zgfiredude
Active member
Really nice work both on the build and on the thread. Sorry to learn of the diagnosis. Get out there and live every day, you're off to a first class start. 
ImNoSaint's Tahoe Build
- Thread starter Imnosaint
- Start date
Imnosaint
Adventurer
Thanks, and thank you for the recommendations.
Imnosaint
Adventurer
Thank you. We're on our way...Really nice work both on the build and on the thread. Sorry to learn of the diagnosis. Get out there and live every day, you're off to a first class start.
blackdmax15
Observer
Sick build. Really nice use of space and a awesome platform.
Imnosaint
Adventurer
Thank you. It's been a great distraction and labor of love. Now it's time to consider what to do with that front end.
Imnosaint
Adventurer
Blackout
This is the third blackout I’ve done on a build, the first being on a Mk3 Montero with a grill and hood blackout with the Dakar logo with a tragically applied bedliner treatment around the bumpers and kicks.
The second was on an H3 where chrome seemed to be more bling than necessary. I just did a grill blackout.
That seemed to blend things up front a bit better.
Since day-one of acquisition I’ve wanted to reduce the chrome on the Rhino as well, including the grill, the headlight cluster eyebrows and the window trim.
Above is the before shot, as in before the front end lighting upgrade, recovery hook installation, facia replacement and blackout and below is the after.
This mod required removal of the front bumper cap and grill, along with the headlight clusters. I then removed the grill from the bumper cap assembly and prepped it and the clusters for paint. Since I used a plasti-dip type paint, masking isn’t necessary and any overspray could’ve been peeled off, but I don’t have the patience for that.
I shot the grill with seven coats of Dupli-Color’s Custom Wrap removable paint in black satin and did the same treatment on the brows of the headlight clusters to continue that black line across the front facia.
I shot the grill bow tie with Rustoleum’s Farm Implement Huskvarna Orange along with the OEM recovery hooks.
The window trim chrome was blacked-out using Crux Motorsports’ window chrome delete kit for 2015 Tahoe/Yukon.
The kit comes die-cut for each window trim piece and is easy to install.
This is the third blackout I’ve done on a build, the first being on a Mk3 Montero with a grill and hood blackout with the Dakar logo with a tragically applied bedliner treatment around the bumpers and kicks.
The second was on an H3 where chrome seemed to be more bling than necessary. I just did a grill blackout.
That seemed to blend things up front a bit better.
Since day-one of acquisition I’ve wanted to reduce the chrome on the Rhino as well, including the grill, the headlight cluster eyebrows and the window trim.
Above is the before shot, as in before the front end lighting upgrade, recovery hook installation, facia replacement and blackout and below is the after.
This mod required removal of the front bumper cap and grill, along with the headlight clusters. I then removed the grill from the bumper cap assembly and prepped it and the clusters for paint. Since I used a plasti-dip type paint, masking isn’t necessary and any overspray could’ve been peeled off, but I don’t have the patience for that.
I shot the grill with seven coats of Dupli-Color’s Custom Wrap removable paint in black satin and did the same treatment on the brows of the headlight clusters to continue that black line across the front facia.
I shot the grill bow tie with Rustoleum’s Farm Implement Huskvarna Orange along with the OEM recovery hooks.
The window trim chrome was blacked-out using Crux Motorsports’ window chrome delete kit for 2015 Tahoe/Yukon.
The kit comes die-cut for each window trim piece and is easy to install.
That blackout looks good! I've been working on blacking out the chrome on my daily driver, a Chrysler 300C, with mediocre results so far. I've tried plasti-dip and vinyl wrap, and so far neither ended up sticking how I'd like them to. No fault on the products, I'm sure I'm not doing the installation with the care and skill required.
Luckily there's not much chrome on the Yukon, and what is there doesn't bother me much.
Luckily there's not much chrome on the Yukon, and what is there doesn't bother me much.
Imnosaint
Adventurer
Illumination Upgrade
Headlights
Stock headlights and high beams left much to be desired, so the first place to start on increasing nighttime visibility was to replace the OEM lamps with LEDs.
This was an easy and straightforward swap since I had the grill assembly and headlight clusters out for a blackout treatment.
I replaced both hi/lo OEM lamps with Sealight 6000K Cool White LED lamps. The bulbs fit the stock lamp mount pattern and the capacitor boxes stow inside the housings with double-sided backing tape.
Plug and play. Nice improvement in pattern, throw and color temperature.
Driving/Fog Lights
With the front end disassembled, I also removed the dim factory fog lamps I had previously installed (the Rhino didn’t come with any in PPV trim), and went with Rigid Series 50 fog lamps mounted on KD Fabworks hardware in the stock fog lamp opening on the facia.
KDF does a nice (but pricey) job in their fabrication work with precise fit and mounting tabs while engineered to position the driving light where I thought it works best.
The KDF mount can accommodate two 50 Series Rigid lights. Since I have auxiliary lighting as well, I just went with the driving lamps in this location. KDF makes a blank engineered to fill in the remaining space from the OEM fog light.
I’m very pleased with this upgrade, even happier to see even father down the road in ominous conditions.
Off-Road Light Bar
The first lighting mod on the White Rhino was a delete of the previous lightbar and the addition of this single-row, Rigidhorse (yeah, I know) 42″ spot/flood combo at 40k lumens.
The last lighting mod on the Rhino was the relocation of the LEDs driving lights that came with the truck, originally located over the recovery hook location in the PPV valance as seen above. I’m guessing this was a fix to fill those holes left over from code-three lighting in that spot.
Since I upgraded the driving/fog lights and wanted to add a pair of recovery hooks to the front of the Rhino, and since the reverse lighting is simply a suggestion of light, I moved the eight-LED, spot/combo fixtures to the rear bumper facia so I can see where the hell I’m going in reverse.
I created a template, marked the spots on the bumper and cut the key holes with a Dremel with a cutting bit. I created pig tails and tapped them into the OEM reverse light wiring, and on the first day, there was light.
Headlights
Stock headlights and high beams left much to be desired, so the first place to start on increasing nighttime visibility was to replace the OEM lamps with LEDs.
This was an easy and straightforward swap since I had the grill assembly and headlight clusters out for a blackout treatment.
I replaced both hi/lo OEM lamps with Sealight 6000K Cool White LED lamps. The bulbs fit the stock lamp mount pattern and the capacitor boxes stow inside the housings with double-sided backing tape.
Plug and play. Nice improvement in pattern, throw and color temperature.
Driving/Fog Lights
With the front end disassembled, I also removed the dim factory fog lamps I had previously installed (the Rhino didn’t come with any in PPV trim), and went with Rigid Series 50 fog lamps mounted on KD Fabworks hardware in the stock fog lamp opening on the facia.
KDF does a nice (but pricey) job in their fabrication work with precise fit and mounting tabs while engineered to position the driving light where I thought it works best.
The KDF mount can accommodate two 50 Series Rigid lights. Since I have auxiliary lighting as well, I just went with the driving lamps in this location. KDF makes a blank engineered to fill in the remaining space from the OEM fog light.
I’m very pleased with this upgrade, even happier to see even father down the road in ominous conditions.
Off-Road Light Bar
The first lighting mod on the White Rhino was a delete of the previous lightbar and the addition of this single-row, Rigidhorse (yeah, I know) 42″ spot/flood combo at 40k lumens.
The last lighting mod on the Rhino was the relocation of the LEDs driving lights that came with the truck, originally located over the recovery hook location in the PPV valance as seen above. I’m guessing this was a fix to fill those holes left over from code-three lighting in that spot.
Since I upgraded the driving/fog lights and wanted to add a pair of recovery hooks to the front of the Rhino, and since the reverse lighting is simply a suggestion of light, I moved the eight-LED, spot/combo fixtures to the rear bumper facia so I can see where the hell I’m going in reverse.
I created a template, marked the spots on the bumper and cut the key holes with a Dremel with a cutting bit. I created pig tails and tapped them into the OEM reverse light wiring, and on the first day, there was light.
Imnosaint
Adventurer
Thank you. We do camp without the trailer. We're waiting on an awning tent from ROAM like the ARB set up we had on our previous rig. We use the trailer as a basecamp as well, out for a day or two at a time in places we can't tow it, so this serves us well.
