My 99 Tahoe 4wd build..

Well I got a steal on a brand new set of 4.88 gears for my 9.5 for $85 today so I guess I'll find out if I like than with these 35's.. worse case if I decide it's too much gear I'll swap them out later. I ran the math and with the 35's and my 4l60e's 0.7:1 od gear it should turn around 2290-2450rpm @ 70mph so I think I can live with that

I finally was able to get back on my rear bumper, I got the frame mounts like i want them and burned them in, now I'm looking at the hitch reciver and I'm thinking hard about cutting off the end plates an tucking it up closer to tire carrier structure then machinig 2ea 1/4" thick flanged plate to tie the hitch and tire swing arm brace togetherthen start plating out the bumper

Finished up the hotwork on my 14 bolt today so tomorrow I can clean everything up amd start assembly. I was able to easily cut the swaybar brackets from the old 10 bolt and clean them up and burn them on the 14 bolt. I was shockes to see that I only had to cut off 2 tack on each to remove the brackets took like 5 minutes with the grinder and both brackets were off

I finally was Ble to get more materials to finish my back bumper build so I spent the evening working on ot and I think its turning out nicely. i also ordered everything I needed to build/install all of my recessed third row seat mounts and 200sf of thermal/acoustic insulation so I can insulate the entire interior of the truck before I install the 60/40 amd sliding center seats from the 98 suburban parts truck and new speakers, amd a pair of 8" subs in the back doors

Well after a wekend of having to work overtime for my engineering job and fighting with my shops air system then troubleshooting my plasma cutter that went down months ago I finally was able to make some progress on the back bumper, I got the hitch reciever mounting brackets cut flanged machined fitup and bolted on tomorrow I'm gonna get them burned in heres a pic of the old bracket and a couple pics of the new thicker brackets which also tucked the hitch almost 2" up into the back bumper. I also decided to use my bead roller to replicate my 69 Chevell SS dual hood scoopes 3" tall that'll use the factory Chevelle louvers to weld onto an extra hood that I have to make a functional cowl induction cold air system

Well I managed to get the new brackets welded 100% front and back side to the original reciever tubing and hit it with some cold galvanize so it wont flash rust then started machining the shackel mounts for the rear bumper after changing all 4 tie rods and doing a full lube job on my 05 z71 Avalanche the wife drives. I Also decided on a color change as well since I'm going to do the chevelle style hood scoops I decided to paint my Tahoe the same color as my 69 Chevelle street strip car.

Well I hitup a local u-pullit and pucked up a 99 Tahoe engine wiring harness and somenmisc dash pieces for $30 and 9 hrs later I have fixed all of the damaged wires and connectors, converted from CPI to multiport efi, converted from the black box pcm to the 0411 pcm, added tow haul activation wiring and electric fan activation wiring

Well I just scored the final big piece of my hd Tahoe puzzle... I scored a 95 4l80e 4wd trans what reverse stopped working in for $100 so I got a buddy lined up to buy the remaned 4l60e I have in it now and soon as he picks it up I'll be ordered an alto stage 5 heg overhaul kit, hd2 shift kit and a couple other internal improvements then in the mext couple weeks I should be able to get a converter fro. a local trans guy I deal with, the thing was filthy so I went ahead and pressure washed it, primed it with bonding primer then hit it with a couple coats of black epoxy, I almost always do that before I rebuild a trans because it cuts down on dirt and trash that can come.off the case and get into the trans.

Well I sold the remaned 4l60e that was out of my Tahoe to a buddy of mine and used that money plus a little more to buy an alto stage 3 overhaul kit that uses high energy carbon frictions, sonnax hd rear case bushing rolerizing kit, superior tv kit, trans star full bushing set, new borg warner wiring harness and full solenoid kit for the 4l80e, a 32 spline input shaft for my 246 transfer case and I'm going back to the guy I bought the core 4l80e from to buy the correct transfer case adapter. Me and my next to the oldest son got the 14 bolt all cleaned up and started assembly on it saturday to only find out the 4.88 gears were for an older 9.5 14 bolt so they wouldnt fit so we started reassembling tje 14 bolt with the 3.73 gears which puts the rpm ranhlge back around 2000rpms like it was stock so I can live with that till I can get another set of 4.88's for it. Also finished up the bulk of the wiring harness modifications last night all thats left now is to install in the truck and wire up the air suspension wiring and activation dual electric fans

Well while waiting on the trans parts to come I got one of my sons and one of my daughters out in front of the shop cleaning parts that need psinting while I worked bulding a custom 1/4" thick hd diff cover with an integrated mounting tabl got the control arm for the firestone manual level valve for my air bag helper spring installation.
I still have to dressup the welds shale the tab prime and paint it but Im happy with how its turning out so far.. I know the diff cover pic looks funny cause its upside down