Tahoe swaying after leveling

[tahoe035.3]

My 2003 tahoe started to sway side to side and feeling unstable after leveling the front by just tightening the torsion bars with stock keys I can't figure out what's wrong I've replaced the front and back shocks the fronts are Bilstein 5100 and just the Hds in the back and everything in the front end is new but the lower control arm bushings and the back has new sway bar bushings and end links and it still does it, it usually just feels unstable when crusing at 65 but Happenes really and starts swaying bad when I floor it to get past someone at a high speed my tires are 285/70/17 Goodyear duratracs

 

[cbepro]

Could be your downtravel is limited due to cranking, your upper control could be hitting the perch with each cycle of the suspension. . If a the road has dips or when i go over bumps my truck rocks side to side like there is nothing keeping it firm. Metal to metal contact.

im going to cut the perches and see if that solves the problem. Also i think my torsion bar bushings are bad and causing swaying and bouncing too, could be the same in your situation?

Or could be many other things that affect your situation.

Don't think it would be powertrain related since everything was fine before right?

 

[Chiggy]

did you get the lift application shocks or just the ones for the stock height? They make both. also, did you bother to get an alignment?

 

[tahoe035.3]

Could be your downtravel is limited due to cranking, your upper control could be hitting the perch with each cycle of the suspension. . If a the road has dips or when i go over bumps my truck rocks side to side like there is nothing keeping it firm. Metal to metal contact.

im going to cut the perches and see if that solves the problem. Also i think my torsion bar bushings are bad and causing swaying and bouncing too, could be the same in your situation?

Or could be many other things that affect your situation.

Don't think it would be powertrain related since everything was fine before right?

Yeah it's Not power train related it didn't start untill I put Monroe shocks on before I leveled it I put them on and instantly noticed it, then I leveled it and bought bilstein Shocks and it still happens just Not as bad as before

 

[01Konvict]

Did you put longer rear sway bar links? That helped mine out a bunch. Also what class tire is the 285, D or E? If D or E try running 50-55psi in each tire.

 

[chrisreed822]

Did you put longer rear sway bar links? That helped mine out a bunch. Also what class tire is the 285, D or E? If D or E try running 50-55psi in each tire.

x2!!

 

[tahoe035.3]

did you get the lift application shocks or just the ones for the stock height? They make both. also, did you bother to get an alignment?

I got the bilstein 5100 for the front there for stock height to like 2.50inches of lift, the back are for stock height because I didn't lift it and the 5100 were on back order for a couple of months so I just got the regular HD series and yes I got it Aligned

---------- Post added at 02:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:53 AM ----------

Did you put longer rear sway bar links? That helped mine out a bunch. Also what class tire is the 285, D or E? If D or E try running 50-55psi in each tire.

Would I have to put longer rear sway bar links with stock height in the back? I don't know munch about lifting and Im not sure about the tires but there 285-70-17 goodyear wrangler duratracs

 

[01Konvict]

Well you don't need longer sway bar links if you didn't lift the rear. Shocks don't make that huge of difference with swaying but more ride feel with rear and front being different. I looked up your tires and they are Class D with a max of 65 PSI so I would at least run 40-45 PSI in each and see how they feel. The Class D and E tires need higher PSI and to maintain rigid side walls. That might be some of the feel of swaying...

 

[justinlw]

Mine is doing the same thing after leveling the front with a 1" rear block. It's got about a .500" rake now. The sway isn't all the time, mainly just when a dip is on one side of the road. This leads me to agree that it may be topping out on the droop stop, but I think it may also have to do with the suspension being off of the lower jounce stop.

I changed the idler and pitman arm/bracket a few days ago along with a single steering stabilizer, and that seems to have reduced the sway, the only other steering slop I have is the gear box, and it's minimal.

 

[tahoe035.3]

Could be your downtravel is limited due to cranking, your upper control could be hitting the perch with each cycle of the suspension. . If a the road has dips or when i go over bumps my truck rocks side to side like there is nothing keeping it firm. Metal to metal contact.

im going to cut the perches and see if that solves the problem. Also i think my torsion bar bushings are bad and causing swaying and bouncing too, could be the same in your situation?

Or could be many other things that affect your situation.

Don't think it would be powertrain related since everything was fine before right?

Can you post a picture of the perches that your going to cut because it looks like the bottom of my a arm in the front is hitting the top of the mounting bracket that holds the arm and when you said torsion bushings are you talking about the bushings in the torsion bar cross member?

 

[cbepro]

Highlighted is where the upper control arm can hit the droop stop. Passenger side.

This is on a NNBS but i would cut the droop stop the same way.
Before.

After.

I did not cut my droop stops off yet. I am waiting till i replace the torsion bar cross member bushings, then i will see if things are still bouncy, then i may cut the droop stops while saving for a real lift.

I am not advocating anyone cut their droop stops without being aware of issues. Only problem if you do cut is to account for extra down travel. Possible have to place a jack under each lower control arm while jacking vehicle up so arms are not dangling. I dunno. Other than that don't go off any big jumps.

 

[tahoe035.3]

Highlighted is where the upper control arm can hit the droop stop. Passenger side.

This is on a NNBS but i would cut the droop stop the same way.
Before.

After.

I did not cut my droop stops off yet. I am waiting till i replace the torsion bar cross member bushings, then i will see if things are still bouncy, then i may cut the droop stops while saving for a real lift.

I am not advocating anyone cut their droop stops without being aware of issues. Only problem if you do cut is to account for extra down travel. Possible have to place a jack under each lower control arm while jacking vehicle up so arms are not dangling. I dunno. Other than that don't go off any big jumps.

Yeah rite there is what I was talking about lastnight I looked at mine and is only about 1/4inch till the a-arm hits it and let me know when you replace the bushings in the torsion bar crossmemeber and tell me if I helped because I may do the same, lastnight when I looked at mine they were all dry-rotted and cracked

 

[cbepro]

should just replace em anyway.

I got an 04 Escalade and i have the welded bracket, molded in bushings. Took me a while on the intronet to find the replacement.

p/n: 20829013.

*update* Just finished replacing the bushings and nothing really changed, still bad ride. Then i noticed that damn droop stop rubbing into the Cognito's, so im absolutely gonna introduce them to the angle grinder.

 

[cbepro]

i cut the droop stops and the ride only improved a little bit. Before the truck would dip hard/bounce/sway going over bumps or just driving down the road. Cutting the droops stops solved that issue to a point.....

The new focus i feel is the lower bump stop, i'm researching solutions to get the lower bump stop to touch the lower control arm at all times. I'm having a hard time finding the correct length of bump stop so i have an idea of bolting the easily found 1" poly bump stop directly to the lower control arm. Having both the stock lower bump stop and a 1" bump stop constantly in contact with each other should be better than how it rides now. Just a thought...

 

[tahoe035.3]

i cut the droop stops and the ride only improved a little bit. Before the truck would dip hard/bounce/sway going over bumps or just driving down the road. Cutting the droops stops solved that issue to a point.....

The new focus i feel is the lower bump stop, i'm researching solutions to get the lower bump stop to touch the lower control arm at all times. I'm having a hard time finding the correct length of bump stop so i have an idea of bolting the easily found 1" poly bump stop directly to the lower control arm. Having both the stock lower bump stop and a 1" bump stop constantly in contact with each other should be better than how it rides now. Just a thought...

I cut my droop stops to and it didnt really help any i think its just my torsion bars are weak, let me know how your idea works woth the bumpstops

 

[bigdaddymatty]

I was having the same issue. I hade 3/4 inch of gap between mu uca and the droop stop. I fab up a set of jounce stop extentions and the ride seems to have improved on a short drive so far . I hope that solves the problem. The sway sucks. Makes driving not relaxing .

 

[cbepro]

i stumbled across these extended jounce stops for the Hummer H3. Looks like it'll fit?

http://www.hummerforums.com/forum/hummer-h3-17/trail-duty-bump-stops-26559/

http://www.clubhummeroffroad.com/forums/showthread.php/62-Bump-Stops-or-Progressive-Dampeners-H3-H3T-Front-Suspension

http://www.hummerxclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=10219

I ordered the 1" ones this past Monday, have not received them yet. I also need new torsion bars cuz the drivers sags bad.

 

[justinlw]

Let us know how they work out. Our stops are at a different angle than the h3, and ours bolt in, but maybe the ones you ordered will snap into the cup.

 

[tahoe035.3]

i stumbled across these extended jounce stops for the Hummer H3. Looks like it'll fit?

http://www.hummerforums.com/forum/hummer-h3-17/trail-duty-bump-stops-26559/

http://www.clubhummeroffroad.com/forums/showthread.php/62-Bump-Stops-or-Progressive-Dampeners-H3-H3T-Front-Suspension

http://www.hummerxclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=10219

I ordered the 1" ones this past Monday, have not received them yet. I also need new torsion bars cuz the drivers sags bad.

Yea let me know to if those will go into place of the stock ones and if it improves the ride, also how much is your tahoe lifted?

 

[cbepro]

Well got the extended bumpstops installed after waiting 2 weeks for delivery without Trail Duty saying anything to me about it. Went for a 10 minute test drive and the results were not that impressive. It soaks up the road 10x better than before, but still does not feel solid, I realize this could be due to other unknown to me factors as well.

I don't think they sent me the 1" extended ones because these were only a lil bit taller than stock when placed side by side, but definitely not 1" taller. I measured before and it was 3 inches from the cup lip to the lower control arm in my setup, thats why i ordered the 1" extended bumpstop.

The Bumstops are not touching the lower control arms in my setup due to me being cranked too much i guess. I am gonna fender trim more and de-crank to get the bumpstops resting on the lower control arm as much as i can before i can give a recommendation. And absolutely buy new uprated torsion bars.

Passenger side