Z71 Adventure Wagon

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BlackBrud

BlackBrud

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What LED headlight bulbs did you go with and how is the color temperature/beam pattern? You're right about the stock halogen headlights being pretty useless, so I too have thought about upgrading the lights. Any pics you have of the LED bulbs and beam pattern would be awesome!
I went with the Phillips UltinonSport H11 LED bulbs. They’re much better, and project a good distance. The beam pattern is clean and much more distinct than the halogen pattern. I have one good picture of the beam pattern:

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SavageDad

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I don't know if I brought this up before but are you thinking about adding pods or a light bar?
 
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BlackBrud

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I don't know if I brought this up before but are you thinking about adding pods or a light bar?
Yep! I had a friend give me some yellow LED lights, and I recently bought some ditch light brackets for them. I've never mounted lights in the hood/ditch location before, so depending on how much I use them, I may mount them on a license plate bracket or something similar. Let me know if you've got suggestions!
 
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BlackBrud

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In other news, I've been taking it easy on the mods. I've been busy in life with a job change and some other things, but I'm excited to have spring so close and summer even closer.

I ended up replacing my mirrors with some escalade mirrors. I liked how much rear visibility the towing mirrors gave me, but I did not like the reduced side visibility. For example, if I pulled up to a righthand turn onto a busy road with a pedestrian walkway, it was very difficult to see around the passenger side mirror to check for pedestrians and u-turning vehicles.

The mirrors I found on ebay from a wrecked escalade - they cleaned up nicely, the blind spot monitors work, and I have power fold back!

Aside from that, my only plans at the moment are to finally get my full sized spare tire mounted, and to buy some new shocks before summer. Though I'm sure I'll find some more mods to fit in here and there :p


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SavageDad

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Yep! I had a friend give me some yellow LED lights, and I recently bought some ditch light brackets for them. I've never mounted lights in the hood/ditch location before, so depending on how much I use them, I may mount them on a license plate bracket or something similar. Let me know if you've got suggestions!

I've looked at a few trucks that mounted pods above/adjacent to the wiper cowl, that's what I've been considering personally when I finally get around to adding lighting. Before that though I've been looking at light bars and trying to figure out unobtrusive mounting options.

Digging the mirrors though, they look really good.
 

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BlackBrud

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I've looked at a few trucks that mounted pods above/adjacent to the wiper cowl, that's what I've been considering personally when I finally get around to adding lighting. Before that though I've been looking at light bars and trying to figure out unobtrusive mounting options.

Digging the mirrors though, they look really good.
Thanks! Yeah that’s the same location I bought brackets for. The just arrived, but it’s snowy and cold, so I’ll install them soon and will be sure to post info about the install here
 

SavageDad

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Thanks! Yeah that’s the same location I bought brackets for. The just arrived, but it’s snowy and cold, so I’ll install them soon and will be sure to post info about the install here
Y'all need to share the snow, 90% of Southern California hasn't seen a lick of snow this winter. It's in the 60s and breezy at the moment.
 
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BlackBrud

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Y'all need to share the snow, 90% of Southern California hasn't seen a lick of snow this winter. It's in the 60s and breezy at the moment.
I wish I could! The last storm gave us ~15" of super wet snow - we'll be drying out for a week!
 

SavageDad

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I wish I could! The last storm gave us ~15" of super wet snow - we'll be drying out for a week!
We had a blizzard back in 07 I think it was when I was working traffic and streets for the county, spent the weekend at a shack up in the mountains dispatching for the plow trucks and the loaders out working the mountain towns, first and only time I've seen snow that could bury a man, first time I ever had to dig my truck out in the morning. Gotta say y'all living with it yearly are a different breed. I'll take my earthquakes and my dust storms.
 
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BlackBrud

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We had a blizzard back in 07 I think it was when I was working traffic and streets for the county, spent the weekend at a shack up in the mountains dispatching for the plow trucks and the loaders out working the mountain towns, first and only time I've seen snow that could bury a man, first time I ever had to dig my truck out in the morning. Gotta say y'all living with it yearly are a different breed. I'll take my earthquakes and my dust storms.
Haha I hear ya - I’ve become used to it, but I’m the same way about humid heat lol.
 
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BlackBrud

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In preparation for a road trip to Tx this weekend, I finally got my spare tire mounted. I ditched the old spare, and replaced it with an eBay z71 wheel and another Nokian.

Aside from that, I’m going to put my Yakima roof box on before we leave and that’s about it. The box looked huge on the Subaru I used to have, and now it looks tiny on the burb hahaha.

I look forward to seeing how the burb does on our first road trip with it - I assume it’ll be quite comfortable for four people and a bunch of stuff.

TYF doesn’t like my fancy photos at the moment, but I’ll upload some when I get a chance.

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BlackBrud

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Well I meant to make an update post when I got back from the eclipse trip, but work and life got busy. You know how it is..

The burb was a ROAD TRIP MACHINE. I fell more in love with it on the road trip. It never skipped a beat. So comfortable too!
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We hit a hyuuuge rain storm on the way back to CO, but we kept rolling. When we got back, the burb threw two codes: u1500 and u1501. They were related to the active grill shutter electronics.

Turns out the wiring connection is right up front and is prone to water ingress. In my case, my active grille was stuck open, so I was able to keep driving it while I ordered a part to replace it.

While I had the bumper and grill off to replace the AGS, I replaced the old grill with a black RST-style grill. It was an easy process to replace the AGS and I took care to apply some dielectric grease to hopefully avoid the issue in the future- after install I flashed back to stock, and then re-flashed my tune. No more CEL. Took it for a drive to verify the shutter was working after I got up to temp, and then bought some victory frosties from Wendy’s on my way home. I love fixing stuff on my own when I can. Hell yeah.

Hope y’all are well - I’ll upload another photo of the front end once I wash it. This’ll do for now:
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Oh Kee Pah

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@BlackBrud -> I was back home in 5280 for the 4th of July and told my mother that those new CO blackout plates looked pretty great.
Told her that it would be perfect on my Tahoe.
WELL DONE, again. I think the black plates really lets the front of the rig shine.
Anything new? Fall trips?
 
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BlackBrud

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@BlackBrud -> I was back home in 5280 for the 4th of July and told my mother that those new CO blackout plates looked pretty great.
Told her that it would be perfect on my Tahoe.
WELL DONE, again. I think the black plates really lets the front of the rig shine.
Anything new? Fall trips?
Hey thanks - I agree - they kind of blend in with the rest of the black.
I’ve been meaning to check in to provide some updates. Life has been super busy lately - my wife and I are in the process of moving to the mountains, so things have been a bit hectic, but on the plus side we’ve been in the mountains a lot.

The burb has been great though. We’ve been driving it up and down the i70 mountain corridor in the heat of the summer and it never skipped a beat. The transmission temps have been great, and the Nokian tires have been grippy and reliable. Just a few weeks ago I finally got the windshield replaced since the crack was getting bigger and impeding my vision.

As for goodies, just this week I removed the wind/bug deflector from the hood, and I bought some new shocks. I went with the fox 2.0 setup.

Can’t wait to get them installed, and then I’ll get an alignment and a general suspension and brake checkup before the move.

I’ve been slacking with photos lately, but here’s one from the summer. Currently around 94k miles.
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BlackBrud

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It’s been a while since I made an update here. The burb is still going strong - I’ve done an oil change recently and I FINALLY got the the fox 2.0 suspension installed.

I went with the fox 2.0 setup, and added a set of .75” spacers to the rear springs to keep some of the factory rake. I’ve only taken one drive in it since the install, but it’s so much smoother over bumps and more stable in the corners. I need to wash it before I get some better pictures, but I’m happy with where it is now.

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I feel like my 275/70/18 tires still look great size-wise, but I may go up to 285/70/18 when these start to wear out.

Looking forward to hitting some dirt roads and light trails as the mountains thaw out. I hope everyone is having a good spring
 
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BlackBrud

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Finally got some good pictures - it’s warming up here in the mountains so I cleaned the burb and took a nice drive. The new fox setup is so smooth - especially when encountering bumps at highway speeds.

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Hope everyone is doing well!
 

SavageDad

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Where did you find the Fox setup or did you assemble your own? Their site doesn't list anything for our rigs.
 

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