First trip into the woods... Gonna need some changes.

[Idaho45guy]

Beautiful spring day in Northern Idaho so I decided to head into the woods to see if I could find some morel mushrooms. It's a bit early, but I thought I'd take a look anyway.

The spot I go to I have been a few times in my pickup and have never had to use 4wd or had any issues. It's a mild logging road and I've seen Subarus up there.

Was a bit too much for the Yukon. Bottomed out a couple of times and scraped the front air dam a bunch. Had to use 4wd once.

Probably going to have to remove that air dam, crank the torsion bar at least an inch, and with the extra inch of the tire height, it should help out quite a bit.

I really wish there were some decently priced front bumper options for these rigs. Do I have to buy a bumper specific for the Yukon, or does a Tahoe/pickup bumper work?

Will have to just get used to the limitations of it compared to my pickup.

Oh, and it was too early for morels; only a couple tiny ones were out.

Pics from the day...

 

[swathdiver]

The 2009 owner's manual says to take the air dam off to increase ground clearance but to more closely monitor the engine temperature while doing so.

 

[Idaho45guy]

Got the new Duratracs today; they are definitely bigger and beefier than the stock size crappy tires on there now...

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Got the new Duratracs today; they are definitely bigger and beefier than the stock size crappy tires on there now...

View attachment 197827

View attachment 197828

What size?

 

[Idaho45guy]

LT265/75/16 going on 16x8 aftermarket rims with 0 offset.

Same rims I ran on my Ram. They held up well and are reasonably priced at $125 each...

 

[Idaho45guy]

Every mod I did to my Ram worked great to enhance it's capability off-road. Trying to make the same changes to the "new" Yukon. I'm shocked at the lack of aftermarket support for the Yukon and Tahoes. They made a million or so of them, you would think there would be more cool parts available. I would love to add some fender flares to the Yukon, but apparently you have to cut up ones ordered for a Suburban to get them to work. Weird.

 

[Etraeger]

We take our '16 into the mountains all the time. And on some OHV trails. Nothing too extreme of course. But we lifted it 6", put 35" MTs on, a Fab Fours bumper and Smittybuilt winch put on. Sounds like you need a little more clearance

 

[Etraeger]

And a bumper for similar model years for Tahoe/Suburban and Yukon should all be the same.

 

[CamReynolds]

Beautiful spring day in Northern Idaho so I decided to head into the woods to see if I could find some morel mushrooms. It's a bit early, but I thought I'd take a look anyway.

The spot I go to I have been a few times in my pickup and have never had to use 4wd or had any issues. It's a mild logging road and I've seen Subarus up there.

Was a bit too much for the Yukon. Bottomed out a couple of times and scraped the front air dam a bunch. Had to use 4wd once.

Probably going to have to remove that air dam, crank the torsion bar at least an inch, and with the extra inch of the tire height, it should help out quite a bit.

I really wish there were some decently priced front bumper options for these rigs. Do I have to buy a bumper specific for the Yukon, or does a Tahoe/pickup bumper work?

Will have to just get used to the limitations of it compared to my pickup.

Oh, and it was too early for morels; only a couple tiny ones were out.

Pics from the day...

View attachment 197766

View attachment 197767

View attachment 197768

View attachment 197769

Rip that airdam off, throw on the good tires and make sure you have skid plates. My Yukon is a tank off-road .Do you have the locking rear?

 

[Shunto]

Got the new Duratracs today; they are definitely bigger and beefier than the stock size crappy tires on there now...

View attachment 197827

View attachment 197828

you'll like the Dura tracs... Mine started to sing after some mileage on em... but they're a great tire.

 

[Idaho45guy]

Rip that airdam off, throw on the good tires and make sure you have skid plates. My Yukon is a tank off-road .Do you have the locking rear?

I think I do... I had one in my Ram and so when I broke traction in the Yukon, I got the typical sideways movement from both rear tires spinning. Not sure where to check for sure, though. I assume there's a tag on the diff with a specific code like there was on my `97 Suburban; lists the gear ratio and if there is a factory locker.

 

[Doubeleive]

you'll want to take those running boards off as they will probably be the first thing to get jacked up off roading

 

[DirtyHoe2002]

you'll want to take those running boards off as they will probably be the first thing to get jacked up off roading

plus those stock running boards look like junk IMO

 

[CamReynolds]

I think I do... I had one in my Ram and so when I broke traction in the Yukon, I got the typical sideways movement from both rear tires spinning. Not sure where to check for sure, though. I assume there's a tag on the diff with a specific code like there was on my `97 Suburban; lists the gear ratio and if there is a factory locker.

yep, check the codes in the glovebox. look for G80

 

[Idaho45guy]

Took it back out yesterday and it is much improved. Still haven't got around to removing the front air dam and am on the fence regarding removing the running boards. I really liked them on my pickup and used them quite a bit. But this Yukon is so much lower, I'm not sure I use them.

Anyway, drove about 80 miles of gravel and dirt roads in the mountains, including the prior logging road that it did so poorly on last week. Definitely did not have to put it in 4wd this time and actually took it into some fairly deep mud holes and was able to get through them with moderate tire spin and no 4wd. The rear locker definitely helps. Very happy with the tires and it was able to get me everywhere I wanted to go.

 

[CamReynolds]

definetly take off the air dam, it takes 5 minutes and it drives the same but gives better clearance. took my 5 minutes or less to do. you could leave the running boards on to protect the rockers if you wanted but it looks a lot taller without them

 

[swathdiver]

A good set of tires is more important than 4WD in most situations. Good call.

 

[Bombsquad85]

You can send that airdam to me

 

[Junkpile]

My kids and I took ours out in the woods last weekend. I was surprised at how good it felt offroad for how low and heavy it is. We stayed in the tamer areas and it was really dry, but still, the big XL pulled surprisingly well considering my 275/55/20 highway treads. The G80 diff works better than I expected.

I will say though, if I had not already removed the air dam and running boards, the trail would have done it for me.

 

[Idaho45guy]

Went out again today and found some snow way up in the woods. DuraTracs did really well in deep, heavy, wet snow...