Autoride?

[KF5FVS]

I am kinda new to the Youkon scene. I have bought a 2005 Yukon XL Denali AWD 6.0l, my kid calls it a school bus, I think of it more of a man van but its more the wifes than mine. I will be using it to tow our travel trailer and I have not heard the air compressor for the auto ride come on. I crawled under it and noticed that the bags are blown therefor, I would imagine the compressor is fried. I have not towed the camper yet, and the way it is handling I dont think its gonna be to bad but I will be going on a trip in Oct that will be about a 7 hour haul. the question I have is; I am looking at the Air Lift 1000 air helper springs but it says not to use it with this system. I was just curious if that was because of it ruining a working system (mines not working). Any other help would be welcome I really do not care to cough up the $1000 for the shocks and compressor and it still not fix it. Would replacing the bags (shocks) with a munual air shock be sufice?

 

[felixgun]

I'm pretty sure they make an aftermarket solution to your factory compressor issue. PM TYF member JZ BLK 06' -- i'm pretty sure he changed his out on his NBS Denali.

 

[musicman]

KF5 I'm in the middle of this job right now. I did a write up on the compressor switch in the tech forum. It's easy and not too expensive. The shocks I'm still working on. I do believe you can switch out the auto ride with regular shocks, but you have to do something with the sensors to make sure that you don't constantly get the service suspension warning. There are definitely people here that have gone that route. Try a couple of searches. The info may be here already.

 

[OHSIXX]

Thanks Felix. I just changed out my rear shocks and compressor with replacement parts from Arnott. I found a package deal via ebay for $550 shipped. It included re-man'd rear shocks and a new compressor. The shocks bolted right up and the plugged in so no dash codes. There are a few write-ups on the compressor change out too. It is fairly easy. The hardest part for me was drilling out the 3 mounting that held the compressor in place. Can't really give any info on helper bags as I don't have any.

There are plenty of threads on all the items mentioned....just gotta 'search' a little

 

[CEN2MENTAL95]

yes..replace with re-man rears or arnott bilsteins

 

[KF5FVS]

The thing that bothers me about them not working is I have no codes, lights, or messages about it not working. By looking under it the bags are definately blown both rear have cuts in the bags and apear to be in the same place on both shocks. The plan of attack that I had was replace with gas shocks and do the helper spring bag. Is the Suspension hardware on the autoride the same as a nonautoride, if I was to get a set of shocks for say a Suburban 1500 be the same? And thanks for the replies. I am a big Jeep guy so the bigger SUV is a little outa my league, well as far as the Caddy like ride anyways my Jeep rides like a tank.

 

[kses123]

The thing that bothers me about them not working is I have no codes, lights, or messages about it not working. By looking under it the bags are definately blown both rear have cuts in the bags and apear to be in the same place on both shocks. The plan of attack that I had was replace with gas shocks and do the helper spring bag. Is the Suspension hardware on the autoride the same as a nonautoride, if I was to get a set of shocks for say a Suburban 1500 be the same? And thanks for the replies. I am a big Jeep guy so the bigger SUV is a little outa my league, well as far as the Caddy like ride anyways my Jeep rides like a tank.

It is mostly the same. The springs on the Autoride are different than non-autoride models.

 

[KF5FVS]

Thanks thats what I was wondering if the components were the same or close to it.

 

[aldrichg9]

Hang on I thought the factory autoride was air shocks - not air bags.
Am I missing something?

 

[CEN2MENTAL95]

Hang on I thought the factory autoride was air shocks - not air bags.
Am I missing something?

air shocks all around...air bags in the back for load leveling

 

[kses123]

air shocks all around...air bags in the back for load leveling

No no no...

Electronic active-dampening shocks all around. The rear shocks have built in airbags for load-leveling (1500 models only). The front does not have air-anything.

 

[CEN2MENTAL95]

No no no...

Electronic active-dampening shocks all around. The rear shocks have built in airbags for load-leveling (1500 models only). The front does not have air-anything.

yeah..what he said lol....

 

[padailey]

The thing that bothers me about them not working is I have no codes, lights, or messages about it not working. By looking under it the bags are definately blown both rear have cuts in the bags and apear to be in the same place on both shocks. The plan of attack that I had was replace with gas shocks and do the helper spring bag. Is the Suspension hardware on the autoride the same as a nonautoride, if I was to get a set of shocks for say a Suburban 1500 be the same? And thanks for the replies. I am a big Jeep guy so the bigger SUV is a little outa my league, well as far as the Caddy like ride anyways my Jeep rides like a tank.

Kinda old thread but I had the same issue on a 2005 Yukon XL Denali. No codes, compressor never ran, rear shocks blown, and a ride leveler was broke. So first I replaced all the shocks with bilstein HD's (got springs but they hadn't arrived yet). Everything went well but the SERVICE RIDE CONTROL message popped on and the rear actually sat higher than before. Most places I've read say the back should sag with the stock springs. Plan to attack the message with resistors but open to any suggestions.

Today I just put on the Bilstein springs to match the shocks. Also put Air Lift 1000 bags in the springs. Once installed the back is considerably higher than the front. Very little air in the bags right now... just the minimum. Is this normal? How much will the springs settle? I guess the most important question is will this cause any problems like tire wear?

Thanks...........

 

[Blazed]

Non autoride trucks sit much higher in the back this is probably what you are experiencing since you've converted.

 

[padailey]

Non autoride trucks sit much higher in the back this is probably what you are experiencing since you've converted.

Doesn't look as bad in the picture as in real life. 34 1/2 inches to bottom of wheel well in front 37 1/2 in back. Is 3 inches too much?

If I can't get used to how it looks what options do I have? Put the stock springs back in and swap over the air bags?

 

[Blazed]

Mine sat 3 inches higher in the back from the factory too

---------- Post added at 01:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 PM ----------

You could keep the shocks you have now and put the factory springs in and be fine

 

[padailey]

Mine sat 3 inches higher in the back from the factory too

---------- Post added at 01:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 PM ----------

You could keep the shocks you have now and put the factory springs in and be fine

Ok cool. Thanks for the replies.

 

[MABX13]

Damn . i hope my autoride doesnt mess up like this anytime soon

 

[padailey]

Damn . i hope my autoride doesnt mess up like this anytime soon

Pretty easy to convert if you get to the point where mine was that it just wasn't worth the cost to fix the autoride.

 

[livingez_123]

Damn . i hope my auto ride doesn't mess up like this anytime soon

It will, they all do it in time. Mine lasted to 110k