My '03 'Hoe.

[Tom Joad]

The other one went well.
And i did not tried to change the rear one because I don't know where to jackstand it.

 

[Rivieraracing]

Well, what I did last night when changing out the rear one that died on me, I just used a jack on the area I'm pointing to on either pic (be sure to chock the front wheels though) and just jacked up the body of the truck until the back tire was just about to be off of the ground!!
If you don't feel comfortable with that, then jack the truck up and use a jackstand on the area of the frame I'm pointing to in the second pic with the tire off of the ground a bit, and then use the jack under the rear axle to raise or lower it to take the pressure off of the shock bolts!! Either way will work, only took 10 minutes last night to swap the shock and I was taking my time!!
Too bad you don't live my me, we'd have your shocks swapped fast with ample time to drink a few beers!!

 

[Tom Joad]

10 min?? Are you kidding me ?

I'm just back from changing the driver front shock. I did use a rotating disk saw to kill the bolt.
I hope I tighten them enough. lol

I'm checking my tires pressure now.
Thanks for the pics.
I'll do them tomorrow.

Did you swap your air compressor with a new one from Arnott's?
Is it Plug 'n Play or di you have to cut/solder wires to have it fit?

 

[Tom Joad]

This morning I broke my passenger rear shock.
Drove it a few meters then I heard a big noise and the back of the truck went down.
Went I looked at the shock it was completly bent at 90° at the rubber blade place.
Parked the 'hoe and will order a new shock as quick as possible.

Here are the pictures :

This is how it happened.
I first swap the first shocks. I then noticed the end of the truck was higher on the side with the new shock. I thougt it was normal.
I then move the truck 10-20 yards to try it at (very) slow speed and turn it 180° so I could swap the other shock.
Nothing unusual happened.

I swap the other one, noticed that the rear end of the truck was higher than with the previous shocks.

I' start the engine and run in D for 3-4 yards when I pass a small gutter for rain draining which is not deep but the concussion was hard enough so both shocks broke in half.

On a french Forum someone told me it's like they were locked in "full extented" position and then break at the first shock.

 

[Tom Joad]

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[Matt06Yukon]

Always use heat from a small torch on stubborn bolts first before destroying the nut. Heat is ALWAYS more potent than oil/penetrant. Good luck with the Tahoe.

 

[Tom Joad]

Using a torch so close to gas pipes is always hazardous.


Here is the Bilstein shock (made in Germany (I wish I knew that before...-sigh-)

Lower nuts and bolt are to be kept and reused.

The now one where it belongs

The wrench is used to avoid the upper part of the shock turning on itself :

Voilà :

Lower bolt :

the one I cut :

---------- Post added at 09:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:14 AM ----------

When I changed my rear shocks, they where next to impossible to compress.
I did not noticed it because US Trucks are new to me and I thought that was correct for such a heavy truck.

I swap the driver side rear shock

As you can see, the rear is upper on the driver side.
I too though it was normal and changed the other side.

As you can see from the pictures, the new shock is longer than the older one. In fact it was fully extended and locked that way.

I then run over a small rain gutter and both steel rod broke together.

 

[Tom Joad]

I then email Arnott's and they sent me a new pair of shocks.

Be advised that the new rear shocks are still sold with the electronic device that is needed to fool the onboard computer.
But,n they improved the plugs and now the plugs fits perfeclty the OEM plug from your Tahoe's harness. No need to remove or solder anything.
Arnott's told me that there is such a request for plug and play devices on the front shock that they study making it.


I swap the shocks easilly. But the improvment is very thin. I still feel like sailing when driving my Tahoe.

Loosen the wheel :

Fake *** plastic bolts are available from Rockauto. It's nice for us europeans.

lower screw :

upper screw :

the broken one

new one put in place:
upper first :

then lower bolt :

Someone I talked about the crash ask me if the shock was moving freely.
Answer was and still is "yes".

Let's bolt this :

That's better :

Note that both bolt are 21mm wide.
Once you know how to do it, it's easilly done in one hour.

 

[Tom Joad]

I got my AMPS mount for my TomTom GPS :

Back :

Front:

With the Tom Tom bracket:

With the GPs device:

 

[Tom Joad]

I've driven 600 miles since I replaced the shocks.
It's a (very) little less floaty but I feel more vibrations on dirt roads.

I do not hear my compressor anymore. That's nice. I've heard it once in three months.
Sadly, the bladder part of my shocks not being air pressured anymore, it falls down a little and when my shocks are compressed, the upper metal part of the bladder part hits the upper part of the shock.
That doesn't sound too good.

One more thing i pissing me off. The horn.
Each year I use it for 3-4 seconds then it blew up the fuse.
How can this happens?

 

[Tom Joad]

OK guys. This truck is P.... me off greatly thoses days...

First is the horn that much have a weird short circuit since it works for 4-5 seconds then burn the fuse.

Now, let's back to my major problem : the shocks.
Remmeber I've swapped them with Bilstein from arnott. Sadly I have the Autoride stuff which I found it useless since the ony thing my trailer hitch will handle is a bike carrier. Whatever.
This is a picture of my rear bilstein :

The blue arrow shows the plug that come from the air compressor. It's plugged.
The red arrows shows the plug that is supposed to tell you when your shocks are dead. Since it's not plugged anymore I've got a message displayed asking me to repair my shocks/struts.
The most ennoying part is shown by the two whites arrows.

The lower metallic part is the top of the rubber blader that is supposed to be air-filled when the Tahoe is fully loaded or trailling. Since I'm not, it's not air filled and each time the shocks is comrpessed, the two parts shown bu the white arrows strike together. It doesn't sound trusty.

On this picture you can see the bladder is not air filled, I can move it with a finger.
By the way I hear my compressor just once since I installed the shocks. What a difference with before !

I need to know if the unplugged plug has anything to do with the Autoride.
Whatever it does, I need to know too how does the computer knows the truck is loaded. Is there a switch somewhere on the chassis ?

Please, help me. Thank you.

 

[Rivieraracing]

I'd be giving them a call or an email Tom, you should have been sent a module to bypass the electrical part that you don't have anymore!! That's probably why the shocks aren't working like they should and being aired up!!

https://www.arnottindustries.com/part_GMC_yid15_pid96_gid510.html

 

[CEN2MENTAL95]

fwiw, my arnotts came with the plugs, but they didnt get rid of the service message...I still had to pull the RTD fuse

 

[Tom Joad]

I've driven the Tahoe to a mechanic last week.
There as so many things do to on it.
LPG : the filling tip was leaking at each tank filling. It's replaced now.
LPG : he has got a flashlub' system installed. It sends oil mixed with the gaz into the line so the cylinder head does not spoil.

Horn : the horn only let me use it for a few seconds before the fuse blow up. The harness inside the car under the dashbord has some wires almost cut and touched the body making the fuse blowing up. It was about time : it almost caught fire!

Suspension : With the working rear shocks was delivered the small electronic device with the harness-correct plugs. The mechanic will fixe them correcty to the body.
Concerning the front struts, the devices are not furnished with the correct harness-plug. The mechanic will cut the harness and solder some cable links so I will be able to plug the harness on whatever is needed : shocks' plug or electronic device's plug.

See you later this week (i hope) for pictures to come.

 

[Tom Joad]

HI,
I' just gor the mechanic at the phone.
Everything is working fine about the shocks. He put in place the electronic devices and plug them as it should be. He also changed the compressor that had a rusty valve. That explained my clicking shocks.

I'm gonna get it tomorrow afternoon. I'm eager to drive it again.

 

[Rivieraracing]

Glad to hear that Tom, frustrating for sure when stuff isn't working correctly especially after making a hefty investment $$$$$ wise into them!!

Also, tell you mechanic to take the dryer off of the compressor, lube up the o-ring on the dryer for a good seal, and then when putting the dryer back onto the compressor to press it as far in as possible and then screw the holding tab back on to hold it all in place!!

I had a small leak at that spot that I couldn't hear but it would air down the shocks after only an hour of the truck sitting. Finally heard it leaking when hooking up to my trailer last week and found that connection between the dryer and the compressor was leaking!! Lubed it up and tightened it all the way down and it's good as new again!! I started cussing out Arnott there for a month or so under my breath, now I'm all good now!! hahaha

 

[Tom Joad]

I got my Hoe back last friday and drove it since.

----> The shocks. Everything is working ok. The electronics devices have been installed and fixed to the chassis. There's no more signal shown on the dashboard.
The noise i heard was coming from the fact that the compressor died shortly after I changed the shocks and they weren't keep under pressure enough.
Now with a waaaaaay more silent new compressor, they are kept pressurized and do not make noise anymore.

-----> The horn blowing up fuse. You should look under your dashboard. There's a harness located right above the foot brake pedal bracket. The wires were not protected in anyway and the wire was bare naked. Each time it touched the body it blew the fuse. The mechanic put a plastic girdle arnoud the harness so it shouldn't happen anymore.

----> The flash'lube system is running great as long as i can say. Only did a hundred of miles with it yet.


There's nothing wrong with Arnott's.
S...t happens. That's what happened to me when the first set of rear shocks was defective. They send me free of charge a new set that is perfect.
I would certainly buy again form them if i didn't decided to swap for Monroe fully Autoride-proof shocks next time I'll have to swap them.

There is still a few things to do to have a fully operationnal Tahoe. The most important to me is to find small bulbs for my dashboard. 2 of them are burnt and I don't want LEDs. The guy here who swap bulbs told me he may has some but never heard of him since...

Everything else is cosmetical: swap most of the radio switches and memory seat control switches on the door pannel that are worn out.

 

[Rivieraracing]

Glad to hear all is almost well again with your truck!!

 

[Tom Joad]

Here are few pics about the work done.

The FlashLube reservoir:

Both gas (lower) and gaz (upper) filling tip :

Without the protective cap :

See the black tube in the rear :

That protects now the harness.

Rear electronic devices and fully pressured shocks:

Front electronic device:

The original socket for the front shock has been cut and plugged so I can put it back on the harness anytime.:

 

[Rivieraracing]

Looks like you got taken care of very well then Tom!! Question, what's the flash lube bottle assembly for?