever read (which I'll post eventually). I reached out to tell him as much and compliment his ride, but the seed was already planted. It didn't matter much that he was in northern Virginia and I was in Houston. After all, I flew to Salt Lake to pick up my square and drove it home across the desert in July...what was another 1500 mile trip in an untested rig?
Several emails,texts, and a short flight later I was eyeing my prize.

Now, I've never owned a diesel and I'm slowly scaling the mountain of knowledge with the 6.5, but it seemed that he had already tackled some of the common problem areas.

I made the trip back home with no real issues, other than the temp creeping up at a stop. I've had another instance with temp climbing closer to 215-220 in this lovely Texas summer heat. I plan to check out the cooling stack and get a better idea of just what I have going on in the cooling dept, as suggested by you guys.

Two other things I've noticed: the upper intake stays wet looking all the time (pics later) and the the ac compressor squeaks a bit. Other than that, she seems in pretty good condition to my untrained eye.

Plans: to have a reliable truck and whatever that entails! I did score the same brush guard my grandfather had on his truck, though I'll have to fab up some mounts.

Anyways, here she is all washed up:



Here's the brush guard

 

[BurbWithNoName]

This is long, but, man, is it awesome. This was the CL ad that drew me in. Hats off to GoLions for such patriotic poetry.

Venture to the depths of hell and back, and take the wife and kids. Own this timeless piece of American history, before we became a bunch of limp wristed pansies! Alas, perhaps lack of testosterone is your ailment, and the doctor prescribes mounting yourself behind the wheel of this arm and hammer on four wheels. If you already eat raw Tbones and a bowl of nails for breakfast then by golly this machine is for you. I will warn you, one voyage at the helm of this vessel will make you so red white and blue that George Washington himself will raise from the grave just to salute you. This is the cleanest Suburban this side of Hollywood, with 81K miles on the odometer. Yours truly is the second owner and I’ve had it for about a year. Prior to that, it stayed in a barn. Mind you, bard finds come saddled up with their own set of challenges, but that’s where you’ve lucked out partner for I have chased every ground and cleaned every crevasse seven ways from Sunday. This great time in our history ( 1995) predates the in cabin air filter, so the heater core has been broken down and cleaned out. AC works. Heat works. Electric seats, windows, knick knacks and doo dads all work. She sports twin Optima Red top batteries with enough power to side kick a unicorn clear past the Maryland line, which is to be expected, for under the hood lurks the GM 6.5 Turbo Diesel, personally assembled by king Neptune. I will admit, the 6.5 does come with some fundamental engineering flaws, all rectified and brought up to speed with internet shopping and some elbow grease from me, myself, and I. Some of these include, but are not limited to….
Relocated Pump mounted Driver(PMD) .“BCD” package from Leroy Diesel… Raptor lift pump with Wix pre filter. Lift pump relay harness with push to prime. New OPS. All fluids have been changed- Oil (most recent on 4/25), rear diff, transfer case, front diff. Leroy Diesel’s Fuel Filter Manager, with the “Feed the beast” mod. S&B Cold Air Intake. Harmonic Balancer and crank Pully have been replaced with the FLUIDAMPNER and Leroy’s billet aluminum crank pully, both are lifetime parts. Leroy’s oil cooler and line kit.
That’s just to name a few, and I’m sure ill remember more as time goes on. Every full tank has been treated with a fuel additive, there’s a custom tool box in the back, and yes, it fits your bazooka! Its got the split gate option, great for when you gotta just take a breather and pop a few cold ones on the back of your trusty steed, and the hatch struts have just been replaced. You can slide in an 8x4 sheet of plywood, or carry 7 of your buddies to the game. Her footwear is the vehicular equivalent to red wing steel toes…the mighty BFG all-terrain (265/75R16), and they only have about 1500 miles on them. Front brake pads replaced 10/23. Start looking for a cleaner OBS suburban with lower miles and you’ll be searching till hell freezes over. In the meantime, light your favorite cigar with a blowtorch and come take a look. The price is 18k or somewheres close to it. 5/25 VA inspection ( Or, put antique tags on and you do not have to worry about inspections ). ADDED BONUS- emissions testing not required! Brand new alternator, brand new serp belt