When replacing stock bags snowballs into a Long Travel '04 Denali

[Kbkiller]

Damn!!! You are a professional! I wish I had half of your skill! Final result is going to be badass man! Is this your wife's rig?

 

[02Burgundybeast]

You have me wanting to pre runner my Yukon now.

 

[slow4dr]

Damn!!! You are a professional! I wish I had half of your skill! Final result is going to be badass man! Is this your wife's rig?

Thanks, but hardly professional. I'm just a marketing guy being guided by experienced engineers.

Yes, it is my wife's daily. We've been wanting something to take to the mountain trails or blaze through the desert. Almost picked up a squarebody C10 to build but then the air bags crapped out. She's an offroad girl through and through having grown up in Colorado. I'm more of a lowered, BIG HP kinda guy so this whole thing will be an experience.

You have me wanting to pre runner my Yukon now.

Glad I could motivate. You may want to unsubscribe though if you're even remotely on the fence. At this rate things might spiral out of control.

 

[Kbkiller]

My wife is the same way she likes the lifted more rubber compared to the slammed and fast! We just sold her fj cruiser with 3in lift and 33's and she thought my sierra was going to be to big so she was driving my denali. It's slammed 5/7 with 22s she hated it because you have to watch the road and be worried about holes and curbs. Now after driving my sierra she loves it!

Keep up the good work! I'm definitely staying on top of this build to see how it turns out!

 

[slow4dr]

My wife is the same way she likes the lifted more rubber compared to the slammed and fast! We just sold her fj cruiser with 3in lift and 33's and she thought my sierra was going to be to big so she was driving my denali. It's slammed 5/7 with 22s she hated it because you have to watch the road and be worried about holes and curbs. Now after driving my sierra she loves it!
Keep up the good work! I'm definitely staying on top of this build to see how it turns out!

It's a catch 22. She gets used to driving with little care of small bumps, dips, cracks in the road, curbs etc. Then gets behind the wheel of my Buick which has 30 series tires(from the factory mind you) and suddenly chaos ensues.

So the company I work for recently did some suspension work for a SEMA project for Toyo. I used that connection to get some new kicks. I'm still trying to work on American Racing Wheels which we also have a hook up on. I like the wheels currently on the truck but I need a set with less backspace.

305/70/17 Open Country A/T's

A little teaser of what's to come for the front. We use Chromoly material to build spindle pins for our front ends. I'll be using this material for some custom uniball mounts.

 

[MadDogDelpho]

Gonna be pretty meaty lookin' on your truck!

 

[Kbkiller]

Nice those should look great! I love my toyos I have the 35x12.5 18 mt. They have lasted the longest of any Mt I have ever bought.

 

[slow4dr]

Been busy with work the last few weeks so I haven't made much if/any progress. After working LS Fest West this past weekend and shooting some of the #DirtAlliance jump sessions I am beyond motivated to get this truck project going again.

Michael ***'s killer Bronco

Kibbetech's new truck

Darren Parsons from Dirt Alliance

Chris Isenhouer's F100

 

[Simhinz]

Definitely going to be watching this! I have a lifted denali, but definitely not long travel. Im going to have to tidy up a lot.

 

[slow4dr]

Finally got to use this chromoly tubing I bought months ago. I borrowed the tube bender and notcher from work and actually made some progress.

 

[iamdub]

Excellent work on that tube bending. Looks so symmetrical and even that I'd swear a $100K machine bent it.

 

[Regency]

Badass build man.

 

[slow4dr]

Excellent work on that tube bending. Looks so symmetrical and even that I'd swear a $100K machine bent it.

Thanks, I am pretty happy with how the front turned out. There was a ton of measuring and a few tests on scrap pieces. The outer wings are roughly 3 degrees off from each other. Hardly noticeable to the naked eye.

Badass build man.

Thanks!

Feeling confident with the front bumper build I tackled the rear as well. Design wise was up to my wife even though I ended up without the step she asked for. Possibly will add it later.

I reused the factory brackets, just had to cut some holes and trim them back.

You can see the pilot hole for the hole saw.

A little mock up before bending the ends.

The front is still stock width so it looks silly with the McNeil fenders.

I added a couple bars to the front. The middle one being the most obvious. I also added one to the control arm crossmember and a short one that ties the center bar to the center crossmember.

 

[slow4dr]

With a little persuasion I convinced the wife that the Denali body moldings had to go. I figured removing the double sided tape was going to be the biggest issue. I did a little research and found that 3M makes what is called "Stripe Off Wheel". I removed a couple body pieces last night and messed around with the wheel. Holy crap that thing works. Albeit a little messy. I sprayed the dirty area down with water and wiped it clean. Then used a cordless drill at its slowest setting. It leaves a bit of a residue that is easily wiped off with a damp cloth. Afterwards I used a cleaner wax.

 

[iamdub]

Stripe-Off wheel FTW! I found mine the other day that I bought 12+ years ago. It was dry rotted and cracked. lol

 

[slow4dr]

I didn't care for the factory rear bumper bracket. So I added a few plates to make it stronger.

 

[Fosscore]

Great build with skills and forethought. Nice work!!

 

[slow4dr]

I decided to stick with stock length rear control arms for simplicity sake. The bars clear everywhere and thru full travel except when the anti-roll bar is disconnected and the suspension is fully articulated. The upper bar hits the frame slightly. The Johnny Joints are narrower than the mount opening so I had to shim them. I am fairly certain that I can just offset the bars/shims to gain the clearance needed. I ran out of daylight last night so I ended up just installing the stock upper bars again.

 

[inmypassatlife]

With a little persuasion I convinced the wife that the Denali body moldings had to go. I figured removing the double sided tape was going to be the biggest issue. I did a little research and found that 3M makes what is called "Stripe Off Wheel". I removed a couple body pieces last night and messed around with the wheel. Holy crap that thing works. Albeit a little messy. I sprayed the dirty area down with water and wiped it clean. Then used a cordless drill at its slowest setting. It leaves a bit of a residue that is easily wiped off with a damp cloth. Afterwards I used a cleaner wax.

View attachment 178415

View attachment 178416

Wanna send me those body moldings?

 

[slow4dr]

Wanna send me those body moldings?

I will be selling all the factory Denali stuff I've removed. Including bumpers, and running boards.