I'm really new to this form, but have spent a fair amount of time on ls1tech.com

On ls1tech, each department has stickies, but I noticed a lack of them here.

I was looking for the n00b guild to off-roading

A friend and I recently went out to the sanddunes and had a lot of fun climbing hills and plowing through some mud.

But I've noticed that our 2000 Tahoe is hardly a perfect off-road machine. *L*

I found myself high centered a few times on some pretty minor stumps and some not so deep ruts. stock lights don't cut the mustard for hunting dear in the headlight- I'm kidding! But they wern't as bright and didn't have a very large beam pattern.

Is there a section on this site that covers some of the basic must have parts like skid plates, fog lights, brush guards/bull bars ect...?
I'd check local, but aftermarket vehical parts here are as friggin pricey as the housing costs...

This is the g/f's daily driver so I can't go hog wilds with 49" meats and 16" lifts.

 

there isn't one yet but its a good idea.


a stock hoe isn't the best hard core off road ride to have. but something to help is larger tires and a small lift.it will help beef up the stock suspension because stock its kinda soft which is why it felt a little off centered. i would avoid going thru ruts if all possiable because it sits lower than most trucks and it will bottom out.

 

I'm not looking for a hard core unit by any meens, just somethings that I could get to help the truck out when it came to driving around this god foresaken city when they only plow the streets here 4 times over the winter, That and to have a little more fun going through some places along the trails that I wouldn't normally be able to go through

 

to start off....is your hoe 4x4? ive always thought that your nice new vehicle aughta get you all the way to the lease pulling a trailer where when you get to the lease you unload your 4 wheeler and do the dirty **** (unless your lease has all gravel roads). now days truck is made for the road...even a z71. 4x4 is good for pulling a boat from a wet loading ramp. companies have the rich yuppy to supply. if you want a dependable offroad machine get a 4x4 4 wheeler, a jeep wrangler, build a buggy...or an older 4x4 yota. a tahoe is far from a good offroad choice.

 

ok to start what kind of budget do you have to work with. thats going to depend on what the suggestions will be.

 

if your just hittin some mud holes on the weekend your tall hoe should be fine. the first thing is it 4wd, 2nd if so does it have the z71 package? if so you already have factory skid plates. what you need to look into is some sort of lift, even if just torsion keys and an aggresive tire. but for daily driver offroad is a bad idea! get a jeep

 

Sorry for the late reply, but I havn't been getting email notices about the replies made here till tonight...

The 'ho in question is a 2000 4x4, 5.3L 5 passenger. No Z71 package.

Tires were new as of late last november. 265/70/16 BFG All Terrain which seems to work pretty well and have TONS of tread left on them.
We've climbed a couple of sand dunes that two jeeps and a Pathfinder with lockers. One jeep was a stock YJ and the other was a lifted TJ with 33's.
They'd kcik our *** in the mud though...

There is a skid plate under the front.

Budget would have to be pretty low.
Thinking a few hundred a month.
I know its peanuts, but we have a house and two vehicals to pay for =\

I was talking to a guy at work who had a 2000 Chev 4x4 with 4" body lift and 33's. He said he has a lot of fun and can go through quite abit.
I don't think I'd want to go much taller than that. (its the g/f's DD )
Although he said without the taller tires, the body lift does nothing for clearance and I think that might be the one factor that's limiting us a fair amount.

I can do basic hand tool installs, but I don't have a garage to work in yet and not a whole lot of mechanical know-how when it comes to suspension and rear ends.

 

well you should be able to tighen the tbars and get a inch or so out of them for the front. I would look into getting a rear locker. that will help you out big time in the mud. and save what you can to get a lift and some bigger tires. If you went with a body lift i would not go more than 3".

 

A friend of mine pointed out that the tahoe has a bit of a rake to it and said I could tweek the front end to get a bit more clearance out of it.

Is something that hand tools and jackstands could tackle, or best left to a shop?
If its something I could manage... is there a write up or how-to guide for this?

 

If your looking to get the torsion bars cranked up go ask your local chevy dealer. That is what I did to my truck to begin with and it was enough to fit 285/75/16. The dealer only charged 100 dollars for the labor and alignment