4 inch Rancho lift, 34 inch tires and steel bumpers front and rear.

[Neill Campbell]

Have you put any armor under the body? Truck looks amazing.

 

[Tozan]

Have you put any armor under the body? Truck looks amazing.

Thank you. I will be adding some in the future most of the critical things holding oil are pretty protected. So most of my additions will be more one the lines of sliders and stuff to keep things form poking into soft stuff.

 

[Tozan]

Out having fun..

 

[Dingus mcghee]

Cool bumpers bud
What brand and model?

 

[Tozan]

Cool bumpers bud
What brand and model?

They are Fab Four bumpers. I am not sure they make them anymore but they still make them for a suburban so they might fit the Tahoe too. They are certainly a strong bumper and they are lighter than most of the other brands I have seen.

 

[Dingus mcghee]

They are Fab Four bumpers. I am not sure they make them anymore but they still make them for a suburban so they might fit the Tahoe too. They are certainly a strong bumper and they are lighter than most of the other brands I have seen.

They look badass. And very functional.

Nice ride bro.

 

[Tozan]

More work today, setting up my air up/down system. Everything is spread out before installation. The red hoses will hook to my CO2 air tank in the back of the Tahoe and route under the carpet one coming out by the refrigerator one beside the back seat on the left side. They will be the connection points for airing up both tires on the right or left side at once. The black hoses are connected to two tires and dumped or filled when connected to the air tank. With this system I will be able to air up or let out air from two tires at a time.

With this valve set up when it is disconnected from the red hose the air can be dumped out really fast from both tires at once. Open the valve and air will flow out close it and the gauge (not installed yet) will read air pressure on both tires. There is an outlet in this manifold for an air gauge that will be added soon. When Airing up you connect the manifold to the red air line on either side and open the valve. The tank has an adjustable regulator set at 50 psi so I will be able to open the valve and take a break while the system does all the work. Then hook it to the other side and repeat. Later if I get lazier I can add two more air lines and do all four at once.

These are the best locking air chucks I have found to date they are very positive they lock to more than one side. But they do cost a lot more.


This little square storage area is where the two black hoses go when not in use. If your Tahoe storage area does not, look this big it is because you have not sawed the original box out of there yet... What are you waiting for the storage behind there is huge. Even with the hoses in place there is a lot of room. (Room for 2 more hoses) In this photo you can see I fasten a lot of stuff under the lift up shelf in the back so there is no wasted space here. If you are looking for a good place to store snow chains just get a small blue storage bag form Cabellas and stick some rubber gloves in a side pocket to keep your hands dry when putting them on or taking them off. This bag holds chains for a set of 35x12.5x17 tires.

This is the tank hook up without the regulator installed. I also installed two power outlets back here a twin USB and standard power port my refrigerator is plugged into this switched circuit to the secondary battery.

This is where you connect the black hose to fill the tires on the right side of the truck there is another chuck on the left side. . It tucks back out of the way behind the refrigerator when not in use. The two black bags are medical trauma/first aid kits the red bag below the refrigerator are my jumper cables. These items are located here for fast easy access. No sense in having this stuff if you can't find it in a hurry.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

More work today, setting up my air up/down system. Everything is spread out before installation. The red hoses will hook to my CO2 air tank in the back of the Tahoe and route under the carpet one coming out by the refrigerator one beside the back seat on the left side. They will be the connection points for airing up both tires on the right or left side at once. The black hoses are connected to two tires and dumped or filled when connected to the air tank. With this system I will be able to air up or let out air from two tires at a time.

View attachment 236238
With this valve set up when it is disconnected from the red hose the air can be dumped out really fast from both tires at once. Open the valve and air will flow out close it and the gauge (not installed yet) will read air pressure on both tires. There is an outlet in this manifold for an air gauge that will be added soon. When Airing up you connect the manifold to the red air line on either side and open the valve. The tank has an adjustable regulator set at 50 psi so I will be able to open the valve and take a break while the system does all the work. Then hook it to the other side and repeat. Later if I get lazier I can add two more air lines and do all four at once.

These are the best locking air chucks I have found to date they are very positive they lock to more than one side. But they do cost a lot more.


This little square storage area is where the two black hoses go when not in use. If your Tahoe storage area does not, look this big it is because you have not sawed the original box out of there yet... What are you waiting for the storage behind there is huge. Even with the hoses in place there is a lot of room. (Room for 2 more hoses) In this photo you can see I fasten a lot of stuff under the lift up shelf in the back so there is no wasted space here. If you are looking for a good place to store snow chains just get a small blue storage bag form Cabellas and stick some rubber gloves in a side pocket to keep your hands dry when putting them on or taking them off. This bag holds chains for a set of 35x12.5x17 tires.

View attachment 236239

This is the tank hook up without the regulator installed. I also installed two power outlets back here a twin USB and standard power port my refrigerator is plugged into this switched circuit to the secondary battery.

View attachment 236243

This is where you connect the black hose to fill the tires on the right side of the truck there is another chuck on the left side. . It tucks back out of the way behind the refrigerator when not in use. The two black bags are medical trauma/first aid kits the red bag below the refrigerator are my jumper cables. These items are located here for fast easy access. No sense in having this stuff if you can't find it in a hurry.

View attachment 236244

I'm moving in, Charles.

 

[Tozan]

I did a timed air down and air up with this system. This is the time it took to do two tires so total time for all four tires will simply be double the time.

Tires 35x12.5x17
Start air pressure was 55 PSI Lowered to 20 PSI Air down time 4.5 minutes

Air pressure 20 PSI filled to 55 PSI Fill time 2 minutes

Conclusion
Air down time for all four tires would be about 10 minutes.
Air up time would be about 5 minutes. I can connect the air hose and not have to mess with an ARB deflator or hold an air chuck to the tire anymore or worry about damaging my tire valves.

When I add another set of hoses so all four tires are hooked up at once those times should be.
Air down time only 4.5 minutes
Air up times 2 minutes.

Is it worth it???

How often do you go out to play in the snow, sand, mud, mountains and decided to not air down because I didn't feel like spending 5 minutes per tire to air down twenty minutes total.... Then take another 20 minutes to fill them up with my old electric air pump one tire at a time.

How many times did you not air down because it is raining or too cold out or you had to stand in the mud? Well with this system you will still get wet or cold during the 1 minute hook up time then get back inside to finish.





Update: I picked up a set of King 2.5 remote reservoir coil-overs today........ Not sure how long it will be before I get a chance to install them...

I am trying to decide between the Baja kits Chase UCA kit with 9 inches of travel or the Pre runner kit on it for 11 1/2 in wheel travel.

I need to see which will work best with my Rancho lift.

 

[Tozan]

I should be able to get these mounted up next month... Since I have a 4 inch lift kit I will need to change the mounting or get a longer stroke out of them by lengthening the rod and cylinder. With a longer R and C I will be able to increase the wheel travel possibly out to 8 or 9 inches... It will take a lot of fitting and measuring to be sure it works out right.

 

[Rascole]

Will the CV's be able to handle the extra wheel travel? Seems like they are the weak link.

 

[Tozan]

Will the CV's be able to handle the extra wheel travel? Seems like they are the weak link.

Not sure yet, I am still in the measuring stage If needed I might see about a custom set if needed. Baja kits does make a kit with 9 inches travel so it might be possible. They were telling me the shock is what makes the most difference in extra travel.

I was looking under it today I have 2 inches of droop / sag fully extended so I should be able to pick up one inch there.t

Update: Yes it should be no problem at all... with the CV's

 

[Tozan]

I am in So. California for the holidays visiting from Reno Nevada. I have a set of King shocks for a standard height suspension so their length is 4 inches to short it was not set up for a lifted Tahoe.

I visited King shocks today in Garden Grove Ca. to get my King shocks rebuilt and modified to work with my Rancho 4 inch lifted Tahoe. I was in awe of seeing their place... Just look at all these cool shocks... It was very exciting to see the quality and how professionally things are done here... Very impressive. Just one of these racks could be $250,000 in shocks...

Since it is only a couple days before Christmas I figured they would be very busy and trying to get things finished up for the holidays, I actually did not expect to get much time from them. A very nice gentleman asked how he could help me so, I was thrilled to be able to discuss options and some of my not so good ideas with him. I went over particulars of my set up like what type of lift, shocks, travel, full extended, collapsed length and length of travel. I went over what I was hoping to get out of it for the type of driving and trails I do..

So I explained in depth what I thought I wanted and proceeded to explain the type of terrain I spend most of my time on and type of trails I like to drive ranging from easy to hard levels and how fast I like to run on dirt roads 65mph plus... He said I should be able to go even faster and more comfortably now... Yea! I was getting excited...

Then my real education of off road suspension began. He went over truck modifications, stock shock specifications, King shock specifications and other measurements of my rig and the shock currently on it. He came up with his solution and explained what needed to be done on my King shock for a custom fit.

What will I get out of it? I will be getting more usable wheel travel I am guessing it will be in the 9 inches range or more. Vastly improve dampening characteristics and with a remote it will run much cooler too. This will smooth out my ride over big and little bumps and improve my articulation as well. They will be installing a new rod pistons seals and other wear parts and doing an oil change and getting it back ready to tame the trails all for less than replacing my RS 7000 shocks...

At no time was I feeling rushed, all of my questions were answered politely with explanations when needed so I could understand everything being done and why. It was a very enjoyable experience. King has earned a very good customer from this point on. This type of quality and attention to details is worth the cost of their products.

Now I can't wait to get them back... Expected turn around is 6 weeks..... Ok almost 5 weeks and 6 days... lol

 

[Tozan]

Latest upgrade... Custom 2.5 King Shocks for my 4 inch lift... Replacing the Rancho RS 7000 coil over struts that came with the lift kit.

First step in installing front struts lift both sides and put it up on jack stands. Remove wheels, loosen the sway bar bolts (but leave them connected)

Remove upper and lower shock mounts and slide shock out the bottom.

Slide the new shock in and tighten upper bolts to 37 Ft lbs and lower bolts to 40 ft lbs.
Remember to tighten the sway bar bolts when done with both sides. It will be easier to get the shock reservoir bracket on if you install the other two top bolts first. If needed you can use a heat gun to soften the plastic in the wheel well to make things easier too.

Note the rag over the lug nuts... The reason for this is to keep your shirt clean because you are one of those people who regularly puts never seize on your studs so it is much easier when you have to change a tire on a trail... Be sure to torque those lug nuts to 140 Ft lbs.

I set ride height to allow for 3 inches of droop this leaves at least 6 inches for compression until bottoming out. Yes I have over 9 inches of travel now.

How does it feel..... Well amazingly better... It feels just as smooth if not better on the highway and I had to drive across the field with little boulders in it next door and also hit several speed bumps as well... Hit them a lot faster than normal people would too... lol The suspension kind of shrugged it off and felt very smooth. It was much smoother and softer than it was with the Rancho RS7000's and it didn't make any noise... I give these shocks 3 thumbs up...

I also added a 12 gauge shotgun scabbard and small ammo pouch under my front platform today. The molle mounting perfectly attaches to the rack.

Hmmmmm... OK What's next

 

[Tozan]

The section above is the front right section to the left of the refrigerator in the below photo. Both front and rear sections are on hinges so I can lift them to access the storage area underneath.

 

[jogan]

Looking good bro

Sent from my G8142 using Tapatalk

 

[Tozan]

Follow up:

I took it out this weekend to a popular hot springs along the Carson river. Very rough 2 hour trek in surface composed mostly of 6 to 12 inch rock covered trails with plenty of 18 to 36 inch boulders to squeeze or climb over. A dozen water crossings with 2 to 4 foot deep washouts going in every direction. Plenty of steep climbs and descents along the way too. I watched a ford crawler roll over 3 times down one of them. Fun three day weekend.


The front worked great at crawling speeds the added articulation was good. I had a front tire over 24 inches up and all the tires were still on the ground. They are very good at controlling the bounce in either direction while at crawling speeds too.

On trails I was able to go much faster I often found myself speeding up even in rocky sections because they soak up speed bump size holes like they don't exist. Not a good thing with this trail, the rocks are very sharp and jagged.

They love 70 plus MPH dirt roads and trails. They are very confident inspiring shocks. On paved roads and highways they feel better than ever.

King Shocks are certainly worth the money if you are going to do a lot of harsh surfaces and want something that really makes life more comfortable. They are certainly great for desert roads.

I only have one complaint.. Now I want more travel in the back and a set of King shocks there too. I haven't measured the rear travel yet but, there is only 3 inches before it hits the bump stops installed with the lift kit... Anyone know of a long travel kit for the Tahoe or Silverado?

 

[Tozan]

Thought I would add a few more things to the rig... Since we sleep inside this rig and also spend a fair amount of time in the desert at very high temperatures and hunting in the colder seasons too. I decided to add some insulation to reduce heating and cooling needs. I used 10mm Uxcell it has fabric reinforced foil on one side and an adhesive on the other. is pretty easy to use and sticks well to a metal surface. It will insulate the hot and cold and also deadens the sound too.

I lined the door panel and also sealed off the factory foam barrier.

 

[5strmtrp]

Tozan, I’ve read your entire post start to finish, I’ve acquired the parts needed for the , work for a pharmaceutical company that “retires” their metal carts after they get degraded with bleach and alcohol dunking for new ones. Have started on building the bed.

I’ve got one ?, it may sound stupid but... how do you get out of the back of the truck when the lift gate is down? I don’t have a release button or cable to pop it open from the inside. My key fob only opens the glass and it’s been fun reaching down on the outside to get the gate to release.

Ive been using the back to sleep in during our Boy Scout Trips. Being the Scoutmaster does have its privileges! And the fact I’ve got 4 fused disks in my back.

 

[Tiki]

I had Kings on my old Tahoe, definitely an upgrade. You’d likely see an improvement with some aftermarket UCAs.