Swapping out the air ride

[UnderDogg]

Whats up everybody? Can you all help me with some advice tips on the replacing my air ride rear shocks with gas on a 04 yukon denali xl?

 

[Trey Hardy]

Whats up everybody? Can you all help me with some advice tips on the replacing my air ride rear shocks with gas on a 04 yukon denali xl?

It’s a direct swap if you got a compressor back there just unplug it so it don’t run

 

[Joseph Garcia]

You can go with the non-Denali (air ride) shocks for your year Yukon, but you will also have to replace the rear springs with the stiffer non-Denali springs (because the air assist will no longer be available to help support the rear).

 

[nonickatall]

I have a 2006 Escalade that has a broken air suspension and I never noticed that I had any problems with my springs. I was hauling about 350 kilos of cement once and if you looked closely you could see that the car was a little lower in the back than the front. But not problematic in any way. If you change your shock absorbers and if you also have an active suspension like the Escalade has, which you can tell because there are plugs going to the shock absorbers, then you need to get adapters that you put on those plugs so that you don't get an error message from the magnetic ride suspension.

 

[SilverSport]

shouldn't you have AutoRide Suspension nonickatall???...same as our Denali does...

Bill

 

[nonickatall]

Hello Bill,

is it called an auto ride? I didn't know what it was called. But yes, I think so, and a friend who owns a Tahoe is always jealous because he says that the Escalade handles the road much better than his Tahoe.

I always tell him: Your car is only a craftman's car and I have a rapper's truck...

Best wishes from Germany
Ralf

 

[wjburken]

Hello Bill,

is it called an auto ride? I didn't know what it was called. But yes, I think so, and a friend who owns a Tahoe is always jealous because he says that the Escalade handles the road much better than his Tahoe.

I always tell him: Your car is only a craftman's car and I have a rapper's truck...

Best wishes from Germany
Ralf

Auto Ride and Auto Leveling are two separate systems. Auto Leveling is what uses the air shocks and compressor, along with height sensors at each wheel, to keep the vehicle level front to back.

Auto Ride uses variable dampening shocks to adjust the ride if the vehicle based on the road conditions.

 

[SilverSport]

From my 2005 Yukon Denali Owners Manual-

Automatic Level Control

The automatic level control rear suspension comes as a
part of the Autoride® suspension. See Autoride® onpage 4-49.

This type of level control is fully automatic and will provide a better leveled riding position as well as better handling under a variety of passenger and loading conditions. An air compressor connected to the rear shocks will raise or lower the rear of the vehicle to maintain proper vehicle height. The system is activated when the ignition key is turned to RUN and will automatically adjust vehicle height thereafter. The system may exhaust (lower vehicle height) for up to 10 minutes after the ignition key has been turned to OFF. You may hear the air compressor operating when the height is being adjusted.

perhaps Autoride may be separate systems on newer generation GM vehicles...

Bill

 

[nonickatall]

Auto Ride and Auto Leveling are two separate systems. Auto Leveling is what uses the air shocks and compressor, along with height sensors at each wheel, to keep the vehicle level front to back.

Auto Ride uses variable dampening shocks to adjust the ride if the vehicle based on the road conditions.

Yes I know, that those are technical two different Systems, that's why I wrote:

If you change your shock absorbers and if you also have an active suspension like the Escalade has, which you can tell because there are plugs going to the shock absorbers, then you need to get adapters that you put on those plugs so that you don't get an error message from the magnetic ride suspension.

I just didn't know, that it was called Auto Ride at GM.

 

[nonickatall]

From my 2005 Yukon Denali Owners Manual-

Automatic Level Control

The automatic level control rear suspension comes as a
part of the Autoride® suspension. See Autoride® onpage 4-49.

This type of level control is fully automatic and will provide a better leveled riding position as well as better handling under a variety of passenger and loading conditions. An air compressor connected to the rear shocks will raise or lower the rear of the vehicle to maintain proper vehicle height. The system is activated when the ignition key is turned to RUN and will automatically adjust vehicle height thereafter. The system may exhaust (lower vehicle height) for up to 10 minutes after the ignition key has been turned to OFF. You may hear the air compressor operating when the height is being adjusted.

perhaps Autoride may be separate systems on newer generation GM vehicles...

Bill

Hi Bill,

I think technically they are two different systems, but they come as one package, when you bought your car.

I guess the Escalate and the Yukon Denali had that as standard.

I don't know if it was available on a Tahoe..

 

[Big Mama]

As has been said. If you go with passive shocks and struts you’ll need resistors. Most kits come with them. To @Joseph Garcia point a passive system can be used but your rig was designed with it so some other components might need shoring up. He and I both had passive setups and went back to spec due to the ride being harsh.

There are tons of guys on here that went passive and love them. If you’re considering it based on cost look at how long the factory stuff lasted. I went passive for cost but that was stupid and short sighted. I learned the hard way.

 

[tooleyondeck]

If you go with passive shocks and struts you’ll need resistors.

Any info on the type/wattage resistors needed? My search efforts on this forum were futile.

 

[Big Mama]

I’m not sure what the wattage is as they came with the shocks. I did a quick search on Amazon and found a bunch of them for various years and features like magnaride vs electronic dampening. Grab your RPO codes to make sure you’re bypassing the right thing. They ranged from $15-$140

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Here are some resistor suppliers:

https://www.googleadservices.com/pa...oed1P2NAxVp_8kDHTeiExMQ9aACKAB6BAgHEDA&adurl=

https://www.googleadservices.com/pa...oed1P2NAxVp_8kDHTeiExMQ9aACKAB6BAgHEDs&adurl=