Poll

[Electrician]

I have a 2002 Tahoe LT rwd. I'm about to aquire a 2002 Z71 Suburban that I plan to part out, but I'm going to take all the 4wd parts and make my Tahoe 4wd. I'm lucky my brother is genius mechanic! So my question is: how far would I need to go after giving my Tahoe all the Z71 4x4 parts, to be able to give it a Z71 badge? I already know the roof rack is a dead giveaway. I really want the beefier Z71 rack anyway and do plan to swap. I've already swapped my lower front bumper valance or w.e to the Z71 with round fog lights. I'm not a fan of badging cars or trucks with fake stuff (ex.: Turbo badge on a base model Civic when it's slow and no sounds of a turbo. Please...) but there has to be a point after swapping enough or all the correct parts to be ok, right? Please chime in with your thoughts.

 

[Scottydoggs]

4x4 swap involves a lot of parts swapping, wire harnesses ect ect. be easier to make the z71 run better with parts off your old truck that runs and drives.

 

[Mudsport96]

There are mounts on the 4x4 frame that the 2wd frame doesnt have. And im fairly sure it is a pretty in depth process to mount that stuff. It will probably be easier to get a 4x4 tahoe that is rotted out and move your body on to it.

And as for a true z71 i think it is just rear springs, front torsion bars, shocks and maybe the air box are different.
I dont count things like step bars and air dams. Because if you were to offroad it and rip one of those off, it doesnt become a base model because the air dam is gone.

 

[Doubeleive]

I have a 2002 Tahoe LT rwd. I'm about to aquire a 2002 Z71 Suburban that I plan to part out, but I'm going to take all the 4wd parts and make my Tahoe 4wd. I'm lucky my brother is genius mechanic! So my question is: how far would I need to go after giving my Tahoe all the Z71 4x4 parts, to be able to give it a Z71 badge? I already know the roof rack is a dead giveaway. I really want the beefier Z71 rack anyway and do plan to swap. I've already swapped my lower front bumper valance or w.e to the Z71 with round fog lights. I'm not a fan of badging cars or trucks with fake stuff (ex.: Turbo badge on a base model Civic when it's slow and no sounds of a turbo. Please...) but there has to be a point after swapping enough or all the correct parts to be ok, right? Please chime in with your thoughts.

I'm going to take all the 4wd parts and make my Tahoe 4wd
lol

 

[Mudsport96]

I'm going to take all the 4wd parts and make my Tahoe 4wd
lol

With the ifs it will be difficult. But it MAY be easier if he was doing a SAS.

 

[S33k3r]

The roof rack on the Suburban will not fit the Tahoe without modification.

 

[swathdiver]

Get a 4x4 Tahoe/Yukon frame man. The frames are very different between the two.

Lawrence LT Tolman is doing this now on his youtube channel.

 

[Electrician]

Yes, I realize the roof rack is longer. And the drive shaft won't work either. I didn't realize there is extra body mounts. I'm relying on my brother with this project. He's the mechanic so he's the one quarterbacking this. I'm an Electrician. I do what I know and try not to get in over my head

 

[Mudsport96]

Yes, I realize the roof rack is longer. And the drive shaft won't work either. I didn't realize there is extra body mounts. I'm relying on my brother with this project. He's the mechanic so he's the one quarterbacking this. I'm an Electrician. I do what I know and try not to get in over my head

Yeah it is pretty involved man. Like professional builders dont even do a 2wd to 4x4 swap. They get a 4x4 frame and swap good 2wd bodies onto the good frame.

 

[Doubeleive]

With the ifs it will be difficult. But it MAY be easier if he was doing a SAS.

way too much work, I guess if you are extremely bored and want to tear 2 vehicles a apart and have a lift and every tool you can imagine and a welder and knowledge of the electrical work needed, hey why not. If I wanted 4wd that bad though I would sell the 2wd and just go buy a 4wd, less money and time involved. I see them for sale almost every single day here, no rust. I could sell the wifes 2wd and turn right around and buy a 4wd for the same price and be done with it.
this is one of those things were you have to take a look at reality and go WTF was I thinking?
not saying it can't be done but holy cow no
if the z71 is so trashed that it's only parts then you probably do not want to use the transmission, which means you have to swap parts from the transmissions, then you have to mount the transfer case and front diff, this probably means swapping other parts as well in the front suspension, then you have to take out both wiring harness and unravel all that and figure out what needs to be moved over including all the inside harness for the 4wd switch and cluster or "maybe" swap the whole harness over if you are lucky and they are very similar trim level, then you can probably swap the computers and do a relearn to the vin, fluids, alignment, figure out the correct torsion bar settings otherwise it's going to handle terrible. probably missing a few things but still way too much work when you could just go buy one 4wd already

 

[B-train]

Agreed @Doubeleive . Just buy a nicely used Z-71 and be done with it. Your time as an electrician is worth MORE than what it will take to "save," preserve, and/or make it what you want. I know what good electricians make, and honestly just work some OT and buy a ticket to a rust free area and get a good starter. THEN work on doing pidly things with you brother the mechanic to whip it into shape.

Unless you are really young, full of vigor, and NEED a project, save yourself the headache and move on. GM made thousands of these things, just get a better one than you got and be done.

 

[MassHoe04]

Agree with the others... If the 2WD Tahoe is still a good driver, sell that and go ahead and sell or part out the 'Burb.

Time, money and headaches. If you and your brother are up for a lot of that, then go for it.

Go with your head and your gut. It is your decision, but this doesn't seem like it would be worth it in my opinion.

 

[Electrician]

Exactly why I posted that here. Cuz it's seemed like an intimidating project from the start to me. Yes, if it was another Tahoe and not a Suburban I'd be all for it no problem. Plus, honestly, since I've owned my Tahoe, there's only been 1 time in the mud, and 1 time on snow/icy roads that I wished I had 4x4 for a minute, but both times my 2wd was able to handle it (in conjuction with my professional driving skills of course

 

[Mudsport96]

I think one thing you could look into would be if yours has an open differential you could swap rearends if the other has the same gearing. That way you could gain a locking differential.
And i hope you find a good donor in the future, i just hate to see half projects get sold off or scrapped because it ended up being more difficult than expected. Ive seen that alot in other forums, and it is always sad.

 

[Electrician]

Well, I decided to let that dream go. I do already have a locking differential in my Tahoe that my brother and I got from another donor Suburban a little while back. That happened to be perfect timing too because when we took my stock rearend out and looked at my diff, the pin looked like it was ready to fire right out of the side of the case! I've seen pictures of when that happens and it's never pretty. I did manage to get the Z71 lower front bumper piece with the round fog lights as well. I really wanted the 2nd row captain style chairs out of it, but I missed the boat on that deal.

 

[S33k3r]

Well, I decided to let that dream go. I do already have a locking differential in my Tahoe that my brother and I got from another donor Suburban a little while back. That happened to be perfect timing too because when we took my stock rearend out and looked at my diff, the pin looked like it was ready to fire right out of the side of the case! I've seen pictures of when that happens and it's never pretty. I did manage to get the Z71 lower front bumper piece with the round fog lights as well. I really wanted the 2nd row captain style chairs out of it, but I missed the boat on that deal.

Where are you located?

 

[OR VietVet]

Sounds like the brother is doing most of the work anyway.....

 

[Mudsport96]

Sounds like the brother is doing most of the work anyway.....

Eh i do 80 percent of the work on my brothers vehicle. I don't really care, it is good time spent together even if he isn't helping too much since he isnt to mechanically inclined. Being almost 20 years older than him, i know eventually i wont be spending time with him.

 

[Electrician]

Im in the Austin area. Texas

 

[Rocket Man]

Darn I was hoping somebody would be crazy enough to try this. 4WD to 2WD is done all the time but 2WD to 4WD isn’t, for very good reasons as you found out. Kinda reminded me of the member who was doing a complete interior/ electrical system swap from a NBS into a NNBS or maybe it was reverse of that. Anyway he faded away after a few hundred hours of work on it.