Tahoe swaying side to side on interstate/bumps

[Nickleahy23]

Long story short, ive been fighting this damn swaying since december.

I have a 3/5 drop..djm arms, stock keys, tonys coils with helper bags in the rear, relocation kit and thats tight..belltech SP shocks in rear and bilsteins in front. All new steering parts 2 years ago. Fresh alignment this spring. Tires are good, checked all shocks they are good, sphoon panhard bar is fine, side to side measurement is good in the rear. The only thing that hasnt been replaced suspension wise are the rear lower and uppers, but idk if those would be the cause.

I can jump on the rear of the truck up and down and it doesnt bounce level..the driver side bounces back up first, making the truck bounce side to side, kind of like a wave.

Like I said, I checked all 4 shocks, air pressure in my helper bags is the same, truck has the same height all the way around. Im at a loss as to why this is happening. Happened with my stock wheels as well as my 24s.

Any ideas or things to check out would be much appreciated. Its almost scary on the interstate. My keys swing left to right constantly.

 

[Alex33]

How are those rear shocks? If one is leaking/bad that could be the cause. Just a thought bud.

 

[JasonFH]

I just replaced the rear lower control arm bushings with poly from energy suspension. Huge difference and stopped mine from swaying back and forth on the freeway. It feels like the rear end is completely planted now. Cheap and really easy.

 

[Nickleahy23]

I just replaced the rear lower control arm bushings with poly from energy suspension. Huge difference and stopped mine from swaying back and forth on the freeway. It feels like the rear end is completely planted now. Cheap and really easy.

Link to those? It has 190k on it so I'm sure they are due..I may as well do the uppers as well.

The shocks were good.they only have 15k on them..both of them fully extend slowly and are equally as hard to compress back up to reinstall them.

 

[Alex33]

Good thinking on the bushings! I need to do all of mine too.

 

[MRS.Z-56_Hoe]

My Husband said he needs to do both our tahoes

 

[WHITEOUT]

You have shortened sway bar links?

I had a side to side sway in rear, on freeway, over dips. Once I added beefed adjustable poly RLCA, along with shortened front & rear sway bar links, all with poly bushings,stiffer rear shocks. Tightened it all up.

Just recently getting alittle sway the same in front. But think my front Belltech SP shocks may be bad n causing it. Love the SP's, but may go for stiffer next go. Idk.

 

[Nickleahy23]

ya they are shortened in the rear. Im stock in the front per tonys advice, but my angle is pretty bad and may try some shorter ones..and suggestions on what vehicle to get them from?

I think I will do the bushings in the lower arms at least and go from there. I was going to do the beefy lowers, but never got around to it. Hopefully getting a new ride this fall/winter so i just want to get it fixed. Where can you pick up the bushings for the stock trailing arms?

 

[tsb09000]

Sounds like a similar problem I had. As soon as I'd hit 70 on the hwy and hit a dip/bump or jerked the wheel it'd feel like I was in a boat swaying back and forth. Turned out to just be the rear driver side lower arm hole had become a little oblong. Bought a bigger bolt and it's been fine ever since. And only cost me $3.99!

 

[WHITEOUT]

I originally bought Energy Suspension poly shorter links, but ended up not being short enough that liked. So I measured where I wanted them, and cut & shortened them myself. Worked out very well.

Hindsight, would have just shortened my stock links. Besides using poly bushings, which may not matter for front sway links, would have worked.

Figure as long as sway bar is parallel with ground, it will, and ultimately did, work better.

Just gotta watch for how close the sway bar is to tie rods. With DJM arms may be different, idk.

 

[Nickleahy23]

any links to these bushings for the lower rear arms? Having trouble finding them. Today I thoght the truck was going to flip over when I hit a bump..not a good feeling..

Thats a good idea on cutting the sway bar links..I need to do that on my reg cab as well..stocks are WAY to long and were really hard to install

 

[JasonFH]

Link to those? It has 190k on it so I'm sure they are due..I may as well do the uppers as well.

The shocks were good.they only have 15k on them..both of them fully extend slowly and are equally as hard to compress back up to reinstall them.

The sway bars and the rear bushings are super easy. I haven't tried to tackle the front since I'm a bit concerned about my ball joints but I'll get there eventually. Just going to poly made a big difference on the sway bars (so much less sway) and my rear end doesn't wander around anymore with just the lower control arm bushings being replaced. Other than shocks from Arnott industries, intake and a black bear tune it is mostly stock. I have about 120K on mine.

Front Sway Bar: http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=3.5214 (Check you get the right size, they're not all the same).

Front Bushing Kit: http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=3.3190

Rear Sway Bar: http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=71171

Rear Bushing Kit: http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=3.3194

 

[ortiz domimguez]

[QUOTE="Nickleahy23, post: 682818, member: 230"
Any fix to the swaying currently having the same problem ?

 

[SnowDrifter]

[QUOTE="Nickleahy23, post: 682818, member: 230"
Any fix to the swaying currently having the same problem ?

Center link on right? It'll drive all sorts of wonky if not

 

[Battledrift69]

Center link on right? It'll drive all sorts of wonky if not

I’ve read about this a few times now saying that the center link can be installed wrong. How can one tell if it’s right or wrong? Excuse my ignorance but in my mind I figured it can only go on one way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SnowDrifter]

I’ve read about this a few times now saying that the center link can be installed wrong. How can one tell if it’s right or wrong? Excuse my ignorance but in my mind I figured it can only go on one way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nah it's not keyed. Can put left to right and vice-versa. IIRC the taper on it isn't that pronounced so you can even put it on upside down.

Orientation is 'drooping' down and towards the rear of the vehicle.

Here's orientation

 

[TheAutumnWind]

I just replaced the rear lower control arm bushings with poly from energy suspension. Huge difference and stopped mine from swaying back and forth on the freeway. It feels like the rear end is completely planted now. Cheap and really easy.

Hmm, I bet this is something that is commonly getting overlooked on these trucks. I may look at replacing mine.

 

[SnowDrifter]

Hmm, I bet this is something that is commonly getting overlooked on these trucks. I may look at replacing mine.

If ya want to know how to check them... Most people check the things wrong. Will explain

Car on ground, jack it up from the LCA, as close as you can possibly get to the ball joint. Just enough to lift the front tire off the ground 2-3 inches.

From there, put a pry bar underneath the front tire and lift the tire up and down. Any play in that lower ball joint indicates it should be discarded.


What happens if you jack the car up from the frame and check it:
The angle of the ball joint increases such that it becomes pinched in place, and will appear tight and good only because it's binding

 

[TheAutumnWind]

If ya want to know how to check them... Most people check the things wrong. Will explain

Car on ground, jack it up from the LCA, as close as you can possibly get to the ball joint. Just enough to lift the front tire off the ground 2-3 inches.

From there, put a pry bar underneath the front tire and lift the tire up and down. Any play in that lower ball joint indicates it should be discarded.


What happens if you jack the car up from the frame and check it:
The angle of the ball joint increases such that it becomes pinched in place, and will appear tight and good only because it's binding

Makes sense. I had not considered that thank you. My uppers are new and my lowers always seemed tight. that could have been the culprit

 

[ortiz domimguez]

Long story short, ive been fighting this damn swaying since december.

I have a 3/5 drop..djm arms, stock keys, tonys coils with helper bags in the rear, relocation kit and thats tight..belltech SP shocks in rear and bilsteins in front. All new steering parts 2 years ago. Fresh alignment this spring. Tires are good, checked all shocks they are good, sphoon panhard bar is fine, side to side measurement is good in the rear. The only thing that hasnt been replaced suspension wise are the rear lower and uppers, but idk if those would be the cause.

I can jump on the rear of the truck up and down and it doesnt bounce level..the driver side bounces back up first, making the truck bounce side to side, kind of like a wave.

Like I said, I checked all 4 shocks, air pressure in my helper bags is the same, truck has the same height all the way around. Im at a loss as to why this is happening. Happened with my stock wheels as well as my 24s.

Any ideas or things to check out would be much appreciated. Its almost scary on the interstate. My keys swing left to right constantly.

Any fix man ?