Need to soften Z71 suspension out of necessity

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

swathdiver

Full Access Member
Joined
May 18, 2017
Posts
19,778
Reaction score
26,698
Location
Treasure Coast, Florida
Actually got the tire pressures confused with my Mustang GT. Tires are at 40 PSI. Shocks are what came with the vehicle as far as I can tell, may take some contortions to read embossing on upper half. Torsion bars have the code JN 325 stamped into the front ends. There were remnants of paper tags on rear of torsion bars Left had LXL and right had RX? with the question mark looking like the bottom half of a R. If I remember correctly the shocks have more to do with the harshness of rebounding from a road imperfection. Sorry for the delay in responding. Family health issues have been taking up much of my time.

Currently getting the mouse fur on the headliner replaced, front seat base leather covers replaced as well as the carpet.

Plug your VIN in here and you can see what came on her originally and what you would need to convert to ZW7 suspension package. Bring Tony back in here too for something maybe even softer. @NORCAL SS

https://parts-catalog.acdelco.com/catalog/catalog_search.php
 
OP
OP
DanangMarine68
Joined
May 15, 2011
Posts
36
Reaction score
1
Location
Titusville, FL
Tried several vin decoders and most were for someone interested in buying a vehicle. From the vin I got that the GVW is 6800 lbs, front springs are 3600 and back springs are 3750 lbs. RPO codes indicate that I have JH2 7200 lb discs. 6XL and 7XL Computer Selected Suspension left and right respectively. FK2 FK3 left and right Torsion bar spring. Shocks appear to be original as there is no blatant advertising names on them. They have red bodies with black piston arm covers.

Besides the usual expendables like oil, gas, all associated filters and occasional bulbs I have replaced the spark plugs and wires at 120K miles, oil pressure sending unit 133K and Dash stepper motors at 137K. Had to replace an AC Schraeder valve at 95K miles. Bought this vehicle Feb of 2011 with 67K miles on it replacing a '96 Centurion Classic 150 with 155K miles on it.

When I go to the URL swathdiver provided it lists the rear shocks for the Z71 as P.N. 540-53 but it also says Exc BPH which I interpret to mean excluding BPH. I have BPH code on my glove box sticker. Also that site does not show a shock for the Z71 front.
 

swathdiver

Full Access Member
Joined
May 18, 2017
Posts
19,778
Reaction score
26,698
Location
Treasure Coast, Florida
You can try GMPartsGiant and GMPartsDirect to solidify your original part numbers. But as mentioned earlier, you can soften her up by running the ZW7 springs and shocks.
 

iddqd

Full Access Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2017
Posts
224
Reaction score
651
Location
San Francisco, Comifornia, USSA
BF Goodrich are VERY stiff tires. When I installed them on my LX470 back in the days, it roughened the ride dramatically. I'd try different tires first, DEFINITELY P, not LT rating. Depending on your needs, you can go to Highway or All Terrain. Highway P-rated tires would be the softest of the bunch.
 

ivin74

05 NBS Nali
Joined
Aug 3, 2014
Posts
2,389
Reaction score
2,500
Location
Htown, Texas
Concentrate on shocks first for sure, but check to see which torsion bars you have. There should be a tag on it with 2 letters. GMFS has a page called torsion bar 401 and you can cross reference which bars you have and how they rank amongst stiffness. I know my Denali, and id bet most of the premium/loaded rigs, has the XK bars which is the softest of the group designed to be used with autoride I’m guessing. You might have stiffer ones depending what options you got. If you don’t mind the work, swapping them out could be beneficial.

Also keep in mind that a huge portion of ride quality comes from the rear. Just like torsion bars, swapping your rear springs to something softer in combination with the right shocks can transform the ride drastically, which is a lot easier to replace than torsion bars.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I

Any help will be appreciated


Change the torsion bars and the rear springs for the denali ones. Also put some all season tires.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
132,763
Posts
1,873,826
Members
97,596
Latest member
pugnaxx
Top