Poll

[B-train]

Agreed @Doubeleive . Just buy a nicely used Z-71 and be done with it. Your time as an electrician is worth MORE than what it will take to "save," preserve, and/or make it what you want. I know what good electricians make, and honestly just work some OT and buy a ticket to a rust free area and get a good starter. THEN work on doing pidly things with you brother the mechanic to whip it into shape.

Unless you are really young, full of vigor, and NEED a project, save yourself the headache and move on. GM made thousands of these things, just get a better one than you got and be done.

 

[MassHoe04]

Agree with the others... If the 2WD Tahoe is still a good driver, sell that and go ahead and sell or part out the 'Burb.

Time, money and headaches. If you and your brother are up for a lot of that, then go for it.

Go with your head and your gut. It is your decision, but this doesn't seem like it would be worth it in my opinion.

 

[Electrician]

Exactly why I posted that here. Cuz it's seemed like an intimidating project from the start to me. Yes, if it was another Tahoe and not a Suburban I'd be all for it no problem. Plus, honestly, since I've owned my Tahoe, there's only been 1 time in the mud, and 1 time on snow/icy roads that I wished I had 4x4 for a minute, but both times my 2wd was able to handle it (in conjuction with my professional driving skills of course

 

[Mudsport96]

I think one thing you could look into would be if yours has an open differential you could swap rearends if the other has the same gearing. That way you could gain a locking differential.
And i hope you find a good donor in the future, i just hate to see half projects get sold off or scrapped because it ended up being more difficult than expected. Ive seen that alot in other forums, and it is always sad.

 

[Electrician]

Well, I decided to let that dream go. I do already have a locking differential in my Tahoe that my brother and I got from another donor Suburban a little while back. That happened to be perfect timing too because when we took my stock rearend out and looked at my diff, the pin looked like it was ready to fire right out of the side of the case! I've seen pictures of when that happens and it's never pretty. I did manage to get the Z71 lower front bumper piece with the round fog lights as well. I really wanted the 2nd row captain style chairs out of it, but I missed the boat on that deal.

 

[S33k3r]

Well, I decided to let that dream go. I do already have a locking differential in my Tahoe that my brother and I got from another donor Suburban a little while back. That happened to be perfect timing too because when we took my stock rearend out and looked at my diff, the pin looked like it was ready to fire right out of the side of the case! I've seen pictures of when that happens and it's never pretty. I did manage to get the Z71 lower front bumper piece with the round fog lights as well. I really wanted the 2nd row captain style chairs out of it, but I missed the boat on that deal.

Where are you located?

 

[OR VietVet]

Sounds like the brother is doing most of the work anyway.....

 

[Mudsport96]

Sounds like the brother is doing most of the work anyway.....

Eh i do 80 percent of the work on my brothers vehicle. I don't really care, it is good time spent together even if he isn't helping too much since he isnt to mechanically inclined. Being almost 20 years older than him, i know eventually i wont be spending time with him.

 

[Electrician]

Im in the Austin area. Texas

 

[Rocket Man]

Darn I was hoping somebody would be crazy enough to try this. 4WD to 2WD is done all the time but 2WD to 4WD isn’t, for very good reasons as you found out. Kinda reminded me of the member who was doing a complete interior/ electrical system swap from a NBS into a NNBS or maybe it was reverse of that. Anyway he faded away after a few hundred hours of work on it.