rayra
Expedition Leader
That's about where I'm at. In the normal range of motion, only change was a torsion key 'leveling' lift. Z71 Sub. The boots / bellows on the CV boots are a bit overlarge. It looks pinched but isn't.
15yrs, 126k+ miles into its vehicle life, who can say? Far as I can tell this vehicle is still on its original ball joints and bushings, too. I've replaced everything but those key components, at this point. And the CV half shafts. All the fluids have been changes, everything well lubed. Time will tell. And 99% of the time it's in 2WD anyway.
The Missus' '05 Tahoe just went past the 180k mi mark, also a Z71, no sign of any CV trouble yet. Hers is only cranked up a little, no key change. All the boots look good as new, no sign of degradation or splitting. That's SoCal vehicles for you, benefit of only having three seasons, Summer, Fire, Mud.
eta - I have seen an aftermarket suspension lift that included some spacers to lower the axle a bit and reclaim some of that CV angle. And having dropped the front axles in both our vehicles as part of changing their oil pan gaskets and oil pickup tube o-rings, it does appear to be easy to add some spacers to lower the axle in the otherwise stock config to recover a few degrees of angle. I'd have to look at bolt lengths and clearance between the front axle pumpkin and the factory skid plate. But my recollection is it could be spaced about 1/2" lower. Didn't seem to be enough to matter much.
15yrs, 126k+ miles into its vehicle life, who can say? Far as I can tell this vehicle is still on its original ball joints and bushings, too. I've replaced everything but those key components, at this point. And the CV half shafts. All the fluids have been changes, everything well lubed. Time will tell. And 99% of the time it's in 2WD anyway.
The Missus' '05 Tahoe just went past the 180k mi mark, also a Z71, no sign of any CV trouble yet. Hers is only cranked up a little, no key change. All the boots look good as new, no sign of degradation or splitting. That's SoCal vehicles for you, benefit of only having three seasons, Summer, Fire, Mud.
eta - I have seen an aftermarket suspension lift that included some spacers to lower the axle a bit and reclaim some of that CV angle. And having dropped the front axles in both our vehicles as part of changing their oil pan gaskets and oil pickup tube o-rings, it does appear to be easy to add some spacers to lower the axle in the otherwise stock config to recover a few degrees of angle. I'd have to look at bolt lengths and clearance between the front axle pumpkin and the factory skid plate. But my recollection is it could be spaced about 1/2" lower. Didn't seem to be enough to matter much.
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