Georgia Mountain Rough duty Tahoe. The struggle is real.

[OneofFew]

I used a big set of c-clamp vise grips and it was easy.

I didn't want to risk warping the pulley or damaging the serp.belt. All my restored vehicles end up being reliable as hell and don't wanna risk damaging myself or something that could bite me later.

 

[OneofFew]

Very interested in your progress. There is one good youtube of how to get that brake line in there without dropping the tank.

I'm actually glad I pulled the tank because of the amount of rust I found around the tank mounts and frame, rear cross-member that I was able to remediate. I could have run a new line the non-stock route, but considering the back country gravel roads and mountains around here, I can't have a line vibrating around, chafing and getting hit by rocks.

 

[Rocket Man]

I didn't want to risk warping the pulley or damaging the serp.belt. All my restored vehicles end up being reliable as hell and don't wanna risk damaging myself or something that could bite me later.

It won't hurt anything, guys have been doing it that way forever. It just clamps it to the pulley, it can't hurt it. But I changed over to efans anyway, always hated clutch fans.

 

[Rocket Man]

Actually there's a thread here on the forum on removing the clutch fan. It really is easy.
https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/how-to-install-e-fans.9400/

 

[OneofFew]

Another rough day splitting my time working on my house and Tahoe. I quit my job 6 mos ago and I don't see when I would have time for a job I promised pics and I did take some, but it seems photobucket hates me and I hate it back. Will see about uploading pics to another host.

Anyway, Flaring steel lines is a pita and next time I will use easybend. But now it is done and the tank put back.In order to reach the fuel lines to disconnect them, I removed the LR wheel and noticed odd wear on the brake rotor, everything looks like shit, so it was hard to tell, but some dumbass had put the inside pad on the outside and vice versa. That made the pad sit crooked on the rotor. I fixed that side, maybe tomorrow I'll fix the other. Also today, I replaced front shocks, hubs, sway bar end links, bled the heck out of the brakes, lubed the joints and the brake components.
Meanwhile the test drive revealed the rear shocks are junk too, at least the RR... add them to the shopping list... the brakes worked well, I had an ABS light till I restarted the engine, parking brakes don't work, radio doesn't play but most importantly: The engine still overheats!!! ARGH Running around the area it was fine, even scaling this mountain it did well but it ran about 220 and climbed to 230 idling in my drive.
I am pretty sure the fan clutch that I replaced was bad, it was even squeaking, at least it didnt get as hot as last time... I scratched my head a bit... fresh coolant, new t-stat, new fan and it overheats sitting there idling...the new fan was kicking in intermittently with the A/C blasting. In my head I going back and forth between blaming the water pump and the radiator. More testing to come.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Another rough day splitting my time working on my house and Tahoe. I quit my job 6 mos ago and I don't see when I would have time for a job I promised pics and I did take some, but it seems photobucket hates me and I hate it back. Will see about uploading pics to another host.

Anyway, Flaring steel lines is a pita and next time I will use easybend. But now it is done and the tank put back.In order to reach the fuel lines to disconnect them, I removed the LR wheel and noticed odd wear on the brake rotor, everything looks like shit, so it was hard to tell, but some dumbass had put the inside pad on the outside and vice versa. That made the pad sit crooked on the rotor. I fixed that side, maybe tomorrow I'll fix the other. Also today, I replaced front shocks, hubs, sway bar end links, bled the heck out of the brakes, lubed the joints and the brake components.
Meanwhile the test drive revealed the rear shocks are junk too, at least the RR... add them to the shopping list... the brakes worked well, I had an ABS light till I restarted the engine, parking brakes don't work, radio doesn't play but most importantly: The engine still overheats!!! ARGH Running around the area it was fine, even scaling this mountain it did well but it ran about 220 and climbed to 230 idling in my drive.
I am pretty sure the fan clutch that I replaced was bad, it was even squeaking, at least it didnt get as hot as last time... I scratched my head a bit... fresh coolant, new t-stat, new fan and it overheats sitting there idling...the new fan was kicking in intermittently with the A/C blasting. In my head I going back and forth between blaming the water pump and the radiator. More testing to come.

TYF pro tip: click the "upload a file" button, and select your pic (s). The forum will host it for you!

 

[OneofFew]

Working on it HiHo. Im not good with things that have no gears. transferring photos from my phone yielded only unsupported media.

 

[OneofFew]

Sitting idling the coolant output flange read 225, input flange 205... This seems like a low spread to me and makes me think I need to replace the radiator. Water pump issues tend to be more evident I think, like a seal or bearing failure. I have seen corroded impellers, but usually there is evidence of rust in the cooling system.

 

[Rocket Man]

You have 237k miles on it and I'm assuming you're not sure of the water pump? I'd throw a new one before I did anything else, just as a maintenance item anyway. It's relatively inexpensive and easy to replace. That way at least you won't have to worry about it anytime in the future and it could be the problem. Sometimes the impellers just corrode or wear away and they're not that efficient. At least pull it and have a look, especially considering the coolant was funky and may have been replaced with straight water like you mentioned.

 

[OneofFew]

You have 237k miles on it and I'm assuming you're not sure of the water pump? I'd throw a new one before I did anything else, just as a maintenance item anyway. It's relatively inexpensive and easy to replace. That way at least you won't have to worry about it anytime in the future and it could be the problem. Sometimes the impellers just corrode or wear away and they're not that efficient. At least pull it and have a look, especially considering the coolant was funky and may have been replaced with straight water like you mentioned.

I absolutely agree with you on principle, it makes good sense.