Help Needed on upper control arm/ball joint replacement-on lowered tahoe

[Jpickens]

After spending about $4500 on my 2007 Tahoe to replace my transmission that finally turned, and new wheels i tapped out when i got the quote for bad upper control arms & ball joints...

Ive just completed my site wide and forum specific searches, as well as youtube and google - but damn - i still feel like I wanted to be certain ill be on the right track and pick up as many nuggets from anyone willing to offer up their .02.

A bit of a history first - since I was taking the tahoe into the dealership for a considerable amount of work / maintenance that needed to be done back in May 2017, I thought who better to install the Belltech lowering kit, alignment kit and sway bars than the dealership.
After the install the front wheels had a notieable cant while looking at the alignment from in front, sometime after the work was done - it was easy to tell the alignment was off...being busy and procrastinaing i let my front tires wear down to the threads nearly on the inside of each of the front wheels...
I thought I would take it back in after only 8k miles and only a few months had passed to see how the customer service would save the day - yea not so much... so just ~4 weeks ago basically all i got out of it was another alignment... I didnt do the research to investigate things until today when i was told about the UCA & ball joint issue then consulted a friend, then spent hours searching online...


My main question and concerns are regarding what/if anything outside the norm might be needed or recommended for a lowered tahoe - when undertaking this myself?
The dealership installed the following in May:
Belltech Lowering Kits with Street Performance Shock Absorbers 737SP https://www.summitracing.com/parts/BEL-737SP

Belltech Wheel Alignment Kits 4957
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/BEL-4957

Belltech Anti-Sway Bars 9909
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/BEL-9909


I still have the factory 17" allow wheels, I did have IronMan All Country 265/70's put on today as well.

Ive seen where Ill likely have to rent a ball joint press, if i go the route of not replacing the upper control arms... Ive also spent some time looking for some good schematics (which ive just referred to from gmpartsonline.net) to reference possible bolts/nuts etc I may get prior to just to put new parts in along with the other parts...

Should I stick with factory replacement parts or look at another manufacturer for some or all of the parts?

Stock Parts-


Both Left & Right Upper Control Arms (comes with upper ball joint and bushings):
https://www.gmpartsonline.net/oem-p...vPXRhaG9lJnk9MjAwNyZ0PWx0JmU9NS0zbC12OC1nYXM=

Or something from MOOG:
http://www.moog-suspension-parts.com/products/chevrolet_tahoe_2wd_2007



Any help appreciated!

 

[kbuskill]

You gave no indication as to how low you went with the front end but i am going to assume the full 2" drop the struts are capable of since the rear has 3" springs. The easiest/proper way to do this up front and not eat tires would be with drop spindles. You would get the drop you want and the geometry stays the same as stock.

 

[DaRosa218]

Agreed with kbuskill, your best bet would be running lowering spindles to keep your front end geometrically correct.

As for Ball-joints, I went with Duralast UCA's and Lower Ball-joints. I used a ball-joint press for the lowers and the UCA's had the ball-joints already installed. Very simple to do and of course required a alignment after.

This was my Suburban on a McGaughys 2/3" Drop using spindles front and springs rear on 275/45Zr20 Pirelli Scorpion Verde on True Silverado SS 20's.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Agreed with kbuskill, your best bet would be running lowering spindles to keep your front end geometrically correct.

As for Ball-joints, I went with Duralast UCA's and Lower Ball-joints. I used a ball-joint press for the lowers and the UCA's had the ball-joints already installed. Very simple to do and of course required a alignment after.

This was my Suburban on a McGaughys 2/3" Drop using spindles front and springs rear on 275/45Zr20 Pirelli Scorpion Verde on True Silverado SS 20's.

View attachment 189991 View attachment 189992 View attachment 189993

Well, will ya look what the cat dragged in.....

 

[DaRosa218]

Well, will ya look what the cat dragged in.....

Hahaha, this fire season has kept me very busy! Finally slowed down and have time to relax

 

[992dr]

Did the second alignment do anything?
Were the cam plates and bushings necessary for a 2" drop? I'm thinking no. But then I think, you have negative camber, why is this? With the alignment bushings installed correctly, that pushes the arms out. I sure hope they installed them correctly, if not I'd bring it back and blame them for the effed up alignment and tires.

I also agree with the others, the first component that should've been used are spindles. They don't mess with anything and are easy to install.

I just finished replacing every suspension component on my 07 Tahoe last weekend. It has a 4/6 drop now. My alignment is not to spec either (positive camber) but, that is due to me using the alignment bushings when they were not necessary. I have the same alignment kit but only used the bushings due to drop height and components used.
I chose to replace everything because I'm a driveway tech, no lift, no special tools. I'd rather remove a few bolts than deal with a jacked up press from the auto parts store. The first one I rented was literally jacked up.

You realize if you decide to keep the alignment bushings, you will have to remove them from the old set of arms and press them into the new set of arms? Major douche to accomplish with rented press, ask me how I know , especially if you do not own the specific tool for pressing in the bushings. A shop press is necessary for this as is the proper tool for the bushings.