Randeez 2012 Budget Yukon Denali Build (stick on hood scoops galore)

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Sam Harris

Elite Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2018
Posts
7,445
Reaction score
14,977
Location
Texas
got the news today.... trans still a week or two out :(

but its because he was waiting on some better planetaries to come in and he wants me to beat the shit out of them
Damn. Sucks to wait, but excellent that he’s installing those bad boys..![emoji16]
 

mikeyss

Full Access Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2011
Posts
1,758
Reaction score
3,393
Location
Longmont, Colorado.
got the news today.... trans still a week or two out :(

but its because he was waiting on some better planetaries to come in and he wants me to beat the shit out of them

I wonder if the better planetaries will be 5 pinion style. I think the 4L80/4L85 both use 4 pinion overdrive planetary, but the other planetaries are 4 pinion in the 4L80 and 5 pinion in the 4L85. Wonder if your trans guy would snap any pictures.
 
OP
OP
randeez

randeez

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Posts
8,188
Reaction score
25,927
Location
south florida
well some one on pt.net was selling a np149 already with the input shaft for a 4l80, price was right but he wasnt really up for shipping it and sold it locally :(

i found someone on offerup a few weeks ago parting out a 2004 denali xl, he didnt know what case it had in it i told him how to tell the difference and kinda forgot about it :lol: but he said its a new process case so hopefully its what im looking for. sposed to meet up with him tomorrow seemed kinda sketchy but thats the norm lately i guess. got ahold of the guy who machines the 4l80 inputs its usually a week or two lead time.
if i can pick up the right transfer case tomorrow im going to get the input shaft goin - may get it done by the time my trans gets here...? lol fml i should prob just leave it alone but that transfer case has pissed me off since day one.
 

mikeyss

Full Access Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2011
Posts
1,758
Reaction score
3,393
Location
Longmont, Colorado.
The 03-06 Yukon Denali and Escalades did Not have the np149. Those have the non viscous AWD T case that does braking and some fake ******** to simulate the np149 viscous greatness :)
 
OP
OP
randeez

randeez

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Posts
8,188
Reaction score
25,927
Location
south florida
The 03-06 Yukon Denali and Escalades did Not have the np149. Those have the non viscous AWD T case that does braking and some fake ******** to simulate the np149 viscous greatness :)

dunno couldnt find a definite answer i keep seeing both RPO codes for them NR3 for the BW case and NP3 for the np149. like i said comms have been kinda sketchy, totally possible he just happen to have a different new process case laying around and thats what hes saying he has...
 
OP
OP
randeez

randeez

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Posts
8,188
Reaction score
25,927
Location
south florida
Was the correct one...had about an inch of grease caked on it so I hit it with the pressure washer, feels pretty loose as far as the bearings go so I'll prob just throw new bearings seals and chain...theres an updated cover and pump I gotta see if need to be replaced also.
got it pretty cheap so even if i do have to rebuild everything it would just come out to be about the same as a refurb'd one, but atleast ill know every part in it is new
20200119_142905.jpg
20200119_142906.jpg
 

Sam Harris

Elite Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2018
Posts
7,445
Reaction score
14,977
Location
Texas
Was the correct one...had about an inch of grease caked on it so I hit it with the pressure washer, feels pretty loose as far as the bearings go so I'll prob just throw new bearings seals and chain...theres an updated cover and pump I gotta see if need to be replaced also.
got it pretty cheap so even if i do have to rebuild everything it would just come out to be about the same as a refurb'd one, but atleast ill know every part in it is new
View attachment 238860 View attachment 238861
Sweet!
 
OP
OP
randeez

randeez

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Posts
8,188
Reaction score
25,927
Location
south florida
inside looked a whole lot better than the outside - possibility someone rebuilt it at one time...the way to much rtv squished out from the case halves is usually a give away. there is actual pump pickup that the screen was about 75% covered. magnet had a lot of metal paste on it. going to grab a few cans of brake cleaner and go to town on it next few days. pump looks in good shape but not sure how well its doing with all that rtv blocking the pick up. so will probably just grab one of those, couple seals, bearings, new chain... $300 rebuild kit basically, all the hard parts look good
not sure how "tight" it will feel after but hope it gets a little better


20200119_181106.jpg
20200119_181057.jpg
20200119_181056.jpg
20200119_181053.jpg
20200119_181049.jpg
 
Last edited:

mikeyss

Full Access Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2011
Posts
1,758
Reaction score
3,393
Location
Longmont, Colorado.
Is that the viscous clutch in the last picture, it has some blue gunk on it? My 06 SD has this t case and I've been curious to what the inside looked like. I LOVE how it works, yesterday I had to pull out on hw36 going towards Boulder, I had a tiny opening and took it. I smashed it the the floor and just as the rear wanted to spin, it just took off like a rocket with nothing spinning. I think you're going to love this in your Denali.
 
OP
OP
randeez

randeez

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Posts
8,188
Reaction score
25,927
Location
south florida
That's the outer part that slides over the planetary gear but looks pretty much the same. The viscous coupler goes right in behind the input shaft that drum looking thing with splines thru the middle and a larger spline on one side

20200119_200705.jpg
20200119_200707.jpg
20200119_200651.jpg
20200119_200640.jpg
20200119_200606.jpg
 
OP
OP
randeez

randeez

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Posts
8,188
Reaction score
25,927
Location
south florida
Is that the viscous clutch in the last picture, it has some blue gunk on it? My 06 SD has this t case and I've been curious to what the inside looked like. I LOVE how it works, yesterday I had to pull out on hw36 going towards Boulder, I had a tiny opening and took it. I smashed it the the floor and just as the rear wanted to spin, it just took off like a rocket with nothing spinning. I think you're going to love this in your Denali.


thats what im hoping for, fought too long with the bw4485 open style - long as i can get all the parts together to mate this thing up to a 4l80 it'll go back in all together
 
OP
OP
randeez

randeez

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Posts
8,188
Reaction score
25,927
Location
south florida
got word the transmission should be back together today and thrown on the tranny dyno...were sposed to call and let me know what the damage $$$ was, hopefully shipped out early next week. never called, hoping everythings good. the pump ate itself up and put some more aluminum throughout - so good thing i didnt attempt to flush it out myself and put it back in :eek: need to talk to them and see if i need to check anything or if this was in fact a casualty of the converter.

got ahold of the guy for the machined input shaft to make the np149 work with the 4l80 (and 6l80), says usually takes a week or so to get them out - dunno if itll be here "in time" to put it back together with that transfer case. i need to order rebuild kit for the np149, after tearing it apart i should be good with chain, bearings, seals, pump.
 
OP
OP
randeez

randeez

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Posts
8,188
Reaction score
25,927
Location
south florida
having hell of a time breaking down this transfer case, i need to (and did) order a proper pair of snap ring pliers for these larger ones. im trying to get to the "pump" as i can see theres some aluminum shavings all around where it sits on the output shaft. every vid ive watched they pull the snap ring and literally just remove the bearing by hand- as it should cause its held there by a snap ring. and then the reluctor for the speed sensor just slides right off after it. well i managed to hold and beat the shaft out of the bearing by hand which wasnt fun, and the reluctor seems just as tight going to try and hit it with some heat tomorrow.

4 (pump) ,5(snap ring),6(reluctor),7(bearing),8(snap ring) at the top
fb592dcc.png


ended up just ordering entire rebuild kit - seals, bearings, chain, sprockets, pump, viscous coupler... the one in here seems to be leaking a little, refurbs were 300-400 :eek: without having a test bench, to test it you need to run it for half hour , lift the back, set parking brake, take out the front driveshaft, rotate front side of transfer case with 15ft lbs just to determine if its good. figured it couldnt hurt to have a spare since i break everything anyway.
 
OP
OP
randeez

randeez

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Posts
8,188
Reaction score
25,927
Location
south florida
Gave it the fire with no luck...sooo made executive decision to cut that crap off. It wont be needed since I dont use speed sensor from there. There is a shoulder that the bearing bottoms out on and a snap ring that holds the pump up, so not needed for spacing or anything. Also looks like top edge of the teeth were hammered to get it on at one point.
20200126_111202.jpg
20200126_111218.jpg
20200126_113544.jpg
20200126_113555.jpg
20200126_113846.jpg
 

Sam Harris

Elite Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2018
Posts
7,445
Reaction score
14,977
Location
Texas
Gave it the fire with no luck...sooo made executive decision to cut that crap off. It wont be needed since I dont use speed sensor from there. There is a shoulder that the bearing bottoms out on and a snap ring that holds the pump up, so not needed for spacing or anything. Also looks like top edge of the teeth were hammered to get it on at one point. View attachment 239371 View attachment 239372 View attachment 239373 View attachment 239374 View attachment 239375
Yeah, those teeth are fooked! WTH
2d2e4831c85539f07b46838a26df3add.jpg
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
randeez

randeez

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Posts
8,188
Reaction score
25,927
Location
south florida
transmission "refresh" has been paid for and should be thrown on the shipping truck in the morning.
the initial cost was a little tough to swallow for this trans if youve followed along, so for the last month I have had this pit in my stomach that the cost to fix it was going to be way up there - I have spent a retarded amount on this crap in the "hopes" of making it reliable.... i joke alot about its only money n crap but i am a pretty cheap fukk most of the time. the longer this took the more i started looking at local shops that i could use in the future to avoid the shipping and (hopefully)downtime.

i realize in this game im playing there's rarely warranties outside of obvious builder and craftsmanship errors, something breaks i just want it fixed. i'm straight up with these guys and telling them whats wrong, steps ive taken, anything i doubt about doing the work my own self. i dont blame problems on people, i dont ask for anything free, sponsorships, discounts, etc.

i fully expected the cost to be (minimum) cost for a tear down/assemble $1800, hard parts $5-700(planetaries/pump), shipping roundtrip $500, probably some other misc shop supply charge @$150 and, to me, that would be totally fair and reasonable.

so talking with them today he starts rattling off everything that needed to be done, cleaned up, tested, etc. and and im here thinking the longer this goes the more its going to be... andddd grand total for me a little shy of $2000 total (phewww relief) all said and done back to me. it was way cheaper to have them ship it using their freight account (than to ship without a freight acct) like $220 for them, $600 for me to ship it. so that means right off the bat ~$500 of that is gone just for shipping. hardparts replaced planetary something like this: http://www.tcsproducts.com/products/product/4l80e-overdrive-planetary/ pump im sure they use atleast a genuine pump so $150-300, $500 total parts. so we're down less than $1000 for labor and misc supplies, testing, cleaning. i dont doubt they can probably rebuild one of these in a few hours so i doubt they're "losing money" but that is what experience costs . in either case i am happy with them, no regrets on going with them
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
randeez

randeez

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Posts
8,188
Reaction score
25,927
Location
south florida
f'n.... looks like the trans cooler lines are now leaking into the radiator - guessing a little too much psi on the air when i was blowing out the lines. havent definitively came to that conclusion but overflow tank looks a little pink and cooler lines seem to be very watered down.
long over due anyway... ordered the mishimoto. prob shouldve gone thru the sponsor but needed/wanted it asap sorry
MMRAD-GMT-99_3.png
 

Forum statistics

Threads
138,109
Posts
1,999,274
Members
103,033
Latest member
JasonW4141
Back
Top