Denali/Escalade Leather Shifter Installed

NathanJax · Apr 17, 2012

Been wanting to do it since I saw it. I found out that the 07-08 shifter had the stitching facing you, but the 09-11 had the stitching facing away. Took all of 10 minutes. The part number for mine was 25807855.

Here's the difference in the the 2

And the shifter installed

Now, the + and - is for the manual shifting on the different transmissions. the 5.3's wont come with this so it wont work. What I did was cut the 2 black wires and I can use them for something else. Others have use it for there air suspension.

Here's a little write-up I kinda went by.

Install was pretty straight forward, remove the tilt handle by gently prying it out, then remove the top half of the column cover by pushing in on both side at once and then it will pop off. The lower portion then pulls off, it helps to have the wheel tilted all the way up for this to angle it out. Gm actually has an interesting design for the column cover, you can put two screws in it if you break the plastic tabs that hold it in so you should check to see if they are there first. Next comes the wire for the shifting and tow mode, this runs underneath the passenger side to the drivers side of the column, I used a small screw driver to release the clip then pull out the two plastic mounting barbs and it comes out no problem. You have to pay attention to how the wire is routed around another wire to hold it up though for the install. A single T-30 torx bolt holds in the shifter, on mine it was on there quite tight, I had to use a ratchet to loosen it. Once that is out the shifter pulls straight out and you swap the boot to the new shifter and start to reverse the process. The cable is a little hard to plug in as it is very tight space, the bottom cover was also a bit hard to get in just right and you have to be careful not to force it and break the tabs or you will be looking for screws to put in it. For the top start at the right rear corner where the boot is and it will be a lot easier.

Modded · Apr 17, 2012

Looks good Nathan.
I was going to do this mods last summer but flaked it because I figured it was not worth the $80 a Denali/Esky shifter was gonna run.

yates ™ · Apr 17, 2012

Looks good :Handshake:

NathanJax · Apr 17, 2012

Modded said:
Looks good Nathan.
I was going to do this mods last summer but flaked it because I figured it was not worth the $80 a Denali/Esky shifter was gonna run.

After seeing/having both. it is..

Especially when...

ghostworks · Apr 17, 2012

That looks very neat indeed

felixgun · Apr 17, 2012

looks great Nathan. I think the esky/denali shifter is a huge step up from the tahoe/yukon one that's for sure.

NathanJax · Apr 17, 2012

felixgun said:
looks great Nathan. I think the esky/denali shifter is a huge step up from the tahoe/yukon one that's for sure.

definitely! Just another piece to the puzzle. Basically getting a Denali without the 6.2 and bad gas mileage. I was looking at a Denali and an Esky, but I didn't want factory Nav and the bad gas mileage.

Timmy · Apr 17, 2012

needs denali leather and door panels. yummmm

NathanJax · Apr 17, 2012

Timmy said:
needs denali leather and door panels. yummmm

been looking on CL and eBay... :secret:

07Burb · Apr 17, 2012

That looks great!! I can't wait to start on my interior

steven13608 · Apr 17, 2012

Nice. I do want a newer tahoe with the 6 speed shiftable tranny.

chrisfox75 · Apr 28, 2012

I prefer the Esky shifter, it is leather and has stitching down the center, a little nicer design.

NathanJax · Apr 28, 2012

chrisfox75 said:
I prefer the Esky shifter, it is leather and has stitching down the center, a little nicer design.

Denali shifter is the exact same as the Escalade shifter.

Mine is leather and has the stitching down the BACK center. As I said in the first post

the 07-08 shifter had the stitching facing you, but the 09-11 had the stitching facing away

To me, facing away looks MUCH cleaner.

flrmat · Apr 28, 2012

Looks nice. I like the idea of using the up/down buttons for something else, maybe for an amp

domin8 · Apr 28, 2012

Nice. Maybe I'll do the same and try to find a way to make the + and - do something. Maybe they can be turned into buttons for a trailer brake controller, or a winch remote if anybody were to install that on a NNBS.

Btw, the 5.3s do come with the shifter with the beyond on 09+. I believe it's an option. I had a rental 10 Tahoe 2 years ago and it did have that.

Modded · Apr 28, 2012

domin8 said:
Nice. Maybe I'll do the same and try to find a way to make the + and - do something. Maybe they can be turned into buttons for a trailer brake controller, or a winch remote if anybody were to install that on a NNBS.

Btw, the 5.3s do come with the shifter with the beyond on 09+. I believe it's an option. I had a rental 10 Tahoe 2 years ago and it did have that.

When I was going to do it, I was going to make the +/- buttons control the volume for my Pioneer HU, or be a toggle for my reverse light HIDs.
Then I realized I would turn them on accidentally too much.

chrisfox75 · Apr 30, 2012

NathanJax said:
Denali shifter is the exact same as the Escalade shifter.

Mine is leather and has the stitching down the BACK center. As I said in the first post

To me, facing away looks MUCH cleaner.

Oh i thought they were different, my bad, i got mine installed this weekend, didnt realize that the connector was different, so i cut the connector off the old shifter and wired it to the new shifter, wow what the difference in look on my suburban, love the new look.

Chris

sellech · Apr 30, 2012

DAng that looks sweet.

Does the leather come in different colors?

NathanJax · Apr 30, 2012

chrisfox75 said:
Oh i thought they were different, my bad, i got mine installed this weekend, didnt realize that the connector was different, so i cut the connector off the old shifter and wired it to the new shifter, wow what the difference in look on my suburban, love the new look.

Chris

Mine was the same connecter, just 2 extra wires for the + and - . I just cut those off the plug and left them there for future use.

sellech said:
DAng that looks sweet.

Does the leather come in different colors?

There's a shifter for the "cashmere" interior like I have, and then there's a shifter for the "black" or whatever color the Denali/Escalade comes in.

2011Tahoe · Apr 30, 2012

domin8 said:
Nice. Maybe I'll do the same and try to find a way to make the + and - do something. Maybe they can be turned into buttons for a trailer brake controller, or a winch remote if anybody were to install that on a NNBS.

Btw, the 5.3s do come with the shifter with the beyond on 09+. I believe it's an option. I had a rental 10 Tahoe 2 years ago and it did have that.

Yeah my '11 Tahoe LTZ is loaded i think with every option available and it has that same shifter. The +/- are nice for towing or winter driving.

That looks sweet man, nice work.

Denali/Escalade Leather Shifter Installed

Vacation Nathan

That Guy

Resident Apple hater

Vacation Nathan

Full Access Member

Full Access Member

Vacation Nathan

Full Access Member

Vacation Nathan

GM fan for life

Full Access Member

Member

Vacation Nathan

TYF Newbie

Just Plinking

That Guy

Member

TYF Newbie

Vacation Nathan

Full Access Member

Similar threads

Forum statistics