Behold! The fruits of my labor!
Took all last weekend with the help of two of my buddies to put on the new suspension system. Boy there were a lot of holdups/hiccups along the way. But it was our first time installing these kinds of components so we were learning along the way.
Saturday morning starting at 7am I had coffee, eggs, sausage, and toast all ready to go and we crushed it and got to work right away. I figured you can't install suspension on an empty stomach. We immediately hit problems, on what I thought would be the easiest part of the job, taking the wheels off. Either those lugs had never been taken off, or the last person to reinstall them used an impact gun and torqued them down as much as physically possible. We broke two sockets (one was on the impact gun) just trying to break them loose. in the end we had a breaker bar on them plus a pipe and my one buddy jumping on it just to break the lugs loose. After an hour we finally got all the wheels off.
We tackled the rear first because we knew it would be easy. Shocks and coils came off without an hitch. However we did break the bolts off on the rear sway bar/linkages. So had to run to Advanced and pick up some new ones. Also took out the on board air compressor that was used to fill the old air suspension. Trying to get rid of any dead weight. Got everything bolted back up on and boom the back was done and the wheels were back on. Time for lunch!
After we grilled up some bratwurst, we got to the front. Here is where the real issues started. Started disconnecting everything and slowly going through step by step of disassembly and got the front strut out. (Also broke the front torsion bars as well so had to go get new ones of those two). While out I also rented a coil compressor to get that front shock out from the coil. Started cranking down on the coil compressor and things got sketchy fast and we realized we were not qualified nor brave enough to keep going. So we called it a day and started looking for a shop I could take the front struts to and have them done for me. I was also putting on a 2inch BDS level kit which required drilling and tapping of new bolts, something else we were not equipped to do. So it being late Saturday afternoon in the south, everything is closed. I get lucky though and a Firestone store says they'll do it for me and it'll be ready first thing Sunday morning. I'm game and leave it with them. And so the downhill portion begins.
I get a call from Firestone Sunday morning that says the new shocks I dropped off to have the coil mounted on are not the correct ones. Confused since I ordered the Arnott Suspension kit specifically for my year suburban, I go take a look. And yes, when they opened the boxes the new struts were in, it was clear this wasn't going to work. These shocks did not have baseplates on them for the coil to sit on. I was completely confused and perplexed. So I take those ones back to O'Reilly's with me (I had to order the Arnott kit through O'Reilly because Arnott does not sell direct to consumer anymore). While at O'Reilly I chat with the guy at the desk and we pull up the parts catalog and see what the issue was. When you drill down to a 2007 4WD Suburban for a coil conversion kit, there are two options from Arnott. One option is what I got which was labeled as a "New" conversion kit and was priced at like $890 or something like that. Reading the description it sounded like it had everything I needed. The second option was a "Value" kit priced at $540 and it had the exact same product description on it. In my mind and with my understanding of the word
value, I assume this kit has either refurb shocks or just a value option of them. I figured if I am spending the money lets get nice new shocks and I sprung for the more expensive kit. Now looking back when you look at the two photo's of the kit, one kit has front shocks without baseplates (the kit I got) and the other kit has baseplates. Not sure who or what the kit is for that I got, but at the end of the day what I had was not going to work. Even the guy at the store was like "I dont know how you're supposed to know which of these to order. It doesn't specificy a difference between these kits". So I didnt feel as stupid now. Thankfully O'Reilly's was insanely helpful. They ordered what I needed and had it express shipped down from another store about 30miles north and it was there in a few hours. I took the new struts to Firestone and said hope these work. We had a laugh and the guy said yeah this is much better. He goes off and says we will call you when its done. a few hours later around 5pm they call me and said they got in done just as they were closing and I could come get it. I show up and they got the new shocks on and the leveling kit plates on as well. I go to pay and the guy at the desk says, "Boss man has this on his timesheet, no charge for you". I was a bit confused but he said I didnt owe anything and so off I went. Going on 6pm i was out of daylight and would have to wait till morning to work on the truck. I took off work on Monday because I needed to get this thing off blocks in the parking lot before my HOA ******** a brick. So I go out at 7am to start working, I grab the complee front strut assembly and walk over to the truck and take one look and my first thought it "$#!&".... and i see that the shop installed the level kit on backwards and did not mark the coil and top plate accordingly to assemble it the way it needed to. In short, the top 3 bolts did not line up with the holes and allow the bottom of the strut to mount to the lower control arm. I was pretty upset at this point. I go back and say hey you guys installed this backwards, I need it flipped around. The guy at the front says they dont have any suspension guys in today and it wont get done till Wed morning. Well that doesnt work for me so I leave. Luckily a shop down the street from me was open and gladly accepted the work. Within a couple hours they had everything squared away and perfect.
Back at it, my buddy and I muscle the hell out of the new stiff front struts and force them in. a couple hours later and boom all done! Off to the tire shop it went. Picked it up the following day after work. And now behold her in all er new glory!
Only things left to do are get it aligned and get an opinion on my control arms. The upper ones seemed to be maybe a little stressed and not sure if I should get new ones or if its ok. Taking it to the shop down the street from me this weekend. Then just need to check some sensor connectors in the back because Im getting ABS, stabilitrak, and traction control error messages on the dash. Which from what I have read is due to the speed sensor in the back with is realy easy to bump when changing the rear shocks.
After all that, the next project will be building a drawer/sleeping platform in the back
But for now, I'm just enjoying the new look and ride.
