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...

 

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...

 

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)