2005 Denali Restoration

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John Youngman

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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.IMG_20200428_181337729_HDR.jpg IMG_20200428_181348249_HDR.jpg IMG_20200628_103158538_HDR.jpg IMG_20200628_083539912_HDR.jpg IMG_20200628_083647060_HDR.jpg
 
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John Youngman

John Youngman

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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
 
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John Youngman

John Youngman

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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.
 
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John Youngman

John Youngman

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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

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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.
 
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