Approaching 200K on 2011 Tahoe - Suspension replacements ?

[mb311]

Seems my Tahoe 4x4 LT, still has lots of life left..at least I hope so b/c it's been a great vehicle. I'm in uncharted territory as I have never kept a vehicle this long. Need to know what the consensus is on suspension related wear items that should be replaced by 200K miles versus "if it aint broke, don't fix it" items.

About a year ago I did KYB shocks/coil-overs with 1.5" level kit, new rotors/pads, Hotchkis front/rear sway bars, & 18" TrailBoss wheels wrapped in Falken A/ts.

FRONT - Seems I am well past due to replace front wheel hub/bearing assemblies
Upper Control arms seem like a good idea to correct suspension geometry from my lift/level
What about lower control arms? Just ball joints?
CV axles?
Tie rods, inner or outer or both?
Anything else?

REAR - anything needed here other than routine rear differential fluid changes?

Appreciate the help.

 

[Marky Dissod]

Seems my Tahoe 4x4 LT, still has lots of life left ... at least I hope so b/c it's been a great vehicle.
I'm in uncharted territory as I have never kept a vehicle this long.
Need to know what the consensus is on suspension related wear items that should be replaced by 200K miles versus "if it aint broke don't fix it" items.

About a year ago I did KYB shocks/coil-overs with 1.5" level kit, new rotors/pads, Hotchkis front/rear sway bars, & 18" TrailBoss wheels wrapped in Falken A/Ts.

FRONT - Seems I am well past due to replace front wheel hub/bearing assemblies
Upper Control arms seem like a good idea to correct suspension geometry from my lift/level
What about lower control arms? Just ball joints?
CV axles?
Tie rods, inner or outer or both?
Anything else?

REAR - anything needed here other than routine rear differential fluid changes?

Appreciate the help.

If you've been maintaining it slightly more often than needed, preferring preventative maintenance over repair when reasonably possible,
then yes, it still has lots of life left.
I beat the everlovin schidt out of a 94 Caprice wagon, driving it like I stole it for 260,000 miles when it got totaled in 2016.
GMT900s are better-built than mid-90s B-frame cars, and you likely drive more kindly than I drove my Caprice then.

Since you're well past due to replace front wheel hub bearing assemblies, but they've not failed YET,
1a. go have your steering & suspension given a once-over by a mech (or someone else) you trust; ask them to apply a pinch of pessimism to their 'estimates'
(my mech does this with a careful eye and an undersized rubber mallet; his inspection is slightly rougher than normal at my request)
1b. based on how much time the once-over estimates you've left, buy the parts you're even thinking about considering maintaining / replacing NOW,
before they become more expensive.
2a. If the once-over results alleviate urgency, consider it an opportunity to research where you can exceed GM OE.
2b. If the once-over results urge replacement prior to imminent failure, then you'll already have at least GM OE ready to go.

3. Ain't nothing wrong with replacing the entire steering & suspension kit.

 

[mikez71]

1.5" lift you shouldn't need aftermarket control arms, it should align no problem.
Although one benefit to aftermarket arms is the ability to droop further.
But they may require spacers or different wheels.

I'm right at 1.5" too

 

[swathdiver]

Seems my Tahoe 4x4 LT, still has lots of life left..at least I hope so b/c it's been a great vehicle. I'm in uncharted territory as I have never kept a vehicle this long. Need to know what the consensus is on suspension related wear items that should be replaced by 200K miles versus "if it aint broke, don't fix it" items...

At 200K you're doing great, most of us have overhauled our suspensions by about 165K miles.

I'm surprised your ball joints are still working right.

Since we do our own oil changes and tire rotations, we're inspecting all this stuff every 4-5K miles. This has allowed us to plan ahead and not be reactionary for the most part. One time, we jacked up the front to do a tire rotation and the RF wheel fell over, the hub gave up the ghost without any warning. It was proactively replaced when we overhauled the suspension a few years before.

I like planning ahead and collecting parts in anticipation of doing the work sometime in the future. I was kicking the can down the road and with inflation, the parts went up in price but nowhere near like the fellas who had to repair their rides during and after the Wuhan Flu. One GM OE part was out of stock so I had to substitute with ACDelco Professional. After the project was complete, the GM OE part was back in stock.

The new CV axles are an improved design and ought to help the hubs last longer too.

One of my trucks has had a 6.5" lift on it since 2013 and it does not need new upper control arms to correct anything. I guess the quality of the kit determines whether you need them or not.

We purchased all the rear upper and lower control arms back for the 165K overhaul but did not install them until 206K when we swapped in a larger rear differential with 3.73 gears. This is when we swapped out the one original and one aftermarket CV Axle for new ones as well.

So, having said all that, many of us don't replace good parts unless we're doing a modification or adding accessory. We notice that the struts and shocks are worn and replace them. We see some tire wear from a bad ball joint and replace them all to zero time the suspension and minimize down time.

One time at around 135K I had a little voice tell me to change the calipers but ignored it. Less than a year later a caliper failed and smoked the brakes necessitating new pads and rotor anyway. I proactively rebuilt the rear calipers and replaced the front ones. New hoses went onto the front then, the rears didn't get replaced until the axle swap.

Hope this helps.

 

[mb311]

OK. Good info, appreciated. I will say the lift I got on my front end was more than 1.5" with the front coilovers + spacer combo. I think it ended up being closer to 2.25" all said and done.

And I'm getting an odd vibration which has started recently at hwy speeds > 70mph along with a little bit of a skipping/jerk sensation on slow turns which seems indicative of a ball joint issue. My thought was to get everything done all at once and not have to worry about front suspension again for this vehicle.

What about the steering rack/ rack&pinion? If I'm doing everything is that a change at 200K item or leave it?

 

[Joseph Garcia]

At 150k miles, I replaced my entire front suspension, shocks, springs, ball joints, control arms, axles/CV joints, sway bar (Hellwig), and wheel bearings. That was my proactive action in this area.

 

[Doubeleive]

add tie-rods in there.
but essentially at 200k a few things are living beyond there expected lifetime, how and when they may fail is dependent upon how you drive it and dumb luck.
you might get lucky and just have one of them die random or it may snow ball and then have multiple failures back to back.
my point is there are a few things that generally give up the ghost typically starting at around 165k.
hub's, water pump, alternator, starter, radiator, maf sensor, evap equipment, 02 sensors, ac pump. heater hose & T's, impact sensors (although the gmt900 one's seem more robust) fuel pump. Other things will be random switch's, window regulators or motors, door handles, electric seats, etc
Time will tell.....

 

[Marky Dissod]

... getting an odd vibration which has started recently at hwy speeds > 70mph along with a little bit of a skipping/jerk sensation on slow turns,
which seems indicative of a ball joint issue. My thought was to get everything done all at once and not have to worry about front suspension again for this vehicle.

What about the steering rack&pinion? If I'm doing everything is that a change at 200K item or leave it?

After 200K, if you are not willing to have a mech inspect it, yeah, might as well go ahead and replace it.
You already said 'get everything done all at once and not have to worry about front suspension', follow through and do the steering too.
At 200k, about the only things I can think of that are least likely to need a proactive replacement, are the rear live axle, the frame, and the engine.
If anything else made it to 200k miles, I'd be impressed, but I'd also be itchin' to replace ANYTHING that made it to 200K.
(Some people think entire vehicles should be replaced @ 200K; they either bought the wrong vehicle to start, or don't do maintenance right ...)

If you don't need to surrender the R&P core, there are firms that rebuild them ...