Restoring/Upgrading 2011 Tahoe PPV

[techbiker]

Hello!

We recently purchased a 2011 Tahoe PPV from the county (great people by the way!) with 71k miles. I am creating this thread to document our restoration.

Our PPV was a K9 unit until it was decommissioned in June 2017 meaning that the middle door interior panels and bench seat are missing to accommodate the dog cage. Several other panels are missing or are covered with dog drool and hair. Our Tahoe does have some neat options like dual batteries, upgraded 8-speaker audio, and G80 differential. Mechanically, the SUV is in good shape with some deferred maintenance. It looks like basic maintenance was performed and the body is relatively free of rust. The goal is to clean the interior, restore, and replace missing trim, and restore both the body and mechanical components to very good condition.

Interior Trim:

-Fill all holes drilled on inside of the middle doors, pillars, etc.
-Replace middle door plastic panels and other damaged panels
-Replace overhead console/dome piece
-Replace vinyl floor and padding with new carpet (higher-end feel?) Still deciding between oem and aftermarket.
-Replace middle bench seat with leather bench
-Laser-fit floor mats
-Clean headliner, etc. Replace whatever cannot be cleaned
-Add aftermarket center console
-New leather steering wheel and DIC button

Mechanical:

-Change all fluids including oil for G80 differential
-Replace worn shifter bushing
-Replace struts and shocks with new PPVs plus all worn suspension components
-Replace driver side motor mount
-Replace plugs, wires
-Vacuum leak test, compression test, engine oil analysis
-Alignment and tire balancing
-Change belts
-Tune?--- Not sure if this is worthwhile without other power-adders.

Body:

-Professionally fill unneeded holes on the roof (5 holes total)
-Remove old sticker residue and add some new stickers
-Add push bar (Is the Setina brand ok?)
-Replace rusted auxiliary battery tray and repair related chassis rust
-Lubricate chassis
-Repair broken rear left window track
-Replace spot light lense
-Replace missing and faded trim
-Replace front windshield (cracked)

Fortunately we can perform most of this maintenance in-house to save money. We have started removing sticker goo and are ordering parts. I will keep this thread updated. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

 

[2011SSVHOE]

got any pics of the interior?

 

[techbiker]

got any pics of the interior?

See attached. Not much to see at the moment. Just imagine the smell of dog and you'll have the whole picture haha. I am very happy there is almost no wear in the front seats. I doubt this SUV has had a hard life. Note I have removed some of the trim pieces.

I just got the Tahoe jacked up and discovered a bit of play in the rear wheels. Is a bit of axial play in the rear hubs normal? I am assuming there should be no radial play. I will check more closely once I've removed the wheels.

Thanks

 

[CobraKing]

Congratulations on your purchase. Before pulling the trigger on our '14 PPV the wife and I cross shopped it with a '13 K9 PPV at the same dealer. It had a cleaner driver/passenger interior and the body was overall better but a quick OBD scan (on the test drive) revealed emission faults and the very strong 'dog smell' in the interior turned us to the slightly more higher mileage '14 (200K km vs 170K km).

Your list of work is very thorough and complete, do hope you don't burn yourself out as these vehicles aren't perfect by any means but quite strong. Also do keep in mind that although your truck has lower mileage it may have seen some high engine idling time due to being in service for 6-7 years (depending on when it started fleet duty). Adding the DIC button to the interior will tell you your engine hours.

I'd definitely start with the safety items (windshield, you didn't mention brakes so I hope they're good, lightbulbs/indicators) and fluids and then drive the truck for a few weeks to see if there are any hidden drivetrain issues before going deep onto the cosmetic issues.

I'll start a separate thread documenting the work on my truck but I did have to replace the 02 sensors on my truck as they were throwing fault codes after a month of daily driving.

Another important mechanical issue is to replace the O-ring on the oil pump, pick up line. It's a $6 part that involves dropping the oil pan (which will also give you a chance to inspect the oil condition sans having to send it out to have it inspected). Interestingly even on my '14 truck the O-ring wasn't making a good seal (due to higher use I guess at 200K mileage) and replacing it improved my oil pressure significantly and quieted the engine overall. See the last posts in this thread:

http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/thre...s-of-low-oil-pressure-by-07burb.62826/page-11

Just curious but are you affiliated with law enforcement? Otherwise you're asking for trouble/unwanted attention with the stickers, push bar and spot light.

 

[techbiker]

Congratulations on your purchase. Before pulling the trigger on our '14 PPV the wife and I cross shopped it with a '13 K9 PPV at the same dealer. It had a cleaner driver/passenger interior and the body was overall better but a quick OBD scan (on the test drive) revealed emission faults and the very strong 'dog smell' in the interior turned us to the slightly more higher mileage '14 (200K km vs 170K km).

Your list of work is very thorough and complete, do hope you don't burn yourself out as these vehicles aren't perfect by any means but quite strong. Also do keep in mind that although your truck has lower mileage it may have seen some high engine idling time due to being in service for 6-7 years (depending on when it started fleet duty). Adding the DIC button to the interior will tell you your engine hours.

I'd definitely start with the safety items (windshield, you didn't mention brakes so I hope they're good, lightbulbs/indicators) and fluids and then drive the truck for a few weeks to see if there are any hidden drivetrain issues before going deep onto the cosmetic issues.

I'll start a separate thread documenting the work on my truck but I did have to replace the 02 sensors on my truck as they were throwing fault codes after a month of daily driving.

Another important mechanical issue is to replace the O-ring on the oil pump, pick up line. It's a $6 part that involves dropping the oil pan (which will also give you a chance to inspect the oil condition sans having to send it out to have it inspected). Interestingly even on my '14 truck the O-ring wasn't making a good seal (due to higher use I guess at 200K mileage) and replacing it improved my oil pressure significantly and quieted the engine overall. See the last posts in this thread:

http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/thre...s-of-low-oil-pressure-by-07burb.62826/page-11

Just curious but are you affiliated with law enforcement? Otherwise you're asking for trouble/unwanted attention with the stickers, push bar and spot light.

Thank you for the info! Has your Tahoe been reliable so far?

-I believe my engine hour meter reset at some point since it only reads 181 hours.

-I'm more worried about burning out my wallet! I really enjoy car maintenance- nothing better than changing the transmission fluid.

-Our OBD scan came back clean.

-I drove the truck about 220 miles and did not run into many drivetrain issues. The struts/shocks are shot and the tires need to be rotated, balanced, and suspension aligned. Oil pressure is right around 40 psi at 1800 rpm I believe. About 30 psi at 500rpm idle. Might have a small oil weep around the pan or just an improperly set filter.

-Thank you for the link regarding your oil pressure issue. I will definitely keep an eye on the oil pressure and make frequent oil changes. I change my oil at least twice a year regardless of mileage. If the oil leak gets bad or we see a drop in pressure, I will drop the pan.

-When I say stickers, I am talking about our corporate logo and contact information. We own and manage real estate. The spotlight will let us check our properties in low-light conditions.

 

[techbiker]

I swapped in some brake speed bleeders and ran a liter of Pentosin DOT IV through the RR caliper after some problems. A couple observations.

1. The front calipers use 10mm x 1.5mm bleeder screws. The rears actually use 10mm x 1.0mm bleeder screws! What?
2. Assume bleeder screws are seized. The FR screw was rusted to the caliper and rounded off. I ended up hammering on a 3/8" socket and spraying it with PB Blaster to break loose.

I recommend completely flushing brake fluid every 2 years. Definitely don't wait 7 years (see attached)! I am hoping a second liter of Pentosin will flush the system clean.



P.S. My passenger side power steering rack bushing is a little worn and loose. I am getting a bit of looseness and "play" in my power steering rack. It does not appear that the bushing is sold separately. Should I just swap the rack out for a rebuilt ACDelco rack? The parts only cost $250- I'm not used to such low prices! Either that or save the work for a later day and just flush the PS fluid.

 

[CrashTestDummy]

See attached. Not much to see at the moment. Just imagine the smell of dog and you'll have the whole picture haha. I am very happy there is almost no wear in the front seats. I doubt this SUV has had a hard life. Note I have removed some of the trim pieces.

I just got the Tahoe jacked up and discovered a bit of play in the rear wheels. Is a bit of axial play in the rear hubs normal? I am assuming there should be no radial play. I will check more closely once I've removed the wheels.

Thanks

View attachment 186920 View attachment 186921 View attachment 186922 View attachment 186923

Yeah, a friend who works for the county Sheriff's department has picked up a couple of ex-service vehicles. Since we both own ex-service vehicles, we've traded notes on the things. He said it's common-knowledge to NOT buy an ex-K9 unit, 'cause they'll smell like dog forever.

If you like that sort of thing, I guess it's not bad, but.... And it's odd, since the pups ride around in their own compartment that all gets removed when the vehicle gets retired.

 

[CrashTestDummy]

<SNIP>

P.S. My passenger side power steering rack bushing is a little worn and loose. I am getting a bit of looseness and "play" in my power steering rack. It does not appear that the bushing is sold separately. Should I just swap the rack out for a rebuilt ACDelco rack? The parts only cost $250- I'm not used to such low prices! Either that or save the work for a later day and just flush the PS fluid.

Search this forum for power steering rack bushing issues. There's a regular here (blacktahoe?) who had some loosness in the rack, even after replacing the bushings. He ended up wedging another bushing between the rack and K-member and got a lot of the slop removed.

And yes a tune is worth it on an otherwise stock PPV. They can remove some of the 'torque management' which causes that short hesitation between you first depressing the gas pedal and the truck actually moving out. They can also firm up/speed up the shifts, as well as other driveability improvements. I'm glad we did our '10.

 

[techbiker]

Gene,

I'm not surprised about the dog smell. It's really not that bad in our Tahoe. We're also going to remove all of the interior trim and degrease everything. There is dog drool/oil on every surface. I'm positive the smell will be gone once the interior is gutted, cleaned, and refitted. We will change the floor padding and also maybe the headliner. The patrol vehicles looked like they were used more aggressively and were much higher-mileage. Funny thing is the patrol vehicles sold for ~$1000 less than the K9's. My driver seat looks pristine.

PS- Ok, will do. I was thinking it might be better to wedge some bicycle inner tube around the existing bushing anyway. I'm just amazed there isn't a urethane bushing available since I can move my PS rack by hand.

Tune- It would be great to remove the ETB hesitation. I miss the old throttle cable. Shifts are already pretty quick and firm- I'm impressed with the 6L80. I will do some research but do you recommend a mild cam upgrade? I have heard the Vortec 5.3 is really under-cammed from the factory.

Thanks!

 

[Ron C]

Hello!

We recently purchased a 2011 Tahoe PPV from the county (great people by the way!) with 71k miles. I am creating this thread to document our restoration.

Our PPV was a K9 unit until it was decommissioned in June 2017 meaning that the middle door interior panels and bench seat are missing to accommodate the dog cage. Several other panels are missing or are covered with dog drool and hair. Our Tahoe does have some neat options like dual batteries, upgraded 8-speaker audio, and G80 differential. Mechanically, the SUV is in good shape with some deferred maintenance. It looks like basic maintenance was performed and the body is relatively free of rust. The goal is to clean the interior, restore, and replace missing trim, and restore both the body and mechanical components to very good condition.

Interior Trim:

-Fill all holes drilled on inside of the middle doors, pillars, etc.
-Replace middle door plastic panels and other damaged panels
-Replace overhead console/dome piece
-Replace vinyl floor and padding with new carpet (higher-end feel?) Still deciding between oem and aftermarket.
-Replace middle bench seat with leather bench
-Laser-fit floor mats
-Clean headliner, etc. Replace whatever cannot be cleaned
-Add aftermarket center console
-New leather steering wheel and DIC button

Mechanical:

-Change all fluids including oil for G80 differential
-Replace worn shifter bushing
-Replace struts and shocks with new PPVs plus all worn suspension components
-Replace driver side motor mount
-Replace plugs, wires
-Vacuum leak test, compression test, engine oil analysis
-Alignment and tire balancing
-Change belts
-Tune?--- Not sure if this is worthwhile without other power-adders.

Body:

-Professionally fill unneeded holes on the roof (5 holes total)
-Remove old sticker residue and add some new stickers
-Add push bar (Is the Setina brand ok?)
-Replace rusted auxiliary battery tray and repair related chassis rust
-Lubricate chassis
-Repair broken rear left window track
-Replace spot light lense
-Replace missing and faded trim
-Replace front windshield (cracked)

Fortunately we can perform most of this maintenance in-house to save money. We have started removing sticker goo and are ordering parts. I will keep this thread updated. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

View attachment 186872 View attachment 186873

I noticed that a lot of these things (if not all) you can get on ebay, I've been looking around for trim etc for the last two weeks (bought mine 2 weeks ago). I also saw seats and door panels etc.