Need to soften Z71 suspension out of necessity

[DanangMarine68]

I currently own a 2006 Z71 4x4 Tahoe which I purcased used in 2011 wth 65K miles and Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armors 265 70R17s. Both my wife and I enjoyed the ride and on road handling. It was an improvement over my 1996 Ford Centurion Classic 150 (aftermarket conversion of a F-150 into a 4 door Bronco). In 2016 my wife suffered nerve damage in her lower back and though she still likes the truck the stiff suspension causes her pain when encountering road irregularities. Current tires are B F Goodrich AT KO2s 265 70R17s. I try to keep the tire pressures at between 32 and 34 psi. I still need the 4x4 option, not so much for off roading but for slimey boat ramps. I plan to go back to the Goodyear as BFG has never solved the age induced noise increase problem with their ATs. Would like to keep this truck as I am not a fan of the newer designed Tahoes with ther unsprung foam rubber seats.

I don't know if changing springs will help. I looked through some GM parts sites and noted that my year Tahoe had 5 different max spring loads - 2819, 4222, 4692, and two that are listed as discontinued 5228, and 5841. I'm also wondering if adjustable shocks would help. I run Koni adjustables on my 07 Mustang GT Convertible and they allow me to set the ride for road or track.

Any help will be appreciated

 

[Big Mama]

Contact Tony @NORCAL SS he’s the suspension guru and can telll you from experience he can also create a custom system for you.

 

[The_Burban]

New seating options available for her?

 

[DanangMarine68]

Contact Tony @NORCAL SS he’s the suspension guru and can telll you from experience he can also create a custom system for you.

He doesn't seem to be answering posts. Anyone else have suggestions.

 

[DanangMarine68]

Anyone else have suggestions. As mentioned above, not a fan of newer model Tahoes due to seats and not a fan of anything with a transverse mounted front wheel drive engines.

 

[swathdiver]

I currently own a 2006 Z71 4x4 Tahoe which I purcased used in 2011 wth 65K miles and Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armors 265 70R17s. Both my wife and I enjoyed the ride and on road handling. It was an improvement over my 1996 Ford Centurion Classic 150 (aftermarket conversion of a F-150 into a 4 door Bronco). In 2016 my wife suffered nerve damage in her lower back and though she still likes the truck the stiff suspension causes her pain when encountering road irregularities. Current tires are B F Goodrich AT KO2s 265 70R17s. I try to keep the tire pressures at between 32 and 34 psi. I still need the 4x4 option, not so much for off roading but for slimey boat ramps. I plan to go back to the Goodyear as BFG has never solved the age induced noise increase problem with their ATs. Would like to keep this truck as I am not a fan of the newer designed Tahoes with ther unsprung foam rubber seats.

I don't know if changing springs will help. I looked through some GM parts sites and noted that my year Tahoe had 5 different max spring loads - 2819, 4222, 4692, and two that are listed as discontinued 5228, and 5841. I'm also wondering if adjustable shocks would help. I run Koni adjustables on my 07 Mustang GT Convertible and they allow me to set the ride for road or track.

Any help will be appreciated

You can change all the shocks and the front springs to the ZW7 standard (without G65). This will soften the ride. Your KO2s are woefully under inflated, you'll quickly wear them out at those pressures but I bet she rides like a marshmallow! Mine did anyway until I aired them up right to keep the wear down. Noise wise, no complaints.

 

[Big Mama]

@NORCAL SS Tony, can you add to what James is saying or help Bob with your stuff?

 

[NORCAL SS]

What ahocks are on it?

 

[1992rs]

Concentrate on shocks first for sure, but check to see which torsion bars you have. There should be a tag on it with 2 letters. GMFS has a page called torsion bar 401 and you can cross reference which bars you have and how they rank amongst stiffness. I know my Denali, and id bet most of the premium/loaded rigs, has the XK bars which is the softest of the group designed to be used with autoride I’m guessing. You might have stiffer ones depending what options you got. If you don’t mind the work, swapping them out could be beneficial.

Also keep in mind that a huge portion of ride quality comes from the rear. Just like torsion bars, swapping your rear springs to something softer in combination with the right shocks can transform the ride drastically, which is a lot easier to replace than torsion bars.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DanangMarine68]

Actually got the tire pressures confused with my Mustang GT. Tires are at 40 PSI. Shocks are what came with the vehicle as far as I can tell, may take some contortions to read embossing on upper half. Torsion bars have the code JN 325 stamped into the front ends. There were remnants of paper tags on rear of torsion bars Left had LXL and right had RX? with the question mark looking like the bottom half of a R. If I remember correctly the shocks have more to do with the harshness of rebounding from a road imperfection. Sorry for the delay in responding. Family health issues have been taking up much of my time.

Currently getting the mouse fur on the headliner replaced, front seat base leather covers replaced as well as the carpet.

 

[swathdiver]

Actually got the tire pressures confused with my Mustang GT. Tires are at 40 PSI. Shocks are what came with the vehicle as far as I can tell, may take some contortions to read embossing on upper half. Torsion bars have the code JN 325 stamped into the front ends. There were remnants of paper tags on rear of torsion bars Left had LXL and right had RX? with the question mark looking like the bottom half of a R. If I remember correctly the shocks have more to do with the harshness of rebounding from a road imperfection. Sorry for the delay in responding. Family health issues have been taking up much of my time.

Currently getting the mouse fur on the headliner replaced, front seat base leather covers replaced as well as the carpet.

Plug your VIN in here and you can see what came on her originally and what you would need to convert to ZW7 suspension package. Bring Tony back in here too for something maybe even softer. @NORCAL SS

https://parts-catalog.acdelco.com/catalog/catalog_search.php

 

[DanangMarine68]

Tried several vin decoders and most were for someone interested in buying a vehicle. From the vin I got that the GVW is 6800 lbs, front springs are 3600 and back springs are 3750 lbs. RPO codes indicate that I have JH2 7200 lb discs. 6XL and 7XL Computer Selected Suspension left and right respectively. FK2 FK3 left and right Torsion bar spring. Shocks appear to be original as there is no blatant advertising names on them. They have red bodies with black piston arm covers.

Besides the usual expendables like oil, gas, all associated filters and occasional bulbs I have replaced the spark plugs and wires at 120K miles, oil pressure sending unit 133K and Dash stepper motors at 137K. Had to replace an AC Schraeder valve at 95K miles. Bought this vehicle Feb of 2011 with 67K miles on it replacing a '96 Centurion Classic 150 with 155K miles on it.

When I go to the URL swathdiver provided it lists the rear shocks for the Z71 as P.N. 540-53 but it also says Exc BPH which I interpret to mean excluding BPH. I have BPH code on my glove box sticker. Also that site does not show a shock for the Z71 front.

 

[swathdiver]

You can try GMPartsGiant and GMPartsDirect to solidify your original part numbers. But as mentioned earlier, you can soften her up by running the ZW7 springs and shocks.

 

[iddqd]

BF Goodrich are VERY stiff tires. When I installed them on my LX470 back in the days, it roughened the ride dramatically. I'd try different tires first, DEFINITELY P, not LT rating. Depending on your needs, you can go to Highway or All Terrain. Highway P-rated tires would be the softest of the bunch.

 

[ivin74]

Concentrate on shocks first for sure, but check to see which torsion bars you have. There should be a tag on it with 2 letters. GMFS has a page called torsion bar 401 and you can cross reference which bars you have and how they rank amongst stiffness. I know my Denali, and id bet most of the premium/loaded rigs, has the XK bars which is the softest of the group designed to be used with autoride I’m guessing. You might have stiffer ones depending what options you got. If you don’t mind the work, swapping them out could be beneficial.

Also keep in mind that a huge portion of ride quality comes from the rear. Just like torsion bars, swapping your rear springs to something softer in combination with the right shocks can transform the ride drastically, which is a lot easier to replace than torsion bars.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I

Any help will be appreciated

Change the torsion bars and the rear springs for the denali ones. Also put some all season tires.