Front end rebuild - Mevotech TTX, Protech Bushings, Bilstein Shocks, Eibach Springs

whodwho

Original poster
Member
Mar 7, 2019
41
CA
So I recently acquired a 06 Envoy with 130k, it is in good overall mechanical shape. The tires were gone so those were the first thing on the list to replace. I was amazed how smooth the ride was, I come from many years of lowered cars and sport suspensions so was not long and I found it it waaay too smooth and floaty for me.

Driving it I found it very loose while driving, turning the wheel back and forth was very unresponsive and swayed excessively. Looking it over the front end was in really sad shape, all the bushing were shot. The upper CA ones were falling apart and had lots of play, the rear bushing of the lower arm was excessively loose and found a little play going on in the joints. So ordered up some parts and spent a couple weekends rebuilding it. I did the lifetime alignment, it was on sale and there were no limitations on how often for rechecks.

Bushings - fit well overall, I think the CA bushings fit a bit too tight in the lower brackets but worked ok in the end (clean the bore of the brackets well) use lots of poly grease on all moving contact surfaces
Shocks - fit great and always quality, I have been running them on all my cars when not running Konis. I used Monroe upper mounts
Springs - fit great and always quality been running them on all my cars(springs and coilover springs) forever (don't forget to cut the rear snubber, thought about the fronts but didn't and seems ok)
Ball joints/tie rods - seems really well made, nice and beefy and hoping they will last at least another 100k+ 8^)

There has been some recent threads with nice how-to pics and notes so I won't go into detail on the install but some observations while doing mine.

Poly bushings in general - use the supplied grease on ALL moving contact points or they WILL squeak if not, I overlooked the sides of the upper ones to the washer and they squeaked when moving the arms
Sway bar bushings - I did these first and found in the end they made the most difference overall
Upper CA bushings - make sure to leave the outer shell of the bushing and just burn out the innards
Lower CA bushings - I tried to press out the old bushings out and in the end it was easier to press out the innards and cut the shell with a saw and knock them out. I think you could do the without removing the brackets but would be a bit awkward. There is a smallish hole from the bottom that you can mark and reference the bracket back into the original position.
Springs - I was able to install the springs with no spring compressor, they poke thru the strut mounts but just shy of getting the nut on it so I assembled it all in place minus the upper nut and washer and jacked the lower control arm and was able to get the nut and washer on. I could of borrowed a compressor but I thought my theory would work and with no scratches on the pretty new springs 8^)
Ball joints - I used a harbor freight ball joint press, I did get the add-on kit as well as I will use it for other applications. In the end there is one adapter that made it worth getting for the lower one with the tabs and the adapter was cut with a bevel to clear the arm and catch the two tabs. The press worked well but the adapter was marginal as it started to distort. I found a trick with the press is as you have it well under compression I used a 3 lbs hammer and hit the bolt end of the press and it would help pop the joint into motion
Tie rods - I measured from the end of the rack to the brake rotor for reference and got it back really close by that method. Counting the revs when removing looks to get it pretty close, seems like 20 turns is about the magic number.

It was a lot of work overall but I'm really pleased with the end results, it drives nice and with only a little additional NVH. I'm not thinking I would change any of the configuration, I originally was contemplating a bit lower but this is a utility vehicle with 4x4 and I have my lowered cars for sport. I also thought of looking into different swaybars (currently only has the stock 34mm) but the stiffer springs helped enough for now. Doing the steering wheel back and forth test now there is minimal sway and more wags side to side from the tire sidewall flex.

Now for some pretty pics 8^)

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xavierny25

Member
Mar 16, 2014
6,323
Staten Island, N.Y
I applaud you 👏. That's going to be a nice tight ride. I was running a similar set up and put helper bags in the rear to tighten it up a little more and to help when loaded.

After years of contemplating it Now I'm dropped and just starting to get used to it. I now have to find a set of helper bags to go into the short rear springs.
 

TollKeeper

Supporting Donor
Member
Dec 3, 2011
8,047
Brighton, CO
Was that a kit, or did you have to piece the kit together?
 

whodwho

Original poster
Member
Mar 7, 2019
41
CA
I applaud you 👏. That's going to be a nice tight ride. I was running a similar set up and put helper bags in the rear to tighten it up a little more and to help when loaded.

After years of contemplating it Now I'm dropped and just starting to get used to it. I now have to find a set of helper bags to go into the short rear springs.
Thank you, Do you tow with yours or just load the cargo area to need the additional load assistance?

Was that a kit, or did you have to piece the kit together?
This was pieced together, mostly eBay and RockAuto sourced parts
 

xavierny25

Member
Mar 16, 2014
6,323
Staten Island, N.Y
Thank you, Do you tow with yours or just load the cargo area to need the additional load assistance?
Loaded cargo area along with hitch mounted cargo carrier and a roof top cargo carrier about 2 or 3 times a yr.
 

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