What? Autoride broke a rear shock?

[Rocket Man]

No hurt feelings, I'm fine. My shocks are new Bilstein; I guess you didn't pay attention. My problem is people trashing Arnott and misinforming the forum readers. They need to know about the rebuilt shocks for sure, but your post didn't mention that also sell new shocks. Here's your exact words: " Arnott shocks? Arnott uses old shocks and just paints them, and puts a new airbag on them, could have 150k on them." You were insinuating that if you bought shocks from them, they would be the rebuilt ones. Then you just tried to cover this by stating that all their other shocks aren't "autoride shocks". It's Ok, the definition of what exactly an autoride shock has been debated here and elsewhere forever. I consider my system isn't disabled, and most people here who use the rear air bladder shocks without magnetic damping to still be utilizing autoride. And, yes, my Denali did come with magnetic damping shocks at all 4 corners. If you want to argue whether they're "magneride" or "Bi-State" you can start another thread and maybe we can have a discussion on that. But we aren't helping to diagnose the OP's problem.

 

[Rocket Man]

@MercerRec some pictures would be helpful! That is if we haven't scared you away.

 

[Sasquatch]

Before i dumped my autoride i used to haul about 8-900 pounds of feed a few times a month and when i would unload the truck and then start it the passenger side would overfill and jack the side of the truck extremely high and eventually deflate after driving for a mile or two. I never climbed under to look what was going on because i knew the compressor was dying and i was dumping autoride for conventional shocks when it finally died.

But judging how high that shock extended i guess it`s possible for it to break in some circumstances.

 

[MercerRec]

Back on topic and back to the shock. This is/was not a manufacturing issue.

 

[MercerRec]

Have owned this truck since 120k and racked appx 100k. It's a good vehicle and the autoride is a good system. Working thru some minor maintenance issues that have presented is pretty normal. Wouldn't think of ditching the system, although it looks like the front shocks are getting standard ac delx (w/resistors wired in). I have to say the option to load an XL with a couple thousand pounds inside, then drop a trailer on the hitch and maintain a level ride height is hard to beat.

I just priced out a new Yukon XL SLT. If you wince at servicing/maintaining these older sleds don't think about buying a new one. I'll just be happy to figure out how this shock snapped.

 

[02Lightning]

Red Rocket
My problem with Arnott is they call the autoride shock a rebuilt shock, when in fact it is not. I mentioned that Arnott shock as being an “old shock,” because the OP mentioned autoride, (these are active shocks) and the other shocks (passive) are not autoride, it doesn’t matter if it has an airbag or not (this is how the manufacture defines it, not me). You are painting this with a wider brush than I am. The manufacture defines autoride as active shocks. I do know a bit about these dampeners, I designed assembly cells for Delphi for these dampeners, when you take the “active” part away, it’s no longer an autoride shock. And I do know the MR shock was not offered for the GMT800. The two shocks, bi-state and MR look physically the same (and are still called autoride), but are in fact very different internally. The only way of telling, is part numbers or looking at them internally. The MR shock was reserved for higher end cars, and my GMT900 (top of the line Yukon Denali) still did not receive an MR dampener until later years of the GMT900. To be able to tell if my truck came with a bi-state dampener or MR, I had to call an old co-worker to check the Delphi part numbers, (now BWI) to verify.

Back on topic and back to the shock. This is/was not a manufacturing issue.

View attachment 66069

Yes, hard to tell what caused this, but with the bag fully filled, and the shock fully extended it should not put the piston rod in a bind and cause the rod to break, they are designed to do that.

 

[Rocket Man]

@02Lightning yes I understand what you're trying to say and in a technical sense you are correct in the nomenclature of the exact definition of what an autoride shock is but for the most part most of us use a broader definition. As I said earlier you are technically correct, but let's stay focused on helping the OP and not making this a " you're wrong and I'm right" thing. I disagree with you in the broader sense but agree that you're technically right, if that makes sense. Please post to the OP if you have help and I'll stay out of this. I don't know how this could have happened, although it does look like the shock was overextended somehow. Good luck @MercerRec .

 

[ISU-152]

I'm going to take a stab here and say the auto ride was working fine. The shock being faulty probably caused the auto ride to over compensate. If it's sensing weight and not getting the proper resistance back from the shock then of course it's going to do something odd.

 

[Illnasty]

Nothing of substance to add but the suspension is probably the biggest pain point on these trucks. I have a 2002 Denali and the "Service ride Control" message is a constant on my dash. I replaced the shocks twice. The last set are without that goofy air pump that always breaks. Sometimes the light will go off but this time it's been lit for over a month IDGAF anymore.

 

[MercerRec]

Yes, hard to tell what caused this, but with the bag fully filled, and the shock fully extended it should not put the piston rod in a bind and cause the rod to break, they are designed to do that.

Good comment. I was thinking that the bag was fully filled, and at that fully extended position the leverage on the shock caused it to bend, then break due to the geometry involved in the rear suspension.