‘97 Yukon work horse

[NorthernYukon97]

Hey guys,

Joined the forum a year or so ago looking for info and posted in the introduction section. A couple of reply’s asked for pictures. Sounds good. I like my Yukon, happy to show a few. It is a work horse for me. So it has some bumps and bruises along the way.

I’ve done quite a bit to it over the years, last year did a minor refresh of a few things:
Whole new front end - with the exception of the steer gear, wheel bearings, shocks all around, all new brakes - complete with new lines, major tune up with MAF sensor, door pins, etc etc.

Along the way, lots of things done. From radiators, transmission overhaul, interior door handles, hvac controls, extra leafs in the rear, relay to run high and low beam same time, etc etc. Long list.

With the barn doors that open 180 you can load it with a fork lift. Seats fold flat and ply wood in the back. It hauls. It tows. It plows through two feet of snow. The SBC keeps going. -30 or +30. Soak it in oil every fall. It’s just a good truck. I thought about replacing recently, but I think I’ll keep it around. Nothing new out there will replace it for what I do. So, I ordered a new steering gear box for it, and carrying on. Just here today looking for info to sort out the rear defrost. Maybe next year or so, I’ll give it a paint job.









Cheers,

 

[89Suburban]

Hey guys,

Joined the forum a year or so ago looking for info and posted in the introduction section. A couple of reply’s asked for pictures. Sounds good. I like my Yukon, happy to show a few. It is a work horse for me. So it has some bumps and bruises along the way.

I’ve done quite a bit to it over the years, last year did a minor refresh of a few things:
Whole new front end - with the exception of the steer gear, wheel bearings, shocks all around, all new brakes - complete with new lines, major tune up with MAF sensor, door pins, etc etc.

Along the way, lots of things done. From radiators, transmission overhaul, interior door handles, hvac controls, extra leafs in the rear, relay to run high and low beam same time, etc etc. Long list.

With the barn doors that open 180 you can load it with a fork lift. Seats fold flat and ply wood in the back. It hauls. It tows. It plows through two feet of snow. The SBC keeps going. -30 or +30. Soak it in oil every fall. It’s just a good truck. I thought about replacing recently, but I think I’ll keep it around. Nothing new out there will replace it for what I do. So, I ordered a new steering gear box for it, and carrying on. Just here today looking for info to sort out the rear defrost. Maybe next year or so, I’ll give it a paint job.



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Cheers,

Good girl there, barn doors FTW I miss them.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Very nice looking truck, particularly for a work horse.

 

[Ben Gatewood]

Something about red OBS tahoes I really like.

 

[NorthernYukon97]

Good girl there, barn doors FTW I miss them.

Very nice looking truck, particularly for a work horse.

Something about red OBS tahoes I really like.

Thank you guys, appreciate the compliments.

I do work it, but I do try to take care of it too.

Just sent in my steering gear to blue top. Hopefully that solves the steering issues. That’s it for the front end, everything else is new. (Edit: I tried a cheap one from rock auto, no luck there, but I did keep my original.)

Merry Christmas,

 

[NorthernYukon97]

Hey, just got my steering gear back from blue top today, It looks really nice.

I’ll update when I get it back on the road.

 

[dkknaebel]

Hey, just got my steering gear back from blue top today, It looks really nice.

I’ll update when I get it back on the road.

View attachment 267213

How long did they take with it? I did a RA box on my two door and I swear it grabs half the time. Even took out the rag joint for the new updated ujoint connector and put a steering stabilizer in and I swear it is still like steering through mud

 

[NorthernYukon97]

How long did they take with it? I did a RA box on my two door and I swear it grabs half the time. Even took out the rag joint for the new updated ujoint connector and put a steering stabilizer in and I swear it is still like steering through mud

It took 3 weeks, I’m in Canada - cross border shipping etc, and that was over the Christmas holidays. fast in my opinion.

I tried a rock auto one as well, Lares. It’s terrible. I kept my original one, that’s the one I sent to blue top.


What is the new rag joint?

 

[dkknaebel]

My original I sent back to RA because it was wore slap out.

This is the rag joint replacement
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RXQDKT3?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

We went to the junkyard, found an upper shaft that looked decent and did the modification to the end to make everything fit and then installed it in FrankenBetty

 

[east302]

How long did they take with it? I did a RA box on my two door and I swear it grabs half the time. Even took out the rag joint for the new updated ujoint connector and put a steering stabilizer in and I swear it is still like steering through mud

I’d go with a Bluetop or Redhead before anything else. Bluetop had outstanding customer service (you’re pretty much dealing with the owner - we emailed back and forth on a Sunday with him answering questions that I had) and I had no issues with mine. I had a redhead on a Bronco a while back and had no problems with it, either.

Can’t say the same for a reman Delco that I bought that was bad out of the box. The paint was shiny, but that appeared to be the extent of the “remanufacturing” process.


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