2005 Denali Restoration

[John Youngman]

I hate to call it a restoration considering it's only 15 years old. But, with 260,000 miles, and the amount of rust on the undercarriage, rockers, and quarters, that's exactly what it turned into.

Last summer, replaced the trans, front diff, suspension, ball joints, oil and trans cooler lines, radiator, hubs, steering arms, tie-rod ends, and pretty much everything in between except for the motor.

Decided to fix the rusty rockers while the shutdown had us slow at work this spring That quickly snowballed into starting from the ground up and completely restoring the exterior. Took over 150 labor hours, around $1600 in parts/materials, and a trade to get the slightly newer Tahoe LTZ wheels but it ended up coming together pretty nice.

I'll eventually work my way to the motor and interior but taking a break from it for the summer.

 

[mikeyss]

Awesome work and you have the BEST color GM made for these. I grew up in PA but moved to CO many years ago, what part are you in?

 

[John Youngman]

Yeah, this is actually my second 05 Denali. Both the exact same truck. Blew the trans in the original truck, went out and replaced it with the other the next day lol. This time, decided to dump the money into it and keep it when the trans went.

I live in Hanover, about 45 minutes northwest of Baltimore right over the PA line

 

[adventurenali92]

Nice work!! Love that color!

 

[John Youngman]

Nice work!! Love that color!

I do, too. That's exactly why I hunted one down the exact same color the same night that the trans went out on my last one. I swapped the hood from one truck to the other in the dealership parking lot and never even had to paint it lol.

The TAMCO paint that I used isn't quite the exact same as the factory color. It's definitely a darker variant and flops a lot differently. But, it actually worked out really well with all of the chrome trim that I changed to matte black.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Came out amazing! Good job. Where'd you paint it? Garage?

 

[John Youngman]

There is a full album of this restoration on my FB page for anyone interested. I can't say it got the best of everything but it got the best that I could do on a limited budget and time before my season(s) started.

https://www.facebook.com/john.youngman.35

 

[John Youngman]

No, I paint cars for a living so I have two booths that I can use. I've done some cars in garages, though. Can make them look just as nice as long as you know how to wetsand and buff lol.

 

[mikeyss]

Yeah, this is actually my second 05 Denali. Both the exact same truck. Blew the trans in the original truck, went out and replaced it with the other the next day lol. This time, decided to dump the money into it and keep it when the trans went.

I live in Hanover, about 45 minutes northwest of Baltimore right over the PA line

Small world, I used to live in Dillsburg, grew up in Harrisburg, and even lived in Waynesboro and Lancaster. I got around in PA.

 

[Rocket Man]

Nice work. Yours has 100,000 more miles than my 02!

 

[John Youngman]

Small world, I used to live in Dillsburg, grew up in Harrisburg, and even lived in Waynesboro and Lancaster. I got around in PA.

Lol sound like me when I lived in MD. I

Nice work. Yours has 100,000 more miles than my 02!

This is still my daily driver so i drive it close to 100 miles a day during the week. Not much less on the weekends for baseball games. It adds up quick lol.

 

[Rocket Man]

Lol sound like me when I lived in MD. I

This is still my daily driver so i drive it close to 100 miles a day during the week. Not much less on the weekends for baseball games. It adds up quick lol.

Mines my daily too, I just don’t put that kind of miles on it thankfully.

 

[ivin74]

There is a full album of this restoration on my FB page for anyone interested. I can't say it got the best of everything but it got the best that I could do on a limited budget and time before my season(s) started.

https://www.facebook.com/john.youngman.35

What a day and night difference, looks good. How many hours did you put into the whole prep and paint?

 

[willinnashville]

Dang, looks great! I just browsed through your FB album. Did you make the rust replacement panels or are those available to purchase somewhere? I notice a lot of NBS rockers are pretty rusted

 

[John Youngman]

Dang, looks great! I just browsed through your FB album. Did you make the rust replacement panels or are those available to purchase somewhere? I notice a lot of NBS rockers are pretty rusted

Thanks, turned out pretty well. I ordered the wheel arches and slip-on rockers from Raybucks, then just cut them down to what I needed. Unfortunately, the rust went further than I thought and I did have to make the piece for the lower right quarter out of a piece that I had left over from one of the arches. Never done any of that work before, I normally only paint, but it really wasn't too bad. Time will tell how well the glue and screw method holds up compared to welding everything in.

 

[John Youngman]

What a day and night difference, looks good. How many hours did you put into the whole prep and paint?

Prep and paint on the body wasn't bad, maybe 35 hours or so altogether. The entire job took around 150 hours but most of that was spent on the undercarriage and bodywork.

 

[theangrynortherne]

Hey i just an 05 yukon xl myself beginning of may. I used to have an 04 but had to give it back so my family could tighten up. This time i paid cash so its going nowhere and i can afford to fix it up. Mine has 190k on it and i had been wondering how to address the undercarriage rust. Its not super bad but the rockers are gone. Im gojng to browse thru your facebook thread and get some ideas. Thanks for doing the work and making me up my game!!!

 

[John Youngman]

Hey i just an 05 yukon xl myself beginning of may. I used to have an 04 but had to give it back so my family could tighten up. This time i paid cash so its going nowhere and i can afford to fix it up. Mine has 190k on it and i had been wondering how to address the undercarriage rust. Its not super bad but the rockers are gone. Im gojng to browse thru your facebook thread and get some ideas. Thanks for doing the work and making me up my game!!!

Thank you, it's not all that tough to do. More time and patience than anything else. Lemme know if you need any help, I just went through it all lol

 

[Antdogbmx]

it is nice, but that cowboys plate ruined it for me HAHAHA (Giants Fan btw)

For real it came out great

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Looks great. Gotta love that Bermuda blue! What did you use on the calipers? I like the orange.