RENAMED!! The adventures of Chase and his 2006 Yukon XL Denali!! Follow along on my travels!

[Fosscore]

Nice adventures and Cali Star Wars link.

Good you got the Denali still cracking along with those maintenance items.

Keep up the good work and history lessons.

 

[adventurenali92]

Story time…. And this one is a real face palm moment….

So I rolled down to Orange County Tuesday to meet up with my sister cuz she’s out here from Tennessee spending a few days helping care for my aunt that lives in villa park while she’s dealing with chemo treatments for colon cancer she just got diagnosed with. Sister and aunt wanted to go out to lunch on a non treatment day to relax and get out of the house. Nali ran great but in the few minutes it took for me to make my exit off the 55 freeway and roll into villa park and like two blocks, I got to pull into the parking lot with a right hand turn and right turn signal flashing fast… like it was fine 5 minutes ago on the freeway… whatever it’s just a bulb failure I’ll handle it after lunch. So after lunch on my way home I stop in corona, which is about half way between the base of the mountain and Orange County to stop off at my detail supplier for a few things. Literally right on my way home. And then Costco for fuel, and theres an autozone right scores the street I forgot was there. Sweet I’ll go grab a bulb since the bulb failure was the bigger bulb on the center of the turn signal lens, not the little corner turn signal, which I have replacements for. Now I know autozone gets a lot of flack for not being so good but the one that opened up in big Bear in I think 2023, has been pretty good. Although lately the staff completely turned over and it’s all gen z kids and its been a weird experience. Except for the one new hire that came on recently that’s quite a lot older, and it’s very clear he knows not a lot about cars in general. lol.

Anyways back to the current story, so I pull into corona autozone, and walk up to the counter, and ask the guy if he can look up which bulb my turn signal takes so I can grab it from the shelf. Give him year make and model and starts looking it up, only to tell me his system is telling him that my front turn signals are not serviceable and that I can’t get a bulb for it….. even he was like “um what?!?? That’s definitely not right and doesn’t make sense….” At any rate I went back outside, pulled the bad bulb and went back in to find 4157 bulbs on the shelf in amber and bought a two pack and swapped the new bulb in.

Suffice to say that yeah we all know the experience of dealing with the parts store guy that isn't the brightest bulb in the pack, but sometimes…. Very rarely…. Sometimes it isn’t his fault and the system set them up to look dumb…. lol. Was an interesting experience that was entirely unexpected to have hahah.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Story time…. And this one is a real face palm moment….

So I rolled down to Orange County Tuesday to meet up with my sister cuz she’s out here from Tennessee spending a few days helping care for my aunt that lives in villa park while she’s dealing with chemo treatments for colon cancer she just got diagnosed with. Sister and aunt wanted to go out to lunch on a non treatment day to relax and get out of the house. Nali ran great but in the few minutes it took for me to make my exit off the 55 freeway and roll into villa park and like two blocks, I got to pull into the parking lot with a right hand turn and right turn signal flashing fast… like it was fine 5 minutes ago on the freeway… whatever it’s just a bulb failure I’ll handle it after lunch. So after lunch on my way home I stop in corona, which is about half way between the base of the mountain and Orange County to stop off at my detail supplier for a few things. Literally right on my way home. And then Costco for fuel, and theres an autozone right scores the street I forgot was there. Sweet I’ll go grab a bulb since the bulb failure was the bigger bulb on the center of the turn signal lens, not the little corner turn signal, which I have replacements for. Now I know autozone gets a lot of flack for not being so good but the one that opened up in big Bear in I think 2023, has been pretty good. Although lately the staff completely turned over and it’s all gen z kids and its been a weird experience. Except for the one new hire that came on recently that’s quite a lot older, and it’s very clear he knows not a lot about cars in general. lol.

Anyways back to the current story, so I pull into corona autozone, and walk up to the counter, and ask the guy if he can look up which bulb my turn signal takes so I can grab it from the shelf. Give him year make and model and starts looking it up, only to tell me his system is telling him that my front turn signals are not serviceable and that I can’t get a bulb for it….. even he was like “um what?!?? That’s definitely not right and doesn’t make sense….” At any rate I went back outside, pulled the bad bulb and went back in to find 4157 bulbs on the shelf in amber and bought a two pack and swapped the new bulb in.

Suffice to say that yeah we all know the experience of dealing with the parts store guy that isn't the brightest bulb in the pack, but sometimes…. Very rarely…. Sometimes it isn’t his fault and the system set them up to look dumb…. lol. Was an interesting experience that was entirely unexpected to have hahah.

Strange. Back in the day when I was growing up the guys behind the counter were pretty knowledgeable--way before computers. That's when they had those huge volumes of parts books lined up on the counter--those were there just in case IF the guy didn't know what you needed. The good old days....
Now when I go for a simple part they ask all kinds of questions---I give them answers to those questions then I finish with--And it's blue--The Tahoe's color. Just to be a wise ass.

 

[adventurenali92]

Strange. Back in the day when I was growing up the guys behind the counter were pretty knowledgeable--way before computers. That's when they had those huge volumes of parts books lined up on the counter--those were there just in case IF the guy didn't know what you needed. The good old days....
Now when I go for a simple part they ask all kinds of questions---I give them answers to those questions then I finish with--And it's blue--The Tahoe's color. Just to be a wise ass.

to be fair, the guy at the corona store didn’t seem like he wasn’t knowledgeable, it was just odd that the computer came up with such an outlandish answer. But to prove your point further, I’ve never seen an autozone dude pull out a parts book and search for the proper answer when the computer didn’t yield the necessary answers. And the guys over at my local NAPA auto parts are a bit older, they’re all very knowledgeable on a lot of different mechanical topics, and MANY times over the years of going in, they’ve pulled those massive parts books out on the counter to search for the right answers if the computer didn’t give it. lol. Autozone has had better prices for a bit there, but lately they have been the same price as NAPA parts and with the guys at NAPA being more helpful I’ve been going back to NAPA more.

 

[willinnashville]

Autozone has had better prices for a bit there, but lately they have been the same price as NAPA parts and with the guys at NAPA being more helpful I’ve been going back to NAPA more.

I was just going to say that here in TN it's always been my experience that the dudes at NAPA know their stuff better than all the other parts stores. They're more expensive, but I would rather pay the few extra $$ to keep that place in business

 

[adventurenali92]

Welp…. Merry Christmas….. in three and a half years of being in my current house and parking in the garage literally every day, and being so very careful, I hit my drivers side mirror against the garage door frame backing out this morning to go to my moms house for Christmas Day…. Ugh…. So annoyed. Just one of many things that went wrong today that was frustrating to deal with. Literally only had this perfect mirror glass on the truck for like 6 months. Gotta try and hit the pick n pull yard in the next couple days cuz it’s already driving me nuts after only one day

 

[willinnashville]

Welp…. Merry Christmas….. in three and a half years of being in my current house and parking in the garage literally every day, and being so very careful, I hit my drivers side mirror against the garage door frame backing out this morning to go to my moms house for Christmas Day…. Ugh…. So annoyed. Just one of many things that went wrong today that was frustrating to deal with. Literally only had this perfect mirror glass on the truck for like 6 months. Gotta try and hit the pick n pull yard in the next couple days cuz it’s already driving me nuts after only one day

Oof! Sorry man, that sucks. Thankfully it was just a mirror

 

[willinnashville]

Just saw news about the storms and landslides happening out your way. Stay safe if you can

 

[Fosscore]

Welp…. Merry Christmas….. in three and a half years of being in my current house and parking in the garage literally every day, and being so very careful, I hit my drivers side mirror against the garage door frame backing out this morning to go to my moms house for Christmas Day…. Ugh…. So annoyed. Just one of many things that went wrong today that was frustrating to deal with. Literally only had this perfect mirror glass on the truck for like 6 months. Gotta try and hit the pick n pull yard in the next couple days cuz it’s already driving me nuts after only one day

Ouch. At least only a mirror. Be safe out West!

 

[Fless]

Welp…. Merry Christmas….. in three and a half years of being in my current house and parking in the garage literally every day, and being so very careful, I hit my drivers side mirror against the garage door frame backing out this morning to go to my moms house for Christmas Day…. Ugh…. So annoyed. Just one of many things that went wrong today that was frustrating to deal with. Literally only had this perfect mirror glass on the truck for like 6 months. Gotta try and hit the pick n pull yard in the next couple days cuz it’s already driving me nuts after only one day

We're lucky to find an exterior mirror at all on an NBS in our 5 UPulls, much less an intact mirror glass.

 

[adventurenali92]

Yeah at least it’s just the glass. No damage to anything else. This rain hitting us is just another blow to the already unseasonably warm and dry winter ski season. It’s been rough. Thankfully up in the mountains here we escaped any major flooding, damage, power outages. So far just lots of rain and wind but for the first time in 21 years of living on the mountain, we saw both our local ski resorts, bear mountain, and snow summit, which is now big bear mountain resorts, closed on Christmas Day. My department director says never has she seen the resorts close on her 50 year career at the resort. Must nuts.

Was thinking I might have ended up only teaching half a day today as I had a private request lesson, but nothing else booked, but surprisingly Snow Summit was ridiculously busy while Bear was closed and the manager that I work under over at Snow Summit asked me to end up staying all day so I got a full day pay which is pretty good. Gonna have to try and get down to the pick and pull yard in the next couple of days.

 

[05Single]

Welp…. Merry Christmas….. in three and a half years of being in my current house and parking in the garage literally every day, and being so very careful, I hit my drivers side mirror against the garage door frame backing out this morning to go to my moms house for Christmas Day…. Ugh…. So annoyed. Just one of many things that went wrong today that was frustrating to deal with. Literally only had this perfect mirror glass on the truck for like 6 months. Gotta try and hit the pick n pull yard in the next couple days cuz it’s already driving me nuts after only one day

Did the same on my Tahoe. Backed in a hair too close and the angle binded the mirror against the garage door frame and shattered the glass. I think I was in that house for 4 years when I did
It. I felt super dumb, couldn’t even be mad cause it was my fault.

 

[adventurenali92]

Did the same on my Tahoe. Backed in a hair too close and the angle binded the mirror against the garage door frame and shattered the glass. I think I was in that house for 4 years when I did
It. I felt super dumb, couldn’t even be mad cause it was my fault.

Same…… super dumb mistake and I’m like really I just did that?!?

 

[adventurenali92]

been kinda weird week. Got more pouring rain on Wednesday and Thursday. Was hoping for some extra hours at the resort Tuesday-Thursday but no such luck. Took off and booked it down the mountain Tuesday and ended up hitting the San Bernardino, Rialto, Fontana, and riverside yards as they all had promising high trim level trucks hoping to score a DL3 drivers side mirror glass. None of the yards further out from the base of the mountain had anything promising. No dice. ALL of the promising tricks were picked over. One Denali in the Rialto yard had a driver side mirror intact, and one Denali in the Fontana yard had glass intact but both were cheap aftermarket replacement glass that didn’t have the big black plastic trim surround on the glass the signifies the auto dim feature. So I didn’t grab them. BUT….. I scored a really good condition lower drivers seat cushion out of the Denali in the Fontana yard. Looked like it had been replaced fairly recently. Couldn’t believe the yard only charged me $18 for the leather! Small top side leather crack in the side bolster piece but nothing a little quick leather dye wont fix. Of course though when I took my seat out to make the swap, the side control panel got jacked….. the little plastic “studs” attached to back side of the panel, where the mount screws thread through, broke….. why does everything have to be plastic?!?!

 

[adventurenali92]

My lower cushion has seen better days lol

 

[adventurenali92]

Replacement cushion isn’t perfect but looks much better. For now. Got a whole custom seat project I’m trying to figure out but still need to get some extra income to pay for new parts but for now I’m happy with my drivers seat. Gave the whole seat including the track pieces a good steam clean and the a fresh coat of conditioner on the leather before putting back into the truck. Vacuumed the carpets underneath the seat as well. Bolted back in. The left rear bolt hole on the seat frame isn’t exposed all the way because the seat stops short of moving all the way forward on its track, been like that several years now and i still can’t figure out why it won’t push all the way forward. Which is sort of the reason I’m also attempting these custom seat project but more on that later.

 

[adventurenali92]

Also happened to find an LS 04 the with the exact same LED tails that I’m running, but with a white lens LED wrap around bar instead of a red lens one like mine have. My LED wrap around bars have been flickering for over a year now. Little dark spots where a bulb or two don’t light up happen all the time but it’ll move around and have a dark bulb or two or three in different places depending on the day. I just don’t understand why everything is made so cheaply nowadays. Yard charges me $40 a piece warranty included for the tails. Plugged em in on the back end of the truck before leaving the yards parking lot to verify they work and they are all in working order. Not a bad deal considering I spent I think a little over $200 for my tails new. Lenses polished up pretty nicely but whoever ran these on their Tahoe before it hit the yard didn’t plug the harness cover into the holes on the backside of the tails so the inside of the lenses are dirty and dusty. Working on how to get it all cleared out, tried using a little steam and then blowing it out with compressed air which helped a little but not much. Tried putting the vacuum hose to the hole where the reverse light goes in and sucking the dirt out but again not much success. Anyone got any ideas on how to get it out short of separating the lens from the housing? I tried that once years back with a set of housings and destroyed the lenses….. so not sure I wanna attempt that again. I know the permatex sealed OEM headlight housings will come apart with a plasma cutter, as Dave has done that for me a couple times. But I don’t got one of those lol. Though I’d love to learn how to use one.

 

[adventurenali92]

Well life has given me no shortage of non-dull moments lately. Two mondays ago took the truck down to Long Beach to the Queen Mary for a 6:30am sunrise harbor cruise to see the QM2 pull in along side the original Mary for a quick meet up and water cannon salute on her way into LA world cruise terminal for her LA stop on her 108 day world cruise. Well…. Knucklehead me over slept by an hour and got stuck in SoCal’s famous morning rush hour traffic at 5:30 in the dang morning. I love California but I really hate that it’s so dang difficult to get anywhere these days without sitting in endless traffic jams… missed the sunrise cruise by about 40 minutes. Really sucked. But…. My harbor cruise included entry onto the Queen Mary and they allowed everyone with day tickets to go up on deck for the festive occasion despite the ship not opening up til 10am. I made it up onto the stern observation deck just as they were doing the water cannon salute and sounding off the horns. It was still pretty cool to see. What blew my mind though was that carnival has their heads in the sand and couldn’t be bothered to adjust the schedule for their ugly A-S-S cruise shipped dock at the carnival terminal. I can’t believe that carnival, who apparently is the parent company over Cunard couldn’t figure out the logistics to make it special and get the other ship out of the way. Even had I been on the harbor cruise the waterside photos of the 2 queens really wouldn’t have been all that spectacular with carnival in the way. Honestly the best shots I saw of the two ships were from all the news choppers circling over head. Anyways overall still a fun experience because I got to see the two ships, and realized I hadn’t actually been onboard the Queen Mary since I was about 10…. And back then mom and her at the time partner decided that the only part of the ship they were gonna show me, despite loving all things ship related to early 1900s was to take me on the haunted engine room tour. Apparently her partner decided I needed to “man up more” and that’s how he was gonna make that happen. I made it through the first class swimming pool portion, and absolutely lost it the minute the doors closed in the engine room and it was dark. Scared the bejeezuz out of me lol. Only learned after this trip, from mom that that was the reason we went on the engine room tour back then when I shared with her I realized I’d never seen the rest of the ship.. lol. So this time I took my time cruising around the ship and seeing everything. Despite not being anywhere near her former glory thanks to the 1960s hotel conversion the Mary is still a wonderful place to check out.

 

[adventurenali92]

Knew I needed to be up on the bow of the ship to catch the first morning sound off of the horns at ships opening….. my inner little kid was jumping for joy sitting there listening….

 

[adventurenali92]

And of course gotta take truck pics with the beautiful ship. After touring around, I drove over to the world cruise terminal and snap a few photos of QM2.