HD Hood Swap

[Sub]

Still nobody has done this for a Yukon? What "trimming" is needed? Is it just a little cutting, or cutting AND fabricating? I 'd like to get a white hood, but if i need to repaint etc its just not gonna be worth all that. Who can tell me exactly what was needed to make the hood fit the Yukon...

People HAVE done it to GMC's, including Yukons. Maybe there is no one around here right now who has done it, but it has been done, many times. In fact, it has been done to all three faces of the GMC NBS front styling, including

1. The original GMC pickup truck, and all year Yukon and Yukon XL style.

2. The Denali Yukon, YukonXL, and C3 successor luxury pickups.

3. The 2003-2007 classic GMC pickup truck, with the updated grille style.

There is no way you will be able to get the HD hood to fit ANY of the three GMC front end styles without cutting and folding the hood. Even if you don't refold the edge over the headlights, and simply cut the scallop and try and bondo the edge closed, you still will have to cut... and cutting sheet metal means painting and refinishing, period.

Rolling the edge... meaning lapping the top visible surface stamping down around under the structrual rib stamping, is important because rain or dew on the hood will roll downwards with gravity, and cling like icicles and dew drops on the edge that is cut. Capiliary action will wick the water clinging to that drip edge up inside any pinhole imperfection in the reweld or the sealant betwen the inner and outer panel stampings of that hood, where corrosioni will occur. That's why a rolled edge, like the factory, is best. It is also the hardest part of the mod for a GMC, by FAR.

For Tahoes and Sierras, it is an easy swap. For GMC's it is definitley doable, and most certainly has been done, but it will require journeyman body shop skills in panel beating, forming, and finishing, not just painting.

To see plenty of examples of the HD hood on a GMC, simply google those three terms, using Image search. Lot's of low riders. Lots and lots of low riders in short bed pickups.

 

[Adirk]

So, since i have a gmc yukon xl, if I was wanting to do this swap I should find a body shop in town who would do it for me?

 

[Forrest2002hoe]

has anyone thought of doing the 2003 silverado front end

 

[southboundchicken]

has anyone thought of doing the 2003 silverado front end

Oh yeah....... Lots of cat eye swaps out there

---------- Post added at 09:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:28 PM ----------

So, since i have a gmc yukon xl, if I was wanting to do this swap I should find a body shop in town who would do it for me?

Yes sir you will either have to know how to do it or be prepared to pay a experienced body man

 

[Adirk]

[/COLOR]
Yes sir you will either have to know how to do it or be prepared to pay a experienced body man[/QUOTE]

soooo now the question becomes, any idea on what money id be shelling out, not including the hood.

 

[Sub]

That really depends on the professional you find to do the work. Only the person you request a bid from can answer that. I've read one estimate of 10 hours to measure, pattern, cut, separate, fold, reweld, fill and prep for paint. That doesn't count the hood, nor the painting time, nor the paint itself.

Do the math... 10 hours times $100.00 shop time (minimum) is a $1,000.00. A new factory GM hood is $400.00. And it costs $400 in paint materials just to fill the gun. Prime the corners that got worked, base it, and clear it, plus sanding supplies etc. And then the painter needs to get paid. So retail, it looks like about $2,000.00 estimate.

Which is why you have to ask locally. Most guys I've read online did NOT pay 2 grand. They had a buddy do it. They traded favors. They already got in a wreck and had an open insurance claim, and just kicked in a few hundred extra in cash to pay for the deviation over what insurance would pay. They cut it themselves, and took it in for paint only. Their brother in law hooked them up. Everyone's story is different.

I'm in the same boat... looking for a competent body shop worker who knows how to fold an edge on a compound curved angle. I've seen them done right, but most of the ones I've seen I would not be happy with. I'll happily pay more for a job that looks and functions like factory. It's just hard to find a competetent professional. Nowadays, everything is speciallized. A good painter is not necessarily a panel beater. The skill and art involved in either task is different from each other, even though both artisans may be found in the same shop.

So, in sum, I've read people paid anywhere from $200 out of pocket when the HD hood was added in coordination with an accident and open insurance claim, to about a $2000 retail estimate at a body shop. I imagine the real cost might range anywhere inbetween.

 

[HELLAbeefy]

has anyone thought of doing the 2003 silverado front end

i will be doing this swap on my 01 tahoe within the next week, i managed to find a guy thru a friend who is parting out a work truck he picked up for the motor and trans just trying to make some cash back off it. $300 for the full front swap. if you have a welding machine and grinder its not bad at all, you have to raise the bumper mounts 2-2.5" the fenders, hood, grill, all direct bolt on the head lights you need the cat eye buckets to mount them to your oem rad support.

 

[blazerjohnny94]

great right up! might also add it fits suburbans also because i know it will still be asked jaja..heres a quick before and after just to see the difference it makes

before:


after:

When doing the 99-02 2500hd grille swap are the black plastic headlight mounting areas required? I know center bar is thicker but not sure if it will direct swap without changing headlight mounting area. I'm also searching for a oem 99-02 2500hd grille chrome center if anyone knows of anyone thanks

 

[4WDTRK]

@ blazerjohnny94 looks GREAT!

 

[Hickory]

Does anyone know if a Tahoe hood will fit an HD Silverado? I've got a friend with a farm truck that could care less which hood is on it. If I could swap it out with my Tahoe's that would be a nice little score.