2001 Z71 Tahoe Restoration Project

[Matthew Jeschke]

I've been rebuilding a Z71 for a little over a year now. Everybody has been very helpful on this forum. I thought maybe I'd make a post to show progress and answer questions people may have on the forum. Here's a link to my progress checklist:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z6_Z_Qp6894l2SQfoOI5LbV4qTkhpVHWafIYMIH4ieE/edit?usp=sharing

I'd wanted a truck in better shape but sprang for this one as my girlfriend's kid really liked it. I purchased the truck with around 225,000 hard miles on it. It was the last owner's off road toy.

EVERYTHING rattled. However, I've got most of those issues fixed, amazingly. Had lots of issues with driver side door, dash was beat up, and couple chassis things (like new shocks & new rear end lol).

My checklist is missing a great deal of things that I've already done. However, you can see pictures of some of those things here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12se7iVcdgFgoaJdHDH04SAmVNoPeVxJk?usp=sharing

I'd kind of hoped to launch a Youtube channel showing all this stuff being rebuilt. However, work and life have had me more than busy enough.

Enjoy

PS. Partly I need to get organised because I always go to the junkyard and forget to buy half the parts I needed lol Hopefully I'll need fewer and fewer trips for parts.

Below you can see, an image of the truck right after I bought it. I immediately stripped the interior including rugs and cleaned them with a garden hose and lots of detergent. The dash was dismantled as cover was absolutely destroyed, and driver door was removed. I rebuilt all the hinges, and many of the internal pieces. That door was a mess still has issues (window frame is bent in slightly yet).

Lastly, a bit of levity. My first off road trek resulted in that shock falling off. The guy I bought it from put a leveling kit on. However, he never spec'ed shocks appropriately. They were too short. A few good bumps and the shock ripped out of the upper mount. Good excuse to install Bilstein 5100's

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

Another fun note, I rebuilt the front axle tube. It was all out of tolerance and really loose. I replaced the clutch bearing, output shaft bearing, sub shaft bearing, and shimmed it correctly.

The axle housing was the victim of somebody changing outer seal (possibly bearing too) without taking the axle tube off. You can see where they scarred the shim trying to put the axle shaft back into the assembly w/o removing the axle tube.

Quick tip: bread crumbs work like crap to remove the clutch bearing. I melted a wax candle into the bearing on the stub shaft. Then I put the axle shaft into the bearing like it's intended to go. Then I hit with a mallet (not a metal hammer). The clutch bearing came right out

 

[newburghyukon]

Holy Moley!! You are practically rebuilding the whole truck! Way to go.

Can't wait to see what you do with it.

 

[Fosscore]

Nice work. Keep us posted on the progress.

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

Holy Moley!! You are practically rebuilding the whole truck! Way to go.

Can't wait to see what you do with it.

Yeah, I probably should have bought one that was bit less of a basket case lol. I wanted a Z71 for sure, but there were virtually none of rsale. Now there are lots for sale with few miles and for less than I paid :| FYI ~ I got the truck for $3500. Probably have another $1000 into it now. It's mechanically solid as a rock but well lots of nickel and dime fixes, things that annoy me more than anything.

 

[Erickk120]

That is pretty much what I've been doing with mine, I've put around 3-4k into it total. That is including a lot of tools I've bought over the years. Lots of little things add up over time, but at least I have a lot of specialty tools that I wont need to pay for again, and I get to re use them, so its worth it to me. Only about half of that has gone to the truck, but it looks miles better than when I bought it, will post it some time. I've kept it 100% stock but I might level the front, I gathered it was used as an off road truck since when I removed the flares there was a ton of sand caked inside them and they were pretty scratched up.

For the rear end I would just keep the open one and buy a used g80 thats in good shape and slap it in there, you will only need to check for backlash and call it good.

for the bushings I haven't look into the specific part numbers but my hands and soul hurt thinking how much those thing suck to change, I did both upper controls and that made me hate the truck that day. So I can see you will have a lot of fun with those.

Touching the ABS wont be fun either, looks like a pain to get in and out.

The plastic trim you mean the flares and all that good riveted stuff? They do help take scratched that otherwise your fender wouldn't like, I have mine but they are pretty scratched up so I stored them to maybe repaint them in the future.

If you put a bend seat that would be a good read. I wondered what these would look like with one.

You weren't kidding when you said it was a project, you are changing a lot! of stuff. Is that plasti dip? I'm not sure if you said it was before but it looks like it.

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

The guy I bought it from plasti dipped it. It's a MESS. I like the idea in concept but in practice stinks. It is impossible to wash and he got it all over the plastic trim pieces, mirrors, glass etc. The plasti dip is almost impossible to get off plastic pieces too. I tried removing it with goo gone but risks damaging the plastic part (is okay on metal and glass).

I think if I had choice I'd paint with a much thicker or scratch resistant paint. Possibly a very thick clear coat so can be buffed more often. I have plans when I get time to redo the bottom section of the body with a rubberized truck bead liner and give it a two tone look. I've done that on cars before and it WORKS and looks AWESOME.

I found a newer truck at salvage yard with the rear end and all intact. I may rip that off along with all the control arms. Hopefully they are still good. Then slowly rebuild my G80 and put it in there.

And or I had another idea to possibly soften / restore the old bushings. I'd removed the rear control arms once already and painted on a coat of AT 205 reseal. It didn't quite do the trick. I may remove one, and this time apply heat to the AT 205 and let the bushing soak in it.Not sure if that will make a difference or not but I've seen people do that online with various other plastic and rubber bits.

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

I'm working on fixing the paint right now. Here's my post for plasti dip removal:

https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/plastidip-from-hell-removal.110916/

Curious have any of you seen a black truck like mine with bottom panel painted in rubberized truck bed paint? I'm curious what it would look like if I did that

 

[Da90]

Great progress! I’ve rebuilt a few like that myself. Look forward to more progress pics!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[zraffz]

I'm working on fixing the paint right now. Here's my post for plasti dip removal:

https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/plastidip-from-hell-removal.110916/

Curious have any of you seen a black truck like mine with bottom panel painted in rubberized truck bed paint? I'm curious what it would look like if I did that

I am going to paint the lower body line of my black Z71 in Raptor Liner (hard coated bed liner) and add 10% factory paint to color match it once I replace the rockets in the summer.

I have issues with undercoating staying tacky so I assume rubberized bed liner would yield similar results.