Want to take my 2010 Yukon XL Denali with 180,000 miles for a family trip from Michigan To Florida - Can you help me make this a success!

[bobby2175]

It will really depends on how worn the shock itself is. When mine were blown there wasn’t any sagging in the rear end when loaded so the shock themselves were still doing their job to keep the truck handling somewhat proper. But if your shocks are allowing the truck to sag I’d venture a guess that the shocks themselves are now tired and are compressing more than they should and not re extended as much as they need to. It sounds like the shocks aren’t making the truck undriveable, so not tackling it before the trip probably won’t kill the truck. That will ultimately be a judgment call on whether or not it gets handled before the trip.

I still feel like the truck drives unbelievably well. Maybe I should load it up and make sure it's all good, but light load and it's no problem. I'm hoping to push this to next year and make sure I'm capable of actually doing this. My confidence isn't super high on being able to get the bolts off and get everything back together again properly and wow...the prices on OEM shocks and compressor are way up there!

 

[iamdub]

I still feel like the truck drives unbelievably well. Maybe I should load it up and make sure it's all good, but light load and it's no problem. I'm hoping to push this to next year and make sure I'm capable of actually doing this. My confidence isn't super high on being able to get the bolts off and get everything back together again properly and wow...the prices on OEM shocks and compressor are way up there!

The coils for the models with ALC are a little softer since they rely on the air sleeves on the shocks to supplement the load capacity. With the sleeves blown/inoperable, you're left with the springs alone that are a little too soft for the vehicle's carrying capacity. If the rear is too soft for your everyday driving and/or you tow or carry a loaded cargo hold often enough, you can slip some air bags in the rear coils and just add a few PSI for those times you're loaded. Basically just doing manually what the ALC system does automatically. Air Lift and Firestone have kits for these rigs. The Air Lift 1000 bag kit is around $130 and can be installed in a couple of hours. Best I can tell, the Firestone (Coil-Rite) kit is comparable, just has blue bags instead of red.

You can disable the ALC by disconnecting the negative battery cable, removing a couple of fuses then reconnecting the battery. If that is the source for your suspension warning messages, this will eliminate that. Personally, if the shocks are otherwise fine and you just need to fix the sagging, I'd spend the $130 bucks versus four times that for the factory style shocks with the air sleeves plus the $200 for the compressor that might be blown.

Find your kit here:

Air Lift

Firestone


Also, lemme know if you get serious about the Big 3 wiring upgrade. I've gotta rush off to work. But I have pics, etc. in my build thread I can use to give you some pointers. I don't know what electrical gremlins you're experiencing. But upgrading the major circuits would at least rule out the factory shortcomings so you'd know if the problem was elsewhere.

 

[Geotrash]

I still feel like the truck drives unbelievably well. Maybe I should load it up and make sure it's all good, but light load and it's no problem. I'm hoping to push this to next year and make sure I'm capable of actually doing this. My confidence isn't super high on being able to get the bolts off and get everything back together again properly and wow...the prices on OEM shocks and compressor are way up there!

I wouldn't worry about the rear shocks for the trip, honestly. If it's driving well, a little sag with a load won't hurt a thing. I drove my '07 for 2 years after I bought it with blown air bags on the rear shocks and a burned out compressor. Lots of times I had it loaded up with ski gear and buddies. No problem. It was only when I started towing a camper with it that I ran into more sag than I was comfortable with, so I replaced the shocks with new OEM and a new Dorman compressor at that time. Easy repair, but it can probably wait until you get back. It won't strand you.

 

[bobby2175]

The coils for the models with ALC are a little softer since they rely on the air sleeves on the shocks to supplement the load capacity. With the sleeves blown/inoperable, you're left with the springs alone that are a little too soft for the vehicle's carrying capacity. If the rear is too soft for your everyday driving and/or you tow or carry a loaded cargo hold often enough, you can slip some air bags in the rear coils and just add a few PSI for those times you're loaded. Basically just doing manually what the ALC system does automatically. Air Lift and Firestone have kits for these rigs. The Air Lift 1000 bag kit is around $130 and can be installed in a couple of hours. Best I can tell, the Firestone (Coil-Rite) kit is comparable, just has blue bags instead of red.

You can disable the ALC by disconnecting the negative battery cable, removing a couple of fuses then reconnecting the battery. If that is the source for your suspension warning messages, this will eliminate that. Personally, if the shocks are otherwise fine and you just need to fix the sagging, I'd spend the $130 bucks versus four times that for the factory style shocks with the air sleeves plus the $200 for the compressor that might be blown.

Find your kit here:

Air Lift

Firestone


Also, lemme know if you get serious about the Big 3 wiring upgrade. I've gotta rush off to work. But I have pics, etc. in my build thread I can use to give you some pointers. I don't know what electrical gremlins you're experiencing. But upgrading the major circuits would at least rule out the factory shortcomings so you'd know if the problem was elsewhere.

The airlift 1000 kit says "will not fit models with factory auto leveling option". Assuming I can't use that one. I'll look at the Firestone.

I'm absolutely serious about big 3 and upgrading my audio before I leave on the trip. I have a couple blown speakers including the center one in the dash (which is a bad place to have a blown speaker), tired of the head unit, and want to upgrade my audio. Would love to do this before the trip as we are all into music and the truck will be blasting something the entire drive. I don't know where to start on any of this.

My configuration is like this thread below where the mega fuse is integrated with the positive cable and not at the firewall.

Big 3 upgrade question?

So I have been looking into doing a big 3 upgrade for awhile but it seems all the videos or tutorial I see have a different setup. It's not that I need a tutorial but more of an observation. Most other Tahoe's I have seen this done to are from 2007-2009. They have the 175 amp fuse located on the...

www.tahoeyukonforum.com

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Just a few thoughts for you. Everything sounds good and this preventative maintenance items will give you plenty of stress relief on your trip! Working from front to back is a solid plan under the hood. 1. When you source a radiator be mi drill on non OEM units. I’ve never had issues with aftermarket and the one that’s currently on my truck is aftermarket and has seen some serious abuse in the last couple years with it installed. Only thing to be on the lookout for with the radiator replacement is to verify that if you go aftermarket make sure there’s a restrictive valve built into the top coolant hose inlet on the radiator. If that’s not present too much coolant flows into the radiator from the surge reservoir and it will prevent the truck getting up to and staying at operating temperature. Will definitely cause issues with cold weather setting in. Some aftermarket brand radiators have the redirect or valve in pace and some don’t. I purchased my radiator from 1800 radiators and it works perfectly. Several trips towing boats up and down the mountain I live on, taking my moms boat out to lake Mojave in Laughlin, Nevada where it’s 120 degrees outside in the middle of June during the day. A trip this last summer to just north of Salt Lake City and the 12 mile stretch on I-15 from mesquite Arizona, across the virgin river canyon bridge, under construction and two and a half hour traffic back up to get through, truck basically idled through that 12 miles, AC on full blast and 108 degree outside temp. Through all of it truck hasn’t had any temperature or cooling system issues. So 1800 radiators is definitely a good aftermarket brand. If OEM isn’t in the budge just be on the look out and ask about the restrictor valve. Of course OEM radiators won’t give any issues but I hear they’re big $$$.

2. Rear suspension on the Z55 equipped trucks is a common failure point beyond 100k. The air bladders around the shocks rear, leak air out, and then the compressor burns itself out trying to constantly run to keep the shocks filled. A few suitcases in the back shouldn’t cause sag so that’s a good sign of the shocks being warm and the air bladders not holding air. If the compressor doesn’t run at all that’s a good indication of it being burnt out. However easily remedy-able. You have two options. Depending on how you use the truck. Buy standard passive (non electronically dampened) non air assist shocks, resistors to fool the ride control computer, and the non air ride rear coil springs and do away with air suspension. If you don’t tow anything this is a viable option. It’s not a whole lot cheaper and from what I’ve read leaves a lot to be desired ride quality wise. But if you regulary haul people, luggage on said vacations, or tow, keeping the Z55 suspension is worth it. So you can go option two and get the replacement air assist shocks and compressor. This is the route I would recommend. It keeps the ride control the way it was designed from the factory, which is pretty damn good for a rig this size to ride as nice as it does on air assist shocks that are electronically dampened. It’s not terribly expensive, but not cheap either, but so totally worth it to go this route. Suncore is a brand that I have heard others mention here that makes replacement Z55 shocks for our trucks. It’s a cheaper option. And some guys have had good results. In my opinion the way to go is the Arnott industries brand replacement rear shocks. They are the leading brand and from what I understand remanufacture and reengineer air shacks for many different makes and models with the products for GM SUVs being the flagship shocks they offer. They offer a passive replacement option and a full OEM equivalent electronically dampened air shock setup as well. The passive versions are a tad bit cheaper. I have the passive ones on my 2006 and they ride great and have been in my truck I believe since 2018 with no issues. I got them from another member here and they were virtually new. Scored a H-E-L-L of a deal on front and rear shocks with the fronts being the OEM replacement and the rears passive Arnott shocks and couldn’t pass it up. Otherwise I would have gone with the electronically dampened version. I kinda wish I had them but I have no complaints about the performance or the ride quality of the passive shocks. Arnott does offer a compressor replacement, and Dorman makes a compressor replacement as well that’s a bit cheaper. From what I’ve read both brands can be hit or miss with failing, and everyone either swearing by one compressor or the other based on experiences. I replaced my compressor with a dorman unit and it’s been perfect since the replacement in 2018 with zero issue. There’s tons of threads here detailing the parts list, and walk throughs.
With what relaxing the shocks entails. I did the shock and compressor replacement in the driveway myself and it was pretty easy to do. I took an extra step and replaced the air lines going from the compressor to each shock just to be safe. Wasn’t necessary but I figured hey I’m in there may as well knock it out for extra peace of mind. @Joseph Garcia has great experience with the Z55 systems on these things as I believe he recently rebuilt the system on his 2007 Denali XL. He can correct me me if I’m wrong, but I think his truck had the Z55 delete done before he bought and he went back to the Z55 setup.

That is correct. I re-installed the Z55 suspension, and it was a dramatic improvement.

 

[bobby2175]

I wouldn't worry about the rear shocks for the trip, honestly. If it's driving well, a little sag with a load won't hurt a thing. I drove my '07 for 2 years after I bought it with blown air bags on the rear shocks and a burned out compressor. Lots of times I had it loaded up with ski gear and buddies. No problem. It was only when I started towing a camper with it that I ran into more sag than I was comfortable with, so I replaced the shocks with new OEM and a new Dorman compressor at that time. Easy repair, but it can probably wait until you get back. It won't strand you.

We'll be traveling with a family of 7 plus 7 suitcases - that's what I was worried about. Have never had a need to tow, so that won't be an issue.

 

[Geotrash]

We'll be traveling with a family of 7 plus 7 suitcases - that's what I was worried about. Have never had a need to tow, so that won't be an issue.

In that case, new OEM Z55 rear shocks from Rock Auto and a new Dorman compressor would be my choice. I have 2 of these rigs in which I have done this replacement. Tens of thousands of towing miles later and they both still work great.

 

[bobby2175]

In that case, new OEM Z55 rear shocks from Rock Auto and a new Dorman compressor would be my choice. I have 2 of these rigs in which I have done this replacement. Tens of thousands of towing miles later and they both still work great.

Should I also replace the airlines? I've read mixed reviews on the Dorman - should I go OEM?

 

[adventurenali92]

The airlift 1000 kit says "will not fit models with factory auto leveling option". Assuming I can't use that one. I'll look at the Firestone.

I'm absolutely serious about big 3 and upgrading my audio before I leave on the trip. I have a couple blown speakers including the center one in the dash (which is a bad place to have a blown speaker), tired of the head unit, and want to upgrade my audio. Would love to do this before the trip as we are all into music and the truck will be blasting something the entire drive. I don't know where to start on any of this.

My configuration is like this thread below where the mega fuse is integrated with the positive cable and not at the firewall.

Big 3 upgrade question?

So I have been looking into doing a big 3 upgrade for awhile but it seems all the videos or tutorial I see have a different setup. It's not that I need a tutorial but more of an observation. Most other Tahoe's I have seen this done to are from 2007-2009. They have the 175 amp fuse located on the...

www.tahoeyukonforum.com

All the air springs say they’re not compatible with the Z55 equipped trucks. And I don’t know why that is but I’ve read it everywhere. It’s just a matter of measuring your rear coil springs and finding bags with matching dimensions. I’m guessing Firestone will say the same thing. I run airlift 1000 bags on my truck since I do so much towing and I figured it would be cheap insurance to help preserve the life of my Z55 shocks. It’s worked wonderfully. I agree with the comments that you could do the air springs option and manually fill them when you plan to carry lots of people and cargo weight on a trip to prevent sag. That’s a good solution I didn’t think of. Good “easy fix” in the interim while you decide on which way to go on shocks. And the plus side is that manually filling them is easy peasy…. I bought a really cheap small air compressor from a small California chain hardware store that I have a branch of in big bear. It’s just a little 12v cigarette lighter power compressor that you can use for tires. My airlift bags max out at 35PSI capacity. When unloaded I keep 10-15 PSI in the bags, a little more with detail gear loaded in, and 35PSI Max capacity whenever I have a boat hooked up. My air compressor is small enough to keep the cord and air line bundled up and stowed in the rear storage compartment where the bottle jack and tire iron and tools get stored. I pull it out and it takes all of 30 seconds plugged into the rear outlet by my tailgate to fill the bags all the way up.

 

[Doubeleive]

Should I also replace the airlines? I've read mixed reviews on the Dorman - should I go OEM?

airlines are fine if you use oem shocks, if you go with the arnott shocks then you need to buy a gm airline kit because the drivers side air fitting on the arnott shocks is relocated so it makes the line super tight and swapping in a oem piece fixes that issue. the dorman airline kit does not disassemble