Meet Tatanka, my 99 Suburban K1500

[Beagle]

there ya go Tedly, a system! Eventually it quiets down so much you have to put a 3" dual exhaust on it! Keep after it man, they get better with love.

[tedly]

So I got some parts in the mail yesterday.



Even with shipping Rock Auto was over $30 cheaper than anywhere else for the good sway bar, mounts, and links. This may seem like an odd choice given my penchant for only fixing what is immediately wrong with the big girl, but it is a necessary purchase:



I found this awhile back. Apparently it is not that uncommon to have sway bars rust through and snap at the mounts. Snow, salt, and general grunge gets caught in there and do their work over the years. Known about this for months, but since it does run and function as is, I wanted to get other stuff taken care of first to insure she stayed on the road. Now that I'm looking more at taming noise and comfort issues it seemed like the right time.

Looking everything over, this is going to be a bitch to get the old one out without snapping any bolts or rounding off the heads!

[tedly]

I started dousing everything with PB Blaster early in the morning and kept at it on and off throughout the day. By the time I got started, that magical elixir had been doing it's thing for at least 8 hours. Air tools are a no go for this, I don't want to risk snapping anything and being stranded as this turns into a days long clusterf#@!.

I used a regular old ratchet and socket for the most part, but had to use a bolt saver socket for the link nuts, they were rusted enough to start rounding almost immediately. Going slow, I'd break the bolt loose, then back and forth some, then douse with Blaster again, then loosen until it started to get tight (sometimes only a 1/2 turn or so), rock it back and forth some, back it off, hose it down... Lather, rinse, repeat.

6 bolts took me over 4 hours and half a can of PB Blaster, but I got every one of those little bastards out intact. Wore me out to the point I accidentally put some random bolts in my triumphant victory display instead of the nuts from the links.



This accursed thing has kicked my ass!!!

[tedly]

I was so worn out I just couldn't get the new one to go into place so I shelved it for the moment. Had a pack of feral grandkids over this weekend and spent time with them, but I got tomorrow off and I'll get it figured out with a rested, fresh mind and body.

Hopefully...

Not surprisingly, it doesn't drive much different with no sway bar than it did with half a sway bar.

[tedly]

Sway bar, mounts, and links came to $99, so total is now up to $2412.

[SuperBuickGuy]

lol @ feral grandmothers..

[tedly]

Had to do some running around today, and again the handling is not much different than when the broken sway bar was on there. It's enough to notice, but only slightly and only in turns. I'm very interested how the big girl feels when the new one is on.

Interior noise level has dropped enough that it is a double edged sword for awhile. The overall level is down significantly from when I got it which makes driving more pleasant in general, and things like having a conversation or listening to the radio are much easier. The squeaks, rattles, and such that are still there stand out more though. Before everything melded together into a formless baseline. Now I can hear and locate individual sounds. Going to make them easier to fix and I guess the annoyance gives me more motivation to get things done.

In the meantime I'm claiming another small victory and ignore the fact that there's no sway bar for the time being.

[tedly]

OK, This sucked.

Big time.

I stopped taking pictures because the stupid thing just pissed me off and it took waaaaaaay too long, but I got the damn thing done. I'll do my best to describe the process in case anyone is up against the same thing.

It can be done without taking the wheels off, but removing them makes it a little easier. Scrub the hell out of the area the mount is going to sit. There was a buildup of grime and rust on mine. You are going to need every millimeter of clearance you can get. A green scrubby pad, a ton of degreaser, and a lot of time worked for me.

Thread the ends of the sway bar into place and maneuver the main section into the notch it rests in. There's not a lot of extra room here, but it can be done without too much trouble.

Thread the links through the lower control arms, assemble through the 3rd bushing, fit it through the end of the bar, put on the final bushing, leave the cap off and loosely fit the nut. There's not enough room for the cap without compressing everything and there's no point in that just yet, you're just looking to loosely hold it in place. Shift it to one side as far as it can go.

Start on the long side. Spray lube the hell out of the rubber mount, bar, and surface of the area where the mount will sit on the chassis, I started with silicone spray but ended up going with PB Blaster in the end. Silicone dried out too fast. Slip the mount over the bar with the cut facing the rear. This side should go in relatively easily. just keep working it and spraying it until it gets roughly in place.

Now comes the fun part.

The sway bar is now wedged into place pretty firmly, and not a lot of up and down wiggle room. Virtually none, actually. And you still have another mount to slide into place.

Push the bar as far to the other side as you can. Take out the links and pivot the bar down, the bends by the mount should now be roughly horizontally flat. Douse everything with spray lube again. Pop the mount on, opening facing the rear, Douse everything again. Inch the mount under, it's going to be a bitch and only go a fraction at a time. Once you can't it to move any more, you're going to have to grab the end of the bar, and bend the ever lovin @#%^ out of it using whatever means necessary. You're only going to get an extra millimeter or two, but that's all you need. That will allow you to wiggle it the rest of the way into place. As long as you continue to douse everything with spray lube.

After wrestling the accursed thing into place, slide the bar back to center. Reassemble the links, you're still not going to be able to fit the bolt on top. Use a jack and a 6" 3/8's extension. The extension can be put through the bottom opening of the control arm and push up on the head of the link. That should give you just enough room to get about one or two threads into the nut.

Tighten until the bushings start to deform, there should be roughly a couple of threads visible above the nut at this point.

Now the clamp on the mounts. Lube the hell out of everything again. You'll probably need a pry bar to position the clamps over the mount. Use the bolts to pull the clamps down, alternating sides until they're tight.

If you're actually trying this yourself, good @#^*ing luck. You're going to need it. Here's a link to a video tutorial on it, but they skip all the fun parts and make it look simple and easy. Don't believe it.

[tedly]

Double edged sword is becoming a theme here. The handling is vastly improved, there is now some rigidity to it instead of just wallowing everywhere. Vibration through the steering wheel is up, but not overpowering. I get some feedback now, but my teeth aren't rattling out of my head. It has brought other issues to the forefront though. They were already there, but are more noticeable now.

More on that front as I figure things out and can afford to fix them.

Until then I'm going to enjoy the improvement.

And smile.

A lot.

I've missed this satisfaction.

[tedly]

Got in the truck the other morning and the check engine light was on.

Great, what surprise is big girl going to throw at me this time?

Broke out the scanner, got P0442 - small leak in evaporative emissions system. Cool, no big deal, this is almost always the gas cap.



The rubber gasket wears out over time. It should be rounded, but in this case is mostly flat. No cracks or pieces missing though so I might be able to nurse it along a little further. Looked at the lip of the filler neck for gunk or rust buildup. Anything that will allow pressure to seep out will throw that code.



Yep, that'll do it. Stuff a rag in the neck, take a green scrubby and knock all the gunk off that I can, take out the rag being careful to not let the loose dirt go into the tank, and the light might go off. It can take 15-20 start and stop cycles for the computer to kick out the code once it no longer sees it, so up to a week or so of daily driving. 2 days later, the light is off. Bought myself some time.

[SuperBuickGuy]

vibrations tend to come from the driveshaft. If you put it in neutral (engine idling), do you still have the same vibration? on high-mile vehicles, especially 4x4s, bad motor mounts (trans too) can cause that issue.

[tedly]

there ya go Tedly, a system! Eventually it quiets down so much you have to put a 3" dual exhaust on it! Keep after it man, they get better with love.

Exhaust is already cut off right behind the cats. Werners reasoning? "What's the point in having a V8 if you can't even hear it?"

I've been toying with how to do the full exhaust the cheapest way without it just being butchered. When I looked into the red truck it was $500 from the headers back, including Magnaflow knockoffs.

It's definitely getting better with love, even if the cranky old buffalo fights me on some of the stuff.

[tedly]

vibrations tend to come from the driveshaft. If you put it in neutral (engine idling), do you still have the same vibration? on high-mile vehicles, especially 4x4s, bad motor mounts (trans too) can cause that issue.

New U joints are on the menu soon, as well as mounts. Thinking about having the driveshaft balanced but that might be overkill.

The vibrations seem to come from road feedback more than drivetrain, but it could be that I'm just used to the drivetrain vibrations. Road feed back is up because everything was like a wet dishrag before, the feedback either got lost or dissipated out. At least that's what I'm thinking. However, you should refer to my signature line...

[tedly]

Figured I should put up some "after" shots of the sway bar. I'm getting some squeaking going over bumps in the road, so I'm thinking I need to douse the link bushings in silicone spray and tighten them up some.

[tedly]

Next up:



I had originally budgeted $200-$250 for shocks. I managed to find these on Rock Auto on clearance for roughly $65 for all four. At this point Tedly does the happy fat boy dance. Not quite the Carlton, but close enough.



Gabriels are a fairly decent brand. Not spectacular, but usually good quality. I think the Pro Guard was the lower end of their range, but it should be just fine for me and at least hold me over for a couple of years. Honestly, ANYTHING would be an improvement. The old ones were worn the hell out. Tatanka kinda wallowed all over the place. Someone spent some money on them a long time ago, they were Bilsteins at one point. Now they're just kind of... bleh...