New PPV Owner - A few questions

[Notacop]

Hi All,

I purchased a 2013 Tahoe PPV today and had 2 questions:

1- The door locks were drilled, and the remote was missing. What are my best options here? I am a bit handy, I do not mind replacing the door lock on my own. I have never changed an ignition lock before or programmed a key. Is this fairly easy/straight forward or am I better off going with a professional? Are locksmiths a good option or just suck it up and go to the stealership? Also looking for recommendations on where to purchase these

2- I would like to swap out the front seats for leather/vinyl to match the back seats. What are my options at a junk yard? I would like something plug and play, but the only option we currently have is power seats, no heat or A/C, and I am not looking to change that. Do I need to stick with Tahoe/Yukon or are there other chevy/GMC truck options as well? (suburban, 1500 etc)

Other plans include a center console, DIC, lower suspension, new wheels and roof wrap. Other than that we plan on keeping the truck as is.

Pic of the new ride

 

[Bill 1960]

Shop around. Where I live, the dealer is cheaper for keys and lock parts than the locksmith.

Was the ignition drilled too?

Remote fobs are cheaper on Amazon or EBay. I’m not informed on what, if any, programming difference exists between my year and yours. In general terms, AFAIK, if you have one working key or fob you can self program additional ones. If you have zero, you’ll need a programming tool.

Before you shop seats, find out what years will interchange and maintain compatibility with the SRS system. Someone put a passenger seat in mine that was from a different year and it wasn’t compatible with the seatbelt and airbag controls in the truck. That was a PITA to fix.

 

[Sparksalot]

Nice ride. You might find it’s easier to recover the seats, while replacing the foam. There are many choices on eBay.

in theothertwin, I had one working key, so adding another was easy. I’d just have new door locks matched to you existing key if you can.

 

[Notacop]

Nice ride. You might find it’s easier to recover the seats, while replacing the foam. There are many choices on eBay.

in theothertwin, I had one working key, so adding another was easy. I’d just have new door locks matched to you existing key if you can.

I found a key kit online, and watched a few videos, seems very straight forward to swap both the ignition and door lock. I am going to give that a shot. If all goes well, I will focus on the remotes afterwards.

 

[Notacop]

Shop around. Where I live, the dealer is cheaper for keys and lock parts than the locksmith.

Was the ignition drilled too?

Remote fobs are cheaper on Amazon or EBay. I’m not informed on what, if any, programming difference exists between my year and yours. In general terms, AFAIK, if you have one working key or fob you can self program additional ones. If you have zero, you’ll need a programming tool.

Before you shop seats, find out what years will interchange and maintain compatibility with the SRS system. Someone put a passenger seat in mine that was from a different year and it wasn’t compatible with the seatbelt and airbag controls in the truck. That was a PITA to fix.

The ignition was not drilled, but I would like to have a matching door and ignition key so we dont have to carry around a bunch of different keys.

As for the seats, I am looking for info on exactly what you stated, I would like to find compatable plug and play seats and not mess around with any wiring. I am not sure if that limits me to Tahoe/Yukon of the same year, same body style, are truck seats ok etc.

 

[Bill 1960]

You can go to the dealer and buy a lock to match your existing key, I believe. Not 100% certain on that as I haven’t done specifically that. GM does retain the key code so they can reproduce the original key even without any example to copy from.

For seat compatibility you can get the part numbers for yours from a dealer and ask them what other vehicles and years are in the fit list. There are also some compatibility databases used by the auto recycling industry, but I’d check them against GM before I spent money.

 

[Notacop]

You can go to the dealer and buy a lock to match your existing key, I believe. Not 100% certain on that as I haven’t done specifically that. GM does retain the key code so they can reproduce the original key even without any example to copy from.

Ill check that out, thanks! Replacing just the door lock seems easier than doing both!