2004 Tahoe-verland

[UltimaSanctus]

This is my 2004 Tahoe Z71.



Bought it in November 2018 from a soccer mom. My plan was to build it for overland and towing my other car to track/autocross events.

Since I bought it I've added front lift keys, 1.5" rear spacers, Bilstein 5100's on all four corners, stock size General Grabber ATX's, led fog light pods, Bluetooth radio, a rear tire carrier for the matching size spare, new headlight housings, and a bed platform for camping

 

[(none)]

always liked those z71 hoes

 

[rayra]

welcome aboard. Looks to be in very good condition. If you're intending to tow a car / trailer I strongly suggest you upgrade the external trans cooler, the factory tow package external cooler is small and in a piss-poor location and putting the 4L60E trans at high temps for protracted periods is a sure way to kill it.
We put just shy of 200k mi on our '05, with only a few relatively minor issues. Most of those repairs are detailed in the second link in my sig.
You'll find there are quite a few GMT800 Sub and Tahoe owners here, so if you have any questions, just ask.

 

[UltimaSanctus]

Some more photos that I had to resize to post

 

[UltimaSanctus]

Also last week I did the "GM pump rub" fix from Merchant Automotive. Pulled the transfer case and I could tell this problem was "fixed" before with just a new tail housing but this one was wearing down too



Aluminum pump vs magnesium housing, wonder which was winning...

The new pump has a much larger surface area on the tabs to prevent the "knife edge" from wearing through the housing

 

[rayra]

I've been worried about that for my Sub, but as mentioned out Tahoe made 200k without needing it. But that was almost entirely highway commuting.
can that plate be replaced by only removing the tail housing or do you have to dismount the whole transfer case to do the install?

 

[UltimaSanctus]

I've been worried about that for my Sub, but as mentioned out Tahoe made 200k without needing it. But that was almost entirely highway commuting.
can that plate be replaced by only removing the tail housing or do you have to dismount the whole transfer case to do the install?

Sadly the whole case has to come out because of the crossmember for the torsion bars and an access hole to release a snap ring from the main shaft

 

[Martinjmpr]

Welcome to the Expo GMT-800 Mafia!

 

[rayra]

Well I've recently had that torsion bar crossmember out a couple times, so it's pretty routine. I fabricated some new rubber bushings for that crossmember and still need to try my hand at making a polyurethane set. If the torsion key unloader 'rental' tool wasn't essentially free I would have bought one by now. I've had a transfer case plate in my amazon list for a long time, but am in no hurry to tackle the job. But soon I'll be changing all four U-joints as well. I'm a 'preventative maintenance' sort of dude. Especially since I (only relatively) recently discovered rockauto.com. So when I need to do a job with a lot of disassembly / effort, I usually go after any associated parts that can be accessed. And I really want to change me engine and trans mounts too.
So I guess that's all penciled in for this winter.

 

[SuburbanLife]

Nice, welcome. I have an '04 Sub.

Just got our truck back yesterday because last week the transfer case got the infamous leak as well from the clips rubbing. Shame the vehicle only has 94k on it and this issue SHOULD have been covered under warranty. I wanted the shop to do the Merchant Auto one since its apparently upgrading over just re-installing another OEM one that is going to fail in another 90k.

What spare tire carrier is that? Curt?

 

[UltimaSanctus]

Nice, welcome. I have an '04 Sub.

Just got our truck back yesterday because last week the transfer case got the infamous leak as well from the clips rubbing. Shame the vehicle only has 94k on it and this issue SHOULD have been covered under warranty. I wanted the shop to do the Merchant Auto one since its apparently upgrading over just re-installing another OEM one that is going to fail in another 90k.

What spare tire carrier is that? Curt?

Yes it's a Curt carrier with the horizontal section cut off. Drilled a couple hole and inserted it onto a GoPlus swing-down hitch (currently not available on Amazon though)



I also cut the 45 degree angle in the hitch so the bolt for the Curt would have space to move

 

[UltimaSanctus]

Probably should have done this a while ago but I installed a fire extinguisher in the Tahoe

 

[ejwebb]

It's time for a ARB bumper...

 

[UltimaSanctus]

It's time for a ARB bumper...

Haha I would if I had 1500 bucks just laying around

 

[ejwebb]

I know is not cheap, I'm having a fuel pump and motor mounts installed next week. Going to have to work more over time. I like the blacked out head lights on your rig.