Newbie gmt800 Advice Needed

[Overlandtowater]

I’m always surprised at what trove1 puts his burb through. I am very near the Ozarks and run them quite a bit and have upgraded as needed. If you have open rear differential throw in a lunch box locker I’ve blown two g80s with 33s and am currently building a semi float 14 for the rear but that is not needed for what most people do. Check out my build thread and you can follow along with what I have broken a you can upgrade as needed.

 

[Overlandtowater]

Also check out suboverland and notice how everyone of his builds are built. Pretty simple.

 

[YukonDebbie]

I’m always surprised at what trove1 puts his burb through. I am very near the Ozarks and run them quite a bit and have upgraded as needed. If you have open rear differential throw in a lunch box locker I’ve blown two g80s with 33s and am currently building a semi float 14 for the rear but that is not needed for what most people do. Check out my build thread and you can follow along with what I have broken a you can upgrade as needed.

I’ve read through your whole build. Love it! Love what I’m seeing from the country down there. Have not been and we are really looking forward to it. Also Trove1 is the one who’s inspiring me to do this with our truck. Found his videos a month or so back and it really got me thinking about how capable these trucks are in almost stock form. What he’s doing is exactly what I want to be able to do. I’ve actually reached out to him for some advice. I believe a simple easy build is all I need to do. Level keys, springs and shocks, 285’s. The rest will be cosmetic or camping related. If I have the budget for it, I’d like to add a recessed winch mount and winch.

 

[YukonDebbie]

Also check out suboverland and notice how everyone of his builds are built. Pretty simple.

Looked at his stuff too. Love it. That’s the route I’m going to take.

I appreciate your build as well and made several notes based on what you did.

 

[Overlandtowater]

Thanks, I appreciate it. I agree with Josh on keeping it simple bracket lifts are ehhh.... If you can find some torsion keys from a 97-03 F150 (oem keys) they will lift you about 3 inches and you can install hummer H2 conversion coils from rockauto and that will also lift the rear about 3" and with those being a 3/4 ton spring rate they will keep you from sagging if you install a camping set up in the rear. spend your money on good shocks and you'll love it.

 

[Overlandtowater]

By the way when you head out this summer give me a holler if you come through
Missouri and I may be able to show you some of my favorite places if you can make time.

 

[YukonDebbie]

By the way when you head out this summer give me a holler if you come through
Missouri and I may be able to show you some of my favorite places if you can make time.

Thanks for the tips and the offer! We will start planning shortly. Have a lot of spots saved that Josh had been and we want to check out.

I’m looking at the Rough County level kit due to cost and it’s gets me shocks and keys. I was looking at the MOOG cargo coils over the h2 springs, once again just due to cost. Not sure exactly which direction I will go yet as far as parts selection, but that’s one idea on the cheap.

 

[toastyjosh]

Its not cheap but it will ride so much better, coil over conversion for the front.

GM Torsion Bar to Coilover Brackets for Lifted Trucks - Atomic Fabrication

Torsion Bar to Coilover Brackets for lifted trucks. If you are unsure what bracket kit you need, see my post here: What Coilover Brackets Do I Need?

atomicfabandperformance.com

and this for a winch mount,

https://www.roughcountry.com/gm-hidden-winch-mounting-plate-11002.html

 

[Todd780]

Another to check out if you haven't already:

2002 Tahoe "Expedition" build

2002 Tahoe Expedition Veh - Build Thread Hello All Thought I would finally introduce my ride, I have been working on her just about non stop since I bought it in 2005. Ever since I have slowly been working towards turning it into an Expeditionary Vehicle. I finally have it to a point that I...

expeditionportal.com

Love this build!

 

[YukonDebbie]

Its not cheap but it will ride so much better, coil over conversion for the front.

GM Torsion Bar to Coilover Brackets for Lifted Trucks - Atomic Fabrication

Torsion Bar to Coilover Brackets for lifted trucks. If you are unsure what bracket kit you need, see my post here: What Coilover Brackets Do I Need?

atomicfabandperformance.com

and this for a winch mount,

https://www.roughcountry.com/gm-hidden-winch-mounting-plate-11002.html

I’ve thought about the coil over conversion. Don’t think I’m all in on that yet. For what we are doing.

And that’s the exact winch mount I’m looking at. I am planning to swap to a Sierra grille and bumper. The Yukon/early Sierra front end always bugged me… and my wife doesn’t like chrome so I’ll spring for the work truck model parts.

 

[Overlandtowater]

Another to check out if you haven't already:

2002 Tahoe "Expedition" build

2002 Tahoe Expedition Veh - Build Thread Hello All Thought I would finally introduce my ride, I have been working on her just about non stop since I bought it in 2005. Ever since I have slowly been working towards turning it into an Expeditionary Vehicle. I finally have it to a point that I...

expeditionportal.com

Love this build!

View attachment 763853
View attachment 763854

This build is the reason I bought a gmt800 ???

 

[Todd780]

This build is the reason I bought a gmt800 ???

I had a Yukon Denali swb at the time and really wanted to copy this build.
I now wish it had been a Tahoe or non Denali Yukon so I could have had low range, haha

 

[YukonDebbie]

Fast forward a couple months. Just finished some parts install. Still more things on the list, but I’m out of allocated money for right now. Big summer camping plans are on hold as I ate through our vacation budget with a back injury I’ve been working on getting corrected…

Went with MOOG heavy duty coils in the rear. Rough Country level kit, used the spacers that came with on the rear. The keys were worthless for me, turns out my driver side torsion bar is wore out. Went through lots of learning about different bars and trying to find new (discontinued everywhere I found)…. I landed on some SuspensionMAXX keys so I could index the bars to compensate. While doing all this, I decided to replace the front control arms.

Also on the list was some different wheels. Wife wanted the truck blacked out, so we will start with the wheels. I wanted a more off road looking wheel, factory 17” spare looks awesome. Still working with some center caps to make fit.



Future plans include a 03-06 Sierra grille and bumper, in black. I’d like to put flares on too, not sure if the wide Chevy style or the thinner GMC style.

 

[Overlandtowater]

Looks great sorry it has been so long. Look who I spent a week with.

 

[2025 deleted member]

Or sooner. Mine went out at 160k and then again at 180k. First time I had it rebuilt, second time I had it replaced with a reman'd, waranteed unit from GM.

However I did a lot of towing through the Rocky Mountains. I was pulling a 4,000lb trailer over 11,000' passes 4 to 6 times a month for 5 months of the year.

I never had one make it past 150k but these were work vans and we weren’t doing fluid changes like we should have from the beginning