My 2005 Yukon XL

DieselSlug · Tuesday at 11:59 AM

Been hearing a bit of a clunk on the Yukon over the last couple days. Finally did some inspections and I have a loose ball-joint on the upper passenger side. Racking my brain, I've been there before, actually on March 30th, 2023 (post #329). Unfortunately I was in a bind, the night before leaving for our 1.2k-mile trip with store shelf options....... Napa quality for you.

I've got a TTX joint on the way from RA, paid extra to ship it quicker as we are going out of town this weekend. It should arrive tomorrow. I need to check and grease the others too. I was looking hard at the Napa Fleet (been discussed here too back in mid-late 2023), but it was nearly 3x the price (2x the price even with 2-day shipping) opposed to the puke green TTX from RA. I'll put all the puke green parts on my rig for that kind of price difference.

So far I am running a TTX pitman arm, and both front hub assemblies with no regrets to date.

ak diesel driver · Tuesday at 9:52 PM

My ttx outer tie rod end didn't last long and the replacement is already got a stiff spot

DieselSlug · Wednesday at 3:39 AM

ak diesel driver said:
My ttx outer tie rod end didn't last long and the replacement is already got a stiff spot

I remember you having issues with some TTX parts. What have you been using for replacement stuff now?

ak diesel driver · Wednesday at 9:07 AM

Pretty much have tried a lot of 5 aftermarket stuff, which is all greaseable. Next thing I'm going to try and find some sealed ones. I had my wife's acura apart here awhile ago and the lube in the sealed joint was more of an oil. Thought about trying like gear oil instead of grease in the greaseable ones

DieselSlug · Wednesday at 7:00 PM

Finally got the CB radio coax crimped and soldered. I've got a issue somewhere, SWR is not happy. Need to test the antenna and coax first for proper grounding.

DieselSlug · Thursday at 1:27 PM

I think I got the SWR issue figured out. For some reason the kit i bought (from Amazon) didn't identify or come with the upper nylon spacer. So essentially the antenna was grounding out. Luckily I had an ancient one kicking around form the high school/college days:

Got the passenger upper joint swapped. The old (merely 2-3 years) one felt HORRIBLE, notchy and gritty.

Got the knuckle all cleaned up and new unit pressed in with corresponding directional dot pointing out. All went well. One comment I have was once fully seated on the top, I installed the circlip below and noticed a little more gap in there than I would prefer. Id say over 1/16-inch closer to 1/8-inch to the eye. Hope that doesn't come back to haunt me.

All fittings greased on the passenger side and I also checked the drivers side and find a really small amount of play in the upper ball joint. I plan to replace that before the trip as well. Really contemplating an alignment as well.

DieselSlug · Friday at 4:05 PM

HOLY@%@&$*$.

This junkyard steering gear is unreal compared to the reman Lares and predecessing Cardone POS. I couldnt be happier, we'll maybe I could. I wish I did this 3 years ago.

MrMarty51 · Saturday at 12:53 AM

ak diesel driver said:
Pretty much have tried a lot of 5 aftermarket stuff, which is all greaseable. Next thing I'm going to try and find some sealed ones. I had my wife's acura apart here awhile ago and the lube in the sealed joint was more of an oil. Thought about trying like gear oil instead of grease in the greaseable ones

Get some cornhead lube.
It is a light grease thats looks and feels like a mix between grease and oil.

https://www.dalube.com/wp-content/uploads/Corn-Head-Grease-2024.pdf

DieselSlug · 2026-03-08T07:04:52-0500

Got pulled over this AM on the way to a wrestling tournament, found out I had a brake light out. Got a full set of Sylvania LED bulbs ordered for the rear, should be here tonight.

monkeywrench0786 · 2026-03-09T13:07:04-0500

DieselSlug said:
Performed the grounding trick, we will see if it improves anything. My backup plan is to get true RCA filters from PAC. Stripped a small piece of wire, wound it tight, and wrapped it accordingly between some local screws.
View attachment 98090
Swapped out my junk Duralast universal plug wires and installed a nice set of GM plug wires I pulled off a clean Yukon at the JY.
View attachment 98091

Also ripped the drivers door apart to replace the heated seat buttons as mine were peeling badly. Still need to find a better #2 button, but in due time.
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Took the time to tear apart the door handle as well because it flops in the breeze and you can hear it inside. I assumed the spring was broken but to my surprise after removal, that's not the case. I did grab a spring and associated hardware form a truck at the JY which I ended up swapping the arm as mine was badly worn. The play ended up being form an improperly adjusted door latch rod. It was holding the arm up a bit resulting in the loose handle. I've adjusted it back down and all seems well.
View attachment 98092
View attachment 98093

Door fun always a joy to find loose parts,some Mickey mouse bs someone thought was a great idea. Or dropped hardware that has the last two nerves left both on full revolt

DieselSlug · 2026-03-09T17:30:35-0500

Been a busy last day, still checking things over....

Belts and pulleys check out ok. I did have some pooling of oil in the intake. I've been getting a puff of white smoke on starts lately whoch I guess is tell tale sight of drivers valve cover/PCV issues. Also found some bad cracks in the PCV rubbers. Replaced with some hose temporarily. I need to get my old catch can plumbed in.