Georgia Mountain Rough duty Tahoe. The struggle is real.

[OneofFew]

I recently bought an 01 Tahoe 4x4 to accommodate big dogs better and be able to tow a few k lbs in the mountains. The roads around here are pretty gnarly.
I have not found very many how-tos on this forum and I do ALL my own work, so I will be documenting as much as I can stand for the community. I am a trained mechanic albeit not practicing commercially in years.
I'm gonna use this thread as a bit of a diary in the life of a Tahoe in its element.

 

[OneofFew]

As usual I buy a vehicle past its prime with one foot in the junk yard. I must be nuts. My neighbors seem to think I am and they are suspicious that I am running a mechanic shop out of my residence.
The lucky patient has 237k miles, nothing looks new except the battery.
The PO said it needed brake work which turns out to be a rusted through brake line that supplies the rear axle. brake line ordered. Not looking forward to that fix.
Meanwhile I found the darn thing overheated. Upon investigating I found the green coolant diluted to a boil point of 218 and a missing thermostat. The fan clutch seems to be stuck in the partially engaged position, ordered. Replacing the coolant, replacing the thermostat seems to have fixed the overheating, however I wonder why it was so diluted in the 1st place. Considering the missing thermostat I can assume that it overheated badly and blew out coolant that was replaced with straight water. No evidence of a blow head gasket.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Welcome! Pictures. We need lots of pictures. Some of us don't read so good.

 

[OneofFew]

Thanks, will try for pics soon.
Oh, if an admin reads this, this thread could probably be moved to 'General'.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Thanks, will try for pics soon.
Oh, if an admin reads this, this thread could probably be moved to 'General'.

Should be in "under construction"

@07Burb

 

[swathdiver]

These engines are not made to run the green stuff anymore, dexcool only.

 

[07Burb]

Should be in "under construction"

@07Burb

done

 

[OneofFew]

I went ahead and put it in my 'shop' and jacked up the driver side so I could take a look at what I will be facing when the brake line comes in. It will not be fun to replace that brake line, but I did figure out how far it goes.... It turns out the ABS is mounted next to the fuel filter about midway up the frame, in front of the fuel tank. Hopefully I won't have to drop the tank to get the line in and out.

While I had the whole left side up, I checked the tie rods, ball joints and wheel bearing and found an alarming amount of play in the wheel bearing. I wasted no time adding a set of front hubs to the shopping list. I went ahead and pulled it out. The sway bar end links are shot, so I am getting a set of those and the front shocks.

Removing the hubs: With the wheel off- Remove the brake caliper with a torx bit, the caliper mount, remove cap on the hub with a chisel (you may have to start with a scraper), remove 36mm axle nut, remove axle bolts on the diff (15mm), remove lower shock mount bolt (you will need to jack up the lca to get tension off that bolt), remove axle off the diff end, then bump the axle through the hub with a hammer, use 15mm socket to remove 3 hub mounting bolts and strike the hub with a hammer to start seperating it off the hub assembly, using a chisel helps get the hub out.

 

[swathdiver]

Don't forget to replace the 36mm axle nuts. The Dorman is 35mm. I forget the torque for GMT800s.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

I went ahead and put it in my 'shop' and jacked up the driver side so I could take a look at what I will be facing when the brake line comes in. It will not be fun to replace that brake line, but I did figure out how far it goes.... It turns out the ABS is mounted next to the fuel filter about midway up the frame, in front of the fuel tank. Hopefully I won't have to drop the tank to get the line in and out.

While I had the whole left side up, I checked the tie rods, ball joints and wheel bearing and found an alarming amount of play in the wheel bearing. I wasted no time adding a set of front hubs to the shopping list. I went ahead and pulled it out. The sway bar end links are shot, so I am getting a set of those and the front shocks.

Removing the hubs: With the wheel off- Remove the brake caliper with a torx bit, the caliper mount, remove cap on the hub with a chisel (you may have to start with a scraper), remove 36mm axle nut, remove axle bolts on the diff (15mm), remove lower shock mount bolt (you will need to jack up the lca to get tension off that bolt), remove axle off the diff end, then bump the axle through the hub with a hammer, use 15mm socket to remove 3 hub mounting bolts and strike the hub with a hammer to start seperating it off the hub assembly, using a chisel helps get the hub out.

Highly recommended to use Timken hubs.

Don't forget to replace the 36mm axle nuts. The Dorman is 35mm. I forget the torque for GMT800s.

The gm is 35, the replacement dorman is 36. The torque I think is 130 or 140.