What did you do to your NBS GMT800 Tahoe/Yukon Today?

[Doubeleive]

Agreed. This isn't a hard job, despite how confusing these directions read. =)

Here is the tool I bought:

Amazon.com

I watched a 10 minute video and went and did it.

The only problem I ran into was the rust. The torsion bar was rusted into the key. Couldn't get it out even with air hammer, penetrating spray, etc.

I had to drop the crossmember that holds both torsion bar keys. I wish I had started with that method because it was simple compared to trying to air-hammer the torsion bar out of the key.

If you do it this way you have to jack both tires up, use the tool to un-tension both bars, then unbolt and slide the crossmember and both torsion bars out at the same time.

I looked at that, does it take 2 of these? of do you just do one side at a time, probably a stupid question I assume the latter

 

[iamdub]

Thanks guys no rust at all here in Cali everything last's forever around here unless you live on the beach then it's worse than just salted roads
now to find out who has this torsion bar tool...

O'Reilly, Vato Zone, Advance...

I think it's around $30. But, you get it back when you return it.

*Edit*
Just looked it up at Vato Zone: #57278 and it's $80. #67012 and $84 at O'Reilly. All still free, though.


You could buy one, but it'd probably be lost before you'd ever use it again.

 

[iamdub]

I looked at that, does it take 2 of these? of do you just do one side at a time, probably a stupid question I assume the latter

One side at a time.

 

[Doubeleive]

O'Reilly, Vato Zone, Advance...

I think it's around $30. But, you get it back when you return it.

*Edit*
Just looked it up at Vato Zone: #57278 and it's $80. #67012 and $84 at O'Reilly. All still free, though.


You could buy one, but it'd probably be lost before you'd ever use it again.

cool, I kinda figured I would have to mark the bar settings, but I was thinking if I unbolted the lower ball joint that it would just drop out releasing the tension and then just put a jack under it to push it back up but I guess that's easier said than done, I'll have to go hit up utube university for a 101 before I bite off more than I can chew.

 

[iamdub]

cool, I kinda figured I would have to mark the bar settings, but I was thinking if I unbolted the lower ball joint that it would just drop out releasing the tension and then just put a jack under it to push it back up but I guess that's easier said than done, I'll have to go hit up utube university for a 101 before I bite off more than I can chew.

You don't want it to swing too far down because it'll put the bar in a bind. Then, you'll have to pick the arm back up to unbind it so you can slip it out.

Yeah, take a few lessons from YTU and you'll be a pro before you open your toolbox.

 

[blueinkd]

So question, I bought a bunch of front end parts to rebuild the 05, got all the parts needed a shop quoted me $1300 labor (11 hours) which seems excessive to me
so I want to try and tackle at least a portion of it
I have
upper & lower control arms w/ball joints-new
steering gear box with arm already attached it's refurb-used vgc
control arm/pitman arm-new
inner & outer tie rods-new
so I want to try and tackle the lower control arms first, given there is the torsion bar, how hard is it to do?
can I just jack it up and drop the lower control arms and swap them out with out difficulty? or is the torsion bar a b*itch? any tricks?

Did all these myself in the driveway. Only difference is I pressed out the lower ball joints. I didn't do it all at once but It was fairly easy since I have air tools. Hardest one I would say was the lower ball joints as everything else was gravy. Working alone, the gearbox is a heavy mofo!! I had to make sure my arm was ready for it while I held it and used other arm to start bolts.

 

[Doubeleive]

Did all these myself in the driveway. Only difference is I pressed out the lower ball joints. I didn't do it all at once but It was fairly easy since I have air tools. Hardest one I would say was the lower ball joints as everything else was gravy. Working alone, the gearbox is a heavy mofo!! I had to make sure my arm was ready for it while I held it and used other arm to start bolts.

i pulled the gearbox I have as a replacement from the junkyard it was pretty easy "coming out" but.... most of the front end was out of the way already, I initially tried to get a different one and couldn't get the arm off so I ended up pulling the whole thing off gearbox, pitman, tie rods which actually wasn't that hard i put that to the side because I didn't want all of it and was going to see if anyone else at the yard had a pickle fork or puller and went another row or 2 over and found a real nice already refurbed one already for the picking. so I might go the same route and pull the whole thing out and then I only need the one piece from the pitman to control or whatever it's called the rest is all new. I have a compressor and air tools so just a matter of learning what I am getting myself into lol I figure I can tie off the steering wheel and try to eyeball it as close as I can and then just get it aligned.

 

[blueinkd]

i pulled the gearbox I have as a replacement from the junkyard it was pretty easy "coming out" but.... most of the front end was out of the way already, I initially tried to get a different one and couldn't get the arm off so I ended up pulling the whole thing off gearbox, pitman, tie rods which actually wasn't that hard i put that to the side because I didn't want all of it and was going to see if anyone else at the yard had a pickle fork or puller and went another row or 2 over and found a real nice already refurbed one already for the picking. so I might go the same route and pull the whole thing out and then I only need the one piece from the pitman to control or whatever it's called the rest is all new. I have a compressor and air tools so just a matter of learning what I am getting myself into lol I figure I can tie off the steering wheel and try to eyeball it as close as I can and then just get it aligned.

Speaking of Tieng down the steering wheel!!@ So I did just that with my seat belt before the work began on the box. Come to find out my clock spring broke anyways. Somehow the old box wasn't centered on its turn radius, so when the new box turned it snapped my clock spring. If that makes sense.

 

[Doubeleive]

Speaking of Tieng down the steering wheel!!@ So I did just that with my seat belt before the work began on the box. Come to find out my clock spring broke anyways. Somehow the old box wasn't centered on its turn radius, so when the new box turned it snapped my clock spring. If that makes sense.

it makes sense I am going to have to just bolt every thing up and turn it by hand both ways and figure out dead center before attaching the steering linkage and cross my fingers, maybe there is a instructions sheet somewhere for replacing the gearbox so that doesn't happen, maybe i can clamp the steering shaft in place also. this 05 doesn't have any traction control or anything like that so I don't know how much difference that would make as far as the steering.

 

[Logan5]

it makes sense I am going to have to just bolt every thing up and turn it by hand both ways and figure out dead center before attaching the steering linkage and cross my fingers, maybe there is a instructions sheet somewhere for replacing the gearbox so that doesn't happen, maybe i can clamp the steering shaft in place also. this 05 doesn't have any traction control or anything like that so I don't know how much difference that would make as far as the steering.

When I did my pitman arm and idler arm I loosened the gearbox so I could get the pitman arm puller on it. The new pitman arm went in on the same splines, the gearbox tightened up and still my steering wheel was a few degrees off-center. Annoying. I used the tie-rods to make the final adjustment to get my steering wheel dead center again.