2004 Yukon XL 2500 LBZ

[BIGR]

We’ll be mostly staying west just south of Nashville near Franklin. But may venture out over to the East side for a day or two. Planning a pretty straight route out there along I-40. But on the way back we might mix it up a bit and check out a different route.

Good deal, I hope you have a great trip. If I closer to Franklin, I would meet you one day and buy your lunch, but I'm probably 4.5 hours from there. Plus your on vacation, I know you want to do your own thing according to plans.

Anyway, I'll stop disrupting you so that you can get back to work on the Yukon, getting her ready for the trip. Hope it does well for you with no issues of any kind.

 

[BigDogYJ]

If your in the area let me know. I’m down to meet up. I’ll let you know if/when we’re headed East and see if something works out. We’ve only got a few days planned out. Otherwise we’re pretty laid back.

 

[BigDogYJ]

So we made it out to TN. Weather was perfect, clear, dry, 45F-65F and had a tail wind most of the way. 19.9MPG hand calculated at 75-80MPH. Can't complain about that.

 

[BigDogYJ]

After a couple weeks out in TN we made it back yesterday. Hit a bit of snow through Flagstaff and Williams, AZ but didn’t slow us down too much.

5,533 miles total avg 19.1mpg overall including some in town driving and airport runs to pickup and drop off other family. Truck did amazing except for one minor issue. The rear hatch lock mechanism doesn’t like to unlock when it drops below 30F. Pulled panel and tried some silicone lubricant but no luck. Ordered a new part I’ll replace it this weekend.

With family having to deal with cancelled flights and complete chaos over the holidays I’m so glad we drove and love this truck more each day. Hauled out holiday gifts for family, as well as picked up my sister in law in Albuquerque on our way out. Popped up the 3rd row when we got there and turned it into a full 8 person people mover for the two weeks we were there. Also helped move a couch for inlaws neighbor while it was raining. Kept it dry in the back of the burb with the hatch closed. Gotta love its versatility.

 

[BIGR]

After a couple weeks out in TN we made it back yesterday. Hit a bit of snow through Flagstaff and Williams, AZ but didn’t slow us down too much.

5,533 miles total avg 19.1mpg overall including some in town driving and airport runs to pickup and drop off other family. Truck did amazing except for one minor issue. The rear hatch lock mechanism doesn’t like to unlock when it drops below 30F. Pulled panel and tried some silicone lubricant but no luck. Ordered a new part I’ll replace it this weekend.

With family having to deal with cancelled flights and complete chaos over the holidays I’m so glad we drove and love this truck more each day. Hauled out holiday gifts for family, as well as picked up my sister in law in Albuquerque on our way out. Popped up the 3rd row when we got there and turned it into a full 8 person people mover for the two weeks we were there. Also helped move a couch for inlaws neighbor while it was raining. Kept it dry in the back of the burb with the hatch closed. Gotta love its versatility.

Wow, sounds like a busy, but great trip you had. Did you ever make it to Pigeon Forge or that area? I'd like to of met up with you, but sounds like you were on the go constantly. Not real sure if I could have broke free to meet you, I was pretty busy house sitting and keeping things going during the nasty weathet we had. Anyway maybe next time your back over this way.

As far as your fuel mileage that's pretty good for a vehicle of that size and weight. When I came back across I-40 in my 2006, 2500HD, in 2006 the best I could muster running around 70 mph was about 19.8 MPG. On that trip my truck was probably weighing 8000 pounds plus with all the luggage, camping supplies and tools for any emergency. I really dont know of many 6 or 8 banger, 4x4 trucks that could have done much better than that. I'm sure there are a few out there, but what size vehicle are they? I can about match or beat the fuel mileage of a 4x4, V6, Toyota Tacoma about any day of the week as far as highway mileage, running interstate speeds. Now the SUV's are a different story, they have me beat, I would say for sure.

Anyway, I'm glad your trip was successful without any major incidents or malfunctions.

 

[MrMarty51]

That to me sounds like an absolutely fun time.
Especially getting those numbers on fuel mileage.

 

[BigDogYJ]

Never made it out to Pigeon Forge. Next time though.
Yeah I was thrilled with the whole trip and everything ran great. Gonna tackle the rear hatch lock actuator this weekend. Ironically it hasn't skipped a beat since we got home -- just doesn't like the cold haha.

Will be giving the truck and trailer a once over here in the next month or two, change oil again and get it ready for a trip out to Moab in April towing the Jeep.

 

[BigDogYJ]

Amazing how fast a year goes by....

Made it out to Moab last year for some fun.


Trip was good. Truck was a rockstar. All had fun.

Last summer helped a buddy finish up his LBZ swap into a 91 square body suburban. Quite a bit more effort to make that one work vs mine. but we learned a lot.

Picked up a new toy -- entirely unnecessary. Still don't know what I'm gonna use it for yet.


A/C started giving me issues in the middle of summer. Took care of a few things, new Fan clutch, cleaned out the cooling stack, found a small refrigerant leak at one of the service ports. Fix that and recharged the system. It seems better but got a few blend doors acting up occasionally. I will plan to pull out the HVAC box at some point and just rebuild it, new heater core, new eval core, new blend door actuators, new foam seals, etc. Big project but it will be worth it.






Got the A/C blowing 41F in 105F ambient temps. Family was happy for the trip up to WA then over to ID for a family wedding.
Got a few more camping trips in then got real busy with Family/holidays/etc to finish off 2023.

 

[BigDogYJ]

2024 came fast. Realized we did almost 20k miles last year. Time for some maintenance/upgrades before we get into the thick of it this year.
But first, snow wheeling trip with some buddies.




Ok so maybe not much wheeling just hanging out with the guys... oh and crab.....

 

[BigDogYJ]

And finally upgraded the stock premium Bose amp to the Bose LUX amp from an escalade ESV.

Hard to show pics of this but the sound is definitely better and for $80 to get the amp it was worth it. I already had the tech2 and a subscription to ACdelcoTDS. so a little wiring changes and program the headunit and were good to go. I'm pleased with the upgrade.

 

[BigDogYJ]

Now it's time for maintenance.
the Yukon chassis is 20 years old at this point with well over 300k miles and the ride started to feel a bit rougher, more worn it, rear end sometimes felt loose. so it was time to refresh some rubber. First up all 12 body mounts (or rather 10 body, 2 radiator supports)...

They weren't terrible but it was time. Then decided to change out the rear leaf springs for a new set from Atlas Spring (Expedition pack +1" over stock). These were a progressive 8 leaf pack instead of the factory 5. The ride is so much nicer and the 1" rear lift in the back brought back the stock rake. Really happy with both of these upgrades.



Next up was to address the shocks. Found the Rear right shock had no pressure left in it (I assume from the heat from the exhaust) as well as the front left (not sure why this one failed). They did have about 120k miles on them so figured it would be time.



Also lubed up the driveline splines and pulled apart all the brakes and cleaned up the slides and regreased them. Also replaced the rubber brake lines with Russell braided stainless steel lines. Flushed the brake fluid. The ride feels amazing. so much smoother and tighter feeling. The brakes feel great but never really had issues with them. 80k on the pads and still looks like 60% remaining pad life.

 

[BigDogYJ]

Since we sold the RV trailer last year, the wife and I were deciding how we wanted to camp this year as we had a number of trips planned out including a week in Glacier NP. So we decided on a roof top tent. Not my ideal choice but it will work and the wife was thrilled with the idea. So now time to plan how to implement this correctly. The clear coat on the roof was starting to fail so I knew I wanted to take care of that before it got much worse. Also planned to install an overland roof rack. Worked a deal with a Line-x dealer up in OR to spray the roof color matched and a little lighter on the texture so it wasn't as bad as a bed liner. Also included the UV coat. I think it came out pretty good. the goal was to cover the whole roof so didn't have to worry about paint getting scratched, peeling, etc.




The idea was to have it not really noticeable when you're looking at the truck unless you knew what you were looking for. Seems to fit the bill.

Roof rack showed up from Baseline Overland in Boulder, CO

Lots of 1/4-20 bolts, t-nuts, etc.



Now that the roof was prepped and ready. It was time for the tent...

 

[BigDogYJ]

I'm pretty impressed with the rack and the tent. I've driven it with an empty rack and there's zero noise at all even up to 80mph. Added the tent and still nothing. It's super quiet. The whole truck seems quieter after I changed the body mounts and rear leaf springs. but you really can't tell it's up there. The tent is 165# and the rack is probably 60#. And you can't tell any difference with over 200# on the roof. I'm very pleased and excited to get it out and put it to work. We have 7, possibly 8 camping trips lined up this year so hopefully this keeps the wife happy.

 

[BIGR]

Very nice indeed, great to hear from you. From the sound of things you have been real busy, but enjoying life.

 

[Will L.]

Awesome- enjoy the time!

 

[DieselSlug]

Glad to see your still at it! I need to do a few of the tasks on my Yukon XL you talked about here, specifically rear A/C (mine is bypasses where only the front works), body mounts, blend doors, etc. Where did you end up getting the mounts? I have 1 roasted right now.

 

[BigDogYJ]

Unfortunately there’s not a lot of options. It seems it’s Dorman OE replacement rubber mounts or S&B silicone mounts. I went back and forth between these for probably a year or more. I ended up going with Dorman as I prefer the softer rubber compound. It seems the silicone is a bit stiffer (not as bad as polyurethane — I’ve made that mistake before). While the silicone will likely last the remaining life of the vehicle I was more concerned about ride quality. I’m happy with the Dorman ones and if they last another 10 years I’m fine with that.

 

[DieselSlug]

Unfortunately there’s not a lot of options. It seems it’s Dorman OE replacement rubber mounts or S&B silicone mounts. I went back and forth between these for probably a year or more. I ended up going with Dorman as I prefer the softer rubber compound. It seems the silicone is a bit stiffer (not as bad as polyurethane — I’ve made that mistake before). While the silicone will likely last the remaining life of the vehicle I was more concerned about ride quality. I’m happy with the Dorman ones and if they last another 10 years I’m fine with that.

That's what I remember seeing rhen I was doing the rockers on it. About $50ea for Dormans.

 

[BIGR]

Speaking of Dorman body mounts, I recently ordered 2 from Rock Auto for my S-10 daily beater. Great replacement product and easy installation. Wasn't replacing all 6 of them, just the ones that went bad for now. Just my beater, local truck, no big trips in it. I just fix what breaks and move on.

 

[BigDogYJ]

Two camping trips down, 5 more to go.
First was 3 days of constant downpour on Oregon coast. We made it work and the tent kept us dry and it was even dry inside after closing it up wet for 2 days. very impressed with the quality of the material.


Then 4 more days of really nice weather around Lake Tahoe.


Stopped by the rubicon trail and decided to put her on the trail. total poser shot but she made it to the trail (head).