Rearend upgrade

[Stage2Tahoe]

I am building an 03 Tahoe 4wd and It is going to be a family/hauling vehicle. I would really like to upgrade it to 8 lug, but I don’t see a way possible for the front hubs so I am at least going to upgrade the rear axle to a bigger 6lug 12/14 bolt. Is there a factory rearend that will bolt in?

 

[drdave81]

I think any of the bigger stuff was all leaf spring, where the tahoe is coil spring. Nothing is going to be bolt in. Sounds like you may just want to start with a bigger platform, like a 2500 Suburban or something.
How much are you planning to tow?

 

[strutaeng]

RPO "AXN" will bolt up and it's the larger 14 bolt 9.5" SF axle 6 lug found in select GMT 800s. I believe the same axle in the GMT900s is identical (?) They tend to get expensive though on the used market, at least on the truck option because everyone wants one.

I want to say the newer 12 bolt (9.5/9.76") may also swap in from the K2XX SUV? I'm not 100% on this one honestly.

 

[Trey Hardy]

I am building an 03 Tahoe 4wd and It is going to be a family/hauling vehicle. I would really like to upgrade it to 8 lug, but I don’t see a way possible for the front hubs so I am at least going to upgrade the rear axle to a bigger 6lug 12/14 bolt. Is there a factory rearend that will bolt in?

I’d look for a 07-14 Denali/escalade with the 14 bolt in it as they were 6 lug vehicles they can be hard to find sometimes in the junk yard though
That’s probably going to be about your only bolt in option so to say without major modifications