2007 Suburban LT w/ 250,000 miles - Maintenance & lowering parts list

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JBenson

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I need to do some maintenance on my wife's '07 with 250,000 miles. The shocks / struts are shot. This is strictly a school bus for her to run the kids around. My goal is to drop the front a little and drop the rear enough to match the fender gap with a ride that will make her happy. It seems like a 2-4 would be right for that? Here is what I've put together based on searches from this forum. Opinions? Are there any bushings I should be looking at replacing with poly while I'm at it? Am I missing anything? What am I forgetting?

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JBenson

JBenson

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Nobody has anything? No bushings that are more prone to wear out than others, or specific places where poly makes a significant difference? Nothing?
 

iamdub

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I need to do some maintenance on my wife's '07 with 250,000 miles. The shocks / struts are shot. This is strictly a school bus for her to run the kids around. My goal is to drop the front a little and drop the rear enough to match the fender gap with a ride that will make her happy. It seems like a 2-4 would be right for that? Here is what I've put together based on searches from this forum. Opinions? Are there any bushings I should be looking at replacing with poly while I'm at it? Am I missing anything? What am I forgetting?

View attachment 367219

Looks like a good package to me. At 250K, if the ball joints and/or bushings are original, you should definitely replace them while you have it apart for the shocks and struts. I wouldn't do poly bushings. They're unnecessary on a family hauler that you want to have nice ride quality. It's much easier and faster and possibly cheaper to replace the complete control arm assemblies than to replace the bushings and ball joints in them. Don't cheap out here or it'll likely cost you more sooner than later. Get GM Genuine or ACDelco Original Equipment. ACDelco "Gold" (Formerly known as ACDelco Professional) is acceptable if the others aren't available or in your budget, but only if you can verify what re-boxed aftermarket brand they are. For suspension parts, hope they're Moog CK series. Mine were. Avoid ACDelco Silver (Formerly ACDelco Advantage) and Moog RK series.

Take accurate before and after measurements. Some spindles don't drop the full 2". McGaughy's for sure don't (1.75".) Coils are always a crap shoot on what you'll actually net from them. Keep in mind you'll have to allow time for settling, too.

With a 4" rear drop, you'll need to remove the bumpstop and the bracket from the frame. Search "Free Travel Mod".

I'd recommend getting an adjustable panhard bar. You can wait until your drop is complete and assess if you need/want one.

I'd also recommend poly or thermoplastic sway bar bushings. Same for the front end link bushings. The offset DJM rear end links already have poly bushings.

Since you'll be needing an alignment afterwards, you should have new tie rods if they're old.

If those rear shocks are stock-replacement in dimension, they might be too long. They'll be compressed ~4" or whatever those coils end up dropping. The extenders will return 2" of this, so they'll be compressed 2" as compared to a stock-height vehicle. They might not have adequate travel if the rear squashes down a lot on a big bump or if loaded down or towing. You might need shorter shocks. If you want some to match the front, you might have to contact Bilstein to see if they have a shorter version of that shock. Or maybe someone here or elsewhere already knows of one and can get you a part number. Speaking of towing, if those springs are too soft, you can toss in some load bags such as those from Air Lift or Firestone. If they're too low but feel and support fine, just add in some spacers to pick it up where you want.
 
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iamdub

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Nobody has anything? No bushings that are more prone to wear out than others, or specific places where poly makes a significant difference? Nothing?

This is one of those instances where you "go with what you know". Unless you're modifying it in such a manner that necessitates the supporting aftermarket bushings, stay with what it left the factory with. OE bushings are pretty much guaranteed to last at least 150K miles and ride the best. The only place I'd use poly or thermoplastic is the sway bar bushings. Actually, you kinda have to go outta your way to get the OE rubber bushings. The new ACDelco sway bar bushings I got were electric blue thermoplastic- probably reboxed Moog. Firmer bushings on the control and trailing arms would transmit much more road feel and would "cheapen" the ride quality.
 
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