Suspension Sunday

[Glisella]

So today was fun. Replaced front strut assemblies, hub bearings and upper control arms on my 08 XL Denali. No clue how old control arms and struts are but they are but at least 125,000 miles as I've put that much on the vehicle since I bought it. Bearings I did once about 70k miles ago I believe. You can tell from pics how bad the arms were. Wound up going with passive struts and installed the resistors, took a test drive and all feels fine. Will get an alignment this week but jumped on parkway and she sailed perfectly straight. Only issue I ran into was with the cam bolts on both sides, the two front bolts the nuts snapped right off, the rear bolts were fine. Total time was six hours which included trip to AutoZone for the cam bolts.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

So today was fun. Replaced front strut assemblies, hub bearings and upper control arms on my 08 XL Denali. No clue how old control arms and struts are but they are but at least 125,000 miles as I've put that much on the vehicle since I bought it. Bearings I did once about 70k miles ago I believe. You can tell from pics how bad the arms were. Wound up going with passive struts and installed the resistors, took a test drive and all feels fine. Will get an alignment this week but jumped on parkway and she sailed perfectly straight. Only issue I ran into was with the cam bolts on both sides, the two front bolts the nuts snapped right off, the rear bolts were fine. Total time was six hours which included trip to AutoZone for the cam bolts.

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No after pics?!

 

[Glisella]

No after pics?!

Totally forgot! It looks shiny and rust free though.

 

[olyelr]

Wow, good job! Feels great to get a project like that all complete!

‘08? you are in the wrong section

The 08’s had electronic shocks too?

 

[Glisella]

Oh s

Wow, good job! Feels great to get a project like that all complete!

‘08? you are in the wrong section

The 08’s had electronic shocks too?

Damn I didn't even notice I posted in the wrong section, hopefully someone can move it. Yeah the Denalis had it, but my compressor was shot too so I just went for the simple cheap fix this round.

 

[jz57]

Since you were there, why did you not replace lower control arm or ball joint?

So today was fun. Replaced front strut assemblies, hub bearings and upper control arms on my 08 XL Denali. .......

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[Glisella]

The lower ball joints are actually pretty good shape but the lower arms could use replacement. I didn't really realize their true condition until I put the new uppers on and took a step back. So I'll have to get to them eventually. My steering rack is leaking and needs replacement so I'll likely do them when I do that.

 

[OR VietVet]

That rust just makes me cringe! I dealt with that in KC, Mo. but no more in Oregon. I am going to have nightmares now!

 

[Glisella]

That rust just makes me cringe! I dealt with that in KC, Mo. but no more in Oregon. I am going to have nightmares now!

you should see the bolts on the sway bar bushing brackets. They need to be changed and I have the bushings but need to get new bolts and an extractor set because I know they're going to snap.

 

[OR VietVet]

I do not miss that rust work in the rust belts. In any case of suspension/steering work in a rust belt area, I would bite the bullet, spend the cash and keep a bottle of bourbon around while you replace EVERYTHING.