05Single's virgin build thread. 03 tahoe

[Sam Harris]

Pitman and idler arm is typical. Real lucky on the caliper!

No shit! Yep, just did my pitman and idler arms recently. Then, the loose tie rods showed up. Lol.

 

[ScottyBoy]

Yeah, you dodged a MAJOR bullet with that caliper! And it sounds like it was a front caliper, so that would have been even worse than my rear caliper bracket bolt coming out at 75mph. Not only would it have cut your wheel in half, but who knows if you would have been able to SAFELY stop the truck if that happened at 75mph?? Glad you are still with us buddy, because it's a very good chance that would have been a bad or even fatal crash if that happened to a front caliper at highway speeds.

 

[05Single]

Is the phone # not working, or your mechanic is #notworking? Lol

Phone number . It’s hard , lots of numbers to write down I guess

 

[05Single]

Yeah, you dodged a MAJOR bullet with that caliper! And it sounds like it was a front caliper, so that would have been even worse than my rear caliper bracket bolt coming out at 75mph. Not only would it have cut your wheel in half, but who knows if you would have been able to SAFELY stop the truck if that happened at 75mph?? Glad you are still with us buddy, because it's a very good chance that would have been a bad or even fatal crash if that happened to a front caliper at highway speeds.

I checked everything to see what it could be. Couldn’t find what was making that noise. Then I had to drove to work and take the hwy at 70 mph all this week till I had my buddy check it out yesterday. He couldn’t find anything either. Then he grabbed the rotor looking for play in the hub and I saw the caliper move. I was like wait a sec and grabbed it and shook it and that was the exact noise it was making. We stopped and looked at each other like WTF. Tightened it down , then checked the passengers side to make sure it was tight.
Yes indeed that could’ve been catastrophic, so lucky. Someone looking over me. I’ve never had anything like this happen to me in all my years of wrenching since I was 14. I seriously could’ve killed someone or myself. Makes me stop and take a look back. I’m definitely disappointed in myself. But like I said I post all wins and losses on here so people can hopefully learn from my mistakes.
So lesson learned boys and girls, make sure you tighten your $HIT!!! I thought it was but apparently it wasn’t, but it didn’t happen till I put those 26s on either. More shakes and rattles on a 30 series low pro tire

 

[Tonyrodz]

I checked everything to see what it could be. Couldn’t find what was making that noise. Then I had to drove to work and take the hwy at 70 mph all this week till I had my buddy check it out yesterday. He couldn’t find anything either. Then he grabbed the rotor looking for play in the hub and I saw the caliper move. I was like wait a sec and grabbed it and shook it and that was the exact noise it was making. We stopped and looked at each other like WTF. Tightened it down , then checked the passengers side to make sure it was tight.
Yes indeed that could’ve been catastrophic, so lucky. Someone looking over me. I’ve never had anything like this happen to me in all my years of wrenching since I was 14. I seriously could’ve killed someone or myself. Makes me stop and take a look back. I’m definitely disappointed in myself. But like I said I post all wins and losses on here so people can hopefully learn from my mistakes.
So lesson learned boys and girls, make sure you tighten your $HIT!!! I thought it was but apparently it wasn’t, but it didn’t happen till I put those 26s on either. More shakes and rattles on a 30 series low pro tire

Good advice.

 

[BADRIDES]

Interesting. Rub in the front or rear ?

rear

 

[05Single]

rear

Ah yea my 20s barely have a gap next to the plastic. I imagine next size up would rub for sure

 

[BADRIDES]

Ah yea my 20s barely have a gap next to the plastic. I imagine next size up would rub for sure

I will do some trimming the next time they are off

 

[ArcticYukon]

I checked everything to see what it could be. Couldn’t find what was making that noise. Then I had to drove to work and take the hwy at 70 mph all this week till I had my buddy check it out yesterday. He couldn’t find anything either. Then he grabbed the rotor looking for play in the hub and I saw the caliper move. I was like wait a sec and grabbed it and shook it and that was the exact noise it was making. We stopped and looked at each other like WTF. Tightened it down , then checked the passengers side to make sure it was tight.
Yes indeed that could’ve been catastrophic, so lucky. Someone looking over me. I’ve never had anything like this happen to me in all my years of wrenching since I was 14. I seriously could’ve killed someone or myself. Makes me stop and take a look back. I’m definitely disappointed in myself. But like I said I post all wins and losses on here so people can hopefully learn from my mistakes.
So lesson learned boys and girls, make sure you tighten your $HIT!!! I thought it was but apparently it wasn’t, but it didn’t happen till I put those 26s on either. More shakes and rattles on a 30 series low pro tire

Takes a big man to admit his mistakes and learn from them. Even bigger man to broadcast them to his friends and strangers. Keep up the good work, brother. Glad it didn't cause any major issues or an accident. Live and learn!

 

[05Single]

Takes a big man to admit his mistakes and learn from them. Even bigger man to broadcast them to his friends and strangers. Keep up the good work, brother. Glad it didn't cause any major issues or an accident. Live and learn!

Roger that! I’ll admit my mistakes every time, because it’s rare that it happens. I’m not perfect but I do double and triple check my work. I don’t know if I got distracted (living in a house with 10 other people now) or what but it wasn’t tightened down fully. And it’s not like I was in a rush, Tahoe was in the air for a few days while I did brakes, shocks, frame, etc. I’m just happy I’m still hear to tell you about my rare blonde moment lol.

 

[05Single]

To apologize to my baby for not treating her right with the brakes I bought her the original California duster. Pollen is crazy this year

 

[ScottyBoy]

I've heard TONS of professional auto detailers say those things are the devil! Lol Supposedly they cause scratches and swirl marks. Especially when you use it over and over again and get dust caught up all in the fibers. You are basically just dragging dirt across your paint. I'm sure just using it 2-3 times to get pollen off of a clean car would not make hardly any scratches or swirl marks. But using one regularly in between washes will definitely be dragging dirt across the paint. I know you have spent a lot of time polishing your paint, so I'm just saying be careful with that thing and don't use it when you should really be washing it or using some detail spray and clean microfiber towels.

Also, on your brake calipers, did you use Loctite on the caliper bracket bolts? If not, I HIGHLY suggest that you go back and apply some to the bolt threads. I know GM uses Loctite from the factory, and ever since my experience with my caliper coming off, I use Loctite religiously now. I've seen repair manuals state that you should apply thread lock compound as well. In my foolish wisdom I always thought that you didn't need Loctite as long as you got the the bolts tight enough. I know damn good and well I had my caliper brackets tight as hell with a breaker bar, yet about a year or two later the caliper bracket bolt ended up backing itself out and caused all that damage on my truck. It's not something that will happen overnight, it took mine at least a year or two to work itself loose, but it did. And I don't want shit coming loose even 5 or 10 years later, so I definitely use Loctite now.

 

[05Single]

I've heard TONS of professional auto detailers say those things are the devil! Lol Supposedly they cause scratches and swirl marks. Especially when you use it over and over again and get dust caught up all in the fibers. You are basically just dragging dirt across your paint. I'm sure just using it 2-3 times to get pollen off of a clean car would not make hardly any scratches or swirl marks. But using one regularly in between washes will definitely be dragging dirt across the paint. I know you have spent a lot of time polishing your paint, so I'm just saying be careful with that thing and don't use it when you should really be washing it or using some detail spray and clean microfiber towels.

Also, on your brake calipers, did you use Loctite on the caliper bracket bolts? If not, I HIGHLY suggest that you go back and apply some to the bolt threads. I know GM uses Loctite from the factory, and ever since my experience with my caliper coming off, I use Loctite religiously now. I've seen repair manuals state that you should apply thread lock compound as well. In my foolish wisdom I always thought that you didn't need Loctite as long as you got the the bolts tight enough. I know damn good and well I had my caliper brackets tight as hell with a breaker bar, yet about a year or two later the caliper bracket bolt ended up backing itself out and caused all that damage on my truck. It's not something that will happen overnight, it took mine at least a year or two to work itself loose, but it did. And I don't want shit coming loose even 5 or 10 years later, so I definitely use Loctite now.

Yea for the duster if you know how to use it properly it it’s fine. I will only use it with light dust and pollen of course.

And I thought about using loctite on the calipers but figure it’s just a little caliper and it won’t be an issue , well I was wrong . But I’ll be sure to add some this soon. Right now I’m not driving it. When I replace the pitman arm, tie rod and stuff I’ll do it all this summer.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I've heard TONS of professional auto detailers say those things are the devil! Lol Supposedly they cause scratches and swirl marks. Especially when you use it over and over again and get dust caught up all in the fibers. You are basically just dragging dirt across your paint. I'm sure just using it 2-3 times to get pollen off of a clean car would not make hardly any scratches or swirl marks. But using one regularly in between washes will definitely be dragging dirt across the paint. I know you have spent a lot of time polishing your paint, so I'm just saying be careful with that thing and don't use it when you should really be washing it or using some detail spray and clean microfiber towels.

Also, on your brake calipers, did you use Loctite on the caliper bracket bolts? If not, I HIGHLY suggest that you go back and apply some to the bolt threads. I know GM uses Loctite from the factory, and ever since my experience with my caliper coming off, I use Loctite religiously now. I've seen repair manuals state that you should apply thread lock compound as well. In my foolish wisdom I always thought that you didn't need Loctite as long as you got the the bolts tight enough. I know damn good and well I had my caliper brackets tight as hell with a breaker bar, yet about a year or two later the caliper bracket bolt ended up backing itself out and caused all that damage on my truck. It's not something that will happen overnight, it took mine at least a year or two to work itself loose, but it did. And I don't want shit coming loose even 5 or 10 years later, so I definitely use Loctite now.

Red or blue loctite?

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Red or blue loctite?

I wondered this too. I feel like the factory uses yellow on those. I would think blue is fine. Red gonna be a PITA later.

 

[PG01]

Yea for the duster if you know how to use it properly it it’s fine. I will only use it with light dust and pollen of course.

And I thought about using loctite on the calipers but figure it’s just a little caliper and it won’t be an issue , well I was wrong . But I’ll be sure to add some this soon. Right now I’m not driving it. When I replace the pitman arm, tie rod and stuff I’ll do it all this summer.

Red or blue loctite?

I wondered this too. I feel like the factory uses yellow on those. I would think blue is fine. Red gonna be a PITA later.

@05Single not on caliper bolts only on caliper BRACKET bolts.

I just use blue guys, with the yellow thats left over I personally feel it reactivates the yellow... imo

 

[05Single]

@05Single not on caliper bolts only on caliper BRACKET bolts.

I just use blue guys, with the yellow thats left over I personally feel it reactivates the yellow... imo

Yes yes you are correct , the bracket bolts only, thanks. So nobody reading this later gets confused and throws loctite on the caliper bolts . That would suck lol

 

[ScottyBoy]

I use red Loctite, but that's just my personal preference. I'm sure the blue one would be sufficient.

 

[ArcticYukon]

I wondered this too. I feel like the factory uses yellow on those. I would think blue is fine. Red gonna be a PITA later.

I thought you had to use HEAT to remove bolts with Yellow loctite.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

I thought you had to use HEAT to remove bolts with Yellow loctite.

"had to" are such strong words.