Z71 springs, shocks, and 88 springs install

by **lupisnegris77** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 10:10 pm

z71 springs are in, waiting for the shocks and 88 springs to come in. I'll post pics of the install and before/after pics. Really stoked to get the final components of my lift on then on to armor!! :excited:

Changed the topic to something more appropriate being as the install has not happened yet lol

by **lupisnegris77** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 10:44 pm

springs in box and tag for part number in case anyone needed the new one. Shocks will be in tomorrow and ill be installing the rear setup tomorrow evening bc i just got off the phone with gmpartsdirect and they still havnt shipped my 88s yet :wallbash:

2 weeks later...Anyway ill post at least the rear before and afters guess ill have the raked look again for awhile unless they get off their asses and ship lol.

by **lupisnegris77** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 11:11 pm

Oh and please if anyone has any tips for the install of the rear my memory is awful(damn TBI) and i cant remember what i disconnect to get the axle to come down. Thanks in advance yall

by **HARDTRAILZ** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 11:41 pm

disco the shocks

by **djthumper** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 1:47 am

lupisnegris77 wrote:i just got off the phone with gmpartsdirect and they still havnt shipped my 88s yet 2 weeks later...Anyway ill post at least the rear before and afters guess ill have the raked look again for awhile unless they get off their asses and ship lol.

Good Luck with that. The last I heard 88s are on indefinite backorder just like the 87s have been.

by **v7guy** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 8:06 am

djthumper wrote:
lupisnegris77 wrote:i just got off the phone with gmpartsdirect and they still havnt shipped my 88s yet 2 weeks later...Anyway ill post at least the rear before and afters guess ill have the raked look again for awhile unless they get off their asses and ship lol.

Good Luck with that. The last I heard 88s are on indefinite backorder just like the 87s have been.

I had read the same thing, it's why I went with the 89s

to install the rear springs I used a spring compressor to compress the z71s put them in place and released the compressor. the stock springs I yanked out by hand. I did have the longer BDS/fox racing shocks in the rear though.

by **navigator** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 8:34 am

for the rears
jack the rear up
set the frame on jackstands (I put them right in front of the rear tires)
I removed the tires
there is a brake line mount that presses into the frame, pull that out(both sides)
lower the rear axle slowly until tension is off the lower shock bolts.
remove lower shock bolts.
lower axle down more and remove rear springs.
If you are replacing the rear shocks, remove old shocks now and mount top of new shocks.
I was able to push in my Z71 springs with no compressor but I don't have a spacer right now.
Reverse process and make sure to push the brake line mount back into place.

by **lupisnegris77** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 10:19 am

they didnt tell me that maybe they dont want me to cancel my order...hmm thanks for all the tips though too now i remember lol hopefully i can get the springs in with my spacers in the rear w/o the spring compressor..

by **navigator** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 1:56 pm

you'll definitely need a compressor for the front.

by **lupisnegris77** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:05 pm

yeah we have a wall compressor on post i can use but unfortunately we have a snow storm moving in so the install will have to wait til this weekend when it warms up a bit but believe me ill get em on as soon as i can...stay posted! lol

by **lupisnegris77** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 1:58 am

alright its supposed to get to 70 tomorrow so hopefully i can get the z71 components installed. Just out of curiousity for those of you who knew about the 88s being on indefinate back order, have you heard anything about the 89s? Just trying to figure out if i should just change my order or outright cancel it. Thanks for the feedback yall.

by **v7guy** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 4:35 pm

I got my 89 springs about 2 weeks ago and didn't have any problems other than a long wait for GM to ship them to new GM parts and then for them to ship them to me.
I vaguely recall someone saying they canceled their order for their 88 springs after waiting a few weeks for them to ship.

by **lupisnegris77** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 6:09 pm

v7guy wrote:I got my 89 springs about 2 weeks ago and didn't have any problems other than a long wait for GM to ship them to new GM parts and then for them to ship them to me.
I vaguely recall someone saying they canceled their order for their 88 springs after waiting a few weeks for them to ship.

Yeah i cancelled my order on the 88s and almost immediately ordered the 89s but forgot to ask about availability
so thanks for this reply it puts my mind at ease atleast alittle lol.

by **sapper21b** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:34 pm

where can i find 87 springs and whats the difference between the 87's and z71 springs. im new to the mods and such. but i do have the minor stuff done. marks 2 inch susp. and spacers but im not sure of the benfit of the z71 springs and 87 or 88s . any help would be great and ideas for shocks would help to i see alot of you run the bilstein and bds 5500 . am i gaining any more lift and better ride from my stock or what?

MY Youtube Channel · by **TBYODA** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:49 pm

sapper21b wrote:where can i find 87 springs and whats the difference between the 87's and z71 springs. im new to the mods and such. but i do have the minor stuff done. marks 2 inch susp. and spacers but im not sure of the benfit of the z71 springs and 87 or 88s . any help would be great and ideas for shocks would help to i see alot of you run the bilstein and bds 5500 . am i gaining any more lift and better ride from my stock or what?

First read some more, a lot before you jump in and waste $$. Z71 are for the rear and progressive rate spring (they get harder as more wight is added), stock springs are a constant rate. The 87 are front springs that go around the struts. The part numbers for the 87 are in the sickly you can find them at http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/. My advice do more research, there is ton info here and let it soak in before you mod. You say you have Mark's 2.5" lift BTW it is my understanding with stock shocks in the back you will top them out on the trail with the 2" spacer, you really need longer shocks.

by **HARDTRAILZ** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:52 pm

Shocks dont provide lift...

by **v7guy** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 4:42 am

sapper21b wrote:where can i find 87 springs and whats the difference between the 87's and z71 springs. im new to the mods and such. but i do have the minor stuff done. milestones nch susp. and spacers but im not sure of the benfit of the z71 springs and 87 or 88s . any help would be great and ideas for shocks would help to i see alot of you run the bilstein and bds 5500 . am i gaining any more lift and better ride from my stock or what?

You can find the springs through GM, you'll want to reference the stickies that show what lift the different springs give over stock. Generally speaking people prefer the bilstiens up front. They seem to dampen the spring a good bit better especially as we preload it.
The Z71s and the skyjackers give you additional lift in the rear with difference in the stiffness. Generally speaking you'll want a longer shock to take advantage of the available travel/lift. Lots of guys run the bds 5500 (the consensus is that all the white body shocks are the same) and there's a few of us using the Fox racing shocks.

You're obviously doing your homework, you've gotten this far, a little more and a review of the stickies should give you the info needed so you can make a decision. There's some decent reviews of the BDS and the Fox shocks around here as well as lots of feedback on the skyjacker springs and how they compare to the z71s

YouTube Videos · by **Trail X** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 12:51 pm

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