1995 Chevy Tahoe 4X4 - Adventure Rig Build

[Chevrolado]

Boy, looking at that GMC grill on your Chebby just felt odd!!! I only prefer the GMC grills if the outer trim is body color. Mine is green with chrome insert around the center grill section that is black. The billet bar look is much too common anymore.

What's wrong with the big silver stars? I love them almost as much as I love the Malteese Cross!!

Larry, you forgot to mention the sticker left on the hat's bill....I always want to rip off their hats and fold the bill into a squared channel like I run my own.

Lets see some interior pictures and plans!!!!

haha. Yep. I felt the same about the GMC grill. Very glad to now be back to the way it's supposed to be.

That being said.. I'll throw in a run of interior shots. I usually do my best to keep it maintained pretty cleanly.

It's got all the normal amenities:

The previous owner of this had removed the 3rd row seats when the interior was gutted for Dynamat flooring..
I actually prefer it open in the back though because I often have it full of random gear when needed.

But on a normal basis.. this is how it usually stands back there.

From left to right. Fire Extinguisher, foam pads, tools, tie-downs, towels, plastic bin, wetsuit, boardshorts, skateboard, ukulele, cleaning supplies, spare quarts of oil, jug of 50/50 coolant, detail sprays, vehicle duster, more tools, plastic hanger and more foam pads.



As for plans.. I'm generally rebuilding this thing to an optimum fresh setting. This will eventually turn into the family vehicle (when my wife and I begin to expand our family). So I'm trying to get it prepared to handle surf trips, camping trips, trips to the mall, trips to hockey games, trips to the ER, trips to the bank, trips to the grocery store.. haha.. trips in general! I need this thing to be both road worthy and trail ready for whatever adventures come at us.

I'll keep the 4" lift the way it stands, I'll probably go up in tire size by one little notch, I want to eventually get a rear bumper with swing outs and a spare tire holder (so I can actually carry a full size spare with me). Maybe a front bumper or bull bar with some offroad LEDs. I'll also get a roof rack to hold my hi-lift and some other little odd's and ends.

 

[BBslider001]

Ha Dave! Looks like the back of a Southern CA truck to me! My backseat and toolbox in my crew cab looks about the same. I keep my boards at the house though and grab whatever I need for the day's conditions. Too bad you don't live closer. I would love to see the engine work and other work you've done. I have been seriously considering getting a van, but seeing these photos really makes me miss the Yukon we had and the Burban too. The camping/surf trips we took to Leo Carillo and Malibu in those trucks were so much fun and these vehicles are just meant for that.

 

[Chevrolado]

Ha Dave! Looks like the back of a Southern CA truck to me! My backseat and toolbox in my crew cab looks about the same. I keep my boards at the house though and grab whatever I need for the day's conditions. Too bad you don't live closer. I would love to see the engine work and other work you've done. I have been seriously considering getting a van, but seeing these photos really makes me miss the Yukon we had and the Burban too. The camping/surf trips we took to Leo Carillo and Malibu in those trucks were so much fun and these vehicles are just meant for that.

Thanks man. Yeah, I'm sure we can figure something out. When I get things situated on this truck and I make our first camping trip down to San O (I'm sure I will be doing so), maybe we can coordinate a paddle out and you can check it out then.

I'll shoot you a message when we get around to making a trip south.

 

[BBslider001]

Thanks man. Yeah, I'm sure we can figure something out. When I get things situated on this truck and I make our first camping trip down to San O (I'm sure I will be doing so), maybe we can coordinate a paddle out and you can check it out then.

I'll shoot you a message when we get around to making a trip south.

Yeah man! I am totally down for that. We spend almost every day at San O starting in June, but we frequent there quite a bit through the Spring. That beach is one of our favorite haunts. Just lemme know. Look forward to it!

 

[justcuz]

Suspension lift

Sorry to hear about your engine issues. We rebuilt my sons TBI engine last winter and left most everything stock except the cam. I got the rebuilding kit from Powerhouse in Bakersfield. I did not want to replace the stock cam so we upgraded from the stock to a 398/420 lift cam. We noticeably lost a little bit of bottom end oomph with this cam. If I was to do this again I would use a carb cam out of a 350, either the stock 390/410 lift cam or the HO 305/350 cam of 403/415 lift. We painted his engine orange, cleaned up the stock intake to the natural aluminum, painted the valve covers silver and left the air cleaner black.
On the suspension issue. I run 285/75x16 tires on all our stuff. They are a 92 full size Blazer, 93 light duty 2500 Silverado, 93 Suburban and a 2000 Suburban. These tires are about 32.5 to 32.8 inches tall and I run these with Little to no lift. I take the overloads out of the SUV springs and added a lower leaf to the Blazer, made the Suburban equal to a 3/4 ton truck spring,left the truck alone and installed Hummer H2 springs in the rear of the 2000 Suburban. All the earlier trucks (pre 2000) had the heavy duty torsion bars. I still need to install 3/4 ton torsion bars in the front of the 2000. I use mine off road frequently and have little to no rubbing. My point is this, for casual off roading the cost of a lift is not needed if your are handy with tools. I consider the Mojave Road casual off roading so let that be your guide. Just remember that Blazers, Tahoes, and Suburbans have different spring lengths. Suburbans are simple, just go to the wrecking yard and grab the 3/4 rear springs and torsion bars and do the swap. With the Tahoes and Blazers you have to take the springs apart and use the original main leaf and mix and match from there.
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to share this info, since disposable income for everyone is kind of at a minimum these days. These mods will net 1.5 to 2 inches of lift which will clear 285/75 x 16 tires on stock aluminum wheels. BTW lots of tire store will tell you the stock wheel 7" is not recommended for anything over a 265 tire. If they do, go somewhere else. With proper inflation pressure and rotation I have gotten over 60,000 miles out of 2 sets of tires and 50,000 out of 2 other sets.

 

[Chevrolado]

Sorry to hear about your engine issues. We rebuilt my sons TBI engine last winter and left most everything stock except the cam. I got the rebuilding kit from Powerhouse in Bakersfield. I did not want to replace the stock cam so we upgraded from the stock to a 398/420 lift cam. We noticeably lost a little bit of bottom end oomph with this cam. If I was to do this again I would use a carb cam out of a 350, either the stock 390/410 lift cam or the HO 305/350 cam of 403/415 lift. We painted his engine orange, cleaned up the stock intake to the natural aluminum, painted the valve covers silver and left the air cleaner black.
On the suspension issue. I run 285/75x16 tires on all our stuff. They are a 92 full size Blazer, 93 light duty 2500 Silverado, 93 Suburban and a 2000 Suburban. These tires are about 32.5 to 32.8 inches tall and I run these with Little to no lift. I take the overloads out of the SUV springs and added a lower leaf to the Blazer, made the Suburban equal to a 3/4 ton truck spring,left the truck alone and installed Hummer H2 springs in the rear of the 2000 Suburban. All the earlier trucks (pre 2000) had the heavy duty torsion bars. I still need to install 3/4 ton torsion bars in the front of the 2000. I use mine off road frequently and have little to no rubbing. My point is this, for casual off roading the cost of a lift is not needed if your are handy with tools. I consider the Mojave Road casual off roading so let that be your guide. Just remember that Blazers, Tahoes, and Suburbans have different spring lengths. Suburbans are simple, just go to the wrecking yard and grab the 3/4 rear springs and torsion bars and do the swap. With the Tahoes and Blazers you have to take the springs apart and use the original main leaf and mix and match from there.
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to share this info, since disposable income for everyone is kind of at a minimum these days. These mods will net 1.5 to 2 inches of lift which will clear 285/75 x 16 tires on stock aluminum wheels. BTW lots of tire store will tell you the stock wheel 7" is not recommended for anything over a 265 tire. If they do, go somewhere else. With proper inflation pressure and rotation I have gotten over 60,000 miles out of 2 sets of tires and 50,000 out of 2 other sets.

Thanks for the helpful info here!

My Tahoe is already lifted 4" from Rough Country Suspension. It has plenty of room to get 285/75/16's in there (I agree with you there), and this will be the case sometime during this week (on Friday I ordered a new set of tires. They should arrive sometime this week for installation).

I also ordered new power steering lines (as my current ones are leaking) and some new rear sway bar bushings from Energy Suspension.
Hoping everything will be in during this week and I can start removing and upgrading my items by the weekend.

I will update the thread though when I get some work completed. Thanks again for the info.

 

[Chevrolado]

Quick update from today... I made some progress on fixing some creature comforts that I have been without for the past year!

I spent my lunch break looking over the electrical schematics below trying to determine why I have power to my power window switches yet I do not have any power to my power door locks...

Checked the circuit breaker.. No go. Still fine. Everything looks good.
Checked the fuse #13 for Cigarette lighter.. yahtzee! :wings:
Replaced the fuse with a new 20A fuse and voila.. doors work.
Also as an added bonus.. apparently that fuse ALSO controls the Stereo Amplifier so after replacing that fuse, my rear speakers now ALSO work. Killed two birds with one stone! I love when that happens.

Then got home tonight, threw new batteries in my keyless entry FOB's and reprogrammed them to the computer. Keyless entry now works too!

It was a good day in the way of things actually working.

Since Ive owned this vehicle, I had never heard those rear speakers, and I had never been able to use the power door locks. Now I have both in one day. Its like I just upgraded my truck!

 

[BBslider001]

I love it when stuff like this happens! Good to hear Dave! Surf has been all time down here as well, which is an anomaly for this time of year. How has it been up there?

 

[Chevrolado]

I love it when stuff like this happens! Good to hear Dave! Surf has been all time down here as well, which is an anomaly for this time of year. How has it been up there?

Yeah, I am still smiling every time I walk up and can hit the clicker and unlock the doors. hah! Its so nice to have that after dealing with manual locks for the past year.

Surf up here has been sort of dismal. We did get one serious legit big swell a few weeks back. Everyone was buzzing here. My local break actually didn't get any of it though (in the south side of santa monica bay), but the centralized bay break saw some monsters roll through that only the brave were going after.. Made for some great local pics.

I've been so in and out of truck repairs and such that I actually have only surfed a handful of times this "winter." Which saddens me because normally my area up here is a complete winter break.

But I figure, I get all the repairs and everything done I want to on this truck now.. I will have years of time ahead of me to take it on surf travels all the time.
Sacrifice now, benefit later.

On an update related note.. I have an appointment today to have my new 285/75/16 tires installed! So stoked. Cant wait to get them on there.
I also installed a new PCV valve and it smoothed out the idle and fixed a little cold start acceleration hesitation stutter it was having. Why I thought it was a good idea to save an old $4 part from my old motor and carry it over to a brand new motor is beyond me. I was NOT thinking apparently.. But it's all good now!

Next up this weekend I will hopefully be installing the new power steering hoses (to stop the leaking ones I currently have) and get my new greasable rear sway bar bushings from Energy Suspension installed too. I will report back when those are all done.

 

[Chevrolado]

Soo.. this weekend was eventful.

Friday.. got the new tires on and fitted. I love them. 285/75/16 Falken Rocky Mountain ATS II

After leaving... rolled it over the 175k mark (~2500 miles on the new motor).

Then, I got my new power steering hoses in..

Then my wife also got me a few parts from my wish-list as an early birthday present (my birthday is next week).

New mirrors and LED taillights. My mirrors were all wobbly, faded, and paint chipped. They got to the point that on the freeway you could barely see what was behind you because the mirror was shaking so bad. The taillights are just for the fun of it and to indulge my love of LED lighting.

Then Sunday morning I came out to the truck after church and found it puking coolant everywhere.. Apparently one of the gaskets on the crappy remanufactured water pump I had on it busted..

So.. took the opportunity to remove it all and put on a NEW water pump and make sure everything sealed perfectly!

No pics of the new waterpump as I lost all daylight by that time and couldn't get a decent shot with my cell phone camera.

Either way.. it was a good weekend. Got a lot of things taken care of.


Next up will be the rear sway bar bushings that are pretty busted up.
Then eventually I need to do the front sway bar bushing too.. Those are fairly toasted.

 

[dieselndixie]

i dig your build. I have been on the fence lately about doing a VERY similar build. I want to ask you....now that you are where you are with your build. IF...you did it again...would you want a GMT800 in its place? If so....why? If not....why? I keep going back and forth (even throwing a 4th gen 4runner in the mix) Just curious now that you have some seat time and build time in your rig....

 

[Larry]

Looking good Dave!

Those water pump gaskets were ugly. Blue and red RTV is worthless stuff in my opinion. Right or wrong, I use Permatex Right-Stuff for everything. Sometimes things are hard to get back apart later but I never have any leaks. You could park by K10 or my Burb on your living room carpet and not worry about any drips from anywhere.

The rig looks great for having a 175K on it. Notice you never see anybody refresh any Fords of this generation? Hmm, I wonder why that is.

. They just throw them away.

 

[escadventure]

Your truck looks great with those fender flares.

 

[98dango]

Looking good Dave!

Those water pump gaskets were ugly. Blue and red RTV is worthless stuff in my opinion. Right or wrong, I use Permatex Right-Stuff for everything. Sometimes things are hard to get back apart later but I never have any leaks. You could park by K10 or my Burb on your living room carpet and not worry about any drips from anywhere.

The rig looks great for having a 175K on it. Notice you never see anybody refresh any Fords of this generation? Hmm, I wonder why that is.

. They just throw them away.

I have to second Larry on this I use it at work on everything from Ford to Kenworth.

 

[BBslider001]

Looking good Dave!

Those water pump gaskets were ugly. Blue and red RTV is worthless stuff in my opinion. Right or wrong, I use Permatex Right-Stuff for everything. Sometimes things are hard to get back apart later but I never have any leaks. You could park by K10 or my Burb on your living room carpet and not worry about any drips from anywhere.

The rig looks great for having a 175K on it. Notice you never see anybody refresh any Fords of this generation? Hmm, I wonder why that is.

. They just throw them away.

You mean the 94-97 generation? Yeah, there is an entire group of guys 3 times the size of this group pretty dedicated to keeping 94-97 3/4 and 1 ton PSDs on the road. Still one of the best diesels ever made. Ask me how I know. Most of them do leak somewhere though. :sombrero: