jarydM’s 2005 Tahoe Build/Rebuild

[jarydM]

After several years of school, remodeling a house, and settling into a job, I finally have time to work on my Tahoe. Our original adventure vehicle, and the best car I had ever owned (until my current one)

She was perfect, until I rear ended a guy at a red-light, and bent/broke a lot of the front right. Insurance paid for it, and she was back to almost as good as new, even though the hood never quite fit right again.

I bought wheels off a new Silverado, and gave it a mild facelift

Then in the fall of 2018, while driving home from Nashville in the early morning, a deer ran out in front of me, and I nailed him while pushing 80mph.

Grille, broken. Headlights, broken or gone. Bumper, bent and broken. Hood, crimped from his antlers. Radiator, cracked. Drivers door smashed in and covered in shit.

Insurance paid out 9k, and I bought her back for 1600.

Back to my driveway she went, because my garage was full of house stuff because of the remodel. Took the money and upgraded to a 2013 Escalade....

 

[Tonyrodz]

After several years of school, remodeling a house, and settling into a job, I finally have time to work on my Tahoe. Our original adventure vehicle, and the best car I had ever owned (until my current one)
View attachment 250847

She was perfect, until I rear ended a guy at a red-light, and bent/broke a lot of the front right. Insurance paid for it, and she was back to almost as good as new, even though the hood never quite fit right again.

I bought wheels off a new Silverado, and gave it a mild facelift
View attachment 250848

Then in the fall of 2018, while driving home from Nashville in the early morning, a deer ran out in front of me, and I nailed him while pushing 80mph.

View attachment 250849

Grille, broken. Headlights, broken or gone. Bumper, bent and broken. Hood, crimped from his antlers. Radiator, cracked. Drivers door smashed in and covered in shit.

Insurance paid out 9k, and I bought her back for 1600.

Back to my driveway she went, because my garage was full of house stuff because of the remodel. Took the money and upgraded to a 2013 Escalade....

What'cha got planned? Did you ever get it fixed after the deer? Have a salvage/rebuilt title now? STUPID DEER!!

 

[jarydM]

The Escalade was great, and made me forget about the Tahoe. Maybe I should sell it, but it had so many good memories, and I knew I could fix it.

Then this spring, the unthinkable happened. The Escalade stuck a lifter because of the 4cyl shutdown mode, which I hadn’t been able to tune out yet because of cost.

I called a few mechanics. One told me he would only put a remanufactured or new engine in it. Another told me he wouldn’t touch it, but to look up a guy on YouTube who knew how to unstick it.

so I did. I ordered his tool, and unstuck the lifter. And then I traded the Escalade away forever, and bought a proper truck (for our pull behind camper).

But now it’s time to fix the Tahoe...

Green from weather and the trees, and parked for almost two years, I worried about what would happen if I wanted to start it.

put some fuel stabilizer and oil stabilized in, charged the battery and.. started right up. Ran a little rough for about 10 minutes, then settled down and ran right. So now the hunt for body parts begins in earnest, and I find myself trying to decide if I’m going to build it back the same, or put the 04-06 Silverado HD front on it.

also, time to install all the upgrades and parts I’ve accumulated for it..

 

[jarydM]

What'cha got planned? Did you ever get it fixed after the deer? Have a salvage/rebuilt title now? STUPID DEER!!

Luckily the age of it is what made the insurance price out of fixing it. It was never “totaled”, and won’t have a remanufactured title.

 

[Tonyrodz]

The Escalade was great, and made me forget about the Tahoe. Maybe I should sell it, but it had so many good memories, and I knew I could fix it.

Then this spring, the unthinkable happened. The Escalade stuck a lifter because of the 4cyl shutdown mode, which I hadn’t been able to tune out yet because of cost.

I called a few mechanics. One told me he would only put a remanufactured or new engine in it. Another told me he wouldn’t touch it, but to look up a guy on YouTube who knew how to unstick it.

so I did. I ordered his tool, and unstuck the lifter. And then I traded the Escalade away forever, and bought a proper truck (for our pull behind camper).

But now it’s time to fix the Tahoe...View attachment 250850

Green from weather and the trees, and parked for almost two years, I worried about what would happen if I wanted to start it.

put some fuel stabilizer and oil stabilized in, charged the battery and.. started right up. Ran a little rough for about 10 minutes, then settled down and ran right. So now the hunt for body parts begins in earnest, and I find myself trying to decide if I’m going to build it back the same, or put the 04-06 Silverado HD front on it.

also, time to install all the upgrades and parts I’ve accumulated for it..

So you're thinking of putting the cat eyes front end on it? I have the 01-02 Silverado HD hood and grill on my 03.

 

[adventurenali92]

Wow that’s a lot of mayhem. Poor tahoe. But at least now you’re tackling it! Good luck and I can’t wait to see the progress!

 

[jarydM]

So you're thinking of putting the cat eyes front end on it? I have the 01-02 Silverado HD hood and grill on my 03.View attachment 250866

The 01-03 HD front is so popular, you literally can’t find the parts. I had a thread on here a year ago after I had seen a suburban with it

I just think that looks awesome. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[jarydM]

Wow that’s a lot of mayhem. Poor tahoe. But at least now you’re tackling it! Good luck and I can’t wait to see the progress!

yeah, poor thing had a rough year. I half expected her to not even start. But sitting in the seat and turning the key was like seeing an old friend again.


As for what I have planned:

1.5” wheel spacers to move the stance out a bit.

NNBS front brake upgrade

body repair.

after that I’ll think about fun things. Decided not to put another motor in, but instead I think I’ll have someone machine and tune.

will have to have tranny rebuilt eventually, it was already being funky

exhaust upgrade

replace driver’s seat bottom where leather is ripped.

 

[jarydM]

Scored some parts today, and got started removing the bent and broken ones.

2005 HD hood, 4 lights, HD bumper, one (slightly dented) fender, driver door, radiator. Other fender will be tomorrow.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Scored some parts today, and got started removing the bent and broken ones.

2005 HD hood, 4 lights, HD bumper, one (slightly dented) fender, driver door, radiator. Other fender will be tomorrow.

View attachment 250927

Slowly getting there buddy Did you get them in white?

 

[adventurenali92]

Moving right along! Haha

 

[jarydM]

Slowly getting there buddy Did you get them in white?

yeah, except for the door. I have a friend that has a body shop, gonna have him price painting the door.

the bumper of course is chrome, so I’m gonna learn to paint it

 

[adventurenali92]

yeah, except for the door. I have a friend that has a body shop, gonna have him price painting the door.

the bumper of course is chrome, so I’m gonna learn to paint it

The bumper isn’t too hard to paint chrome wise because it’s actual metal as opposed to plastic chrome parts like the grille and trim pieces. It’s easier to sand and get primer to bond to.

 

[PG01]

Nice, looks like you have a plan. @HiHoeSilver would be proud..... lol

 

[jarydM]

The bumper isn’t too hard to paint chrome wise because it’s actual metal as opposed to plastic chrome parts like the grille and trim pieces. It’s easier to sand and get primer to bond to.

I figured painting plastic “chrome” would be easier because I could just sand down to the plastic.

 

[adventurenali92]

I figured painting plastic “chrome” would be easier because I could just sand down to the plastic.

Many have tried to strip the chrome off of plastic all the way. And not been successful. At least from what I’ve seen from guys here. The plastic chrome coating is pretty difficult to deal with. And it’s harder to get paint to bond to. Where as paint will bond to your metal bumper a lot easier.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Many have tried to strip the chrome off of plastic all the way. And not been successful. At least from what I’ve seen from guys here. The plastic chrome coating is pretty difficult to deal with. And it’s harder to get paint to bond to. Where as paint will bond to your metal bumper a lot easier.

Etching primer.

 

[adventurenali92]

Etching primer.

Yes. But still harder to bond to plastic versus metal... lol

 

[Tonyrodz]

Yes. But still harder to bond to plastic versus metal... lol

CM'd bumpers look so much better then chrome. I'm not a fan.

 

[Rocket Man]

Nice to see you starting on an awesome project. I’ll be following along.