XLDenali06's Build Thread

[XLDenali06]

Finally got my dead TPMS replaced. That dang message on the DIC had been driving me nuts. I'd bought a new one back in April, but just now got over to a shop to swap them out. The manager at the tire place tried to tell me that reprogramming them would be a pain. Psh. He just didn't know. Lol.

Headed to the tint shop to have them redo my windshield because it had a few wrinkles right at eye level on the driver side - small, but drove me nuts. Then when I got back home I programmed all my TPM sensors. While I was airing up the tires afterwards, I decided to try my hand at cutting off the bolt that keeps the seat from reclining all the way. I still need to grease up the end threads, but I'm really impressed by the difference! I didn't bother with the driver side just yet because it's a pain to try to do using my drill with a dremel cut-off wheel (my dremel broke and I haven't replaced it yet).

My old TPM sensor:


The new one:


The nut that prevents the seats from fully reclining:


The nut once it was finally off:


The newly modified passenger seat fully reclined versus the full recline of the stock driver seat:

 

[XLDenali06]

Shortly after I came in to cool off a bit, the mail ran and my Airaid MIT was here, so I got out there and put that on real quick.



I checked my MAF while I had everything apart. I'm no expert, but that thing looks clean as a whistle to me. Same with the TB. All evidence points to a previous owner that really took care of this truck. 200,000 miles and it don't look like it has half that on it!

 

[adventurenali92]

That airaid setup looks rad! Never knew you could mod the seat to do tha! Now I want to do that haha. First I gotta figure out why it's stuck and won't go all the way to the furthest back sliding position though....

 

[XLDenali06]

That airaid setup looks rad! Never knew you could mod the seat to do tha! Now I want to do that haha. First I gotta figure out why it's stuck and won't go all the way to the furthest back sliding position though....

Yeah, there's a post somewhere in the Tech section on how to do the seat recline mod. Everybody said that on that passenger side the nut was sort of encased within a spring and a plastic cone. There's was nothing like that on mine. Don't know if they did things differently with the Denali. Who knows with GM. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to find no cumbersome extras under there - just the nut that needed removing. Supposedly the same on the driver side. I haven't checked yet.

Hope you get your seat gremlins figured out. It sucks to have things going on that you don't know why. Lord knows I've run into those types of things with our other cars. So far though, this one has been a gem. Knock on wood!

 

[XLDenali06]

My oil catch can came in the mail today and I got it installed. You should have seen me climbing into my engine bay. My 13 month-old daughter insisted that my husband sit her on the radiator shroud, and then she turned around and wanted to climb in the engine compartment like Mommy. Lol. When I hit finished and he started to carry her back into the house, she just screamed and screamed and pitched the biggest fit. Lol.

My Homelink "bridge" module also came in today, so I got it programmed and working. Added some wire loom over my front camera and light bar wiring. All in all, a pretty good day.

 

[Tonyrodz]

My oil catch can came in the mail today and I got it installed. You should have seen me coming into my engine bay. My 13 month-old daughter insisted that my husband sit her on the radiator shroud, and then she turned around and wanted to climb in the engine compartment like Mommy. Lol. When I hit finished and he started to carry her back into the house, she just screamed and screamed and pitched the biggest fit. Lol.

My Homelink "bridge" module also came in today, so I got it programmed and working. Added some wire loom over my front camera and light bar wiring. All in all, a pretty good day.

View attachment 180286

Looking good. Maybe your little girl wants to learn her way around the engine just like mommy! Lol, not a bad thing.

 

[XLDenali06]

Looking good. Maybe your little girl wants to learn her way around the engine just like mommy! Lol, not a bad thing.

That's what my husband was saying. She's gonna be one of those girls changing the oil with me at 2 years old.

 

[Tonyrodz]

That's what my husband was saying. She's gonna be one of those girls changing the oil with me at 2 years old.

Nothing wrong with that!!

 

[XLDenali06]

Finally did the full recline seat mod to the driver side. Now both sides lay all the way back. If you do this mod, and it doesn't go all the way back, make sure to liberally grease the back threads. Chances are they're dusty and dry as a bone. For now I've just used done wd40, but I'm going to get some lithium grease and put that on there. Also, when you are getting started, lift the seat bottom all the way up to make getting the trim piece off easier.

 

[XLDenali06]

Just ordered Bilstein 5100 shocks for all 4 corners, Moog Z71 springs, 1.5" spring spacers, lift keys, longer front sway bar end links from Moog, spring insulators, resistors for replacing the shocks, and a torsion bar unloading tool. I'm lifting my black beauty up a few inches, and I'm excited!!! Anybody got any tips in general? Or specific to the XL Denali? I feel like I've read and read and read, but still feel a little unprepared. Think I'll need to compress the Z71 springs to get them in place of the 200k+ non-Z71s? Should I get longer rear end links since I'm going with the slightly taller springs plus the 1.5" spacers?