Hey Vortec Guys! / Sierra pickup / Suburban / Yukon etc - Finally has Index!

[rayra]

I ran 1/0 cables thru PVC flex conduits down the firewall from the aux battery loc, down along the inside of the passenger side frame rail, then cut across under the cargo deck aft of the muffler and forward of the spare and up thru the floor back between the subwoofer and the driver side wheel well, for my cable run. I've got a lot fo other stuff tied into it in the cargo area, and eventually will have an extension run to the rear bumper for a hitch-mounted winch.
Details are referenced in my build topic.
I was tempted to go thru the frame, it's possible from end to end, but I was worried about abrading the cable pulling it thru. I wasn't using welding cable and the stiffness might have wound up scraping off insulation as it was run.

 

[TroySmith80]

I've got a leak at the d side rear axle seal, getting the park brake all oily. Should i replace both sides since i'm going to be at it, and replace wheel bearings too? 190,000 mi on 01 Yukon. Or are these parts that typically are very long lasting and better left alone as long as they're working?

 

[TroySmith80]

also, you folks running very large gauge wires to the rear: Are you running a large gauge ground also, or just a positive wire and grounding through the frame? Curious as to best practice there. I've used the frame for ground on lower current wires, but don't know if that's still ok if you're pulling a lot of amps. Maybe ground to the frame and then add an extra or extra-large ground strap from battery to frame up front?

 

[NevadaLover]

I've got a leak at the d side rear axle seal, getting the park brake all oily. Should i replace both sides since i'm going to be at it, and replace wheel bearings too? 190,000 mi on 01 Yukon. Or are these parts that typically are very long lasting and better left alone as long as they're working?

Do both sides and replace bearings and axle shafts as well, the original shafts are probably scored and leaking at the seal.

 

[Buddha.]

I've got a leak at the d side rear axle seal, getting the park brake all oily. Should i replace both sides since i'm going to be at it, and replace wheel bearings too? 190,000 mi on 01 Yukon. Or are these parts that typically are very long lasting and better left alone as long as they're working?


also, you folks running very large gauge wires to the rear: Are you running a large gauge ground also, or just a positive wire and grounding through the frame? Curious as to best practice there. I've used the frame for ground on lower current wires, but don't know if that's still ok if you're pulling a lot of amps. Maybe ground to the frame and then add an extra or extra-large ground strap from battery to frame up front?

You'll have to take the diff cover off and disconnect the c clips to pull the axles and you may as well do both sides after going through that much work.


Curious about the wiring as well. On my 30' travel trailer they only run a positive 6awg wire 25' back to the power center. The negative gets grounded to the frame at the batteries and then the power center has a ground going to the frame. Definitely not saying it's the best way to do things though because they didn't even clean the paint of the frame before attaching the ground wires.

 

[Lykos]

also, you folks running very large gauge wires to the rear: Are you running a large gauge ground also, or just a positive wire and grounding through the frame? Curious as to best practice there. I've used the frame for ground on lower current wires, but don't know if that's still ok if you're pulling a lot of amps. Maybe ground to the frame and then add an extra or extra-large ground strap from battery to frame up front?

I'm running 2 gauge hot from my house battery to the rear and 2 gauge ground from rear to house battery negative. At this point I'm several hunted dollars into my rear house circuit and see no point in not spending the extra money in wire to run a solid ground.

Not to mention my friend who's an electrical engineer told me is best to do it this way.

 

[rayra]

on the backup camera in the GMT800 SUVs there's a PowerPort in the pass side rear cargo panel that you can tap as a power source, but it will result in a constant drain by the always-on camera.
And/but unless you are runnign some kind of wireless signal camera you are going to be running the ~18' video cable up to your dash area anyways, so it's not hard to run a switched power line back the same way while you have the carpet / doorsills / cargo sidewall opened up, anyway.

I used that PowerPort as a source when I added LED strip lighting to my Liftgate. Added switches in the D-pillar alongside the factory lock switch. Same method could be used for cargo area lighting if you set the vehicle up to sleep back there.

You could also tap the always-hot line in the 7-pin trailer connector, if your vehicle is so equipped.

But the usual method for that is to tap the power line of the backup lights. Their fusing is usually 10A with a lot of margin left over to run something like a backup camera. Even moreso if you add some LED taillight bulbs and get rid of the incandescents.

 

[Lykos]

on the backup camera in the GMT800 SUVs there's a PowerPort in the pass side rear cargo panel that you can tap as a power source, but it will result in a constant drain by the always-on camera.
And/but unless you are runnign some kind of wireless signal camera you are going to be running the ~18' video cable up to your dash area anyways, so it's not hard to run a switched power line back the same way while you have the carpet / doorsills / cargo sidewall opened up, anyway.

I used that PowerPort as a source when I added LED strip lighting to my Liftgate. Added switches in the D-pillar alongside the factory lock switch. Same method could be used for cargo area lighting if you set the vehicle up to sleep back there.

You could also tap the always-hot line in the 7-pin trailer connector, if your vehicle is so equipped.

But the usual method for that is to tap the power line of the backup lights. Their fusing is usually 10A with a lot of margin left over to run something like a backup camera. Even moreso if you add some LED taillight bulbs and get rid of the incandescents.

Yup. I'm going to tap the reverse lights for now. Here in a couple weeks I'll be running my house wiring to the rear and I'll move the power wire over to that fuse block.

Speaking of power, Rayra, wanna guess what mounts to these? ?

 

[lilkia]

My backup cam is powered off the reverse lights. No issues at all. Thats also where the signal comes from to turn on the camera and switch my radio touchscreen to the camera.

 

[rayra]

Tubing's epoxied? heavy duty double-sided tape? The angled brackets are interesting, come with the panel?

I drive too fast to trust a non-mechanical attachment method. Or trust 13-18yr old paint to stay adhered. Maybe a mechanical method that bridges the side rails or the crossbars, to suspend a panel from?

 

[Lykos]

Tubing's epoxied? heavy duty double-sided tape? The angled brackets are interesting, come with the panel?

I drive too fast to trust a non-mechanical attachment method. Or trust 13-18yr old paint to stay adhered. Maybe a mechanical method that bridges the side rails or the crossbars, to suspend a panel from?

Yessir that's 3m double sided tape. Between the stellar reviews from vanlifers online and my brother's professional opinion that the tape will hold and that drilling holes in my roof was a really bad idea I'm pretty comfortable using it.
I know one thing, the paint will come off before the tape will!
I considered using the crossbars as a mounting point but Seth, the brother, talked me into this instead. With this method the panels are flush with the crossbars for a very clean look and no shading from the rack.
I'll most likely use more tape and aluminum to attach a set of maxxtraxx in front of the panels but aft of the sunroof.
The z brackets came with the Renogy panels. I'm using sheet metal screws to attach the bracket to the tubing and bolts with nylock nuts to attach panel to bracket. Checking the assembly will be part of my maintenance schedule. I've got some pretty interesting stuff going on right now including a trip to Orange Boxx Fab in NC to finish some custom design work. I'm also in the middle of a new battery install, a 100 amp rear fuse panel install (designed by an electrical engineer to make sure I don't burn my truck down lol) and a couple other things that'll be written up in my build thread.

 

[Lykos]

My backup cam is powered off the reverse lights. No issues at all. Thats also where the signal comes from to turn on the camera and switch my radio touchscreen to the camera.

Yeah, you can leave it wired like that without issue. I'm wanting to have a constant hot on it so I can use it as a rear view when needed because my kitchen box blocks my rear visibility. My Kenwood has a trigger wire so not only will I be able to manually turn it on but it'll also come on automatically when in reverse.
In other words I have to complicate installations because I can. lol

 

[lilkia]

That shouldnt be an issue at all. Its very low amperage just run a switched wire to it from the dash when you run the video cable. Some backup cam systems have power running from the front in the harness and are switched on from the system itself. If yours does just cut the wire and add a manual switch. I wouldnt run from a always hot like the aux port in the back. Like rayra said its just another parasitic drain.

 

[rayra]

Mine's a parasitic drain and I can use my Pioneer dash entertainment unit to switch the camera on while I'm going down the road. I can read tailgater's (backwards) plates with it. But the cheap plate frame camera I chose eventually crapped out. I'll be going with something a little better and wired to the backup lights and when I wire the new camera I'll add a dash switch that will let me selectively power it when I want. And lose the parasitic drain.

But with the aux power setup I have in the back, I ought to be powering the camera from that setup. Which is being kept topped up via my own rooftop solar when the vehicle is parked. Instead of the camera sucking down my Starter battery.

Lykos I know that tape is strong but I still strongly suggest you put a strong steel safety wire on that panel in case it pulls off going down the highway.

The brackets I did for my own roof deck were flat and bent up at the ends and attached to bolts set in the slot in the side rails. This put my deck down low to the roof and about 1" shy of the top of the rails. When I later built the roof mount for my foldign solar panel kit, the panel only rises about 1/2" over the rails and isnt' really noticeable from the ground.

https://www.expeditionportal.com/fo...lected-werks-topic-02-k1500-z71.172800/page-9

It's been up there for about 6mos now. I've got a bunch of wiring-related projects to do in the cargo area and I'm slowly piling everythign up to do it all at once as I have to dismount my platform / drawers and a bunch of other stuff. Putting in a manual switch for the rear vent blower; re-doing my Liftgate LED string lights; running permanent wiring up the driver D pillar and thru the rack footing for a plug-in port for the roof panel; probably putting some floods set into the rear rack footing covers with separate power but relay-triggered by the factory backup lights as well as being on a dash switch; re-wiring a new backup camera AND adding a rear-facing dash cam. Basically opening up the whole back end. Again.

 

[Lykos]

I ran 1/0 cables thru PVC flex conduits down the firewall from the aux battery loc, down along the inside of the passenger side frame rail, then cut across under the cargo deck aft of the muffler and forward of the spare and up thru the floor back between the subwoofer and the driver side wheel well, for my cable run. I've got a lot fo other stuff tied into it in the cargo area, and eventually will have an extension run to the rear bumper for a hitch-mounted winch.
Details are referenced in my build topic.
I was tempted to go thru the frame, it's possible from end to end, but I was worried about abrading the cable pulling it thru. I wasn't using welding cable and the stiffness might have wound up scraping off insulation as it was run.

What size conduit is that Rayra? Looks like 1”?
Did you snorkel it under the hood to keep water out?