1986 Chevrolet Suburban 4x4 1/2 Ton

1986 Chevrolet Suburban Description

For your consideration is a 1986 Chevrolet Suburban with 4WD, a 4-bolt main 350, posi-traction, barn doors, 3rd row seat, F/R A/C, 4 inch spring lift by Superlift damped by Pro Comp ES 3000 shocks, and it is all riding on 35x12.5" BF Goodrich All Terrain TA's that have tons of tread left. It has the highly desired steel plate armor under the gas tank and transfer case! It was re-geared to accommodate the larger diameter tires. Trailer brake controller by Kelsey - untested - never used by me. It has a 2 inch receiver in the back, and another one in the front for those who like to push their boat into the water. The headliner has no sags. Typically they sag to the point of falling onto your head on these old Burbs. I presume the previous owner replaced it. Same with the windshield - no pitting - certainly replaced before my ownership. This is a truck that drives like a truck, not a 21st Century soccer-mom SUV. Though I'm certain a lot of soccer-boys would love to ride in this rig. I bought this vehicle around ten years ago with 500 miles on a remanufactured engine, and a few more miles on a rebuilt transmission. In time, I had the transfer case rebuilt, the rear differential rebuilt, the front bucket seats reupholstered, the AC system completely gone through and any number of incidental items repaired. I kinda think the mileage was around 144,000 when I bought it, so I haven't even put 30,000 miles on it in 10 years. Or maybe that was the mileage on the other Burb I bought, and I put even less mileage on this one. For a 30 year old vehicle with a lift and oversized tires, it drives pretty darn good. It tracks straight; brakes straight; no wandering with the steering; It does run a little lean, but that was necessary to get it to pass California smog. Just have your mechanic tune it to run good, and then back to lean when the smog boss calls (for CA buyers). And, it was smogged on August 17th, so it is ready for transfer in CA. I've never seen any evidence that it was ever in an accident. This is a 30 year old vehicle, and it has its share of 'features' and idiosyncrasies. The stereo has good Sony speakers, but the head unit is on the fritz. Headlights, high/low beam, turn signals all work, dash lights are weak (typical), interior light dome lenses are broken (typical), though it has F/R AC, the rear heating unit was removed by somebody before me - a good thing because it removes storage space. The AC has R12, so it'll get like a fridge with a full freon charge, but likely needs some extra freon. Sometime after it was lifted, somebody recalibrated the speedometer; then it was regeared and the speedo was not recalibrated - hence it reeds fast. If you see 55 mph on the speedo, you're going 45 mph; if you see 75 mph on the speedo, you're going 65 mph; if you're midways between 40 and 45 mph, you're going around 35 mph. Driving it at 65 mph true feels fast - it's a truck! I made a lock/unlock/latch lever for the barn door, so that it can be manually locked/unlocked without the key, done so from inside, and can be opened from inside; the stock exterior lock is a bit flakey and this was a necessity. There is a new window lift in the front passenger's window, but a connection somewhere needs to be jiggled to get it to work. Maybe just driving it some will give it sufficient percussive maintenance to get it working. Take a look at the last picture, where you can see the brake and gas pedals. Look how little wear there is on the brake pedal. That is typical of a vehicle that has about 100,000 miles less than what I believe this vehicle to have on it - and NOBODY changes pedals or pedal rubber. There are a number of things that suggest it does have 173,xxx miles, and then there are things like this that suggest otherwise. Regardless, it is a solid truck. There are some really nice KC Highlights 85 watt 'fog' lights mounted on the front bumper. Use them like high beams to see the critters on the side of the road at night when you're diving in the boonies. Comes with a pair of show chains - 4x4 vehicles are required to carry them in certain conditions in California. And, it needs to go to somebody who will use it - to take it out to get regular exercise. $500 deposit within 48 hours of auction end; then the balance in cash preferred. I'm sure I'm forgetting some things about it, both good and bad. I might add a few miles to the listed mileage since I do exercise it a bit. Good luck and happy bidding.