My 02 Avalanche NFE

[rayra]

That is an interesting idea too. 1/4" HDPE and I could even heat-form them to wrap around the control arm arm so they sort of snap in place. With a couple holes for some industrial strength zip ties to hold them in place.
And yeah, sorry for the hijack, I just put up the rest of today's efforts in my own build topic -

Los Angeles -Class Attack Sub(urban), Build / Collected Werks topic - '02 k1500 Z71

High Speed test run completed. Took a dash up into the 5 fwy 'Grapevine' mountain pass, 80mph+ up the hill to Vista Del Lago overlooking Pyramid Lake. And hitting 90mph on the downhill. Panel is still in place and undisturbed. Still needs better and more screws, far as I'm concerned. Going to...

www.expeditionportal.com

Sounds like quite the adventure. When we went to Cancun narco-terror wasn't much in the news [eta just grabbed a peek at the missus old passport, it was late June '99) but I was still creeped out by the Guardia Civil with FN-FALs nearly as tall as they were and the dirty looks our tourist van load of gringos got at the town of Valladolid when the guide took us thru the ~500yr-old Spanish church there. There was a town event happening in the little plaza out front, the alcalde was giving away a tractor to some deserving farmer. It was a very interesting trip overall.

 

[rayra]

And he has RCV axles that don’t have the bellowed rubber cv boots that you’re trying to protect.

yeah I forgot about that, he showed me those one of the times I stopped by. Never looked into the details of them. He just mentioned you pack / pump them full of grease until it oozes out. It's still a rubber / poly hemisphere, correct?

 

[bknudtsen]

yeah I forgot about that, he showed me those one of the times I stopped by. Never looked into the details of them. He just mentioned you pack / pump them full of grease until it oozes out. It's still a rubber / poly hemisphere, correct?

Yeah. I’m sure a stick in the right spot could cause issues.

 

[Stryder106]

That is an interesting idea too. 1/4" HDPE and I could even heat-form them to wrap around the control arm arm so they sort of snap in place. With a couple holes for some industrial strength zip ties to hold them in place.
And yeah, sorry for the hijack, I just put up the rest of today's efforts in my own build topic -

Los Angeles -Class Attack Sub(urban), Build / Collected Werks topic - '02 k1500 Z71

High Speed test run completed. Took a dash up into the 5 fwy 'Grapevine' mountain pass, 80mph+ up the hill to Vista Del Lago overlooking Pyramid Lake. And hitting 90mph on the downhill. Panel is still in place and undisturbed. Still needs better and more screws, far as I'm concerned. Going to...

www.expeditionportal.com

Sounds like quite the adventure. When we went to Cancun narco-terror wasn't much in the news [eta just grabbed a peek at the missus old passport, it was late June '99) but I was still creeped out by the Guardia Civil with FN-FALs nearly as tall as they were and the dirty looks our tourist van load of gringos got at the town of Valladolid when the guide took us thru the ~500yr-old Spanish church there. There was a town event happening in the little plaza out front, the alcalde was giving away a tractor to some deserving farmer. It was a very interesting trip overall.

Yip - went there and had a market night in the square. Cool church. Federalies walking around and drove by in a technical with qa 50 up top - I just waved and said Buenos tardes. They returned the greeting. All good.

 

[Stryder106]

Yeah. I’m sure a stick in the right spot could cause issues.

Nah - these things are REALLY thick.

 

[bknudtsen]

Nah - these things are REALLY thick.

I meant the boot, but that’s an uneducated guess. Thoughts?

 

[Stryder106]

I meant the boot, but that’s an uneducated guess. Thoughts?

I know - I meant the boots on the RCV axles are really thick silicone. Not likely to tear

 

[bknudtsen]

I know - I meant the boots on the RCV axles are really thick silicone. Not likely to tear

Ok then. I now know that you know and you know that I know what we mean.

 

[Stryder106]

Ok then. I now know that you know and you know that I know what we mean.

I know right.........

 

[Overlandtowater]

 

[Stryder106]

Once again - I have been preoccupied and not posting updates on here. Apologies. Since I last posted, I completed a 760 mile overland route through the Mojave - and in the process broke some significant stuff - namely the rear shock towers. I cracked the driver side and broke the passenger side in half. I have an on-board Premier Power Welder so was able to weld up the cracks on the driver side but the passenger side was beyond skills in a Ludlow gas station parking lot at 9pm on a Friday night of Memorial Day weekend. After cracking the drivers side again - and not having the other rear shock at all but still on the trail - I bounced to a buddy's house who knows how to weld and has a MIG at home. During this time, we had also over-articulated the rear and snapped the rear anti-sway bar in two. We reattached and reinforced everything - except the sway bar. All good - until I hit a really big hole that I didn't see on the trail and completely ripped the passenger rear shock tower from the frame.

With that said, after completing the trip - I took my Av to my buddy who does most of the fab work and all of the suspension work on my truck with instructions to do what we originally thought should be done - plate it and dual shock it in the rear. While we were at it - reinforced the control arm mounting points, and the track bar mounting points as well. Added in some skid plates on the bottom of the shock mounts to protect them a bit. Pics below.

 

[rayra]

That's something I definitely want, in much the same terrain, some reinforcement on those bottom shock mounts for hitting rocks in washes.

So are your problems increasing vehicle weight, inadequate factory design, or you driving too hard? Or some combo of all three. I guess I'm asking if as you add improvements to your vehicle are you increasing what you attempt with your vehicle, and thus chasing whatever becomes the latest weakest link?

I've been too busy with home repairs and improvements, trying to prep for sale hopefully next year. And just went back to school. So haven't had much time and money for vehicle stuff. So I'm mostly living vicariously thru your builds. I'll be making more frequent trips to Temecula again after the summer heat breaks, hope to stop by again then.

Probably making a drive-thru of Death Valley in late October, but no real 'roughing it' there. Just a drive about thru there and up around Mono.

 

[Stryder106]

That's something I definitely want, in much the same terrain, some reinforcement on those bottom shock mounts for hitting rocks in washes.

So are your problems increasing vehicle weight, inadequate factory design, or you driving too hard? Or some combo of all three. I guess I'm asking if as you add improvements to your vehicle are you increasing what you attempt with your vehicle, and thus chasing whatever becomes the latest weakest link?

I've been too busy with home repairs and improvements, trying to prep for sale hopefully next year. And just went back to school. So haven't had much time and money for vehicle stuff. So I'm mostly living vicariously thru your builds. I'll be making more frequent trips to Temecula again after the summer heat breaks, hope to stop by again then.

Probably making a drive-thru of Death Valley in late October, but no real 'roughing it' there. Just a drive about thru there and up around Mono.

I think a combo. I was doing some really rugged terrain and my truck is a fatty. But the factory welds - suck. The thin stamped steel needs to be replaced - I knew that just hadn’t done it and it bit me.

I was surprised to see when I ripped the entire upper tower away from the frame that there are only two small welds holding it on. Ticking time bomb IMHO.

Come on by whenever - if you need some good DV routes just ask.

 

[CrazyDrei]

Once again - I have been preoccupied and not posting updates on here. Apologies. Since I last posted, I completed a 760 mile overland route through the Mojave - and in the process broke some significant stuff - namely the rear shock towers. I cracked the driver side and broke the passenger side in half. I have an on-board Premier Power Welder so was able to weld up the cracks on the driver side but the passenger side was beyond skills in a Ludlow gas station parking lot at 9pm on a Friday night of Memorial Day weekend. After cracking the drivers side again - and not having the other rear shock at all but still on the trail - I bounced to a buddy's house who knows how to weld and has a MIG at home. During this time, we had also over-articulated the rear and snapped the rear anti-sway bar in two. We reattached and reinforced everything - except the sway bar. All good - until I hit a really big hole that I didn't see on the trail and completely ripped the passenger rear shock tower from the frame.

Strder106,

Holy cow, I thought I drove my truck hard, you are on another level. That is some serious trail carnage, repair and more carnage again. The fab work looks really really good. Keep up the adventures and modifications. You and Rayra were my inspiration for even considering taking a Suburban off the pavement in the first place. Thank you.

 

[Stryder106]

Thanks Drei - much appreciated. Some good things happening. At a minimum you should at least get those shock towers boxed in to increase the strength.

I was completely shocked at how fragile they really are.