Big Red - 2000 Tahoe Build

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ArcticYukon

The White Yuke has been superseded by a Red Hoe
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Y'all probably don't remember me because I didn't post much here, but this is my former GM suv....

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....which is why my username is ArcticYukon.

It was a 1998 Yukon SLE 4wd with between 4 and 6 inches of lift and 33" tires on 20" Helos... and what a pile of junk it was! First of all, we went and looked at it when it was dark, and the interior lights didn't work so we couldn't see just how bad the interior was. In the low light outside, we couldn't see how bad the exterior was. The truck ran and shifted fine, but it had a miss and if you were at cruising speed and put the pedal down to pass someone or whatever, the rear of the truck would sway sharply from side to side as if it had death wobble of the rear. We really took a bath on it.

Well, we traded it straight up for a Grand Cherokee... and a few vehicles later, we've come somewhat full circle.

This past weekend, we just picked up a 2000 Chevy Tahoe LS

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2wd, LM7, tow package (HD trans cooler, factory hitch, factory 7 pin connector) 3.73 rear w/ posi and electronic traction control, tow hooks, and skid plate.

The truck has 203,000 miles on it and still starts, runs, and drives like new. The motor is all original on the original build, the transmission was rebuilt 3 years ago. This is a classic example of "rough around the edges, but she's got it where it counts." The rough part is, it needs a paint job pretty badly, has a few small dents in the front passenger fender and 1 in the front passenger door, and a dent in the bumper. The interior isn't in terrible shape, just stained carpets, a rip in the driver's seat, and some cracking in the passenger front seat. The tabs that hold most of the switches in are breaking, so they're just kind of resting in place - but they all work. The dash has a crack in it and the dash bezel is a couple cracks and the previous owner cut the radio slot for a double DIN receiver and did a pretty piss poor job at it. The headliner is sagging too and for whatever reason, the speakers have ZERO bass haha.

Either way, we're pretty pleased with the purchase. It has new shocks, new battery, new water pump and it starts, runs, shifts, and drives as if it were new.

We're planning on fixing it up like new and adding a few custom touches to it. Not planning on going crazy with it, just want to make it look as good as it drives.

Anyway.... tips, advice, warnings about quirks, common desirable mods, suggestions on preventative maintenance to curtail common problems... yeah all of that is totally welcome. I'll update the thread with whatever we end up doing to it.

Oh and uh.... I'm known by Basslicks on several other forums. So if ya see that name, it's me!
 

swathdiver

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Welcome back! You've got an eighteen year old truck and those things are normal. Better than a car payment and you can do the work at your leisure. The important thing is this one has good bones and the mileage is nothing.
 
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ArcticYukon

ArcticYukon

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Thanks guys. Yeah, I'm not afraid to do any of the work on my own. I have a 1992 Jeep Cherokee that I've converted to 4wd, lifted, and done motor work to on my own (along with some other things). Haven't had a car payment in years.... don't like 'em. Plus, I like working on cars so it works out well for me.

The Yukon was just not worth any of the trouble. Would've ended up costing me 3 times what I paid for it to fix it up.

This Tahoe is just great. I love the way it drives. We did have a hiccup the other day, however. Jessica (my wife) drove it to walmart and when she came out, it wouldn't crank. I figured it was either not all the way in park or the ground cable was loose at the battery. Sure enough, the ground wasn't tight enough - you could wiggle it with your hand. On top of that, when I went to check the positive cable, the stud had been broken previously and rather than replacing the stud, they just screwed it in... there was probably only about 2 threads left on that thing.

So I got her hooked up enough to get home, then removed the cables, cleaned the terminals, coated them with dielectric grease, and reinstalled them with the felt terminal pads.

Still running and driving like a champ!

Currently, I'm shopping around for quotes on headliner replacement 'cause my wife swears I'll never get it done (I do work a lot). I think once my wife sees the cost of doing that, she'll concede to me doing it.

Just like LMC Truck's motto says, "Keep 'em on the road"
 

ScottyBoy

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The headliner replacement should be very easy, especially since you can just drop it down and slide it straight out the back. Headliners in cars and pickups are usually more of a pain because of trying to squeeze the headliner board out of the passenger side front door.
As far as the speakers having ZERO bass, that most probably means that the factory amp is still hooked up. You will actually get far better sound if you bypass the factory amp. The factory radio has an amp or else it has a Bose amp. Either way, the factory amp blocks ALL bass going to the door speakers because of the subwoofer in the rear Driver's side quarter panel. If you bypass the amp, then you will get full Bass to each door speaker. There's two ways to bypass the amp, either make a jumper harness at the amp behind the glove box, or else run new speaker wires from the radio to each door speaker.
 

Tonyrodz

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The headliner replacement should be very easy, especially since you can just drop it down and slide it straight out the back. Headliners in cars and pickups are usually more of a pain because of trying to squeeze the headliner board out of the passenger side front door.
As far as the speakers having ZERO bass, that most probably means that the factory amp is still hooked up. You will actually get far better sound if you bypass the factory amp. The factory radio has an amp or else it has a Bose amp. Either way, the factory amp blocks ALL bass going to the door speakers because of the subwoofer in the rear Driver's side quarter panel. If you bypass the amp, then you will get full Bass to each door speaker. There's two ways to bypass the amp, either make a jumper harness at the amp behind the glove box, or else run new speaker wires from the radio to each door speaker.
Just curious, my 03 doesn't have Bose, just had the standard cd/cass hu. Did mine have a factory amp? I now have a dd with amp and box, but I'm just curious. Is there an rpo for it?
 

ScottyBoy

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Just curious, my 03 doesn't have Bose, just had the standard cd/cass hu. Did mine have a factory amp? I now have a dd with amp and box, but I'm just curious. Is there an rpo for it?

Now that, I'm not 100% sure on. I know that pretty much every 00-02 has an amp though.
All documentation says that there were three different audio systems from 99-02. The Base system (just a radio), the "Premium" system (has a radio, amp, and 8" sub in rear), and then the Bose system which is basically the same as the Premium system but different and and speakers. I believe the Bose had a separate sub amp as well. I have never encountered a 00-02 Tahoe/Burb or Yukon with the "Base" audio system. Perhaps only the pickups had the Base radio.
As far as 03, I don't recall if there were three different audio systems or just two. I have never seen any documents about it back when I used to install car stereos, so I believe it's just base or Bose on the 03+ trucks and SUVS.
 
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