So, I posted about this project looking for some help, and didn't find anything here. Little info was found over at FSC, so i decided to do a writeup of my experiences here.
All listed torque specs are off the top of my head, from reading them yesterday, so take them for what they are worth.
Lets start with
brakes. The new brake caliper/bracket configuration is sweet. Basically, if you remove one slide bolt, the caliper will rotate up out of the bracket, and leave the pads in the bracket/clip setup. Makes it pretty easy to service. The Fronts are dual piston, too. Basically, you loosen the upper slide bolt, remove lower, compress pads/piston with c clamp, and pivot up. Clean clips, lube contact points on clips, install pads, rotate caliper back down, bolt in place. Front slide bolt torque spec is 75 ftlbs, rear is 36ftlbs, IIRC. This is true for both front/rear pad change. In the front, i was getting a little pulsating in the pedal, so i removed the caliper bracket, and took the rotors in to be properly turned. When reinstalling the brake caliper bracket, the bracket bolt torque is like 140ft/lbs.
Onto shocks/struts. The 07 is a new IFS design, and has a front coil/strut configuration. This coil is in a lot of tension, so be careful. The service manual gives you no guidelines besides removing it as a unit, as you need a pretty large spring compressor to remove the strut safely.
I unbolted the top and bottom of the assembly, and just pulled down on the control arms to give myself enough room to remove the Strut/coil as a unit.
I was planning to go buy a spring compressor, so i decided to take my chances getting the old strut out. I knew it was going to pop pretty big when the strut unbolted, and i was right. I basically wrapped the whole thing in a towel, wore safety glasses, and removed the top strut nut with a ratchet. This thing was under a LOT of tension. Spring expanded at 4". Not sure i would recommend doing this.
Once i realized how much tension it was under, I decided it wasn't worth the risk of compressing it with some cheap Kragen spring compressor. Took it to a shop, and they compressed the springs and installed the new struts in teh assembly for $20/ea. This guy was scared to do these with his wall mounted spring compressor, so i made the right decision. Make sure to NOT reuse the top strut nut - they provide you with a new one. Just make sure you index the top plates, springs, and strut lower mounting studs so everything is lined up properly to reinstall. The 3 studs on the upper plate look symmetrical, but they ARE NOT. I used a little paint on the top plate, spring, strut before i removed, and then just showed the shop guy how i wanted it.
Once the new strut was installed, reinstalling the assembly on the truck was as easy as removing it. Torque mounting nuts to spec (which i forget).
Rears were standard shocks, which were easy enough to remove. Stupid upper frame bracket requires you to reach around the frame and weasel a metric socket on the back of the mounting bolt to keep it from spinning. Mounted on top of the frame, right where this socket/extension needs to go, there apparently is a connector for the rear axle speed sensors (one for each side). I didn't' realize this until i fired up the truck, and Stabilitrak, Traction control, and ABS systems said they needed to be serviced. When i went to check the sensors, i somehow completely disconnected BOTH plugs. What are the chances? Besides that hickup, the rear shocks are easy.
Trans
This truck has 60k on it, so i wanted to change the trans fluid. GM recommends 50k for severe duty, and 100k for normal use, but this seems too long to me, even on synthetic ATF. Really, what it comes down to, is GM doesn't give a damn what happens after 100k when the powertrain warranty runs out.
So, bought the trans filter, and 5 quarts of Dex VI ATF. This stuff is like $6 or $7 a quart, full synthetic. Kragen only carries it by the qt, not the gallon. Oh well.
I think this trans is a 4l65e, but not positive. I used a fluid extraction device to suck as much of the trans fluid out the dipstick as i could.
Then, to drop the pan, the shift cable and bracket need to be removed. The shift cable end just pops off the shift lever, and there is a U shaped retainer clip that holes it in the bracket. Once this cable is out of the way, you need to remove the shift cable bracket. This has 2 torx bolts in it from the top, wish i remembered the size. These buggers were in there, took a 3/8" ratchet to break them lose, even though it was a small torx size. Once this bracket is out of the way, you look clear to drop the pan.
Unfortunately, once the bolts are removed, the pan can't drop down low enough to be removed w/o removing exhaust. I've learned my lesson with trying to reseal y pipes to manifolds, so i opted to not drop the y pipe/cat setup. What i did was drop the pan enough to be able to suck out the rest of the fluid. Once the pan was dry, i was able to tip it enough to remove and replace the trans filter. Kinda bummed i couldnt' drop the pan to check/clean, and replace the gasket, but whatever. This worked fine, just not ideal. After the filter was changed, I reinstalled the pan, shift bracket, and shift cable. Then added 5 qts of Dex VI, and was done!
Other than those plugs that tripped the traction control warnings, this project went pretty smoothly. I was glad I gave in and had the struts professionally assembled.
Total cost of this project ended up at about $680, and woudl have cost about $1200 to get done. Not a bad savings for 9 hrs of work
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