Rebuiding my front end - upgrades?

[Tonyrodz]

Check the bushings on the ds upper control arm. They tend to deteriorate over time. Also--imo it's just easier doing the complete control arms instead of just doing ball joints. New arms come with all those parts new. That's what I did. While you're there get the new hardware/bolts and adjusters to do the alignment. The new stuff is cheap.

 

[Rocket Man]

Just but ACDelco OEM parts and they’ll last another 250k. Don’t buy the Advantage line, it’s cheap crap. The Professional is not as good as OEM but it’s ok.

 

[1badjimmy]

Those boots or whatever you call that accordion piece on the shocks are made long to accommodate the shock extending. Nothing to worry about as I think bilstein uses a 1 size fits all on them.

Some things I did see though. The bump stop or jounce bumper is deteriorated and gone, wouldn’t make noise on little bumps. The sway bar end link is missing the top washer. I had a vehicle once that squished a bushing out and the sway bar would rattle like crazy on a washboard road.

The alignment came on the upper control arm are in a different spot. Maybe from a past alignment or shifted from the impact. They could also be the cause of the pull.

I agree with Tony and Rocket on the upper control arm stuff.

 

[Rocket Man]

Those boots or whatever you call that accordion piece on the shocks are made long to accommodate the shock extending. Nothing to worry about as I think bilstein uses a 1 size fits all on them.

Some things I did see though. The bump stop or jounce bumper is deteriorated and gone, wouldn’t make noise on little bumps. The sway bar end link is missing the top washer. I had a vehicle once that squished a bushing out and the sway bar would rattle like crazy on a washboard road.

The alignment came on the upper control arm are in a different spot. Maybe from a past alignment or shifted from the impact. They could also be the cause of the pull.

I agree with Tony and Rocket on the upper control arm stuff.

Good eye on the jounce stops. I didn’t even notice that one in the pic is pretty much gone. The torsion bar suspension uses those as a fulcrum point and they should actually be touching the control arm. They’re an important part of the suspension and that might be the clunking sound you hear as the control arm makes contact with the jounce stop mount. Replace those ASAP @tRidiot !

 

[tRidiot]

Ok, I'm gonna try to get some better and more thorough pics. I saw those 'jounce stops' and couldn't see what purpose they served, I thought it was for severe travel from the lower control arm, and I don't offroad or anything, didn't think that was an issue.

For future reference for anyone - I found this video which shows really easy replacement of these bump stops and a good eye of how they work with the lower control arm.

Thanks for the tips, guys. I'll have a look at the sway bar end link on the other side, too.

Actually maybe some video would be better. That will allow me to have you guys (if you don't mind!) give me a slightly better assessment of my front end. I will definitely order those bump stops, though, I know the one on the pass side looks the same.

Surprisingly, when I was underneath, I took a good look at my body bushings and they looked pretty good. I was happy to see that, it was on my list of things to replace, but maybe I don't need to do as much work as I thought on this thing!

Bump stop options:

More Information for MOOG K201939

Rock Auto doesn't have the AC Delco or OEM ones for mine - only the 4x4. The SKP version shows 4??? Where are the other two??

More Information for SKP SK905208

Amazon has OEM, but only 2.

Amazon.com

What are the other two for on the SKP kit?


<edit>

It looks like the SKP kit SAYS only front lower, but on further research and watching this video, the picture shows the front pair and rear pair. This is a good video look at the rear.

I'll crawl under and see if I need rear ones, as well.

 

[Rocket Man]

Ok, I'm gonna try to get some better and more thorough pics. I saw those 'jounce stops' and couldn't see what purpose they served, I thought it was for severe travel from the lower control arm, and I don't offroad or anything, didn't think that was an issue.

For future reference for anyone - I found this video which shows really easy replacement of these bump stops and a good eye of how they work with the lower control arm.

Thanks for the tips, guys. I'll have a look at the sway bar end link on the other side, too.

Actually maybe some video would be better. That will allow me to have you guys (if you don't mind!) give me a slightly better assessment of my front end. I will definitely order those bump stops, though, I know the one on the pass side looks the same.

Surprisingly, when I was underneath, I took a good look at my body bushings and they looked pretty good. I was happy to see that, it was on my list of things to replace, but maybe I don't need to do as much work as I thought on this thing!

Bump stop options:

More Information for MOOG K201939

Rock Auto doesn't have the AC Delco or OEM ones for mine - only the 4x4. The SKP version shows 4??? Where are the other two??

More Information for SKP SK905208

Amazon has OEM, but only 2.

Amazon.com

What are the other two for on the SKP kit?


<edit>

It looks like the SKP kit SAYS only front lower, but on further research and watching this video, the picture shows the front pair and rear pair. This is a good video look at the rear.

I'll crawl under and see if I need rear ones, as well.

The rear ones are used like regular bump stops- they only touch if you completely bottom out which pretty much never happens unless you’re doing some Dukes Of Hazzard sh*t. In fact everybody who lowers the rear by more than 4” actually cuts the mount off the frame, throws the originals away and uses pancake style bump stops. I wouldn’t worry about yours unless you’re lowered 4+ inches in which case you need to do that, known as the free travel mod.

 

[Rocket Man]

The MOOG or the OEM ones you linked above are both fine. Change those out and then come back and let us know how it changes the ride. I think you’ll be amazed .

 

[tRidiot]

I am really interested to see if replacing those helps that noise I'm hearing. I think it's pretty obvious I need an alignment, but none of the places I've been to here do I trust - they've all tried to upsell me a bunch of sh*t I obviously don't need. One of them tried to tell me they weren't going to let me take my truck because I needed a new Pittman arm - that was, I think... 8 years ago? Still got the same Pittman arm, another 150k miles or more since then.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I am really interested to see if replacing those helps that noise I'm hearing. I think it's pretty obvious I need an alignment, but none of the places I've been to here do I trust - they've all tried to upsell me a bunch of sh*t I obviously don't need. One of them tried to tell me they weren't going to let me take my truck because I needed a new Pittman arm - that was, I think... 8 years ago? Still got the same Pittman arm, another 150k miles or more since then.

Did they try to stop you from leaving with your own truck??

 

[calsdad]

So I'm considering doing an entire front end rebuild - front hubs and bearings, upper and lower control arms or at LEAST ball joints, sway bar and links, pittman and idler arms. I may do the late-model Silverado brake upgrade while I'm at it - why not, right?

So my question is, can I replace all these parts from my regular Tahoe with the equivalent parts from the 2500 Suburban? I've upgraded to the 6.0LQ9 engine, so I just thought, "What the hell, why not?" I would ASSUME they are all bolt-on same/same, and watching some videos, I don't see why not. Also would ASSUME that the 2500 parts would be slightly more durable for the long term. With a newly rebuilt 6.0 and 4l60e trans, I guess I need to count on keeping this thing for a while. Figuring on maybe $1500 or so worth of parts (guesstimate), I won't do GM OEM, but AC Delco and Moog (the higher line) for most, I think. Also all new bushings, probably Energy Suspension - from what I've read, they're nice. I'll eventually also likely upgrade all the body bushings.

This a reasonable start to rebuilding the drivability, stability, longevity and enjoyment of my 2004 Tahoe LE?

I honestly don't know if there is ANY interchange between the 1500 and 2500 series trucks of that vintage. There might be some - but you could probably replicate any increase in reliability you'd get from doing that - by just going with aftermarket parts that are made for lifted trucks.

That's what I did with my 2010 Yukon XL 2500 when I rebuilt the front suspension last year. I put Wilwood 16" brakes on it as an upgrade (very happy with them so far). Then I used the best quality parts I could find for the tie rods, pitman arm, idler arm - etc, from places like Cognito and Rare Parts. Before my truck was really hard to hold steady on the highway - it wanted to drift quite a bit. Afterwards it tracks nice and straight. A LOT of the slop is gone out of the steering. I also adjusted the steering box while I was in there too to take out the play. I added one of those idler arm reinforcement kits (weld on braces) and a nice Bilstein steering stabilizer. I replaced the front bearings with the best quality SKF ..... etc.

I'm sure just like there are heavier duty parts available from the aftermarket for the 2500 series trucks - which are mostly targeted towards people with lift kits - the same stuff is available for the 1500 series trucks like your Tahoe.

If you want I could put together a list of which parts I used and a complete run down of what I did - so far it seems to be working out very well.