The King - a 2002 GMC Yukon XL... 496 CI of STILL not an LS!

Oct 14, 2008
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Melville,Saskatchewan
Agree, there is almost no infrastructure for Natural Gas up here to rural areas. Either Solar, Propane or Heating Oil(Diesel) or Electric for heat, 6 months of the year.
 

ck80

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So here's the transmission oil cooler pan and exhaust routing:

20210308_141019.jpg

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Not a lot of room. Now granted, the temp gauge on the dash didn't seem to get too high on my one trip, but, I also wasn't towing, and I was going easy on the pedal so there wasn't a ton of shift activity or hard work going on.

Just seems pretty tight to me.
 
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Supercharged111

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Oct 25, 2019
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As long as the converter stays locked you'll be hard pressed to cook the fluid. With a big old torquey motor, it'll stay locked. My wee 1500 in sig typically tows 8500# enclosed locked in OD at 180 degrees in the dead of summer. Stop and go will heat it up, but once you hit the highway it cools right back down. Been wanting to put a gauge on my dually too. More out of morbid curiosity, I doubt it gets that hot. What'll you be towing?
 

ck80

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As long as the converter stays locked you'll be hard pressed to cook the fluid. With a big old torquey motor, it'll stay locked. My wee 1500 in sig typically tows 8500# enclosed locked in OD at 180 degrees in the dead of summer. Stop and go will heat it up, but once you hit the highway it cools right back down. Been wanting to put a gauge on my dually too. More out of morbid curiosity, I doubt it gets that hot. What'll you be towing?
Probably stay in the 7500-10k range mostly, and definitely under the 12k rating (for now).

Plan on picking up an undetermined enclosed trailer in the mid 20s for length, seem to run 3500-4200# empty on average from looking around. For now the open trailer is only 2500# empty.

But I plan on having some trucks on/in them that weigh 4500-5000# or so along with loose stuff, beyond the occasional gbody (again, with some piled loose stuff)

I will be crossing some steep sustained grades, mainly in the PA/TN/NC areas dealing with the Appalachian, but nothing crazy like some parts of the rockies.
 
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Texas82GP

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Apr 3, 2015
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So here's the transmission oil cooler pan and exhaust routing:

View attachment 170065

View attachment 170066

Not a lot of room. Now granted, the temp gauge on the dash didn't seem to get too high on my one trip, but, I also wasn't towing, and I was going easy on the pedal so there wasn't a ton of shift activity or hard work going on.

Just seems pretty tight to me.
You might be interested to look at my pan to exhaust clearance in my thread. Post 27....


It looks closer in the pictures than it really is, but it's close.

You might also be interested in the oversized transmission cooler I installed. Post 56....


If I remember correctly, it's rated for 40k lbs. GVW. They are really popular for the GMT800 and 900's especially for towing. It's way too big for me, even with the high stall speed converter. I had to plumb in a thermostatic bypass valve to get it to run up to 160°. Post 104....


Hotrodding it in rush hour traffic on a 100° day and it runs 160°. Just some perspective on transmission temperature.
 
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ck80

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You might be interested to look at my pan to exhaust clearance in my thread. Post 27....


It looks closer in the pictures than it really is, but it's close.

You might also be interested in the oversized transmission cooler I installed. Post 56....


If I remember correctly, it's rated for 40k lbs. GVW. They are really popular for the GMT800 and 900's especially for towing. It's way too big for me, even with the high stall speed converter. I had to plumb in a thermostatic bypass valve to get it to run up to 160°. Post 104....


Hotrodding it in rush hour traffic on a 100° day and it runs 160°. Just some perspective on transmission temperature.
I remember bits of your thread now, but it had escaped my brain until your refresher. Thanks for that, it's a help.

I'd say my pan has about 1/2" or so between the pan and pipe... it just runs around 50% of the perimeter as well as a bonus. :ROFLMAO: if it's been like this for a while, I guess a while longer isn't going to hurt. Meanwhile I'll dig into what other options there are for additional insurance margins on things are. I also prefer to overbuild/acquire rather than ride the knifes edge of pushing to the limits.

Today as it happens was the first full day I've had the new beasty home, we washed the road bugs off and did some light cleaning on it. Then really got underneath for the first time for a few minutes.

I think as we get to spend some time poking around I'll get to piecing the history together some more, or at least know better what I've got here to deal with. The draw tite on the rear had a 2017 manufacture date, so that addition was likely made by the last arkansas owner. I bet the front hitch was too, although I didn't see a data sticker on that one yet.

Today's limited extracurricular activities underneath focused working from rear forwards. Got as far as the trans before calling it quits.

I was very curious about the depth of the rusting issues, and, well.... I was surprised at what I found.

The floors and behind the rockers, behind the rear qtr panels,, pics speak for themselves (excuse the dirt splashes from the ride home, haven't blasted underneath yet):


20210308_141047.jpg

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20210308_141238.jpg

Now, that said, the EXTERNAL surfaces need some help. I though I'd taken pics but I guess not? At least not seeing them in the phone. I'll have to get back to those. There's a rust hole in the driver side quarter in front of the tire about 1" tall and 3" long. A paint blister not through metal by the plastic wheel arch trim. Paint blisters low behind the tire on each side. So as clean and nice the backside of things are, there's some issues there to be had.

Might have to relegate myself to reading, shopping, and research for a few days too unfortunately. Tomorrow is dealing with contractor estimates on sanding/refinishing some 61 year old oak flooring, and painting about half a house. Kills me not to just do it myself, but its at a point i pick my battles and those repairs before selling a property just aren't it. Then the 11th is the 2nd Moderna shot which I hear has an average chance of putting you slightly under the weather for a day or two.
 
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Tuffregal83

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Mar 30, 2016
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My mom and dad had 01 suburban 8.1 4x4 loaded i passed on it in 2015 cause i had my 7.3L crew cab F350
But my buddy bought it and then he moved to Vegas. So now my other buddy has one same year loaded and he might be selling it and i got first dibs on it when he decides to sell it. This will replace the wifes 05 1500 yukon xl with 280k on it
 
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ck80

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What's the real concern with exhaust to pan clearance? You have a trans temp gauge, 160 is money. Mine runs 160 empty in the summer and only goes up 20 degrees loaded.
For lack of a better term, almost a heat soak possibilities? It sounds like a don't worry or upgrade elsewhere but I've never owned anything with that close of contact/clearance, especially with the distance it remained close for. (It was also modified and not that close in factory configuration.)

I was always prone on long trips to do a no-stop long-haul aside from brief gas fillups and go - no hang around and eat or something. As in leave ga in the morning and drive straight through up into New England (or vice versa) on a 15hr drive with nothing but a pair of 10 minute gas stops. Made me wonder if that behavior would lead to heat damage in the trans if it didn't shed as much heat as usual.

Sounds like maybe either doesn't matter, or work around by going even larger than the heavy duty cooling equipment in there...
 
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