My new 97 Yukon 6.5L

[kinglax08]

Alright ladies and gents, here is the 97 Yukon 2 door with 6.5L turbo diesel I picked up a few weeks ago. 136k original miles (I think over stated by 6k because of the little tires on it now). Bought new by a WWII Vet in Georgia who developed dementia/alzheimers and had to stop driving it 2 years ago making me the second owner. I was told it was driven once a month by his wife. Still sounds and drives great. Shifts perfectly, goes in and out of 4wd smooth, cruises straight.

The downfalls:
Tires are worn and starting to crack, not to mention they are little (30 or 31").
A/C is dried out (slow leak), need new o-rings, seals, recharge.
First owner backed into something (dementia) and someone tried to pull out dents and cover with bondo. Would have been better left alone.
Plowed... I think the keys/torsion bars are as low as possible.

My immediate plans:
Tires
Leveling
Alignment
Removing running board

So I need some input on what to do. Do you think I can fit 285/75/16 tires under there? I plan on cranking the torsion bars to level it out and I am not opposed to trimming a bit. Also not too concerned about the ride (its an old truck!).

Any comments, recommendations, feedback is welcome!

 

[foreverfalcon40]

Congrats! Bout time someone had one of these on the boards!

Why level it? Lower it!

 

[Gzes]

No!!!2 dont lower!!! Yes 285s fit with a level and i would go ahead and pick up a nice grille guard. My 2dr has custom front lights maybe you wanna go there? Hids look sexy

 

[andrewlee]

Nice! Lets,see,some,under,hood,pics!

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk 2

 

[noJeepshere]

What are your plans for it? Nice score btw.

 

[Donnie Yukonie]

lift it looks awesome

 

[TheBlueBeast]

Jealous, very nice truck. Sounds like quite the find, enjoy. And yes, more pictures for us, please. Drooling over each others trucks is something that happens a lot here.

 

[Phone Man]

Nice find!

 

[SunlitComet]

Congrats! Bout time someone had one of these on the boards!

we have had one all along.

 

[kinglax08]

Alright, I picked up four of what I think are DC1's wrapped in 285/75/16 Mickey Thompson Baja Radial MTX. Tires have about 50-60% tread left on them. Wheels have no curb rash and very little pitting on one wheel. I am hunting down the screws for the center caps (if you know the size/thread please let me know!!!!). $400 for the set I thought was a good deal; pretty sure four Dick Cepek wheels cost that much or more.

I went ahead and took off the running boards when mounting the wheels.

Cranked up the front to give it a level look. I think it is a little too high and bull dogged. Let me know what you think. A buddy of mine does alignments so its not a big deal to drop the front a bit. I think it needs to come down about half and inch.

As requested, including engine pics.