When replacing stock bags snowballs into a Long Travel '04 Denali

[slow4dr]

I know it's been forever since I've updated the thread. Life gets in the way. Meanwhile the Wife is driving around with stock front suspension and fiberglass fenders. Luckily, she doesn't care. Anyways, finally got the skid plate cut, bent and mounted.

Summer is coming up and I almost have the Lexus driveable again so the time to take the Denali apart to build the front end is approaching fast.

 

[CamReynolds]

Open headers needed to complete any long travel build...

 

[blurred]

Oh I like this thread.

Really makes me want those fenders.

 

[slow4dr]

I picked up some Locked Offroad 2.5" Air bumps at the Leduc Off-Road swap meet. Check out how I mounted them into the frame.

 

[tgui]

Great vid quality. I subscribed. Have a page for your Lexus build? ISF owner checking in.

 

[slow4dr]

Great vid quality. I subscribed. Have a page for your Lexus build? ISF owner checking in.

I lost my password for my.is when the whole changeover happened. So it hasn't been updated in a few years. I am working on a new video for that car as well. Going center exit exhaust and building a diffuser for it. Most updates are on IG under slow3dr.

 

[Texinteg]

Need more updates

 

[slow4dr]

We finally mounted some tires on the KMC Machette single beadlock wheels. The truck fills out the front fenders a lot better with these. 17x9 (I believe 0 offset)

Once again this project just keeps getting put on the back burner. Well, unfortunately, this time it's fate is uncertain. Since I last posted we have broken a driver side axle, broken another driver side hub, and most recently broken a passenger side hub. Each time this **** happens, I basically replace everything up front. This hub that just broke had maybe 1000 miles on it. This time we were lucky it was only at 20 or so mph. It ripped the caliper off the knuckle, broke the spindle and the wheel landed under the truck. The Wife did a great job of keeping her composure and got the truck off the side of the road with the wheel/tire as a crutch.


*Note* the tire wear in roughly 1000 miles

Needless to say, something is clearly not happy with the front end right now. I gave up and just ordered a 4" lift for it hoping to correct CV angles(which is where I believe the problem lies). This was after extensive searching for a 1500 diff drop. Quite honestly, reading the internets for such products is quite interesting. Comment after comment about how the upper ball joints fail and the CV angle is fine after blah blah blah amount miles. Ball joints have never been a problem for me, just these damn axles and hubs. To add to my confusion there are diff drop kits for 2500's all over the place.

I still have the NNBS axles I bought years ago sitting in a box in the garage. Again, with the hopes of making custom arms roughly 2" wider. The 4" lift currently on order is not where I wanted this truck to be but I am backed into a corner. This is my Wife's daily driver and she loves the truck but I can't in good conscious let her drive it this way anymore. With my back up car also not drivable this has left us with one vehicle.

During this time (covid) parts availability has been an issue so the lift kit delivery date just keeps getting pushed back. In the meantime we looked and found an '02 2500 Suburban 6.0 in good mechanical condition, with great paint but the interior was thrashed. So we found a couple donor vehicles and made it super nice inside as well.

With the pressure off my shoulders now I can focus on the Yukon. I think now the Yukon will go to my Son (currently only 13 years old). Call it a project I guess but he loves the Yukon also but it damn well better be safe.

 

[slow4dr]

The Suburban is now going to open up a whole new can of worms. The Wife is already looking at a cat eye conversion for it. I'm just over here trying to figure out how to get 15" of travel out of it. For those wondering, this truck is 2wd.

 

[slow4dr]

Wouldn't be here posting without more drama. The Suburban was stolen from that exact spot out of our driveway at 7PM 2 weeks ago. I had made some progress on the Yukon the last few months. Given that the Suburban had taken over the daily duties the pressure to get it done was minimal. Now that the Suburban is gone I am back full time on the Yukon.

So here are some updates.

I received the Rough Country 4" lift (you know, the one they say doesn't work on a Denali). After first round of mock up with the NNBS axles I realized I needed to move the wheelbase. The drive axle was actually angled back going to the hub. Plus, I was sick of the rubbing at the back side of the fender well. So I promptly cut up the brand new RC crossmembers and moved the lower mounts forward 1.25".

Long story but the Cognito Uniball mounts weren't seating deep enough for my liking. While retapering one of the knuckles I messed up the angle. I contemplated replacing that one knuckle and then just said "eff it" and cut the upper ball joint mount off. Certainly not the best option having to weld cast. I captured as much area as possible, properly heat cycled them and also put a thru bolt to hold it all together(just in case).

2nd round of mock up proved to be interesting. I found all kinds of limitations. I had to cut off the factory UCA droop stop in order to clear the tie rod. Now, I had already cut part of it off with the old set-up but now it had to be completely removed. The sway bar is also going to be a restriction within about 3" of full compression. There might be a work around but for now I just lifted it up and out of the way. The lower ball joint is now the full droop restriction. The upper shock mount had to go. I also had to make new lower shock mounts that capture the stock bolt hole but move the new mount out further and lower. This was so that the 10" FOA Coilovers would fit properly. The NNBS axles are damn near perfect for the current situation. At full droop now the axle angle is roughly the same as it was before at ride height. So the bind it had before should be eliminated. Using 9" of shock travel (13.5-14" wheel travel) the CV's move freely everywhere. This is where it will be strapped and bumped, leaving .5" of shock travel at either end of the spectrum.

I sent the fenders and hood out to get painted. I also remounted the skid plate farther down in order to capture the new crossmember.

(roughly 2.5" of clearance between the tire and inner structure with a 33" tire) The plan was to run 35's eventually.

 

[slow4dr]

The LAPD recovered the Suburban. Long story short, we were only allowed 20 minutes to inspect it on site so we decided to bring it home. Upon further inspection I don't think we're going to buy it back. The interior is just destroyed. Plus they covered it in fuel and left a ton of trash in the back. The harness was cut back all the way to the fuse boxes inside. My Wife can't even look at it without seeing red. Unfortunately, it is sitting right outside her kitchen window while we wait for AAA to pick it up.

I spent the last few days working on fabbing the passenger side UCA for the Yukon. This was a ton of trial and error. There isn't any room to spare for the coilover. I also had to cut part of the UCA mount in order to clear the UCA at full compression. I ended up shortening the UCA by about .5" in order to get more negative camber and have a little more caster adjustment. The material is .188w Chro-Moly. My next hurdle is going to be working out tie rods and fixing bump steer.

 

[slow4dr]

Almost a month later and the insurance company still hasn't picked up the Suburban. We couldn't wait any longer to replace it so we pulled the trigger on a '08 Denali XL. The price was right in spite of the ugly wheels and dreadful paint scheme. (Luckily my brother is a painter).

It has a few cosmetic issues on the front fenders and the driver side mirror is broke. Simple fixes but the previous owner had taken very good care of her.

It took me a few days do to our first mod. I made some 1" aluminum lower shock spacers at work. Then we yanked the tires off of the other Yukon's current wheels and installed them on the wheels we had on the Yukon previously. The scrub radius is a little more aggressive so I went ahead and modified the inner fenders and running boards to clear.

I took 2" off the running board.

 

[slow4dr]

What a tease this was. My neighbor has a set of 37" General Grabber's for his Toyota crawler. He let me borrow them for mock up on Bakon and damn did it look good. The reason it's a tease is because I already have a set of 305/70r17's waiting to go on the truck. Maybe some time in the future I will regear it and throw some of these on there.

I am glad I moved the wheelbase forward as far as I did because they actually cleared the rear part of the inner fender.

*Note* This is fully compressed

 

[slow4dr]

The truck moved under its own power for the first time since June 9th last year.

It still requires a few things before it's truly road worthy. Obviously the fenders and hood. They are still at the paint shop.

As you can see the truck is too low up front. These springs were borrowed from our stash at work. They have a combined average of 580# and are 10" long each. I have new springs on order that have a combined average of 725#. The heavier spring is 12" and the lighter spring is 8". This should theoretically raise the front end 2.5"-3" and put the shock back in the mid point of travel at ride height.

I installed the extra pair of Rough Country 4" lift rear shocks. This is temporary until I can make new upper rear shock mounts for the FOA bypasses.

Lastly, I still have to address the inner tie rod mounts. They are currently just roughed in with a couple mock up pieces. The final design will be significantly more robust.

I put up a couple short videos on IG (slow3dr). These next two pics are a screen shot of on throttle and immediately on brakes to see how much it's moving. I'll get a go pro mounted on the bumper tube to watch it more closely.

 

[Geoffsfas10]

Super bitchin build!

 

[slow4dr]

Super bitchin build!

Thanks! I think Mama is going to enjoy mobbing a curb or two in this thing. The Kids too.

 

[89Suburban]

The truck moved under its own power for the first time since June 9th last year.

It still requires a few things before it's truly road worthy. Obviously the fenders and hood. They are still at the paint shop.

As you can see the truck is too low up front. These springs were borrowed from our stash at work. They have a combined average of 580# and are 10" long each. I have new springs on order that have a combined average of 725#. The heavier spring is 12" and the lighter spring is 8". This should theoretically raise the front end 2.5"-3" and put the shock back in the mid point of travel at ride height.

I installed the extra pair of Rough Country 4" lift rear shocks. This is temporary until I can make new upper rear shock mounts for the FOA bypasses.

Lastly, I still have to address the inner tie rod mounts. They are currently just roughed in with a couple mock up pieces. The final design will be significantly more robust.

View attachment 364535

I put up a couple short videos on IG (slow3dr). These next two pics are a screen shot of on throttle and immediately on brakes to see how much it's moving. I'll get a go pro mounted on the bumper tube to watch it more closely.

View attachment 364537

View attachment 364538

That dog is like WTF.

 

[slow4dr]

That dog is like WTF.

She was in it just a minute before as my Wife pulled the Yukon up out of the lower part of the yard. I knew it was going to be a brutal test drive so I kicked her out for her own safety.

 

[87carl]

Any updates on this build?

 

[Trey Hardy]

Do you still have the coil overs in the rear? I have a minor mid travel lifted build on my Tahoe and I never have completed the rear. All I have is a adjustable panhard bar and sway bar links with the 4 link drop brackets I still got to make some beefier 4 link brackets I have Icons up front and I’m pretty happy with them my rear springs are kinda stiff I have normal cheap fabtech shocks in the rear but I want to go with some sort of coil over or resi shocks