2012 Yukon XL Riding horribly

[ls1frc]

Hello, recently my Yukon is riding terribly. It is an SLT with Air/Electronic and 6.2 swap with 200k miles

I thought it was just tires/wheel balance. Since my Michelins were basically bald, I had new continental tires put on. The ride is the same.

I overhauled the whole suspension at about 120k miles or so and the truck rode amazing. I used factory front and rear struts/shocks. Are these just worn out again at this point?

Other things I was thinking were:

1) Front Differential Mount
2) Maybe it's the Hummer mounts from the 6.2 swap? Although I dont recall it riding this bad right after the swap
3) Body mounts? They definitely look like they're disintegrating. S&B filters has a nice kit it looks like

Body Mount Kit for 2006-2014 Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban, Avalanche, GMC Yukon, Cadillac Escalade

sbfilters.com

 

[ls1frc]

By ride horribly I mean it vibrates the seats pedals and steering wheel starting at pretty low speed. It used to ride like a couch on wheels.

 

[swathdiver]

By ride horribly I mean it vibrates the seats pedals and steering wheel starting at pretty low speed. It used to ride like a couch on wheels.

I would check for a seized front shock. Check the torque on the control arms and ball joints and tie rods. Check the swaybar end links.

 

[ls1frc]

Any tips on checking the shock?

 

[swathdiver]

Any tips on checking the shock?

Have someone jounce the suspension and see if it moves. If you have a bi-directional scan tool you may be able to see it working electronically as well.

 

[j91z28d1]

by your vibration comment it doesn't sound shock related to me unless the are stuck in full hard and you have rough washboard roads.


can you describe this vibration details?

 

[ls1frc]

Basically even on smooth roads the ride is not smooth. It feels like a vehicle with no suspension at all. Feels like subtle rumble strips basically the entire time im driving it, even at fairly low speeds. Gets significantly worse at high speed. Above 75 its unbearable which led to wheel balance, but I just had them all balanced. I suppose its possible they balanced them ******.

 

[swathdiver]

by your vibration comment it doesn't sound shock related to me unless the are stuck in full hard and you have rough washboard roads.


can you describe this vibration details?

Basically even on smooth roads the ride is not smooth. It feels like a vehicle with no suspension at all. Feels like subtle rumble strips basically the entire time im driving it, even at fairly low speeds. Gets significantly worse at high speed. Above 75 its unbearable which led to wheel balance, but I just had them all balanced. I suppose its possible they balanced them ******.

Reading these last two posts jarred a memory which could be a possibility. A hub! Get the front wheels off the ground and check the hubs. Mine had a vibration at speed that was getting more and more noticeable albeit quite slowly over months. Especially above 75 mph which I don't often do. So when my helper jacked up the front end to rotate the tires, he noticed one wheel tilt inwards and we soon confirmed it was time for a new hub.

Unlike the last ones that wore out, this one did not make noise in turns.

 

[j91z28d1]

a hub bearing as bad as that sounds would probably fail completely which I'm not even sure what that would do on one of these, but seems very bad.


definitely jack it up and shake all the wheels up down and left right. also check for slop in the drive shaft you joints even thou they do more of a humming sound in my experience but maybe it's about to fall out too?


I do hate throwing money at balancing when you just had it done. if it was at a tire chain. maybe take the receipt with you a different store and ask them to recheck the balance? they might do it for free if it hasn't been do long. might even get one of the techs to ride with you real quick and see what he thinks.

 

[ls1frc]

Another clue. I noticed when the road is imperfect let’s say one side has a little dip. The entire truck sways. Like I have to brace myself

 

[ls1frc]

It almost does seem like the shock isn’t dampening and tossing the entire truck instead.

 

[mikez71]

I once drove a friends toyota pickup that had blown out rear shocks.. Whole back end bounced up and down after going over a speed bump.
So I think one blown shock could do it. And if one is bad, maybe you have two bad ones. On one side or diagonally..

Once drove a Jeep wrangler with swaybars removed, a lift, and larger more offset wheels. I was scared to go 25mph down the street the thing wiggled so much!
Very squirmy feeling. I've driven old dodge trucks with worn out steering boxes that drift back and forth, and this Jeep was much worse!

 

[j91z28d1]

Another clue. I noticed when the road is imperfect let’s say one side has a little dip. The entire truck sways. Like I have to brace myself

something that bad I feel like you could just push done and bounce the truck and see. it really shouldn't move at all.


on a scanner you can see the voltage from the ride height sensors and the power being sent to the shocks to adjust the dampening.

I'm surprised you don't have error codes for suspension. they seem to be pretty common when something small. happens and this doesn't seem like a small issue.


arw the sway bar end link in good shape?