Just Fishing's 09 Tahoe Build thread

[iamdub]

Time to do my suspension.
Yesterday I slapped on new rear shocks, I kept the PN from some research i did a while back.
Plan is to keep the "premium ride", so I sourced the OEM components.
Rear shocks are easy, and I had some help finding/confirming the correct PN for the front struts.

Codes I have,
PREMIUM SMOOTH RIDE CHAS PKG(ZW7)
6PB COMPONENT FRT LH COMPTR SEL SUSP(6PB)
7PB COMPONENT FRT RH COMPTR SEL SUSP(7PB)


Rear shocks resolve to: 25871225 aka 540-433

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001KSA28Q

$69 each (went up by $1 )

Front Struts
20765171 aka 540-460

ACDelco GM Original Equipment 540-460 Shock Absorber | eBay

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Price went up since I ordered them, I paid $86 each

@S1W99

 

[Just Fishing]

Got one side done last night.

I started by pulling the brakes apart to get more space, plus i know the spindle needs to drop out of the way.

Top ball joint popped really quickly.

Bottom joint, my fork got stuck.
So I used my old air hammer and one of the bits to slap on the side of the spindle a little.

Then i noticed i could easily slap the bottom of the ball joint shaft.

And that did the trick.

From there, i pulled the drive shaft for room to press the ball joint out.

I used the air hammer and one of the bits that came with my old air hammer, meant to remove tile etc.

Used that to remove the top plate/holder from the ball joint.
Knowing the ball joint needs to be pressed down.

Then the same thing on the bottom seal to make room for the press support tube.

Then after fiddling around with my astro press i had something that would work.

Heated tue control arm up a bit with my mapp gas plumbers torch, then out with the impact to remove it.


Removal, i needed my big air cat nitro impact!

It needed some pressure.

Once out the fun of trying to figure out what attachments i need to reinstall.

Some youtube needed for both removal and reinstall.

One i had the attachments figured out, i heated the control arm up after cleaning the control arm up so it installs cleanly.

Again, a bit of pressure was needed to install the ball joint, but i didn't need the max setting on the big impact.

 

[Just Fishing]

For upper control arm,

I started by cleaning up the alignment parts, then using a nice paint marker i marked where the alignment was.

And marked each adjuster as 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
Just incase things got confusing

Size was 21mm.

The front control arm bolt did not want to budge.

Lots of cleaning and wd40, and finally i was able to get it out by squeezing my compact impact in between the control arm bolts.

Back and forth, until the bolt started coming out.


Then i caused a problem.

In the frame there are these little pins that the alignment plates use..

Well one decided to come out.

Looking at the pin, i assume its pressed in.

And i was able to seat it using a punch.
But it kept falling out on me.

I got it to stay there, and used some black rtv to hold it...

I think there should be a clip on the pin to help retain it, but i can't find anything in the pile of ball joint scraps it probably fell into.

I'll do some searching to see if i can find the missing piece/replacement.

But the alignment place that i use shouldn't have any issues fixing it.

These guys know their shit, and they are the only shop that i trust 100%.


Anyways, the upper is installed, bolted in, and the alignment marks are pretty much right where they were.

I reinstalled the bolt and the plate coated in some brake caliper grease to prevent future corrosion.

 

[Just Fishing]

With this, i also replaced the strut.

This was the driver side, and the one that had a clear ball joint failure/slop.

The hoe also had a driver side lean.


I was planning to use a 2in leveling lift, the type that mounts to the top of the strut.

While preparing to cut off the top of the strut retaining bolts to clearance the frame after the lift spacer is installed.

I noticed something...

The top of the strut has a bevel to it.
And the frame has a matching bevel.

Almost like the frame is meant to support the top of the strut and to center it in the frame.

The lifting spacer does not have any such provisions.

So I'm not going to use that spacer.

I'm going with the one that sits on the bottom of the strut instead.


Nice part is i can drive the hoe a little until next weekend when I'm planning to do the other side.

On all 4 wheels, the lean is gone.

And I didn't do the springs...

Looking at the factory service manual, you just need to pop the tire rod from the spindle, and from there the strut can be removed straight down.

Originally i was planning to do the springs because of the lean.

So it's good to know, ball joints will affect how the hoe sits.


And both upper snd lower ball joints look original.
Gm part numbers and all.

Boots were good, but both of the non greaseable ball joints were toast.

 

[Just Fishing]

Engine break-in is still going very well, as is the transmission break-in.

I already removed transmission cooler line filter and cut it open to see whats inside.
Looks like things seating, and nothing odd yet.
I'll probably drop the pan this weekend if I have the motivation after doing the passenger sides ball joints and strut.

Otherwise, I need to remove another 5 thousands from my rocker shims/add more preload.
I also would love to dump those lifters.
I hate them.

Extra oiling feature sucks ass.
and the preload requirements are confusing.

but I'm not wanting to touch anything again until next winter if I can wait.
+ I would need to source another head gasket.
I hear I can reuse my head gasket, but I'm not about to mess around with it.


brings me to this thing.

Chevrolet Performance 12599296 Chevrolet Performance Engine Valley Covers | Summit Racing

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Breather for the valley cover!
Seems deliberate to pick up air from the center and not pick up oil from the camshaft slinging it around.
It might help, assuming the lifters are just pumping and spraying the top of the valve covers with oil.

 

[Just Fishing]

Better view of it.

 

[iamdub]

brings me to this thing.

Chevrolet Performance 12599296 Chevrolet Performance Engine Valley Covers | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Chevrolet Performance Engine Valley Covers with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Lifter Valley Plates at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

View attachment 373100

Breather for the valley cover!
Seems deliberate to pick up air from the center and not pick up oil from the camshaft slinging it around.
It might help, assuming the lifters are just pumping and spraying the top of the valve covers with oil.

Git it. Git it now.

 

[swathdiver]

Then i caused a problem.

In the frame there are these little pins that the alignment plates use..

Well one decided to come out.

Looking at the pin, i assume its pressed in.

And i was able to seat it using a punch.
But it kept falling out on me.

You shoulda stopped by and grabbed some from my garage! I bought a bunch in case we needed them.

 

[Just Fishing]

So far everything is going decently well, I'm at about 900 miles since i started keeping track.
so, it's really close to 1,000 on the new engine and rebuilt transmission.

I'm still seeing a little material in the filter, so I'm keeping an eye on it.
I think I kept this last oil a bit longer than I should have, opting to change filters instead.

I'm using VR1 and it's not cheap...

I suspect much of the material I'm seeing is because I honed the cylinders lower than I should have, meaning the skirt is probably being "polished"...
I also ran a half can of seafoam in the oil before this oil change.

Did some driving and some engine deceleration to help suck that oil up the cylinder walls to help flush it out.

I read that it's a good idea to help get the crud out during and after engine break-in.



I also had two catch cans running, one for the inlet side and the outlet side.
both cans sitting right next to each other on the driver side.

I wanted to confirm that oil was not coming in through the throttle body.
And so far it looks great.

So last night I changed the catch can setup around.
Since I'm still getting a bit of oil through the driver side valve cover, I connected the two catch cans inline to be sure oil isn't making it past the catch can.

the intake side catch can, I set it up so it was pretty much even on both sides, so flipping the inlet and outlet shouldn't make much of a difference.
This works for my needs right now, so I'll continue to monitor.


When i had my engine apart, I noticed signs that a little trash made it to the rear cam bearing.
It wasn't Terrible but I could have probably caught my nail on it
the rest of the bearing looked great, and still silver in color so I opted to just run with it.

Me now thinking I should have just replaced the cam bearings.
but it will be the second place I look after the piston skirts if I keep seeing material.

Anyways, I keep going on.
So far it's going great.
and the transmission hasn't given me any headaches yet.
(*knocks on wood*)

I also love the new height with the 2in lift in the front.
I can actually get my fat ass under the tahoe, and I didn't need to jack it up to change the oil and filter.
I'll get some pictures of the new height soon.

Planning to do some driving this weekend.

 

[Just Fishing]

And i received my lumbar support gears about a week ago.
I haven't yet dug into the seat to start the replacement, but I plan on doing that soon.
But probably not this weekend.

I was sort of hoping they would send a new "Ring" or outer gear with the kit since mine has a split in it.
but no such luck.
I think I'll glue it and toss it in the passenger side when I get around to it.