jarydM’s 2005 Tahoe Build/Rebuild

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jarydM

jarydM

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Pulled both rear brake hydro lines out, and bent some new out of some poly-coat line I had. It wasn’t the most terrible job I’ve ever done, but I’m not in a hurry to do it again either.

quick tips on doing it yourself:
  • Remove your spare tire from under the truck if yours is still mounted there.
  • Work the frame mounts off. Start at the rear and work your way forward. These suck because you can’t see them, and they’re old. Honestly if you don’t have a body lift on, I don’t know how you do this job without a LOT of difficulty. Most “how-to’s” talked about undoing body mounts and lifting the body off the frame.
  • Once the mounts are off, I undid the bolts holding the line in on either end.
  • Because of the way the original is shaped, it’s almost impossible to pull out in a single piece, so I cut the line right under the rear door, and pulled the rear and the front out separately.
  • If you bend your own line make a U shape at the front end of the line (because there isn’t enough room to do it under the truck) and push it above the left sided frame rail above the rear axle and push forward. Then move forward and pull the line the rest of the way forward to the ABS module.
  • When tightening the lines to the module and the rear mount, (using a line wrench) tighten it snug and then a quarter turn more, then loosen and repeat several times. It’ll go a little farther every time.
That’s pretty much it. I worked the line back into most of the mounts, but I also don’t care so much to make it fit like stock so long as it works. I mostly just zip tied the line down to the frame.

I also put on esky caps, finally.D949E4B7-B84B-407D-8CCA-89E4B8F1F493.jpeg
 

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Pulled both rear brake hydro lines out, and bent some new out of some poly-coat line I had. It wasn’t the most terrible job I’ve ever done, but I’m not in a hurry to do it again either.

quick tips on doing it yourself:
  • Remove your spare tire from under the truck if yours is still mounted there.
  • Work the frame mounts off. Start at the rear and work your way forward. These suck because you can’t see them, and they’re old. Honestly if you don’t have a body lift on, I don’t know how you do this job without a LOT of difficulty. Most “how-to’s” talked about undoing body mounts and lifting the body off the frame.
  • Once the mounts are off, I undid the bolts holding the line in on either end.
  • Because of the way the original is shaped, it’s almost impossible to pull out in a single piece, so I cut the line right under the rear door, and pulled the rear and the front out separately.
  • If you bend your own line make a U shape at the front end of the line (because there isn’t enough room to do it under the truck) and push it above the left sided frame rail above the rear axle and push forward. Then move forward and pull the line the rest of the way forward to the ABS module.
  • When tightening the lines to the module and the rear mount, (using a line wrench) tighten it snug and then a quarter turn more, then loosen and repeat several times. It’ll go a little farther every time.
That’s pretty much it. I worked the line back into most of the mounts, but I also don’t care so much to make it fit like stock so long as it works. I mostly just zip tied the line down to the frame.

I also put on esky caps, finally.View attachment 253511
Nice work. I’ve heard it’s not easy. I bent 3/8” aluminum air lines for my bagged Silverado and did them in 6 foot pieces and joined them with Swagelok fittings but even using 3 pieces it wasn’t all that easy to get the bent lines into place so I feel your pain.
 

01tayhoe

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Looks awesome. How hard was the body lift to do? What was your solution for rear bumper brackets?
 
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jarydM

jarydM

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Looks awesome. How hard was the body lift to do? What was your solution for rear bumper brackets?

body lift wasn’t hard, literally the worst part was trying to manage the park brake line. I however will tell you that there is no way I would do more than the 1.5” lift I did. It still looks mostly stock now but I’ve got room for bigger tires.

because I used a HD bumper, I didn’t need the spacers and brackets for the front bumper, so I might use them for the rear to move it. As it stands right now, I haven’t moved it, and haven’t really decided if it bothers me or not.
 
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jarydM

jarydM

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Hopefully the master didn’t get damaged when the pedal went to the floor. You should put a piece of 2x 4 under it if you’re gonna bleed them using the pedal method to keep that from happening.

update, after repressurizing the new rear lines, and vacuum bleeding all four corners, brakes work great. Still haven’t got the stainless braided lines yet, but the whole system is much improved, and pedal feel is back to normal.
 
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jarydM

jarydM

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Got the bumper light connectors on the drivers side replaced with new ones with a bit of solder and tape. Was gonna work on polishing headlights, and then got distracted by paint.

painting over chrome sucks, and this won’t actually be the last time I do this job, because I’m not happy with the way it turned out, yet. But it is done for now, and until I figure out the permanent bumper situation, I’ll just ride with it, then paint all the new parts together. It was dark before I got it back on though, but here’s and idea of what it’ll look like370119FB-EDFD-49AF-848C-58AA03FEAC5E.jpeg
 

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