Avalanche door swap: part 1.
When I bought my Suburban the drivers door did not have a lock core, front passenger door had a lock core and it worked, I could lock and unlock the truck in case the remote died. Rear hatch had a lock core but not the same as ignition or front passenger door. I looked up the price for ignition, front doors and rear hatch lock cores on eBay and quickly decided that it was not a necessity to replace them anytime soon. Having functioning locks and ignition that is keyed the same has been on my dream list for over 6 years. Finally I get to work on fulfilling that dream.
I had a day to work on taking the Avalanche apart. Doors came off relatively easy, then the seats, center console, most of the dash and glove box.
Time to take the doors off and swap in the cladded doors! Sorry for the angle, it was the best I can do with the angle of the sun.
Three 10mm bolts, three trim pieces, and two electrical connectors later the door was off.
These doors are insanely heavy! I will put them on the scale tomorrow morning but it's at least 500 lbs for all 4 doors.
Avi door went on problem free. Hinges lined up, electrical connector plugs snapped right in. Door lock works, speaker works, window did not but I don't think it worked in the Avi to begin with.
Sub with original doors.
Avi door hung. Looks pretty good. It'll be called Zebra until the drivers door goes on.
Rear passenger side door went on effortlessly as well. All connections hooked up correctly as well.
Time for front passenger door.
Poof and just like that it came off also. BTW, I took all the doors off by myself without any help, I would not recommend that, two people to remove and hand the doors is highly suggested.
My first sign of trouble. These are the connectors that were in my original door. Medium black connector, medium white connector, small black connector and HUGE grey connector. Weird, Avi door did not have the HUGE grey connector and I have no clue what it's for.
Front passenger door went on well, all connectors that were attached to the door plugged in. Door opens and closes as it should, took a few swings to get it fully seat on the pins. Cladding rubs on front fender flare, grrr...
Sun just about set and I finished all but front drivers door.
So far I really like the look, and I know I will end up putting cladding all the way around very soon.
Not quite a direct bolt on after all. Couple problems came up. Rear door curtsy lights do not turn off no matter what I do. So I pulled the bulbs out to keep the parasitic draw low overnight. Tomorrow I will take apart my original doors, pull the window motors, glass and wiring out of the doors and swap all that into the new rear doors. I have desert tint on rear windows and like it and planned on swapping them anyways.
Nothing in the front door works. Locks do not work, window does not work, speaker does not work, mirror does not work. So just like the rear doors, my plan is to swap out the mirror and wiring from the Sub door and put it into the Avi door. This should fix the wiring problems, if not then I will replace the window motor and glass also.
Once all doors function properly I will swap over the drivers door.
Stay tuned for more shenanigans!
