Lipstick on a Pig - New Member Introduction

[Alex_M]

Hi all! I'm new here, figured I'd introduce myself and my Tahoe.

I bought this truck almost a year ago for $600 flipped on its side. Had 279k miles on it at the time. I immediately put tires and stainless brake lines on it, and built a pretty solid transmission for it. Low stall torque converter with a diesel cut stator. Raybestos high energy clutch kit, hardened shell, wide band, accumulator block off, pwm block off, shift kit, Corvette servo, etc.

I daily drove it and towed a bunch with it for most of the last year in all kinds of weather. Even hauled a couple 3/4 ton trucks behind it.

I've owned 6 LS powered vehicles, currently own 4, and this 5.3 at 290k miles is the best running of the lot. Idles with 40psi oil pressure, 65psi driving down the interstate. Smooth running, starts easy. Flawless.

I put 11k hard miles on it since I've had it on the road and the thing is holding up. Only real issue is rust. I've patched one spot on the frame, put a new muffler on it, and fabricated a replacement panhard bar for the rear end when the old one rusted in two right around one of the bushings.

After all that, I figured it deserved a little love. She's still no beauty queen, but I put a quick and dirty paint job on it with some implement paint. At least she's all one color! I'll throw some pictures below.

At this point, the IFS is wearing out in a lot of places, and I've had an axle bearing in the rear end making noise since I got the truck. I have a replacement 3.73 10 bolt out of a suburban to throw under it. With G80 locker, upgrade! My plans for the front are to build a Dana 44 and SAS it. Parallel 4 Link and coil springs in the front, 3 bellow air bags in the rear. I've lined up a Chevy front end to scavenge the outers off of. I'm going to buy 3.73s and a spool. Right now I'm on the hunt for a Ford D44 housing, but if I can't find one i've got a couple Dodge housings I can cut the tubes off and flip them side to side to get the drivers side drop.

This is still primarily a family hauler, but it'll see some trail use as well. I've really grown to love this thing and it'll be around a long time if I've got anything to say about it.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Welcome to the Forum from NH.

Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.

I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.

It is clear that you've really grown to love that truck, and I applaud your efforts to keep it running.

 

[Alex_M]

Thanks!

I'm moderately active on a couple other forums (LandRoverForums.com, RamChargerCentral.com... more so LRF) under the same name. Always glad to find a new forum with a good community.

I love this model Chevy in general. I've had 5 of them, have three currently. I also have an '02 2500HD Silverado that is my work truck, and I barely count the 2000s Suburban, but that thing is thrashed and is a non-runner. LS swap donor into a Land Rover Discovery, eventually. The prior trucks were a 2000 Silverado 1500 which lived a HARD 185k miles with my in laws as a log truck/farm truck. The last few months of it's life my father-in-law was pulling 25k lb log trailers behind it until the 4l60 let the smoke out. The other was a super clean '04 Tahoe Z71 which we unfortunately had to part with due to me being out of a job for a while.

Out of the lot, this little trooper has become my favorite.

 

[svrh89]

sweet rig, impressive you got so much value out of it for 600 bucks and a tranny. the paint looks like quite the upgrade lol. I would love to do a solid axle swap but just not in the cards for what mine needs to be right now. looking forward to seeing what you do.