More MagnaRide delete questions

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00Bullitt

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I have a 2015 Tahoe LTZ (100k miles, so far out of warranty). It has the MagnaRide on all 4 corners with the air assist rear; Z95 I think.
The truck has a 3" Rough Country lift and 305/55/20's. At one point in time, it rode decent/acceptable considering the lift. The ride height sensors were properly relocated. Now, its always hit or miss.
Sometimes it starts out stiff, almost like the shocks are locked up - like horse and buggy rocking down the road feel. Other times its intermittent. Sometimes I will cross a bridge on the highway and it has that smooth bounce and floats across - you know, like its supposed to; others it hits so stiff it almost gets uncontrollable in a rock back and forth buggy like feel. Most every morning or the first time I drive it during the day, it feels like its on light rumble strips and then calms down after a few miles and bumps later. This is not the torque converter clutch issue folks speak of, as that was a separate issue and I can easily tell between the two now that it has occurred and been fixed.

I'm sure GM had the best of intentions with MagnaRide as it sounds good on paper, but man, its almost dangerous now. I want it OFF of that truck and I'm trying to figure the best possible solution.

I was considering the Rancho RS999901 Quicklift front struts that come pre-assembled with springs. That way I do not have to disassemble the factory strut and can just remove it and reinstall the new assembly.
They list a non standard qualifier that they are for use on trucks without Z95 MaganRide and/or self leveling rear.

I assume the above is just because of the sensors that need to be bypassed? Does anyone have experience? I know I will need to get the resistors that counter the DTC's and negative effects they cause.
Xineering Electronics sells a bypass kit; although pricey at nearly $500. Does anyone know of a more cost effective solution or is the Xineering kit the way to go for bypassing the shock and ride height sensors?

Also, given I have the magnetic self leveling rear, should I buy the AC Delco non magnetic self leveling shocks as to maintain that capability or just pull it all off and put the RS9000X on the rear?

Last scenario....would just buying the Xineering bypass kit produce satisfactory results by removing any electrical current to the Magnaride Shocks? My assumption says yes, but the ride may be too soft.
Has anyone gone this route prior to replacing Magnetic shocks with non-magnetic variants?

I've read alot of threads on this topic, but still have not arrived at any firm answers based on others' prior experience.

Any help is appreciated!
 
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mfennema

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Following. Nearly identical issues but without the lift.
 

TheEngineer

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@00Bullitt I'll try to help.
Disclaimer: I'm an engineer at Xineering, this is not a plug, I have a huge amount of experience with these systems and want to help.

It sounds like your magnetic shocks are on their way out for sure. 100k is GREAT life out of them. Most fail (especially the fronts) before 50k.

Regarding the Ranchos, Check out my post in the 'Show off your leveled Tahoe thread' Rancho RS999901 Quicklift front struts, super easy to install, but a bit aggressive for daily highway driving, IMO.
https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/thr...-tahoes-and-yukons.86065/page-37#post-1274419

With the Xineering half kit (2 shock simulators and 2 ride height simulators; $250) you can replace the front struts with whatever you want. Any fully assembled strut is the way to go.
NONE of the hardware (upper strut mount, spring seat, cir clip washer, etc) on the magnetic struts can be swapped over to a non magnetic (Bilstein 5100, Rancho RST, Any AC Delco) strut due to differences in shaft diameters. I have tried them all.

41608606_296532494270714_4078241060105486336_o.jpg


You could buy the whole kit ($425) and replace the rears as well with ANY 2015+ compatible rear shock they all mount the same. Tons to choose from.
Any non magnetic AC Delco, Monroe 911506 is popular, the ranchos you mentioned would be good too.

Check out this list
https://www.stockwiseauto.com/auto-...bsorber?Year=2015&Make=Chevrolet&Model=Tahoe&

IF you wanted to remove your rear magnetic shocks AND retain auto-level in the you would install the shock simulators from the kit with the AC Delco 540-1675 (non magnetic Air shock) and NOT install the rear ride height sensors simulators like is required on the front.
You can do this on the rears since they don't see nearly as much current has the fronts.

"would just buying the Xineering bypass kit produce satisfactory results by removing any electrical current to the MagnarideShocks? My assumption says yes, but the ride may be too soft."
Satisfactory is subjective, but yes, and yes, a few people have done this waiting to install their lift or other non magnetic hardware and said it improves the ride quality.
BUT this is dependent on the current state of your shocks and at 100k+ miles I would think their dampening ability is near zero.

I'm not in here often but I'll try to keep up with this thread.
Thanks,
Max
 
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2015 Denali. My front mag ride struts just failed at 60K miles.

I ended up biting the bullet and paid the $1600 to have them replaced.

There was no clear easy switch.
My repair shop didn't want to mess around with any sort of bypass. The truck is engineered for this - don't mess with it. Non mag-ride shocks were a couple hundred $ cheaper - but the bypass sensors would make it closer. I didn't want to deal with the chance that the sensors fail and the truck is limited to 85 mph.
 

Tahoe14

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I would have at least shopped the prices for the shocks on Ebay or Rockauto and then had the shop do the install.
 
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00Bullitt

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@TheEngineer......that is great info! Thank you for sharing!
I had a weird turn of events right after posting this. We were on our way to the airport to depart for a cruise and the tranny went kablooey. Got it towed to the dealer, missed our flight, but still made the cruise....just barely, but we made it.

Torque converter basically exploded and ruined the tranny; this is after spending close to $500 on the flushes and filter replacement. We had a SERTA tranny installed with a 3yr/100k mile warranty.
While it was there, I told the Serivce Manager all about the Magnetic Ride Control issues and he said they would have a look and perform the latest flash on the ride control module as they have been having very good luck with it.

Got the truck back yesterday and the transmission is super smooth. The ride is much improved and has good rebound. Still rides stiff, but that is to be expected with the lift. It never had any dampening or rebound before. It would lock up and go stiff. Now, I can cross bridges and large bumps and feel the shocks soak up the impacts. It doesn't do the horse and buggy rock going down a smooth road. Hopefully this will last. If not.....I am absolutely going the full delete route. 2015 Tahoe LTZ with 129k miles and already needed a $4500 tranny and most likely a MagnaRide suspension delete.

I'm gonna give Chevy a call and see if they are willing to offer any assistance to a loyal Chevy customer. I did buy this vehicle second hand with 80k miles on it, but did so because of the success I have had with my other trucks. I still have my 1999 Silverado Z71 stepside standard cab that looks darn near new and has 389k miles on it with hardly a wrench turned on it. I had a 2004 Avalanche which had 280k miles on it when I sold it. I take damn good care of my vehicles because I want them to last. This truck is less than 3 years old and here I have spent $5k on a transmission and probably more on the suspension in short order.
 

TheEngineer

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@00Bullitt WOW, That is a crazy turn of events. Glad you made the cruise though.

I was wondering if the newest flash for the SCM (suspension control module) could provide a better quality ride.
While it still won't help for mechanically failed magneride shocks it seems like a much needed improvement.

We have 80K on our 15 Tahoe LTZ and 196K miles on our 2001 Silverado.
You could say we are loyal Chevy customers.

Thanks for keeping us updated.
 

mfennema

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I had the most recent suspension flash done about 2 weeks ago. It helped, but still wasn't great on my truck. Dealer is looking at it again as we speak to see if there are other issues.
 
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