I have been thru the lowering thread, and looked thru all the pics, and specs of what everyone is doing.. And I still am unsure.
First let me say, ride is EXTREMELY important. Currently, I think my Esky rides just a bit to stiff. I want it to ride like its on a cloud. I have a bad back (5 partially blown discs). I only want to lower it cause it is hard to get in and out of for me.
Because of the above facts, I am thinking a 1/2 or maybe a 2/3, leaning more to the 2/3 I think. I do plan on keeping my Z55 Autoride. I do tow occasionally, mostly just a enclosed trailer with a couple quads or snowmobiles. But I do rarely tow a car/truck/skidster on a flatbed. This is also my road trip vehicle, with my wife and (soon to be) 2 kids. So again, ride is very important.
I also do plan on keeping my Factory 17" wheels and stock 265/70R17 tires. I am not a fan of big rims little tires. Sidewall helps with the ride quality.
So same basic starting questions...
What is the FreeTravel mod? Is it something I need to do?
What are Keys?
Knowing what you have read above, what are the suggestions?
I know my front/rear Z55 shocks are needing replacement, as well as my compressor.
Edit: I do plan on keeping the Rear Air Suspension, but not necessarily the Z55. Have not made a decision on this yet.
I'm not the most versed on the GMT800 Escalade front setup as far as Autoride and ALC. I know some have air shocks in the front and rear while others just have them in the rear.
What I can say is that having a cloud-like ride while not being too soft and uncontrolled is a delicate balancing act. Shock valving controls the most as far as ride quality and there's a chance that yours are worn and the ESC is firming them up. You can unplug the wires from all four shocks and go for a short test drive, preferably on a straight road with no traffic, and see if it rides softer.
New OEM shocks might be all you need to get the relatively soft Cadillac ride quality. But, yours may be riding as well as it possibly can and it's just still too firm for you.
Adding lowering to the mix, you can drop the front 2" with spindles and not affect the ride quality or amount of suspension travel, which means your shocks won't be put 2" closer to bottoming out. I'd go this route unless I wanted to change the shocks.
For the rear, the only way to drop it is with coils. The 34324 coils in that Belltech #759 kit seem to get great reviews. But, as with anything of this nature, you have to feel them for yourself. They're supposedly a 4" drop, 3" with the spacers in. They may be more or less on your particular vehicle. After completing your drop installation, you'll have to disable the ALC and put some miles on the new springs to settle them as well as assess the ride quality. Once they've settled, you can replace the spacer with a taller one to lift it if it's too low. With keeping the stock shocks (to maintain the ALC and AutoRide), I wouldn't go any lower than a 3" drop, but 4" might be ok. At this point, you'll install links of the appropriate length on the ride height sensors then enable the ALC. Proper sensor adjustment is critical since it controls the ALC and AutoRide. It may sound more complicated than it really is and there are a few more details, but we can cover that once you're actually into it.
The Free Travel Mod is where you cut the rear bump stop bracket from the frame to allow more suspension travel. The rear axle is already about 3" from the bump stop. Lowering the rear 3" puts the axle right on the bump stop, causing a very firm ride. Performing the FTM returns almost 4" of travel so it's like it was never lowered.
I highly suggest a lower control arm relocator kit: The DJM RK2000 (
https://djmsuspension.com/product/rk2000/). The problem is that the Belltech shock extenders don't fit with this kit. At least, last I knew. Sometimes they change the designs and it's not known until people install then report about them. If they do, in fact not work, you'd have to get the DJM extenders: The DJM SE2000 (
https://djmsuspension.com/product/se2000/). The RK2000 kit also has the sway bar end links you'll need for the drop.
Keys are what braces the ends of the torsion bars (your front springs) to "key" them to a particular clocking. They are adjustable. You can adjust the ride height up or down simply by turning the adjuster bolt. But, you'll only get so much adjustment out of them before they're maxed out. Lowering keys ("drop keys") re-clock the torsion bars so that they start from an already "lowered" position compared to the stock keys and allow adjustment up or down from there. For a 2" front drop, I'd stick to spindles since there are other components involved that adjusting the torsion bars will affect.
If you decide to lose AutoRide, this opens you up to aftermarket shock options. It seems that the general consensus is that Bilstein is the best option for ride quality and control. The problem with aftermarket shocks and maintaining ALC is that you're limited to what Arnott offers. I have no personal experience with the ride quality of their air shocks.
You could delete AutoRide and ALC and use air bags in the rear coils for when you tow. IMO, this is a better option since you'll have much more control over the spring rate, loaded or not, and the air bag kit is half the cost of a new compressor. If you don't tow a lot, this might be more sensible for you.
I wanted to improve the ride quality of my Tahoe as well as lower it as well as maintain load capacity. I deleted AutoRide and installed Belltech Street Performance struts in the front. This improved the feel over my worn and stiff factory AutoRide struts. I can only assume they ride about as good OEM struts should ride based on what I've read. I had Belltech SP shocks for the rear, but the wrong ones and they were super firm. I threw in some slightly modified Bilstein 4600 series shocks I had from a Jeep XJ and they ride beautifully. For the load capacity aspect, I installed air bags (Air Lift 1000 series). I haven't towed a lot of weight. But, what I have towed has only required 10 psi or less in the bags (they max at 35) to keep the rear level and it has never felt overloaded, loose or uncontrolled. Since my lowering springs are considerably softer than stock (Jeep TJ coils), I keep about 5 psi in the bags to maintain a more stock-like ride quality. I can drain the bags and it'll ride a little more cushy, but I don't like the way it feels when turning at speed. All in all, I have my 3/4 drop with improved ride quality, handling and load carrying capability. My next trick is to see if I can use the factory compressor to control the rear as intended, but with the Air Lift bags since I don't/can't have the air shocks. That project has been on hold for a long time due to little necessity and much bigger obligations.
