Custom Trail Boss Console Upgrade?

[Fred Cruise]

On 1/31/2020 at 7:29 AM, Fred Cruise said:

 I would like to shout out a BIG THANKS  to those who initiated and contributed pics, instructions, and "How to" swap out the center console.  As most of you experienced, I was very disappointed in my 2020 Custom when I found out the center console did not open considering my 2008 Silverado had tons of storage!! 

Ordered one from GMPARTSXPERTS and it shipped in about a week.  Arriving today!!  

Also ordered the Texas Saddlebag for the floor organizer, and the rear seat floor organizer from Weathertech (it'skinda flimsy).  

 

Next stop:  replace that Dollar Store rearview mirror they put in my truck!   LOL.  

 

Thanks again!!

 

 

Actually received my  armrest with storage today.   It was scratched as many others have reported and has a small chip on the front.   They will ship me a new one and a shipping label to ship the old one back.  They took quick action, so that's good customer service so far.   But there was no adequate packing material in the box (one small piece of foam and one small piece of bubble wrap not attached to anything and the box itself was flimsy.  You could tell the armrest was just flopping around.  Their quality control/shipping department needs an overhaul.       

[Harry Rombold]

29 minutes ago, Fred Cruise said:

Actually received my  armrest with storage today.   It was scratched as many others have reported and has a small chip on the front.   They will ship me a new one and a shipping label to ship the old one back.  They took quick action, so that's good customer service so far.   But there was no adequate packing material in the box (one small piece of foam and one small piece of bubble wrap not attached to anything and the box itself was flimsy.  You could tell the armrest was just flopping around.  Their quality control/shipping department needs an overhaul.       

Same thing with my first one , had scratch's and a small cut in the padding with a hunk of cardboard stuffed in the box  .  Second one had a big block of foam with bubble wrap on the mounting horn.  Crappy shipping practice , worst I have EVER seen in my 66 years .

I installed it today with a few choice words added .  

All the clips came off the tabs , glad I got more ahead of time.

One thing I did differently from previous posts was leave the upper cover on the driver side on until I had it out .  I was able to coax the metal clips and plastic locking tabs around the edges apart with little damage because I could see inside better than if it was still bolted in and just pulling on it .  I found the aluminum collar around the seat belt attachment I was informed about but rather than pry at it or plier it , I just leveraged out the flange part with the end of the seat belt attachment that it was meant to hold in place , very thin aluminum and easily done .  When I reinstalled it I just bent the collar over a bit and let the bolt finish it . For the most part it went smooth , the plastic being the toughest to deal with .  Glad it's done and over with.

[Dunn]

I may have one for sale in near future as I might do full center console on my RST. ill post it if and when that happens, still almost brand new.....I have jumpseat (under seat locked storage) as well that I believe has to come out for full floor console....mine is dbl cab but has rear ports though different than a CC I think, not sure

Edited February 4, 2020 by Dunn

[Little Rascal]

Finally got mine shipped from sdparts.com.  I will report on installation after I get it.

[AlohaDan]

For those who are swapping out the entire console/seat and replacing it with one that has power and USB ports on it for the rear seat passengers... is there a way to hook up that power and usb?  Because the work truck does not come with the power and usb on the back of the console/seat, there is also no wiring harness to hook it up.   I'm wondering if I can buy and add the wiring harness in order to hook up the USB and power ports on the back of the console.   It would mean figuring out what part to order for the wiring harness and how to route it and hook it up under the dash. Has anybody done this?

[Railroad_Jim]

14 hours ago, AlohaDan said:

For those who are swapping out the entire console/seat and replacing it with one that has power and USB ports on it for the rear seat passengers... is there a way to hook up that power and usb?  Because the work truck does not come with the power and usb on the back of the console/seat, there is also no wiring harness to hook it up.   I'm wondering if I can buy and add the wiring harness in order to hook up the USB and power ports on the back of the console.   It would mean figuring out what part to order for the wiring harness and how to route it and hook it up under the dash. Has anybody done this?

I haven't done it yet, but since I have a replacement (Code AZ3) console hopefully arriving soon, I will be looking into this.

 

It looks like there is a center seat harness here:  https://www.gmpartsdirect.com/oem-parts/gm-harness-84642229

But we probably don't have anything to hook it to.

 

I haven't seen the wiring / connectors yet, so I have no idea what to expect, but my initial intentions are to run my own power wire from the passenger side fuse box, and then disassemble a normal two port, quick-charge USB car charger, and somehow solder the wires to the USB connectors.  I'll know more once my console arrives.

 

[Method2Madness]

2 hours ago, Railroad_Jim said:

I haven't done it yet, but since I have a replacement (Code AZ3) console hopefully arriving soon, I will be looking into this.

 

It looks like there is a center seat harness here:  https://www.gmpartsdirect.com/oem-parts/gm-harness-84642229

But we probably don't have anything to hook it to.

 

I haven't seen the wiring / connectors yet, so I have no idea what to expect, but my initial intentions are to run my own power wire from the passenger side fuse box, and then disassemble a normal two port, quick-charge USB car charger, and somehow solder the wires to the USB connectors.  I'll know more once my console arrives.

 

Got the two port QC receptacle from amazon and wired it directly to the fuse box. 

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Method2Madness

[BORG63]

I bought GM outlet and also wired it to the fuse box.  My truck did not have the harness to connect to so buying the one for the console was pointless.  Looks factory and matches the one on the dash. Now kids won't takeover the one in the front. 

[Railroad_Jim]

On 2/3/2020 at 4:59 PM, Railroad_Jim said:

 

That was my thought too, and I hope that we're both right, as I just ordered a used one that has pictures that shows the bottom lockable storage compartment and rear USB/power ports!

 

I'm saying some prayers that they send me the one in the pictures....

 

Well the prayers worked, as the RPO Code AZ3 console, that I ordered from a vendor on car-parts.com , does indeed have both top and bottom storage.  Phew!   

 

It has the top storage lid, the bottom storage compartment, and also the rear USB connectors and power port.

 

I haven't unbolted it from the shipping pallet yet, but I did unwrap it to verify that it's in great condition.  (picture attached)  It made me smile to unlatch the top storage container.

 

Anyone have tips on installing the entire jump seat?  Do I need to remove one of the adjoining seats to fit it in?

I noticed that my key doesn't lock the lower compartment, but luckily it is unlocked.  I wonder how hard it would be to re-key?

 

I hope to have time tonight to look underneath at the wiring for the USB and power port, to see what is there.

 

[Little Rascal]

Has anyone cracked the plastic side panels during installation?  I cracked the one on the rider side.  Can a new one be ordered?

[nolte]

1 hour ago, Little Rascal said:

Has anyone cracked the plastic side panels during installation?  I cracked the one on the rider side.  Can a new one be ordered?

Yeah I did but it's kinda hard to see because of the passenger front seat.
I'd prolly order another one if they were available (as well as another plastic spring retainer clip) but I have not inquired if you can order those individual parts.

[Little Rascal]

1 hour ago, nolte said:

Yeah I did but it's kinda hard to see because of the passenger front seat.
I'd prolly order another one if they were available (as well as another plastic spring retainer clip) but I have not inquired if you can order those individual parts.

If someone can find the part number for me, I would really appreciate it.....

[Little Rascal]

I will give a summary of what I did.  Not being mechanical at all, it wasn't easy but very doable. 

 

The first step was to take the plastic side panels off the console.  Right off the bat, I cracked the passenger side panel and one of tabs on the inside of the panel broke also.  I don't think the clips that GMC uses needs to be so retentive.

 

 

 

The next step is to remove the bolt and screw on the passenger side of the console.  I used star bits to do this.  After this is done, the console is loose on the passenger side.

 

 

Moving to the drivers side, I thought an offset wrench would remove the seat belt bolt...but as I screwed it out, it was too long to come out with the seat rail in the way.

 

So, I loosened all four of the seat bolts.  Removed the forward and rear bolt on the right side.  Then lifted the seat and slid the seat forward.  The rail moved forward and out of the way.  Next the seat belt bolt came out.  It seemed like the seat belt metal end was pressed into a silver fitting and it did not come out easy.  When I put the new console back in, I could not get the new belt end to fit into that sleeve correctly...so I just tightened down that bolt very tightly and it's not going anywhere.  Besides, I doubt if that seat belt will ever be used because I have back seats.

 

 

To finish removing the old console (middle seat), these bolts were removed and the seat release was detached.  The seat release was a challenge...I tried to pull the right angle black plastic piece out of the hole first.  That wasn't working.  So lower on the cable, the round black piece slipped off much more easily.  Now the old console pulled out

 

 

On the new console, I had to remove the two bolts and detach the seat release and remove that piece that was left in the truck.  Once the new console was slid into place, all the bolts were put back and the side panels replaced.  I reused some of the old clips that held the side panels in place because the old clips held on the broken tabs better than the new ones I purchased.

 

Thanks GM for placing a cheap center seat/console with no storage to save a couple of bucks....and not informing your dealers service departments on how to install this upgrade....really appreciate that.

 

Hope this might be helpful to some who haven't done the replacement yet.

 

Joel

 

[AlohaDan]

On 2/11/2020 at 10:37 AM, Railroad_Jim said:

 

Well the prayers worked, as the RPO Code AZ3 console, that I ordered from a vendor on car-parts.com , does indeed have both top and bottom storage.  Phew!   

 

It has the top storage lid, the bottom storage compartment, and also the rear USB connectors and power port.

 

I haven't unbolted it from the shipping pallet yet, but I did unwrap it to verify that it's in great condition.  (picture attached)  It made me smile to unlatch the top storage container.

 

Anyone have tips on installing the entire jump seat?  Do I need to remove one of the adjoining seats to fit it in?

I noticed that my key doesn't lock the lower compartment, but luckily it is unlocked.  I wonder how hard it would be to re-key?

 

I hope to have time tonight to look underneath at the wiring for the USB and power port, to see what is there.

 

I had to unbolt both the drivers and the passenger seats to be able to remove and replace the center seat.  It wasn't that big of a deal though.    Regarding the key... it seemed to me that thee lower compartment will open with any Silverado key.  The one that I bought came out of a wrecked truck in Michigan and my key turned the lock easily.  I'm not keeping anything valuable in it thoug, so I'm just leaving it unlocked.  If your old seat didn't have the USB/popwer ports, unlikely there will be any wiring for it.  There isn't in my work truck, so they are just dead ports on the back of the console.  If you figure out to get power to them, let me know.

Edited February 18, 2020 by AlohaDan

[Railroad_Jim]

19 minutes ago, AlohaDan said:

I had to unbolt both the drivers and the passenger seats to be able to remove and replace the center seat.  It wasn't that big of a deal though.    Regarding the key... it seemed to me that thee lower compartment will open with any Silverado key.  The one that I bought came out of a wrecked truck in Michigan and my key turned the lock easily.  I'm not keeping anything valuable in it thoug, so I'm just leaving it unlocked.  If your old seat didn't have the USB/popwer ports, unlikely there will be any wiring for it.  There isn't in my work truck, so they are just dead ports on the back of the console.  If you figure out to get power to them, let me know.

Thanks for the update AlohaDan.

 

My key does not turn the lower console lock, but luckily it is unlocked.  There are some videos online about rekeying older consoles by taking it apart, but I didn't have time to try, and I don't plan to lock anything in there anyhow.

 

I did get the center seat / console installed last week.  I was going to try using an offset wrench on the rear bolts to avoid removing the seats, but I ended up just unbolting both seats (T50 socket) to have proper access to the center seat bolts.  It was easy with the driver and passenger seats slid to the side.  I made sure to put new blue thread locker on the seat bolts, and torqued them to the values that my factory service manual said for my old 2000 Silverado.

 

I used the https://www.gmupfitter.com/ website to find wiring diagrams to what I was dealing with.  As I expected, the wiring assembly to the floor under the passenger's seat was not present.  But, I did ohm out the two big pins on the jump seat's connector to the accessory outlet and figured out which is +12v and which is ground.  I didn't have enough time to make up a cable, but it should be simple enough to run wires from the passenger side fuse box, through the trough, and under the passenger's seat to connect to the cable.  It'll be a little ghetto with just two connectors attaching to the giant connector, but it should work.  It appears that there is a converter box in there to power the USB ports from the same +12V and ground, so I may be good to go.  I just need to find some time to work on it again....