'99 Tahoe - Expedition Build!

[foreverfalcon40]

Looks awesome! GOOD LUCK!

Just an FYI on the Sears Platinum Battery...you they make automotive Platinum group size 34/78 which translates into Side and Top post. What are you running as your main battery?

Tie Rods and Torsion bars are beefy! Wonder if they will fair well on lowered trucks? Dropped suspensions and bigger rim and tire combo is adding alot of stress on the suspension components. Only imagine the extra weight of 6.0 and 80e won't help!

 

[sparg93]

Looks awesome! GOOD LUCK!

Just an FYI on the Sears Platinum Battery...you they make automotive Platinum group size 34/78 which translates into Side and Top post. What are you running as your main battery?

Tie Rods and Torsion bars are beefy! Wonder if they will fair well on lowered trucks? Dropped suspensions and bigger rim and tire combo is adding alot of stress on the suspension components. Only imagine the extra weight of 6.0 and 80e won't help!

I'm running an Interstate dual terminal for the main battery...bought it about a year ago, so i decided to stick with it as I've had great luck with their batteries...i went AGM with my aux batteries bc they can be discharged fairly low w/o issues.

Tie rods, definitely purchase...one of my best mods....bigger tbars, time will tell if it was worth the big price tag.

 

[01HDtahoeNJN]

Awesome thread great work :handshake:

 

[sparg93]

Awesome thread great work :handshake:

Thanks 01!

 

[sparg93]

i should have pics tomorrow...but today we wired in our isolator (pretty sweet little gadget from Blue Sea) and I mounted all the mounts for my Defender Roof Rack,

Any FYI on the $150 mounts for the Defender - throw away that rubbed crap they include that is supposed to stop any potential leaks and rent a Rivet Gun. Luckily I had a heavy duty in the garage and riveted 1/2" with 3/8" threaded holes in there,

I had to drill out the mounts Off Road Unlimited sent to fit the larger 3/8" bolts i had, but i feel MUCH better knowing the roof rack isn't going to fly off the roof. To keep it from leaking, I simply used a gratuitous amount of silicone.

Tomorrow morning I head to Liquid Iron fab in NJ for them to make me custom mounts for ARB bumper. Tim owns the place and is personally showing up early to fit me in last minute - can't beat that kind of service for a highly regarded fab shop!

 

[tt3886]

New to the Forum.

My first full thread that I read through.

Very nice buildup.

You've made me re-think a few of the ideas I am currently working on.

Soon as I get this picture upload thing figured out, I'll get my profile picture updated of my work in progress.


tks

 

[sparg93]

New to the Forum.

My first full thread that I read through.

Very nice buildup.

You've made me re-think a few of the ideas I am currently working on.

Soon as I get this picture upload thing figured out, I'll get my profile picture updated of my work in progress.


tks

Welcome to the forum!! Thank you for the compliment...lots of nice and knowledgeable folks on here, always feel free to ask away.

 

[ChrisAU]

Loving the build!

 

[sparg93]

Loving the build!

Thanks Chris!

Some toys came in this week! I called up Viking Offroad a few weeks ago and was lucky enough to grab the owner. I had lots of questions b/c I was still pretty weak on my recovery gear and wasn't sure what to go with. We had a long discussion for the type of rig I had and what I planned on doing with it, my budget and then he put together a sick package for me based on his recommendation.

I had always heard of Viking Offroad's infamous quality and their synthetic cable being the best in the industry...but I was seriously blown away by everything when it came in - it's all top notch. I know a few guys that have run their cable for years and swear by it. Once i use this stuff in the field, I'll def post up some videos.

I went with their 3/8" synthetic line w/thimble (17k lb capacity), 3/8" synthetic extension, 3/4" Van Beast Shackles, Trasharoo, synthetic repair kit and some other odds and ends.

With all of us running IFS (Independent Front Suspensions), one of the big pushes for me upgrading to synthetic winch line was the 30lb savings on my front end; not to mention this stuff is much safer then steel cable.

 

[sparg93]

Some really good news and updates!

We left NJ @ 4am on the 15th and drove like mad to reach Flagstaff AZ by the 17th...and we made it. We first camped out in St Louis, then in New Mexico. The first leg was really long...we stopped around 2:30am local time as neither of us were in any condition to drive further.

Even though we hauled across many states, the scenery was amazing and the trip was a lot of fun.

Check out our webpage - www.facebook.com/O3Exp - feel free to comment and post away...lots of pics on the site.

I was at about 3k miles on my synthetic oil when I left NJ so I knew I needed an oil change along the way. After sleeping in New Mexico, the gentleman running the KOA site pointed me towards a small town on old Rt 66 that had two auto shops. I went to the first and they did not have full synthetic oil, went to the second, same story. So, I found a Napa store, bought the oil and filter I wanted and drove back to the second shop...and for $15, he changed my oil. Really friendly guys and they let me borrow a wrench to tighten a leaky valve on one of my calipers and even did a quick one over on the truck for me...this town was almost exactly like the movie Cars...very cool experience.



On the road right outside Oklahoma - over the next few days, you WILL see more equipment on this rig. We ran out of time and bought a few boxes of parts with us.

Our first destination was the Overland Expo in Flagstaff. We were a Feature Vehicle there and the ONLY chevy in the group...let alone a Tahoe. The reception to our build was pretty amazing and three guys from other Chevy forums stopped by to check us out!

For anyone thinking of building an Expedition ("Overland") style rig, I highly recommend going to the expo next year.

Enough of my rambling, here are some pics from the Expo

This thing was a monster...it's seriously hard to consider how big this is until you're next to it....but think $500k+ w/bullet proof windows



The actual Land Rover Camel Trophy team truck...they flew the team members and x2 of their rigs to the event


Another GlobalX truck - met the founder, nice guy


The world renowned Turtle Expedition team - very nice couple








I have hundreds of more pics & videos I'm hoping to post soon!