Monroe Quick struts / Strut replacement
 

About to replace the front struts and rear shocks on my 07 Tahoe.
I have the premium smooth ride and not the autoride:)

I am going to replace the rear socks with ACDelco's but the only pre assembled and loaded struts I can find are the Monroe... there are others available but all have a 2in lift added that I am not looking for...

Anyone use the Monroe quick struts and have any 2¢ about them...?

Okay no bites... well has anyone changed there strut shocks and what did you use for a spring compressor? Some of the compressors I have seen only go up to 11/16" for the coil size and mine are 3/4" and coated with a rubber/plastic (silencer I suspect).

I guess if nothing else I can see if a local shop will swap them for me for a few bucks....

I can get the ACDelco rear shocks and front strut shocks for $259 out the door for all 4! on Amazon... my neighbor buddy auto parts store manager can't even match that..:eek:

wow, yeah online prices are hurting stores, especially my uncle, he can get the name brand parts cheap, and delivered within the hour that he called the order in, hes near a huge warehouse in Daytona Beach, FL, but, these online prices are hurting him, people are getting their own parts making him wait with their car up on the lift...

any way, go to advanced auto, they *rent* out spring compressors, deposit $50, use the tool, return it, and get refunded the $50

I am finding that Amazon is often even cheaper then Rock Auto.. PLUS Amazon is almost always free shipping if its a Prime item and I am a Prime member...

I just pulled the trigger on ordering the shocks and also got a set of spring compressors that state the accept coil wire size up to 0.75...
They are the OEM brand, OEM 27036 Strut Spring Compressor, will see if they will work...
I have a set of the Harbor Fright kind, those were fine for the wifes mini-van struts... but I don't trust them without safety pins for the monster springs on my Tahoe....that and they would not firmly/correctly hook over the 3/4" spring...

do not use a cheap rent a tool spring compressor for truck springs. You may get away using lesser tools for car stuff but don't even attempt this for a truck spring. Something will slip and you will get hurt...I've seen it happen to a co-worker because the shop owner was to cheap to buy the proper equipment.

How many miles are you at on your tahoe? Are you experiencing any ride discomfort? I just bought suburban with 100k miles and thought about doing struts. I'm not really hearing or feeling anything but thought It couldn't hurt.

Well, there in lies some of my dilemma. The truck is 6 yrs old with 87,000 miles...
There are no outward or obvious issues, no clunks, nothing leaking... but I think the ride feels a bit more bouncy on the highway.. the wife says she thinks its fine but she really never drives it:rolleyes:

From what I have read and gathered, is that most people don't notice the slow degradation of the shocks and suspension as you adjust your habits to how the vehicle performs. I have found no "recommended" replacement point except for vehicles that clearly state a replacement point like most imports....

Its personal preference I guess, I have never owned a vehicle that I never replaced shocks and or struts on at some point and its all been mostly based on age....and in this case its 6 years old:cool:

hmmm... I'm not putting new front struts in for a while, I do believe I could get a better ride, but its not terrible bouncy and the intermittent solenoid failure code has gone away for the FL strut...

Also, I spend all my money :P Have 2 boats and a sail boat. 2 hours to get to the lake, @ 14.4 mpg, gas goes kinda quick, plus with 2 boats that each have a Ford 351W, and gas being $5.20 a gallon, we have to do gas runs into town to buy 89 gas @ $4 a gallon... Fun enjoying these things, not fun funding them... lol

Hope you're not using any gas with alcohol in it in your boats.

ha! you hope! I wish! even the vendors on the lake cant get gas with out that crap ethanol... They just treat it. I use my boats every weekend. Not enough time for the gas to go bad. My boats are 1989 and 1992. Same motor, but the 1992 has a 285 hp instead 240 hp 351W. I treat my gas in each boat for the winter, put the treatment in, then pull em', then go fill em' up and store them. Hell, the motors even say Leaded fuel. Even boats boats made in early 2000's still say Non Ethanol, Leaded fuel.

It's not that the gas goes bad, just the fact that the ethanol ruins the metal parts in the fuel system and rubber parts.

what product are you using for treating the fuel? This drier product is supposed to be fantastic BG Products

ethanol fuel is even causing problems for the e85 cars.

We just use the stabil treatment. Ethanol sucks, no way around it. What boat owner isn't aware of the ethanol eating every thing...

I just ordered the monroe quick strut. Got them for 107 each. Will see if they are worth it.

:cool: do follow up with how it goes... I know my Tahoe has a plastic/rubber coating on the strut springs... update with what the quick struts come with i.e. bare or painted coil spring of if its coated... My shocks and struts should be here Wednesday...

WooHoo! my shocks, struts and spring compressor all showed up today:D

Did a quick inventory and inspection and noticed that the struts did not include the top strut nut:confused: checked both, the boxes were fully sealed, so it looks like its a trip to the dealer for the p.n. 11561435 top strut nut...

Manual is pretty explicit about the nut being replaced so I will...

Ummm, recheck the boxes! Had to replace the front struts on a car months ago and reused the nuts, and to find when I tore the boxes apart each one a small brown paper bag that was sealed, they were tapped to the boxes and inside, brand new nuts...

Good idea :cool:, did a double check even had the wife do a second check for me, no dice or no nut in this case...:(

rear shock install (non auto ride)
 

No luck on the strut nuts, dealer didn't even stock them had to order them, they'll be here tomorrow morning coming from the Dallas warehouse... $9.85 for two stinkin' nuts :mad:

After my root canal this morning:eek: I got started on the rear shocks just because they "should' be easy plug and play... took about 30 min each 3/4 combo wrench and a 3/4 socket with a 6 inch extension..

WARNING WARNING WARNING
Be very careful securing/removing the top bolt, do not use any power tools in this blind spot! I was unaware that the wheel speed sensor connector to the main harness is located on the top of the frame... even with hand tools only, I managed to knock the connector loose unknown to me...
After getting it all back together and firing her up to drive around check the ride.
I immediately got a Service Traction Control / Stabili-trac and an ABS warning light... after some troubleshooting and retracing what I had done and where I had been and a little panicking :eek: I found the loose connector and reattached it...
I express the warning because if you use power/air tools you could potentially damage the harness portion and not know it till too late, and it is very hard to get to to repair.

The error cleared right up after re-connecting :D:cool:

The old rear shocks, I have to admit still had some good life to them, they still had a good amount of recoil after compression and were not easily compressed. I suspect I could have gone to the 100k mark with them or 8 years... A short ride with just the rears and it does seem a bit more firm and the rear end seems to sit just a tad higher, but that could settle after a few miles....

It will be a week or two till I get around to getting the front struts done, but I will update and take a few pictures as well for them...

Thanks for posting.

Quick struts are on. Went with monroe rears as well. The reflex ones. Definitely rides better, had somebody instal them for us. Family friend. Did front and rear shocks, plugs and changed out all fluids. Front struts came with black springs. Looked like paint not totally sure. Time will tell if they are any good.

Excellent :D, thanks for the follow up..
What type of plugs did you go with?

The ac delco plugs. Now scheduling alignment, then doing front and rear brakes and should be done for a while. Any suggestions on brake rotors. Are the drilled and slotted ones on eBay any good. Front and rears with pads go for around 260.

I would suggest the OEM rotors and the best AC Delco ceramic pads... its what I used and have had zero problems with them... no squeal and no dust, I believe the pads I got were the professional series...

https://chevroletforum.com/forum/tah...tenance-54058/

2007 Tahoe front strut replacement
 

Well I got her all done today, took me about 1.5 hrs for the first strut because I took my time taking apart and putting back together, the other side took about 40 minutes.. The wife was my assistant, tool get-er and safety spotter (you really should have someone outside with you when performing semi hazardous repairs):cool:

Tools required (or at least what I used that fit)

18mm box/open-end wrench for removing top 3 strut retaining nuts

5/8" deep well socket for removing the 2 bottom strut retaining bolts

18mm crowfoot box-end wrench for removing strut top retaining nut AFTER sprint is adequately compressed.

6mm open end wrench (taped inside a 1/2 pipe for leverage) to hold the strut shaft from spinning while top nut was removed.

3/4" open end to tighten spring compressors, hand tools allow you to feel any stress or high resistance while compressing the spring, that and air tools can be destructive due to the high speeds and the heat build up.

Tube of anti-seize applied to compressor threads and stacked washers at top of compressor that act like bearings for compressor bolt.


1-Old strut before removal
2-Old strut note coil position and alignment to stud
3-Use tool to wedge out bottom of strut support strut so it doesnt fall
4-Old strut removed
5-Old strut with nut put back on to mark orientation

continued...
 

6-Use quality spring compressors that fit over coil wire and use ample anit seize to prevent galling, use hand-tools only...
7-18mm crowfoot and 6mm wrench taped in a piece of metal pipe for leverage
8-Strut disassembled be sure to note orientation of parts before removal, this is also a good time to clean them all up if you are into having the parts look good.
9-remember to remove all spacers and supports this plastic support almost got missed because it was so dirty
10-New strut nut is called out in service manual, my struts did not come with nuts included, had to order separately via dealer..

Completed
 

11-New all put together note orientation of parts are same as prior to removal
12-New installed and torqued down, I attached all 3 top nuts first then used a open end wrench to wedge bottom of strut back onto lower control arm, installed 2 bolts.

So what you think? Is the ride considerably different. Would you go with the same kind of struts in the future or try and do a quick strut and by-pass a little work. Since I didn't instal mine not sure how much time savings they really are.

I only got a short ride in after getting them installed but it was defiantly firmer, a few quick "S" going down the road and it seemed pretty firm to me... I need to get it out on the highway and see if it still feels bouncy...
I have become a big fan of OEM (AC/Delco) so yes I would go back to the them.

I am sure the quick struts are a good way to go if you are a do-it-yourself-er but don't have access to needed tools or just not willing to invest in something that will be used only a few times (spring compressor)

My concern with the quick struts we're that they may not have the full range of standards that the original struts had, the thick plastic coating on the coils to help silence them and protect from rust, the nylon bushing at the bottom of the coil to also dampen sound... I have not seen the Monroe's but I bet they are just painted and lack the nylon spacer at the bottom of the shock tube where the coil rest...

Though the front struts took longer then the rear shocks, I found them "easier" to do because the rears you have to be on your back looking up working above your head with heavy tools:eek:, the struts I sat right in front of and worked at a bench..:cool:
The wife won't let me put a lift in the driveway...:D

ummm take the tire off and do the rears?? It was pretty easy for me to do the rears on our 07 burb...

:p I've always done rear shocks from the underside, though the wheel well shield/molding is still in the way and from just looking at it even if the wheel is removed...
That molding was even cumbersome to work with/around even doing them from the bottom... however I can see that removing the wheel may have given better finger access to the blind top bolt...:cool:

The air shocks are pretty easy to get to on my burb... I think I may be due for front struts though... Last year i was getting Intermittent Solenoid Failure on FL strut...

Then put it in the garage. ;)

I had new AC Delco shocks put on my 05 Suburban 2500 Auto-ride a couple of months ago. I could have saved a couple hundred by getting Monroe, but I opted not to.

I put in Monroe quick struts on what is now my daughter's car a few years ago. Within a few days, annoying squeaks. The ride improved, but not as much as many of the other cars I've done suspension work on and picked AC Delco, KYB, or Koni parts. In the winter, even more noise from the suspension. The OE stuff was replaced at 200k. At 230k, the car is ready for a fresh set already.

I got to get out on the road a bit this weekend and the ride is nice and firm and the bouncy-ness is gone... so I am completely happy with going back to the ACDelco's all the way around....the only suspension noise I have every gotten is the front sway bar squeaking in the rubber bushings when its very cold outside... I may add the grease-able poly ones here soon...

AC Delco part numbers
 

Great summary - thanks for posting!

I'm getting ready to replace the strut shocks on my '09 Suburban but ran into a hiccup where AC Delco lists 4 or 5 different shock part numbers for the struts with no discernible difference between them. Each of the vehicle applications listed for each one matches my vehicle so I'm a little confused... Any suggestions?

Also wondering if you considered Bilstein or KYB over the AC Delcos - big price jump for the Bilsteins and I was wondering if anyone thought they'd be an improvement either in ride or longevity. My 'burb is at 110k and prolly 10k overdue on the shock replacements...

Thanks - my first post here :)

Welcome to the forum :)

I have in the past used Monroe and KYB shocks on other vehicles with mixed results.... I knew that I had a good run with the ACDelco's so I opted to go with what I knew worked and how they responded....

What suspension do you have?
Auto ride (with compressor and air shocks)
Premium smooth ride
Off road suspension....

Check your glove box for the following RPO codes and that will help you know which suspension you have and what shocks/struts to look for...

Z55 Suspension Package, Autoride
Z71 Suspension Package, Off-Road
ZW7 Suspension Package, Premium Smooth Ride

Thanks! I got that far on my own but still can't seem to narrow down which strut. I have the Premium Smooth Ride (ZW7) but as I searched through catalogs online (even AC Delco) I couldn't find a part number listing that correlated to that.

On the AC Delco site I can sort by year, make, model & engine size but then it gives me 3 or 4 options on struts with 3 letter codes that don't contain ZW7, Z71 or Z55 just bits like "SUSP(6FT), SUSP(6FU), SUSP(6FW)". I've checked to see if those match any of the other Service Parts IDs in my glove box and they don't.

What am I missing here?

Here are the numbers I ordered for my ZW7 Premium Smooth Ride

ACDelco 540-460 Front Shock Absorber/strut - $67.13ea

ACDelco 540-433 Rear Shock Absorber - $52.59ea

Thanks for the info...

Man, I've been doing work on my own vehicles for 24 years and I don't remember the last time I came across so much confusion in part numbers. I double checked and there's actually 10 different strut shocks listed on AC Delco's site! When I look on Amazon, they also list several that say "this fits your vehicle" but there's no delineation between each - other than price AND the pictures which do seem to show differences in spring placement. I've tried some of the retailers (Advance Auto, Autozone, Pep Boys) to see if I could snag a part number but they don't list AC Delco - only Monroe, KYB, Rancho & Bilstein...

Rawr.


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2009 Suburban LT(LT2)