Minus the cross member, that's how I did mine too. But since I had to dig that deep to do the cam, I just rolled new bearings in and that was the extent of the work I was committed to at the time. No bodywork for this guy, that stuff is spendy and tedious. Take a gander to the southwest for a rot free rig.
The King - a 2002 GMC Yukon XL... 496 CI of STILL not an LS!
- Thread starter ck80
- Start date
- Status
Minus the cross member, that's how I did mine too. But since I had to dig that deep to do the cam, I just rolled new bearings in and that was the extent of the work I was committed to at the time. No bodywork for this guy, that stuff is spendy and tedious. Take a gander to the southwest for a rot free rig.
Yeah, I'm really kicking myself because my CDs weren't up and I'd found a 40k mile truck in dark blue that had the sun&sound package I like, it was just a few months early so I missed out on a great deal.
The truck only has cosmetic rust - inner rockers, inner lower quarter dropoffs, all rust free. But it trapped the sand behind (which I basically vacuumed all of out) that let some cosmetic exterior rust happen.
I've even thought about cutting out the rust and drilling spot welds, crimping a recessed flange, and just panel bonding a replacements on then giving it a 442-style silver lower 6" maybe even with the textured rock guard in it. And if I clean it up without the liners and see some rust behind the narrow yukon fender flares I could go to the wide 4" suburban version after cleaning it up.
The other option is if we buy northern land to get some Sugarbush again it'll be a good plow truck.
So yeah, for now it's probably "send it" and see what happens.
Things have been quiet on The King front.
We need to spend some time and attention on it. Today broke down and replaced the tires on it with new.
Same tire, same size, only difference is we had the OWL letter installed outwards on the new set. Michelin Defender LTX LT265/75/16s, Load E 123/120r.
The white letter thing is a personal taste, if outdated to most. Going to go after the balancing later.
Wound up being $150 off the set, and included lifetime balancing, repair, rotations, and a 5-year non-prorated road hazard warranty as long as more than 2/32 tread remains. Total out of pocket price was $239 per tire, counting all taxes and fees.
We need to spend some time and attention on it. Today broke down and replaced the tires on it with new.
Same tire, same size, only difference is we had the OWL letter installed outwards on the new set. Michelin Defender LTX LT265/75/16s, Load E 123/120r.
The white letter thing is a personal taste, if outdated to most. Going to go after the balancing later.
Wound up being $150 off the set, and included lifetime balancing, repair, rotations, and a 5-year non-prorated road hazard warranty as long as more than 2/32 tread remains. Total out of pocket price was $239 per tire, counting all taxes and fees.
I have those on the wife's Envoy, not impressed. I'll be going with something else this time. They never wowed me with traction anywhere and definitely didn't wow me with longevity.
They're pretty good in heavy standing rain on pavement which is what matters in these parts. Good braking performance as well.
Also might be a difference between the p-series passenger tires and the LT series 10 ply tires... I'd be surprised if the Envoy had anything but the p series type... but who knows?
There's no snow, no mud, no off road to engage in anyways. It's all blacktop and protected beaches.
As for longevity... too many cars and trucks. We replace all the tires from age long before they wear to their limits.
I've got a set of the old ltx m/s2s on one of the trucks that are still 90% tread but are 2014 manufacture dated. Maybe in spring (or if there's cause to use it more than a couple miles away sooner) it'll get a new set of something. Those tires I did like, and did use in snow.
I have heard the new defenders aren't as good as the old m/s2. I haven't spent enough miles on them to really tell. But the rubber stands up to the high blacktop temps here pretty well for us
I do agree though, if you were going to drive in snow I'd be picking a different lug pattern of a old school style type I like better. But for trailer pulling on southern roads the michelins seem to do pretty well.
Last edited:
They're XL, so I'm guessing a load range C? They're not P tires. They're not great in snow like you mentioned, but they flat wore out quick. Maybe it's our asphalt roads? I was expecting a longer life. The 245/60/18 size doesn't offer much, I think I'm between some Wranglers and Toyo Open Country at the moment.
Im bored, it's a slow night..
looked it up out of curiosity... XL is an "extra load" subset of p-metric design tires, but not an LT series that carries additional plies.
The 245/60/18s are listed by michelin as a 105H 41psi load rating.
2039lb per tire, 130mph speed. But not the heavier construction LT style tire. It's an odd sized/rated tire from the looks of things.
That's a long way of saying the ones you're running are somewhat softer, somewhat different animal than the trucky ones construction wise. But still not rated for heavy snow conditions or really cold weather.
Tread ought to perform the same, but can't speak to sidewall manners.
Looks to be a bit lighter than a 'C' class truck tire, little lower operating pressure maximum.
Many years ago we ran Wranglers on the 87 burban. I'm talking around late 1990s. Tread pattern hasn't changed much since then, it was a cheap tire to us at the time. Actually still is. Bought a dirt cheap pair new for the redneck trailer last month.
The Cooper discoverer line used to do good for us though.
I put the Coopers on both of my trucks and winter is coming, that will give me an idea of whether or not I'll buy them again. But everyone rants and raves about how good they are so I'm looking forward to it. I wasn't seeing what I wanted in the Coopers, seems I have a dumb crossover sized wheel/tire combo on a full framed 5000+# SUV. I'll try and avoid XL in the future where possible now that you dug that little nugget up. Her sidewalls do have the snowflake/mountain logo on them though so I expected better snow manners.
I heard cooper's went down a little in quality, but are back on the upswing. Really it comes down to tread pattern. There's a pattern somewhat old school I used to run on everything from gbodies, fieros, pickups, you name it that were awesome in snow, and they were one of the generic nameplates of the bigger manufacturers. I wonder if one of the tires is still around? Maybe in the garage spares...
I used to run a gbody cutlass up and down mountains, no weight in trunk, the air damage plowing snow out of the way and the pumpkin leaving a groove behind me like it was dragging its junk... never missed a beat. One time the entire car was glazed in 3/4 inch of ice when I got to work from a 2hr highway trip.
Making me miss those days...
So, The King went on a bit of a road trip today, first test of the new tire setup. Now old tires had a bit of a leak on the LR and tended to get soft over time, we're work, and most importantly getting old by my standards.
Those new tires with the nitrogen fill they set to the door placard (unfortunaately) meaning 45psi front and 80psi rear. What that mean? Rear is rock hard and feels like it wants to break loose a bit at high speeds (over 80) or with lots of rain/standing water over 70. Still, figured give it a try because we needed to get some things for the 77..
End results are an inexplicable new personal mileage record. I covered from southeast GA to Oxford Alabama. 80% of the trip was 75mph @ 2300 rpm. About 2.5% was 50-55mph @ just over 2000 rpm due to heavy rain. The remaining 17.5% was 65mph due to varied rain and seepage on the interstate.
Somehow, the trip on my end totalled 210 miles with 11.271 gallons of gas, filled all the way past pump shutoff. That's 18.6 mpg. Pump receipts and logged gauge mileage doesn't lie.
The wife, who isn't as good at powerband maintenance and tends to speed up and slow down more made the return trip, down hill, but surging between 60mph and 75mph. She did another 210 miles on 14.098 gallons of gas. That's 14.9 mpg. And it's for a wife who wasted fuel by speeding up and slowing down from not paying attention to speed, sometimes temporarily dropping as low as around 50 or getting as high as near 80...
Takeaway? I believe there MUST be some truth to the marketing claims on the tire compounds by michelin, and, being fully/properly inflated, no wind, and my ability to coast on large sections of interstate due to low traffic. I wonder what the max towing inflation of 80psi is doing as well? Even if you average driving styles you're at 16.75 mpg.... on a truck people claim is a 9-12mpg pig. AND..... the return trip was full of sheet metals and other goodies coming soon when unloaded in the other truck thread.
Those new tires with the nitrogen fill they set to the door placard (unfortunaately) meaning 45psi front and 80psi rear. What that mean? Rear is rock hard and feels like it wants to break loose a bit at high speeds (over 80) or with lots of rain/standing water over 70. Still, figured give it a try because we needed to get some things for the 77..
End results are an inexplicable new personal mileage record. I covered from southeast GA to Oxford Alabama. 80% of the trip was 75mph @ 2300 rpm. About 2.5% was 50-55mph @ just over 2000 rpm due to heavy rain. The remaining 17.5% was 65mph due to varied rain and seepage on the interstate.
Somehow, the trip on my end totalled 210 miles with 11.271 gallons of gas, filled all the way past pump shutoff. That's 18.6 mpg. Pump receipts and logged gauge mileage doesn't lie.
The wife, who isn't as good at powerband maintenance and tends to speed up and slow down more made the return trip, down hill, but surging between 60mph and 75mph. She did another 210 miles on 14.098 gallons of gas. That's 14.9 mpg. And it's for a wife who wasted fuel by speeding up and slowing down from not paying attention to speed, sometimes temporarily dropping as low as around 50 or getting as high as near 80...
Takeaway? I believe there MUST be some truth to the marketing claims on the tire compounds by michelin, and, being fully/properly inflated, no wind, and my ability to coast on large sections of interstate due to low traffic. I wonder what the max towing inflation of 80psi is doing as well? Even if you average driving styles you're at 16.75 mpg.... on a truck people claim is a 9-12mpg pig. AND..... the return trip was full of sheet metals and other goodies coming soon when unloaded in the other truck thread.
- Status
