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After some conversation with @iamdub , he asked me to post these photos here to show that there IS an alternative for 2007-2014 Tahoe / Escalade / Yukon / Suburban rear sway bar links. This is part of the Trekline 5” rear drop kit:
I'll probably buy a set of Tony's just to see what they're all about. I like the idea of spherical bushings vs static bushings.I see what they did. I like the idea of having the bushed ends inline with each other versus the Z'ed offset design of the DJMs- the joints are in compression and tension versus shear. If I manage to break mine, I'll keep this idea in mind. Or make a stupidly beefy Z.
After going back and forth with Richard from Atomic Fab about a dozen times, we landed on doing an X13 shock instead of an X19. I corrected my earlier post to reflect that.
Here's why:
"Generally for handling and stock-type driving, you want a shock that is around 40% compressed at ride height leaving 60% of its travel for compression. So since your mounting holes are 17.75" (let's average) you'll want something with a median ride height a little below that. [...] So with that I would go with the x13 since you will be more concerned about not having enough compression travel vs extension. Extension travel is useful if you plan to do a lot of off-road driving and need the articulation travel, or racing where you need weight transfer. Otherwise you should never really be at the upper end of the shock fully extended unless its hanging in the air on a lift in which case the load is applied slowly so it's not a big deal." --Richard, owner of AFP
The X19 shock had a 60% length of 18.28". If I take my 17.75" shock mounting hole distance and subtract the collapsed length, I'd only have 4.15" of compression travel.
The X13 will have a 60% length of 17.1", meaning I'll actually only be ~30% compressed at ride height, giving me 4.85" of compression travel. That's a gain of almost 3/4" of compression travel!
I also went with the Berserker upgrade on both the front coilovers and the rear shocks, which will allow me to change the valving profiles at home. I ordered them with the Pro-Touring valving (GF).
Oh and I ordered his 1" lower poly engine mounts, which should help with the transmission exit-angle!
It's just money...right?!
i can't believe I knew about something that you didn't!I never knew such mounts existed, intentionally designed to lower the engine an inch. Cool!
I wanted to put my OWN kit together. Every "kit" I could find has something about it I didn't particularly like. I may end up swapping out the rear springs for something else, but overall I'm very happy with the quality of every single part so far. I am BEYOND excited to get these AFP parts in. He even emailed me to ask what size shirt I wear so he could throw a freebie in thereView attachment 410720
Trekline, AFP, Viking... You're using an uncommon combination of parts.
I've seen their mounts, just never knew they offered a 1" drop version. This particularly intrigues me cuz I collected a couple pairs of old stock mounts to use as templates and/or to modify to make a non-oil bag version cheaper than the Hummer mounts, possibly using clamshells. Never thought about any benefit to altering the design to lower the engine or for any other reason. I ended up just ordering some Hummer mounts for my Tahoe. With the cost of them skyrocketing again, I might revisit that idea.
I wanted to put my OWN kit together. Every "kit" I could find has something about it I didn't particularly like. I may end up swapping out the rear springs for something else, but overall I'm very happy with the quality of every single part so far. I am BEYOND excited to get these AFP parts in. He even emailed me to ask what size shirt I wear so he could throw a freebie in there