2000 NBS Blue Steel Burban Build

[00'BlueSteel]

Awesome news on the trans. Sorry to hear about the problems with the lift. Hopefully it will all come together after a break.

Yeah man they trans is working good other than blowing the extra fluid out all over the cars behind me on the way to Xmas with the family haha.

And yeah I should have the suburban back on its on legs in a week or 2, maybe 3. I got a loner 2004 suburban with all the bells and whistle which should be pretty fun to drive until then. Ill grab pics of it later, I’ll be doing 6 low/8hi and LEDs on it for the owner who let me borrow it while I finish mine.

More pics of lift actually going on..

 

[00'BlueSteel]

That’s the point that shit hit the fan, lower ball joints would not come out of the knuckle even with heat and 20lb hammer, had to leave each one in the shop press over night with creep oil and then heat in the morning and rapid freeze the ball joint shaft to knock them out with out ruining the arms. Moog pitman arm didn’t fit all the way on the Redhead steering box and put the pitman arm in such a place that the Cognito braces hit the top of the new driver side diff mount. Then the cold came and the regulator on the compressor filled with water and froze, killed on 1/2” impact gun, broke 2 ratchet wrench’s due to the grease freezing inside them, and had to make a view runs to the parts store for new ball joints and new hubs.

At this point the most everything is new expect for the center link and the differential itself. Lol but hey good piece of mind once I get it back that steering, suspension, and trans are all new.

I will get more pics up tonight or the loner 04’ suburban and more steering and lift pics

 

[Rocket Man]

I heard about the Moog Pitman arms not fitting right; that's the only part that I didn't go with Moog on. I bought an ACDelco Professional.

 

[00'BlueSteel]

I heard about the Moog Pitman arms not fitting right; that's the only part that I didn't go with Moog on. I bought an ACDelco Professional.

How did that one fit, as far as like how far up on the output shaft did it seat?

 

[00'BlueSteel]

Loner 2004

 

[Rocket Man]

How did that one fit, as far as like how far up on the output shaft did it seat?

I had the work done and they didn't say anything so I assume it went all the way on. All I know is I've read about problems with that Moog one.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Loner 2004
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Nice. Don't get spoiled now.

 

[00'BlueSteel]

Nice. Don't get spoiled now.

Tell me about it the heated leather seats where noice this morning when it was 8 degrees....

 

[drowssap]

Loner 2004
View attachment 189841

Can you tell me how you like driving a z71 burb?

 

[00'BlueSteel]

Can you tell me how you like driving a z71 burb?

Honestly, I prefer my none Z71 2000 over this 2004 Z71. I don’t feel like there is anything I can point out and say because this is a Z71 it drives or rides any different. I think it’s more the difference from 2000-2004. I can say I am not a fan of fly by wire throttle, steering seems a bit touchy, seat controls are a little weird, not a fan of the center console, don’t like the steering wheel, love the color matched bumpers and grille, love the Z71 valance, back end is a little lofty in the corners and body roll is a little much. But the 2000 was like that before I put new sway bar links and keys in. The ride is ok, has 5100s in the front and the keys are set so it is just resting on the jounce stops. I would probably turn the keys up a bit if it was mine and put new sway bars/links on it asap.

 

[00'BlueSteel]

Just a little update for anyone wondering about the lift and steering fitman issues.

Talked to Casey at Cognito and “can’t remember his name” at Redhead steering.

The redhead gear box output shaft is engineered to have a very very tight fit, because they expect people to be putting an old factory pitman arm on it. And the Moog pitman arms are reverse engineered to also have a very tight fit because they expect people to put those on old factory steering boxes with worn output shafts. So those two combined made for a fitment issue where the pitman arm would barely go on. We got it to the point with the washer and nut only 1 thread was sticking out past the nut, there was no room for the Cognito pitman arm brace at this point, also it pushed my center link down so far it caused the Cognito Heim joint tie rod bracket to hit the diff drop bracket as well as part of the diff mounting tab when turned to full lock on passenger side.

I got a new Ac Delco pitman arm delivered today we will see how that fits. And I will give an update then.

Other fitment issues are more than like due to the wide range of trucks/suvs this kit fits and that I am putting it on a 2000 1500 suburban, only pics Cognito has are from a 2004 2500 suburban and from photos I found of the 2500 trucks with the kit the bolts I will discuss have more room around them then I have. On my vehicle the passenger front shock hoop has a bolt that goes through the frame and comes out right next to the a/c pulley. A little trim of the bolt and clearances it good to go. The driver side compression strut bracket mounts to the transmission cross member right below the transfer case front shaft output. You have to trim these bolt to the point only one thread sticks out to give clearance for the front driveshaft and they can’t be flipped around because the compression strut itself mounts into the bracket right against the bolts.

Note: I will add pictures of the cut bolts and locations soon.

 

[Rocket Man]

Fun fun fun.

 

[Travieso]

coming along !!

 

[00'BlueSteel]

So the suburban is still sitting in my parents driveway, my dad hasn’t really been working on it too much, 1 its freezing, 2 he is in his late 60s and I don’t want him pushing himself too much. I think he has mostly been paint and cleaning stuff. I’m making the 3 hour drive to their place tomorrow when I get off work, hopefully I can finish the kit this weekend.

Got my mom to grab some photos yesterday and not much has changed from when I left it there 2 weeks ago lol. I should have done it at my house so I could be working on it durning the nights but I wanted to do it with my dad since I’m not sure how many more projects we will get to do together.

It’s gonna be big!



New lift knuckle, new hub, new bushings, new upper/lower ball joints, new sway bar links, new tie rods, new abs sensor, new brake lines, and soon the shock hoops and new dual Bilsteins will be in.

 

[Rocket Man]

So the suburban is still sitting in my parents driveway, my dad hasn’t really been working on it too much, 1 its freezing, 2 he is in his late 60s and I don’t want him pushing himself too much. I think he has mostly been paint and cleaning stuff. I’m making the 3 hour drive to their place tomorrow when I get off work, hopefully I can finish the kit this weekend.

Got my mom to grab some photos yesterday and not much has changed from when I left it there 2 weeks ago lol. I should have done it at my house so I could be working on it durning the nights but I wanted to do it with my dad since I’m not sure how many more projects we will get to do together.

It’s gonna be big!
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View attachment 190426 View attachment 190427 View attachment 190428

Some things are more important than how fast you can do them. You'll remember this project with your dad for the rest of your life. Enjoy it. My dad's gone so all I have left is memories, and no chance to make more.

 

[00'BlueSteel]

Some things are more important than how fast you can do them. You'll remember this project with your dad for the rest of your life. Enjoy it. My dad's gone so all I have left is memories, and no chance to make more.

Totally how I feel about it, it’s taking longer than we wanted but we are doing it right and doing it together. In the next couple months we are going to try to finish his 67’ 422! Those are the only project vehicles we have so I know once they are done there won’t be much to do together.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Some things are more important than how fast you can do them. You'll remember this project with your dad for the rest of your life. Enjoy it. My dad's gone so all I have left is memories, and no chance to make more.

Amen Red.

 

[00'BlueSteel]

Ac Delco pitman arm fixed the steering, front end is all done. But we found the oil leak with dye and its the front main seal/timing chain gasket so the front of the motor is coming apart as soon as the rear is lifted. Going to do all new timing chain, seals, oil pump, oil sender unit, and spark plugs.



Squat Life!!!

 

[Rocket Man]

The hardest part of that job is going to be pulling the harmonic balancer. It's not bad if you use the Chrysler puller - it has 3 jaws that fit into flat spots in the back of the damper. Then you pull the crank bolt and grind the shoulders off it so the damper will slide past it. ( You can't reuse the bolt anyway, it's a TTY bolt) You use the bolt as an adjustable point for the puller bolt to push against. Start with the crank bolt threaded in as far as you can and still have some usable threads on the puller bolt. Then just use an impact on the puller. When you run out of threads on the puller, adjust the crank bolt out a ways and repeat. OEM tools 27139 is the puller you need. Search YouTube for " removing LS harmonic balancer using Chrysler puller". It's the best cheat. You won't believe how good it works.

 

[00'BlueSteel]

The hardest part of that job is going to be pulling the harmonic balancer.......

Thanks for the heads up and advice, my dad just did the neighbors 2500 Suburban and picked up the puller to do that one, I got lucky on that. Oil pump, timing chain kit and new bolt showed up in the mail yesterday.

We are suppose to get snow and I had to go back to work again so might be a week or so before things get done but I’m so happy with how the front looks I don’t even care how long it takes.