Results of recent suspension work, 99 Tahoe Basic 2dr 4x4

[K7KY]

I just had the ball joints & wheel bearings replaced, aligned, & installed Edelmann Steering gear & pump. Replaced rag coupling with aftermarket coupling, and installed Hellwig #7608 rear stabilizer. Some observations:
Steering effort is greater than original gearbox. Rag coupler has steering wheel slightly off center. Mechanic says coupler has flat spot that prevents moving coupler just one spline & no way to center steering wheel as it also has flat spot. Does this sound correct? I'm guessing increased steering effort may be due to different ratio than original gearbox.

Hellwig rear stabilizer makes a huge difference in handling. 2dr Basic 4x4 has no rear stabilizer. At $500 + install, I was apprehensive, but the improvement is remarkable. It's my wife's ride and we live in mountainous terrain with mostly winding roads; it needs to handle well. Tahoe has 265 Michelin tires on later model 7" wheels that made no discernible handling difference. I really appreciate this forum...

 

[east302]

What brand is the coupler? It’d probably be worth contacting the manufacturer. I’ve read where some people had similar issues with a Cunningham part.

Edelmann gearboxes are new aren’t they? The heavier effort may be the way they do them. Would you buy it again?

The rear sway bar is interesting. The 4 doors had them but not the 2-door. Mine tends to wallow a bit in curves, so it’s something I’ve thought about adding for a while.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

I just had the ball joints & wheel bearings replaced, aligned, & installed Edelmann Steering gear & pump. Replaced rag coupling with aftermarket coupling, and installed Hellwig #7608 rear stabilizer. Some observations:
Steering effort is greater than original gearbox. Rag coupler has steering wheel slightly off center. Mechanic says coupler has flat spot that prevents moving coupler just one spline & no way to center steering wheel as it also has flat spot. Does this sound correct? I'm guessing increased steering effort may be due to different ratio than original gearbox.

Hellwig rear stabilizer makes a huge difference in handling. 2dr Basic 4x4 has no rear stabilizer. At $500 + install, I was apprehensive, but the improvement is remarkable. It's my wife's ride and we live in mountainous terrain with mostly winding roads; it needs to handle well. Tahoe has 265 Michelin tires on later model 7" wheels that made no discernible handling difference. I really appreciate this forum...

The Hellwig sway bars are incredible. Complete the conversion and add a Hellwig sway bar to the front end. Afterwards, you will have virtually no roll on that truck.

 

[Eman85]

Steering wheel is centered by adjusting tie rods when doing toe in setting during alignment.

 

[K7KY]

Steering wheel is centered by adjusting tie rods when doing toe in setting during alignment.

Thanks, I'll follow it up with the mechanic.

 

[K7KY]

The Hellwig sway bars are incredible. Complete the conversion and add a Hellwig sway bar to the front end. Afterwards, you will have virtually no roll on that truck.

Good suggestion. The rear SB was tough on my budget, but it made such a difference, I'm going to plan for this change too. Thanks

 

[K7KY]

What brand is the coupler? It’d probably be worth contacting the manufacturer. I’ve read where some people had similar issues with a Cunningham part.

Edelmann gearboxes are new aren’t they? The heavier effort may be the way they do them. Would you buy it again?

The rear sway bar is interesting. The 4 doors had them but not the 2-door. Mine tends to wallow a bit in curves, so it’s something I’ve thought about adding for a while.

Coupler is LARS#205. I've written to them about misaligned steering wheel. Another reply to this posts (I can't see other replies from this screen to include their name) suggests centering steering wheel by changing toe-in adjustment. I'll look into this. I just had it aligned and would have realign.
Edelmann gearbox is new. I may have made an error in ordering. There are two options: Highway & Off-Road. I chose Highway; it has 3.18 turns, L2L. I think Off-Road has something like 3.7? L2L. Now that I've driven it some, it's not so noticeable and it steers much better than the old box (179k/mi) that I've adjusted twice, trying to reduce free-play. I bought Edelmann after reading posts on this forum. I mean to keep the Tahoe and didn't want to address this again down the road. If I could redo this purchase, I would order the unit with more turns for mostly highway use.
The Hellwig swaybar made a surprising difference. GM should have installed it on the 2dr too. I definitely recommend the #7608 for Tahoe 2dr highway use. Another reply to this post recommend replacing the original front swaybar with Hellwig for even better handling. I'm going to follow that suggestion. Neither improvements would be good for creeping around in the rocks, but excellent for on-road use. Thanks for your reply.

 

[Tahoe14]

Have you checked the return policy for the Edelman.

 

[K7KY]

The Hellwig sway bars are incredible. Complete the conversion and add a Hellwig sway bar to the front end. Afterwards, you will have virtually no roll on that truck.

Late follow-up to this old thread. After this suggestion, I had the Helwig front sway bar installed too. This made no discernible difference. Mechanic asked why I bought an expensive sway bar the same thickness as original. I measured them to see if he's correct. Both the same thickness. Maybe Hellwig's is tougher steel. Anyway, handling seemed the same. The rear stabilizer made an big difference and certainly worth the cost. The Edelmann Steering gear was also disappointing. After two realignments, we learned it was mis-adjusted from the factory. Backing off the adjustment 1/8th turn had it steering like a new truck. Manufactured in China, marketed in USA. Disappointing for a new & expensive unit. I should have caught this at the outset; I seldom drive the Tahoe and even less often beyond town. The original front stabilizer and steering gear worked as good as the new units.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Late follow-up to this old thread. After this suggestion, I had the Helwig front sway bar installed too. This made no discernible difference. Mechanic asked why I bought an expensive sway bar the same thickness as original. I measured them to see if he's correct. Both the same thickness. Maybe Hellwig's is tougher steel. Anyway, handling seemed the same. The rear stabilizer made an big difference and certainly worth the cost. The Edelmann Steering gear was also disappointing. After two realignments, we learned it was mis-adjusted from the factory. Backing off the adjustment 1/8th turn had it steering like a new truck. Manufactured in China, marketed in USA. Disappointing for a new & expensive unit. I should have caught this at the outset; I seldom drive the Tahoe and even less often beyond town. The original front stabilizer and steering gear worked as good as the new units.

I'm glad to read that you found the solution to that actual issue that you had. Mission finally accomplished. Bravo.

Regarding sway bar manufacturing (I was in the metal manufacturing business for well over 20 years), yes, sway bar OD is only 1 small piece of the overall design, with elemental metallurgy composition and heat treatment being the much more important design and performance factors in the overall process and usage. That's why some sway bars are actually hollow, because elemental metallurgy composition and heat treatment are much more important design factors, and similar performance characteristics were made through a different overall design.

Also, the Hellwig sway bars are designed to be used in a pair, front and rear, to get the full impact of the upgrade, so it looks like you only bought half of the pizza. You cannot reduce/eliminate body roll with only half of the designed-to-be-used-together components installed.

Your choice, for sure, and I wish you the best of outcomes with it.