Searching for My Dad's 1979 Chevy Suburban

[bucket]

I’ll give them a call in the morning to confirm. Thanks for the heads up.

If they are actually chrome plated, that's not something I've encountered before. But if they are stainless steel, that's probably all that really matters.

I'll also point out that there are numerous styles of trim rings. OE trim rings of different makes and models often have some type of styling ridge around the outside edge. Most generic fits-all rings have either a hard edge or a rounded edge. The original trim rings for our trucks had a rounded edge.

 

[TheHoundsman]

If they are actually chrome plated, that's not something I've encountered before. But if they are stainless steel, that's probably all that really matters.

I'll also point out that there are numerous styles of trim rings. OE trim rings of different makes and models often have some type of styling ridge around the outside edge. Most generic fits-all rings have either a hard edge or a rounded edge. The original trim rings for our trucks had a rounded edge.

That is great information thank you. I will check that as well and see what they say. I was looking on summit racing. Any other place you would recommend.

 

[bucket]

That is great information thank you. I will check that as well and see what they say. I was looking on summit racing. Any other place you would recommend.

Summit is probably as good a place as any. They probably have a lot of options.

The only time I've ever bought new trim rings was at swap meets, from reproduction wheel dealers. Often I've just bought used trim rings from swap meets or salvage yards.

 

[TheHoundsman]

Summit is probably as good a place as any. They probably have a lot of options.

The only time I've ever bought new trim rings was at swap meets, from reproduction wheel dealers. Often I've just bought used trim rings from swap meets or salvage yards.

I have seen a bunch on eBay as well

 

[crazy4offroad]

Edit: i didn't realize there was 11 pages and the OP found a similar project lol. Anyway, still might be useful info for others. Delete if not wanted here. Sorry!

When i worked at WV dmv records dept we had a "message forwarding form" that would allow someone to send a message to the last known registered owner without divulging personally identifiable information but there was a lot of reasons it may fail. If the person moved, if the 911 administration changed the address from the old route/ box numbers, if the person died, or if they just didn't want to reply they weren't required to. The person looking for the vehicle would fill out the form with as much info about the vehicle as possible, and we'd send it to the address of the last known owner. During the info gathering we would do, we would run a check on the national database and if it was registered in another state newer than our records we would let the seeker know which state since that's not pii and they could check with them to see if they had a similar process.
You may also ask the dmv rep if they can tell you what county so you can check junkyards in that area. Some states may consider that pii though.
Alternatively a private detective would be able to get more info. Good luck and i hope you find it!

 

[TheHoundsman]

Edit: i didn't realize there was 11 pages and the OP found a similar project lol. Anyway, still might be useful info for others. Delete if not wanted here. Sorry!

When i worked at WV dmv records dept we had a "message forwarding form" that would allow someone to send a message to the last known registered owner without divulging personally identifiable information but there was a lot of reasons it may fail. If the person moved, if the 911 administration changed the address from the old route/ box numbers, if the person died, or if they just didn't want to reply they weren't required to. The person looking for the vehicle would fill out the form with as much info about the vehicle as possible, and we'd send it to the address of the last known owner. During the info gathering we would do, we would run a check on the national database and if it was registered in another state newer than our records we would let the seeker know which state since that's not pii and they could check with them to see if they had a similar process.
You may also ask the dmv rep if they can tell you what county so you can check junkyards in that area. Some states may consider that pii though.
Alternatively a private detective would be able to get more info. Good luck and i hope you find it!

Thanks for the tips. I may still try to look to that. Not sure if NJ offers that but no harm in reaching to see. I would still love to find it if I can. Thanks for taking the time to read through the 11 pages lol. I appreciate the advice. I’ll let you know what I find out. The one lady at NJDMV was nj e enough to run the VIN through the national database and said there were no hits.

 

[TheHoundsman]

I did some work on the wheels and center caps. New tires should be on soon and truck will be back with a solid baseline for me this week. Next step for me and my buddy is prepping the interior so he can paint that and we can get that all put back together and actually start driving this baby. I’ll post all the things that the shop did. It will be a little frustrating as I am sure a number of the things they did will have been things that I would have been able to figure out how to do myself. However with him having it there and me not really sure how to do much of anything at this point it seemed best to let him confirm/get it road worthy and then I will try to take it from there. Sorry for rambling I’ll post some wheel pics now and the work list when I get it from him.

 

[TheHoundsman]

Additional Wheel Pics

 

[TheHoundsman]

Additional Wheel Pics

 

[TheHoundsman]

Good morning guys. I got the truck back and it is running well after a number of fixes. New issue that has come up and I am hoping that you might be able to lend some advice and comments. The truck has 35x12.5 R15 tires on it. They replaced the steering gear with a New Advantage Steering Gear Box N503-0116 which I was hoping would help the steering looseness. Long story short It Did Not. When I had it up to 65 mph the thing was a major handful. Literally back and forth all over the lane. In the research I have done the most common recommendation has been to add a cross over steering kit. My understanding is that this would require at a minimum a new passenger side knuckle and that means pulling the hubs, breaks, bearings. I have watched a 100 instruction videos on this but I guess what I am asking is how realistic is it for me to consider doing this myself. I can follow instructions but candidly I have done almost no mechanical work on a vehicle. I would love to be able to do these types of repairs/replacements to the truck going forward.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciative. I will post the overall work order for the repairs completed to this point.


As always I really appreciate the help from this group.

Brian

 

[TheHoundsman]

Repair Work Invoice

 

[Goldie Driver]

Additional Wheel Pics

I don't know how you got those wheels that clean but WOW !

 

[Sad Sack]

Sorry, late to the game but shouldn't the VIN be thirteen digits? Just curious as I see that length for other 79 years.
Granted most sites want 81 or newer but others still say yours is invalid.

Example, 79 T/A

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[PrairieDrifter]

Good morning guys. I got the truck back and it is running well after a number of fixes. New issue that has come up and I am hoping that you might be able to lend some advice and comments. The truck has 35x12.5 R15 tires on it. They replaced the steering gear with a New Advantage Steering Gear Box N503-0116 which I was hoping would help the steering looseness. Long story short It Did Not. When I had it up to 65 mph the thing was a major handful. Literally back and forth all over the lane. In the research I have done the most common recommendation has been to add a cross over steering kit. My understanding is that this would require at a minimum a new passenger side knuckle and that means pulling the hubs, breaks, bearings. I have watched a 100 instruction videos on this but I guess what I am asking is how realistic is it for me to consider doing this myself. I can follow instructions but candidly I have done almost no mechanical work on a vehicle. I would love to be able to do these types of repairs/replacements to the truck going forward.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciative. I will post the overall work order for the repairs completed to this point.


As always I really appreciate the help from this group.

Brian

Would not recommend that job to a novice imo. Would also say that you should double check all steering components and fix as necessary. Then you will need to check toe adjustment. Then see how it runs. I've got 35's on stock steering.

 

[Tonimus]

When I had my '78 K15, I upgraded to dual steering dampers. Helped a bit when I ran 35s. Sorta the nature of the beast .