When Ricky Rygaard from Texas City, Texas, had the urge to make his '07 Tahoe truly unique he knew where to go, and it wasn't far. Ekstensive Metalworks, in Houston, has a reputation for going the extra mile to make the impossible a reality. We don't know exactly what owner Bill Carlton said when Ricky asked him if it was possible to lay the Tahoe on its frame while tucking 28s, but we can bet that Bill didn't flinch.It takes just a bit more effort to lay an SUV out on huge wheels than it does on a truck. By "a bit more", we mean you've got to not only notch the frame and shorten the rear axle like on a truck, but you've also got to worry about the rear wheeltubs and where they meet the rear doors. For Ekstensive, that meant new inner wheeltubs under the hood and a whole lot of metal massaging to get the rear doorsills to look like they left the factory with monstrous tubs.
For the front suspension, Bill and his crew shortened the factory lower control arms and moved the mounts for the upper arms higher on the factory frame. A custom two-link was fabricated for the rear, along with a track bar before Slam Specialties 'bags were installed at every corner. A fuel cell replaced the factory tank and the work under the Tahoe was nearly done. Besides the new wheeltubs, painted engine plastics liven up the formerly flat black pieces, and a K&N filter, underdrive pulleys, and a Flowmaster exhaust boost the power on the 5.3L V-8. When the welders cooled and the guys could step back and look at what they’d created, they weren't a bit surprised at how good the Tahoe looked nestled down over a set of 28x10-inch Asanti 143 wheels wrapped in ultra low-pro Pirelli 295/25R28 tires.
Even without the unique stance, the Tahoe would have looked awesome with Chris Gilbert's amazing candy red paint job. The color looks deep and pops off the Tahoe's sheetmetal and interior. For simplicity's sake, the door handles were left in place, but the roof rack was shaved and the rear bumper cover was smoothed to cover the factory hitch.