Good afternoon, newer here to the forum. Been searching as of late about K5L fans, figured I'd introduce myself. Have a 2005 Z71 Tahoe 4WD with about 330k on the clock. Originally the truck was a North Carolina truck, before migrating up to Western New York in 2016. I am close to Buffalo and love some wings. Truck was bought by my father for my mother, she drove it until 2021 until upgrading into a 2018 Z71. I had a leased F-150 PowerBoost that sat at the dealer for the better part of a year. Ended up lemon-lawing it and bought this truck off of my parents. Have been daily driving it since early 2022.
For a NY truck, it still is pretty clean thanks to yearly undercoating of Fluid Film and Woolwax and consistent washing. It isn't no showpiece, but cleans up nice.
Long (VERY) long story short, sometime in 2018, the 5.3 was getting pretty tired and was down a few lifters -- about 230k on it at the time. I had a spare low mileage 4.8 (40k) that I swapped in for my mother. She drove it for years. When I bought this, I found the truck to just be downright gutless. 4.8 with 3.42. So early in 2023, I swapped in a 120k LQ4 with a small 205/217 cam, LS6 valve springs, BTR trunnion upgraded rockers and new pushrods. Factory intake manifold, airtube, airbox, manifolds, Y-pipe and cats. MBRP 3" cat-back exhaust. Running NGK ITR6G9 (90156), the factory plug for a 6.2 LSA. Basically a long life Laser Iridium TR6 if you will. Stock P59 tuned on HPTuners.
Wheels are currently wrapped in OE size 265/70/17 LT Duratrac RTs. I do like them a lot. The wheels are the OE 17" Z71 wheels sand blasted and powder coated in gloss black with gloss black center caps.
I've done countless wheel bearings, a suspension refresh with Mevotech TTX components, Bilstein shocks at every corner. Alternators, plugs, deleted the rear AC lines and rear heat lines (both leaked), added stainless steel coolant connectors... water pumps, etc. All the normal stuff we all encounter day in and day out.
Trans probably has 200k on it, I'd assume it was rebuilt at one point, factory front/rear diffs and transfer case. I am on a strict maintenance schedule keeping the front/rear diffs clean and serviced as well as the transfer case and transmission.
Love the truck and no car payment. Power with the 6.0 is great and when driving easy the MPG difference is actually better than the 4.8. The 4.8 you are into the gas too much to go anywhere. Two of my favorite parts of the truck has been (A) camping in the back of it with an air mattress -- easy, and (B) telling the Ford corporate when lemon lawing my truck "how can a wasted 20 year old GM truck be more reliable than a 70k new Ford F-150".
I really don't want a newer truck and would be hard to not replace it with another 800 or maybe a 900 when the time is needed. However, I hope to see 400k and beyond.
For a NY truck, it still is pretty clean thanks to yearly undercoating of Fluid Film and Woolwax and consistent washing. It isn't no showpiece, but cleans up nice.
Long (VERY) long story short, sometime in 2018, the 5.3 was getting pretty tired and was down a few lifters -- about 230k on it at the time. I had a spare low mileage 4.8 (40k) that I swapped in for my mother. She drove it for years. When I bought this, I found the truck to just be downright gutless. 4.8 with 3.42. So early in 2023, I swapped in a 120k LQ4 with a small 205/217 cam, LS6 valve springs, BTR trunnion upgraded rockers and new pushrods. Factory intake manifold, airtube, airbox, manifolds, Y-pipe and cats. MBRP 3" cat-back exhaust. Running NGK ITR6G9 (90156), the factory plug for a 6.2 LSA. Basically a long life Laser Iridium TR6 if you will. Stock P59 tuned on HPTuners.
Wheels are currently wrapped in OE size 265/70/17 LT Duratrac RTs. I do like them a lot. The wheels are the OE 17" Z71 wheels sand blasted and powder coated in gloss black with gloss black center caps.
I've done countless wheel bearings, a suspension refresh with Mevotech TTX components, Bilstein shocks at every corner. Alternators, plugs, deleted the rear AC lines and rear heat lines (both leaked), added stainless steel coolant connectors... water pumps, etc. All the normal stuff we all encounter day in and day out.
Trans probably has 200k on it, I'd assume it was rebuilt at one point, factory front/rear diffs and transfer case. I am on a strict maintenance schedule keeping the front/rear diffs clean and serviced as well as the transfer case and transmission.
Love the truck and no car payment. Power with the 6.0 is great and when driving easy the MPG difference is actually better than the 4.8. The 4.8 you are into the gas too much to go anywhere. Two of my favorite parts of the truck has been (A) camping in the back of it with an air mattress -- easy, and (B) telling the Ford corporate when lemon lawing my truck "how can a wasted 20 year old GM truck be more reliable than a 70k new Ford F-150".
I really don't want a newer truck and would be hard to not replace it with another 800 or maybe a 900 when the time is needed. However, I hope to see 400k and beyond.
