Aluminum / XFE NNBS Front Suspension Rebuild

Foggy said:

These are the ones I bought a couple years ago from SKF (i think)... The good ones.
Haven't had to get into the front end yet, but i got em pre biden inflation, so they'll go on
when I do my new Z55 strut stuff later this year

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Well, as I mentioned, mine lasted just shy of the 5 yr warranty and started growling. Luckily I was able to get them swapped out under warranty through RA. I wish I would have had time to add grease to the new ones before installing them but I was in a hurry. I suppose that adding it now would be better than never... lol

HERE’S THE FINALE

My goodness, 14 months later. That huge pile of parts is installed. The XFE conversion only got touched on instead of getting the full conversion. Right at the beginning of this quest I was injured at UPS. Unfortunately my back didn’t heal and I have been forced to retire.

All the trial & test fitting got taken out of the conversion with my back situation. At least I had something to mull over while the absolutely worthless workers comp insurance denied all the doctors recommendations for over a year.

The Wins:
* Aluminium LCA are a direct fit.
* All the parts supplied for the z95 complete strut assembly were correct and the ride and handling are now better than new.
* The D/A rebuilt steering rack is flawless and tracks beautifully.
* The GM CPS & Oil Press sensor made a huge and unexpected change. I hit reset on the MPG calculator and it held 16/17 MPG for 25 miles at 70/80 on the highway.


* The XFE hubs added to the rock solid input and feedback to the ride.
* Thank you to Amazon for the free GM radiator. Only ended up paying for a new coolant reservoir.
* The coolant leak ended up being the water pump so the truck got a new a/c Delco unit & tstat

THE CONSESSIONS

Due to a lack of pre-fitting parts, the diesel Indi tech discovered …

* The 15-20 knucks were not compatible with the hubs. I’ll verify the particulars later but it was communicated that the raised area on the face of the Gen 4 units was the deal breaker. The old knucks were used.



* The aluminum LCA for the Gen 3 (07-14) & Gen 4 were identical so they slid right on the original body mounts & Gen 3 knucks.



* Since the original steel knucks were used, that meant the original Gen 3 outer tie rods and (new) steel UCA were ordered and installed.

* The Gen 4 alum knucks, outer tie rods & UCA were not used because the Gen 4 Alum knucks were not used.

The p/s boot at the outside axle puked all its grease. Back to the Indi. Look in lower right corner.



Anyone notice the engine temp was low in last pic of the speedo? I’ll plug in the tech2 tomm to see what’s going on. The tech didn’t save my old UCA or LCA so no weight in between steel & alum (yet).

The bushings at the bottom of the z95 were crumbling.


The top of the strut bearings were being eaten away by the leaking Mag fluid. They had 16 years to to do this.

The springs had identical part numbers but they didn’t xRef anything on the interwebs.




The part number (25940740) on the old strut only references to a pic of a customer who posted a pic of their old 2011 Esky z95 on an Amazon review. This is the label off my truck…

petethepug said:

THE CONSESSIONS

Due to a lack of pre-fitting parts, the diesel Indi tech discovered …

* The 15-20 knucks were not compatible with the hubs. I’ll verify the particulars later but it was communicated that the raised area on the face of the Gen 4 units was the deal breaker. The old knucks were used.

View attachment 454554

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Does that bump/pad interfere with the dust shield? I know it's too late for your situation, but the bump/pad can be machined off, the dust shield modified, or the corresponding dust shield used (assuming doing so doesn't lead to more cascading changes).

I’ll have to check if the truck even has dust sheilds on. Funny, I really don’t remember seeing them on there when the wheels were off in the past.

I noticed that the rubber boot up top is misaligned on the wheel that puked grease everywhere. It’ll all be checked out when going back in to install the new MAF.