2003 Tahoe Build - Family Overland Rig

[03tahoe]

Build thread for my 2003 Chevy Tahoe starting from purchase in 2014 to now.

Most recent
Wood roof rack with Smittybuilt awning, canoe cradle, and rocket box. LED fog lights in bumper, lower valance trimmed. 285/75R17 Falken Wildpeak AT3Ws on American Racing Baja 17x8 0mm offset wheels (the 285/75R16 DuraTracs made it 50k miles). Factory 4.10 geared axles with a G80 in the rear (from a low mileage Z71 suburban, lucky find at a salvage yard). Nearly all new front steering and suspension parts. Trailgear rockrails welded to the frame with diamond plate step material .

Day we picked it up

Other cool pics... mods summary to come.

Custom skid plates (thanks Jake)

Trail Gear rock sliders with diamond plate to make the step kid safe (thanks Tyler)

Cognito upper A-arms, rare parts tie rods, limit straps, AC Delco performance brakes, and bilstine 5100 shocks

 

[Lykos]

I already like this thread! Looks good!

 

[03tahoe]

More photos

Timbren bump stops, 2-in coil spacers, adjustable track bar, spohn lower control arms, bilstine 5100 shocks

Steering stabilizer (kit for a ford van if I remember right)

 

[General Automag]

Nice setup. How do yo address the gearing for the front drivetrain having changed the rear from the, I guess, 3.73 axle ratio? I may not be familiar with the mechanics but it would seem that your front and rear wheel rotation would be different while in 4WD. We have an '01 1/2-ton model, and I've found that drivetrain upgrades are rather limited. Thanks.

 

[Smileyshaun]

good looking tahoe !!!

 

[AlexCold]

Nice looking Tahoe!

 

[Simons]

Nice setup. How do yo address the gearing for the front drivetrain having changed the rear from the, I guess, 3.73 axle ratio? I may not be familiar with the mechanics but it would seem that your front and rear wheel rotation would be different while in 4WD. We have an '01 1/2-ton model, and I've found that drivetrain upgrades are rather limited. Thanks.

He swapped both.


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[03tahoe]

Work from early on in 2014

Z71 springs on the right, soft springs on the left

Fancy self adjusting stock rear shock on the top, longer Bilstein 5100 shock on the bottom.

Sleeping platform

 

[03tahoe]

Some electrical and lighting items

Replacement tail light housings for improved brightness

Dual battery setup and power inverter. The dual battery setup for GMT800 gas trucks is written up many places and basically sets things up similar to how it is in diesel trucks from those years.

Modular LED lighting

Relocated the trailer wiring plug into the bumper

Bully Dog tuner/OBDII scan gage, brake controler

LED lights as fog lights in the front bumper

Same thing with backup lights in the rear bumper, only they can be set to "back up lights" or "off" or "on with the second battery"

 

[03tahoe]

Protection and recovery

Custom front skid plates

Z71 T-case skid plate/wing

GMT900 series 1500 front tow hooks on the left, GMT800 series 1500 front two hooks on the right

GMT900 series tow hooks installed and the lower valance trimmed up

Cut out for accessing the space behind the plastic over and behind the rear wheel

Trail Gear. 78" rock slider kit with diamond plate step plating. Ready to weld on to the provided guest plates that got welded onto the truck frame. This actually works out great and I could find a single write up of someone else doing this on a Tahoe.

On the truck relative to a stock 5th gen. 4Runner

On the truck, more photos of how this looks on the frame are coming.

 

[AlexCold]

Looking good. Making me sad to get rid of the 01 Suburban now...

 

[stomperxj]

Nice thread. I just picked up a 2001 Tahoe. Looking forward to more

 

[02TahoeMD]

Nice work. Love the custom skid plates.

 

[03tahoe]

Cabin air filter addition that I did a few years back. This works on the 03-06 GMT800 series trucks. Part's number is "Dorman 259-201 Carbon Cabin Air Filter Kit"

Cutting out the plastic in the HVAC housing for the removable door, the screw hole and tab slot are already in the plastic.

Inserting the air filter

Door held inlace with screw and plastic tab

Plastic cover back in place

 

[Judge Mills]

Did you weld your rock sliders directly on to the frame? Good to see another SUV up in the PNW!

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