2013 GMC Yukon XL 2500 - moving up from 2001 GMC Yukon XL Denali

[jsoltren]

Awesome! My wife is Cat 1 mtb, I was always Cat 2 but might to Cat 1 this year with her just to help with start time logistics. Have 4 young kids, last year my 8 year old boy was racing Junior 10-14 class, and two of my girls did some kids races. I go overboard customizing kids bikes

Our oldest is 5 and hasn't quite mastered a two wheeler yet.

I just read your build thread. Thanks for sharing. I'll probably keep mine bone stock. Cute that you put the 2500 HD badge on yours. I'm considering a "Texas Edition" badge for mine. Does yours have a second row bench or bucket seats? With four kids I'm guessing you went buckets?

I wanted the bench because with three kids you can put them in row 2, remove row 3, and get maximum cargo payload and space. But I caved and got a local one.

I'll talk about my purchase in a later post. I "only" had to drive 90 minutes to San Antonio and spend 11:30am to 6:30pm at the dealer with the family to get everything sorted. I thought about getting an old cop car 2500 in Chicago - sure glad I didn't with that polar vortex! Mine's a one owner Texas truck, as clean as they get (don't think it was garaged, though).

We don't own any mountain bikes. Maybe one day.

 

[Matt_]

I just read your build thread. Thanks for sharing. I'll probably keep mine bone stock. Cute that you put the 2500 HD badge on yours. I'm considering a "Texas Edition" badge for mine. Does yours have a second row bench or bucket seats? With four kids I'm guessing you went buckets?

I have 2nd row bench because I wanted room for 2 additional passengers. Honestly wish they had a first row bench in a higher trim package...

 

[kbuskill]

i havent seen those gas prices in over 10 years in my area. regular is over $3 here

Well you do live in Taxifornia.... lol

 

[jsoltren]

I have 2nd row bench because I wanted room for 2 additional passengers. Honestly wish they had a first row bench in a higher trim package...

It's not that hard to find a second row bench if that's what I'm after. Easier than finding the truck in the first place that's for sure. I figured if the captain's chairs ended up being too troublesome, I could easily find a bench from any GMT900 SUV and pop it in. The color match would be tricky, and I'd likely lose power fold and seat heaters. Oh well.

Does the first row jump seat not fit with higher level trim driver/passenger seats?

 

[Matt_]

My 2nd row bench has power fold and heaters.... I bet you'd be able to keep them if you found an equivalent trim to swap.

I've never looked into fitting a 1st row jump seat. I guess it could be done but I don't think they made them in leather so itll be a lot more work to make it match; not worth the money and effort for one more seat... plus I'll NEVER give up my cooled seat (a feature I didnt know I wanted till I owned one lol)

 

[Mickey_7106]

Well you do live in Taxifornia.... lol

no kidding.

 

[jsoltren]

My 2nd row bench has power fold and heaters.... I bet you'd be able to keep them if you found an equivalent trim to swap.

I've never looked into fitting a 1st row jump seat. I guess it could be done but I don't think they made them in leather so itll be a lot more work to make it match; not worth the money and effort for one more seat... plus I'll NEVER give up my cooled seat (a feature I didnt know I wanted till I owned one lol)

A decent leather shop should be able to fabricate compatible covers. GM's leather colors are well known and readily available to upholsterers. At least the GMT900s have a single tone of leather. My Denali had two tone leather and one of the colors was discontinued. I found this out the hard way after I paid $$$ for new driver's seat covers, and $$$ to have them installed, only to realize that the base was synthetic leather and not real leather.

There are what look like leather covers for the jump seats available on the big auction site.

 

[gooffeyguy]

I have 2nd row bench because I wanted room for 2 additional passengers. Honestly wish they had a first row bench in a higher trim package...

How does a 2nd row bench get you room for 2 additional passengers over buckets?

My 2001 has a 2nd row bench but only 3 seatbelts/room for 3

2001 Yukon SLT
2012 Yukon Denali XL
2011 Yukon Denali RIP 5/20/18

 

[Matt_]

How does a 2nd row bench get you room for 2 additional passengers over buckets?

My 2001 has a 2nd row bench but only 3 seatbelts/room for 3

2001 Yukon SLT
2012 Yukon Denali XL
2011 Yukon Denali RIP 5/20/18

2 additional passengers in addition to our family of 6, not 2 additional passengers over buckets. With buckets we can only bring 1 more person. So say I'm watching one of our pairs of nieces/nephews (my sis has 2 kids and SIL has 2 kids), we'd need to take 2 vehicles anywhere. Or same with bringing my parents out.

 

[swathdiver]

2 additional passengers in addition to our family of 6, not 2 additional passengers over buckets. With buckets we can only bring 1 more person. So say I'm watching one of our pairs of nieces/nephews (my sis has 2 kids and SIL has 2 kids), we'd need to take 2 vehicles anywhere. Or same with bringing my parents out.

Nobody has stuffed 9 or more kids in theirs before? I'm married to a Puerto Rican woman, our seven passenger van regularly hauled 7-9 or more around! LOL Back in the 1970s, we kids used to ride in the back of our dad's pickups cause most of them just had a bench so the 3-4 adults would squeeze in there together and the rest of us piled into the bed, fun days! Don't think we've had more than seven in the truck yet though come to think of it.

 

[Matt_]

Nobody has stuffed 9 or more kids in theirs before? I'm married to a Puerto Rican woman, our seven passenger van regularly hauled 7-9 or more around! LOL Back in the 1970s, we kids used to ride in the back of our dad's pickups cause most of them just had a bench so the 3-4 adults would squeeze in there together and the rest of us piled into the bed, fun days! Don't think we've had more than seven in the truck yet though come to think of it.

That gets you thrown in jail these days.

....hell I fit 12 people in my crew cab pickup (not including the bed btw) back in college, but I was a lot dumber with a lot less to lose back then lol

 

[intheburbs]

Anyone seen this before? Notice the seating capacity. The OEM seat in my Suburban was the Escalade two-seater. So technically, my Suburban only seats 6. I went onto eBay and bought a normal three-person third row just so I could carry 7.

 

[gooffeyguy]

My brother and I used to wrestle in the back-back floor (no flip up seat) of my parents Country Squire Station Wagon all the time while our two older sisters sat in the back seat. Yup, brown with the wood paneling down the sides. It was the 70's Tahoe/Yukon, just not as tall.... Lol

2001 Yukon SLT
2012 Yukon Denali XL
2011 Yukon Denali RIP 5/20/18

 

[jsoltren]

My wife is a bit safety paranoid and thus everyone must have a seatbelt. At least in our new 2500 everyone can get a shoulder belt. Fancy!

Meanwhile, in the Philippines...

 

[jsoltren]

Loving this truck so far. But it does have nearly 100k miles on it which means it needs some work. I'm ordering the parts myself to save a few pennies. I'll ask a buddy to help me with the work at some point, it's all fairly easy stuff.

So far on the list we've got:

Replace burned out amber indicator bulb on passenger side
Oil change, oil filter
Transmission fluid change, fluid filter and oil pan gasket
Transfer case fluid
Spark plugs (preventive maintenance - I don't have any service records)
Level front suspension to correct height by adjusting torsion bars - PPI said they were 2” low
Replace front shocks and rear shocks with KYB Monomax (the right rear is busted)
Replace front and rear brake pads and rotors (see here: https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/brake-pads-and-rotors-for-2013-yukon-xl-2500-4wd.109841/)
Chassis and ball joint lubrication.

I saw that these trucks can have a cabin air filter added but don't from the factory. Bummer. The 2001 Denali had a cabin air filter. I need to look around - surely someone here has done it and posted. If not I will eventually.

GM suggests a coolant flush every 150k mi or 5 years. I don't know if the fluid was done, it looks new but is a little low. Should I just flush that out while I'm at it too?

 

[intheburbs]

Are you going to change front and rear diff fluids?

 

[swathdiver]

That gets you thrown in jail these days.

....hell I fit 12 people in my crew cab pickup (not including the bed btw) back in college, but I was a lot dumber with a lot less to lose back then lol

Growing up I remember constantly flopping over the bench seat from front to back with my brother and sister like monkeys to keep ourselves busy. Laying in the footwells with our ear on the driveshaft hump listening to the road noise, the heat of the transmission and engine when crawling under the dash... The Commies hadn't invented those monstrosities of child car seats yet. Now they have them for dogs!

What do my kids remember most about my old F150? Riding in the bed with their friends!

Jose, don't forget those differentials. Change the coolant too. Cabin filter easy to do, my daughter did mine for me. So if a teenage girl can do it...

Pull the rear taillights straight back! I busted the top pin on each of mine because I angled it a bit while pulling backwards on it. Still went back together ok. I replace my bulbs in pairs at least.

Inspect and exercise your spare tire hoist. Lube the slip yoke splines too.

 

[jsoltren]

Are you going to change front and rear diff fluids?

Wasn't planning on it since the pre-purchase inspection revealed that the diff fluids were in good condition. May as well. Looks like 6 quarts of 75W90 should be plenty.

 

[jsoltren]

These are all really good points:

don't forget those differentials

May as well, it'll only add 10 minutes if we're already up on stands. Any favorite fluids? A buddy is coming over Monday so no time for a mail order. All the major auto parts stores and Walmart are within three miles of the house.

Change the coolant too.

Yeah, that's on the list now. Everything I've seen says DEX COOL last 5 years and 100k miles. But the coolant looks pretty fresh, I wonder if this was already done. I'll get a buddy to help me verify.

Cabin filter easy to do, my daughter did mine for me.

That's on the list too. I need to figure out how to remove the center console trim panel that blocks the access to the bolt to the cover you need to remove to get there, and budget time for cleaning out that cavity.

Inspect and exercise your spare tire hoist. Lube the slip yoke splines too.

For sure. I'd love to have a full sized spare - so I may look to see if there are any cheap single wheels available and get a like tire for it, since I think all the other tires are new. I'd really like for tire rotations to be through the spare, like they are on Jeeps - why don't we all do this?

 

[intheburbs]

You do have a fullsize spare.