Alrighty fellas
@Tozan @iamdub @gat0r open a new beer and settle in this is a long one.
I'll title this post "Washers?"
Spohn Adjustable track bar with Del-Sphere joints - GMSUV-07-105
Installing the bar was pretty straight forward but would have been easier if I was using tools instead of my eyes to measure the body being centered over the rear wheels when setting the final adjustment to the track bar and tightening it up. One thing to note is you will have to remove the upper sway bar link on the passenger side because it blocks the track bar mount bolt completely but that is the only disassembly you will need to get the track bar out. Other than that be sure to use blue locktite on the jam nuts of the track bar so that they don't loosen up over time.
The installation hardware included only nuts and bolts without washers and this was my first concern.
I torqued the mounting bolts to about 100 foot pounds, the instructions say 75 but I wanted to make sure it was secure. I left the joints at their factory setting without tightening them although I did purchase the del-sphere adjustment tool.
Installing the track bar and centering the body of the Tahoe above the rear wheels did NOT resolve my rear coil springs looking crooked and spring spacers did not straighten, more on this later on in the post.
The first test drive went OK but there was a lot of noise which is concerning, every time the body rocked from side to side I was getting clunks coming from both the body and axle track bar mount.
I only drove it for 1 day until I decided that something was wrong.
After work on Monday I crawled under the back of the Tahoe to see if I could replicate the sound that I was concerned of and so I grabbed the track bar and pushed and pulled on it and sure enough it was clunking, but I wasn't sure if this was normal for this style of bushingless joint. Even still I tightened the track bar mount as much as I could but I could not get the track bar to stop clunking. I would need to lift the Tahoe to have more space to fit my breaker bar in there to tighten it any more.
I decided to not drive it until I could consult with Spohn support. (Amazing live support on their website, all of the people you instant chat with from Spohn sound like they are car enthusiasts and give you advise from their experience. 10/10)
Spohn support said that this clunking is normally because the track bar mounts are not tight enough and said that even though the instructions say to torque to 75 foot pounds that sometimes more torque is needed to get the track bar mount to sandwhich the track bar properly.
I also asked about the del-sphere joint tightness, the support rep said that joints are only set moderately tight and that they might need to be adjusted.
THE RESOLUTION:
With all of this new information I carved some time to pull the track bar out and redo the installation.
This time I went to Ace Hardware and grabbed some big heavy duty washers for the track bar mounting bolts because I had a feeling that the track bar mounts were being wallowed out from the mount not being tight enough. (very worth the $2 in washers)
I jacked up the rear of the Tahoe and put it on jack stands and took the bar out and as I was undoing the mounting bolts metal shavings were dropping on me which was very concerning that I had already wallowed out my track bar mounts but that wasn't the case.
It looks like the clunking I was hearing was the track bar moving around in its mount as the body of the Tahoe shifted and the heads of the track bar mount bolts were rubbing on the mount creating metal shaving.
This was resolved entirely by using the heavy duty washers that you will see in the pictures.
I took the track bar out and tighten the Del-sphere joints up as much as I could with a small wrench and the adjustment tool I bought and then applied some grease to the joint and cleaned the track bar mounts on the Tahoe in preparation of track bar installation.
I installed the track bar using the heavy duty washers on the mounts and used a breaker bar to tighten the crap out of the track bar mounts and when I was done I tried to replicate the clunk by grabbing the track bar and pulling and pushing on it with all my strength and I could not get it to move, that thing was VERY secure and it gave me great confidence feeling how robust it felt now with this new installation method.
I used a couple of metal hose clamps to secure the parking brake cable to the track bar.
After that I removed the lower coil spring insulator from bottoms of both of my rear coil spring spacers and after that my rear springs and coil spring spacers straightened right up and look perfect now. So rear coil spring spacers go metal to metal and then you use an insulator between the spacer and the bottom of the spring and then another insulator between the top of the spring and the body.
In conclusion,
I took it for a test drive and there is no sound coming from the track bar now and I am very happy with the end result and the way the Tahoe performs with this track bar. Just looking at this track bar installed in my Tahoe is confidence inspiring and best of all my rear wheels are now centered under my Tahoe and my rear suspension has full articulation again since it was bound up by a too short track bar before this.
