Front end Rebuild

[JPVortex]

Hey yall. I have a 02 suburban with 200k miles.

It has all the original steering and suspension components. Which are all worn which makes steering the thing a chore.

Money is tight right now so I need some budget but decent parts that will hopefully last me for the next year to year and a half.

What would you guys recommend? It's bone stock ride height, no modifications there.

Any of y'all have any experience with SKP or any other suspension brands from RockAuto that I can get a solid year out of?

Thanks!

 

[Trey Hardy]

Hey yall. I have a 02 suburban with 200k miles.

It has all the original steering and suspension components. Which are all worn which makes steering the thing a chore.

Money is tight right now so I need some budget but decent parts that will hopefully last me for the next year to year and a half.

What would you guys recommend? It's bone stock ride height, no modifications there.

Any of y'all have any experience with SKP or any other suspension brands from RockAuto that I can get a solid year out of?

Thanks!

Kryptonite ball joints and hub assembly’s will outlive the thing for sure 60$ a piece for the ball joints I believe 250-300$ a piece for the wheel bearings
Tie rods maybe go for ac delco because moog and mevotech stuff are junk now a days
Kryptonite tie rods are super stout but expensive maybe they make an oem style one also I know they do for the 07-13 body style.
My inner tie rods I got the hummer style hexagon shaped ones off custom offsets for 60$ I believe

 

[Trey Hardy]

GM 1500 6-Lug Truck Suspension & Steering Parts 99-06

Discover high-performance steering and suspension parts for your 1999-2006 GM 1500 6-lug truck or SUV. These heavy-duty components are engineered for extreme demands, ensuring superior durability and control.

kryptoniteproducts.com

 

[Trey Hardy]

They do have oem style outer tie rods for 60$ a piece I just seen
We did the whole front end package on my buddy’s truck last year and it was insane the difference it made on his steering went from two hands all over the place to driving with his pinky super tight no play at all

 

[Joseph Garcia]

RockAuto.com and GMPartsDirect.com are your 2 best bets for quality parts at lower prices. If you are looking only to 1 solid year out of them, IMO, any cheap aftermarket parts will likely do it for you.

 

[JPVortex]

Think I've decided to go with a 1aauto kit. I've used them before and actually got over a year on a previous truck I owned which was a 6 inch lifted 94 K1500. Only thing that went bad too were the ball joints and the angles on that thing were terrible.

I think 1aauto is on the upper end of crappy parts lol.

 

[latvius]

Make sure you put your new centerlink in correctly it is easy to install backwards and at 200k I wouldn't assume the current one is in right.

 

[JPVortex]

Make sure you put your new centerlink in correctly it is easy to install backwards and at 200k I wouldn't assume the current one is in right.

Will do! I’d assume nothing would line up if it was upside down or something though.

 

[Marky Dissod]

Make sure you put your new centerlink in correctly it is easy to install backwards,
and at 200k I wouldn't assume the current one is in right.

Will do! I’d assume nothing would line up if it was upside down or something though.

Problem is, it WILL line up and bolt up.
THEN, when you drive it, you will know something feels very wrong,
but you will stare at it, wondering how and why it all bolted up.

If you feel reasonably comfortable swerving at 10MpH over posted 'limits',
centerlink is PROBABLY installed correctly, take a pic or two before removal, just in case ...
I THINK the centerlink cannot be installed 'backwards', but it can be installed upside down, which is the problem.

 

[latvius]

Upside down, backwards, it's basically if you pulled it off and swivelled it 180 degrees, right to left and left to right of the vehicle. It can be hard to describe other than it is in wrong and YES you can put it in wrong. You can drive it, my Denali was that way for years, my son n laws was the same as well. Eats up your front tires and feels like you are in fulltime 4 wheel drive. I had to argue with my mechanic and what helped me the most was having a 2005 Tahoe in addition to the 2005 Denali so I could look at them and see and show the difference.

Problem is, it WILL line up and bolt up.
THEN, when you drive it, you will know something feels very wrong,
but you will stare at it, wondering how and why it all bolted up.

If you feel reasonably comfortable swerving at 10MpH over posted 'limits',
centerlink is PROBABLY installed correctly, take a pic or two before removal, just in case ...
I THINK the centerlink cannot be installed 'backwards', but it can be installed upside down, which is the problem.

 

[Pressureangle]

Hey yall. I have a 02 suburban with 200k miles.

It has all the original steering and suspension components. Which are all worn which makes steering the thing a chore.

Money is tight right now so I need some budget but decent parts that will hopefully last me for the next year to year and a half.

What would you guys recommend? It's bone stock ride height, no modifications there.

Any of y'all have any experience with SKP or any other suspension brands from RockAuto that I can get a solid year out of?

Thanks!

I've always been surprised at the quality of parts from Detroit Axle. Their warranties are usually way better than others'.

Page not found - Detroit Axle

www.detroitaxle.com

 

[JPVortex]

Ok thanks guys! How do I make sure it’s not backward/upside down? Anyone got a picture of proper orientation for it?

 

[JPVortex]

I've always been surprised at the quality of parts from Detroit Axle. Their warranties are usually way better than others'.

Page not found - Detroit Axle

www.detroitaxle.com

I’ve seen extremely mixed reviews for Detroit Axle. I did look at one of their front end kits on Amazon. However, I got scared away. There was multiple people who had ball joints separate on them. That’s serious life or death stuff.

 

[latvius]

Topside of the drawing shows installed wrong. Even with pictures it can be a head scratcher. The holes where the pitman arm and the other end (endlink?) are cone shaped so you can only install it in that respect one way.

 

[JPVortex]

Topside of the drawing shows installed wrong. Even with pictures it can be a head scratcher. The holes where the pitman arm and the other end (endlink?) are cone shaped so you can only install it in that respect one way.

View attachment 440502

Thank you very much! Should be pretty easy to not mess that up.

Cant I also go by the grease zerk position for the inner tie rods? Arent they supposed to be facing down?

 

[latvius]

Thank you very much! Should be pretty easy to not mess that up.

Cant I also go by the grease zerk position for the inner tie rods? Arent they supposed to be facing down?

They will still be down, the way I could envision it is I took an offset wrench and held it sideways covering one end with may hand. Take that wrench and swivel it 180 degrees left and right.

 

[JPVortex]

They will still be down, the way I could envision it is I took an offset wrench and held it sideways covering one end with may hand. Take that wrench and swivel it 180 degrees left and right.

So basically it’d go like this?

 

[latvius]

So basically it’d go like this?

Yes if you were above the truck looking down

 

[JPVortex]

Yes if you were above the truck looking down

Ok sweet thanks!

 

[JPVortex]

So just to make sure I'm making sense of this here. I drew out my own diagram. This diagram I drew is as if Im UNDER the truck.

The way I think about it, basically I want the curved parts on both sides(where the tie rods eventually connect) to be facing toward the REAR of the vehicle.

If I were to turn it 180 degrees the curved parts of the center link would be facing the FRONT of the truck, which would be the INCORRECT way.

Am I correct here?