Uhmmm...I forget which position is the original, single shock position. If you ask the guys on here they can tell you. We've discussed it before on here. I sold mine a year ago and can't remember which is which.
CK5
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GMC V2500 Lonestar 6.2 diesel -91 DD
- Thread starter brt666
- Start date
brt666
Registered Member
So, 4 years later 
Life came in between sort of speak. Gargage sold, all other cars sold, Suburban remain!
Not much has happen but some things. I have repainted it with the same stuff they use on oil platforms
Since the photos seem to have gone missing i put Another one up.
I have a bit of a coolant leakage problem. first it leaked from the radiator so i changed that one. It hold up for about 2 weeks than the plugs in the engine block started to leak. I changed them and 2 weeks later the heat exchanger started to leak... i changed that one together with the vacuum pump, the injection pump, the servo pump and the AC pump because i was going on a 4000 mile trip with my girlfriend and kids this summer. The water pump did seem ok (no bad sounds or leakage)
but it decided to give up approx 2000 miles from home in the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia. Happy happy joy joy.
We were stuck at at remote camping for a week when i wait for spareparts
but the wife and kids seemd to be ok, they are used to this...
Life came in between sort of speak. Gargage sold, all other cars sold, Suburban remain!Not much has happen but some things. I have repainted it with the same stuff they use on oil platforms
Since the photos seem to have gone missing i put Another one up.
I have a bit of a coolant leakage problem. first it leaked from the radiator so i changed that one. It hold up for about 2 weeks than the plugs in the engine block started to leak. I changed them and 2 weeks later the heat exchanger started to leak... i changed that one together with the vacuum pump, the injection pump, the servo pump and the AC pump because i was going on a 4000 mile trip with my girlfriend and kids this summer. The water pump did seem ok (no bad sounds or leakage)
but it decided to give up approx 2000 miles from home in the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia. Happy happy joy joy.
We were stuck at at remote camping for a week when i wait for spareparts
but the wife and kids seemd to be ok, they are used to this...
brt666
Registered Member
Now i have a new Project! i'm fed up with the rough ride of this truck it has a GVW rating of 3900 kg (8598 lb) from the factory (yes, it is delivered from GM as a 1 ton capacity Suburban, believe it or not.) so i have looked at all different kind of improvments like airbags, Alcan springs, etc. and what i came up with is this
I have owened a couple of those creatures and the ride is fantastic but everything else sucks so why not distract the good parts and improve my Suburban?
Step one, how much flex do i need? i have decided that i need to be able to overcome and obstacle of 500 mm height and that ends up in 40 mm stroke of the damper since the frame flexes
I took a front suspension unit from a Citroen Xantia
and did "some" work on it to be able to fit it in the standard brackets and connect it to a 3/8 hydraulic hose.
I tried to lift it with a manual hydraulic pump but it was too weak so i lifted it with a jack and pumped it up and it seem to work with the lower bracket.
The citroen spring is nearly at the bottom when the weight rests on the leaf springs
It has 140mm stroke and that is what i got when it rested on the jack
when i took the jack away the jack it sat at 60 mm
this will give me roughly 2" lift but i can let it down on the leafs when i need it low for ferries, garages and similar. I can as well lift it 5,5" when needed.
Now i just need to make another one and fit the belt driven pump, accumulator and height correction system.
I have owened a couple of those creatures and the ride is fantastic but everything else sucks so why not distract the good parts and improve my Suburban?
Step one, how much flex do i need? i have decided that i need to be able to overcome and obstacle of 500 mm height and that ends up in 40 mm stroke of the damper since the frame flexes
I took a front suspension unit from a Citroen Xantia
and did "some" work on it to be able to fit it in the standard brackets and connect it to a 3/8 hydraulic hose.
I tried to lift it with a manual hydraulic pump but it was too weak so i lifted it with a jack and pumped it up and it seem to work with the lower bracket.
The citroen spring is nearly at the bottom when the weight rests on the leaf springs
It has 140mm stroke and that is what i got when it rested on the jack
when i took the jack away the jack it sat at 60 mm
this will give me roughly 2" lift but i can let it down on the leafs when i need it low for ferries, garages and similar. I can as well lift it 5,5" when needed.
Now i just need to make another one and fit the belt driven pump, accumulator and height correction system.
Interesting mod. I'm curious how the ride quality will be affected.
Bad ass!! The system on those Citroen's always interested me. I am super curious of your implementation!
brt666
Registered Member
Done!
Its easy to be creative when the man who owns the shop i'm using builds the most amazing things....
For example an rought terrain forklift made by an old electric forklift and a harvester:
Or why not a forwarder made by an old Fiat?
by the way, he's 73 years old... tough breed!
I will now manufacture some hoses and probably use an hydraulic unit from a Citroen C5
Its easy to be creative when the man who owns the shop i'm using builds the most amazing things....
For example an rought terrain forklift made by an old electric forklift and a harvester:
Or why not a forwarder made by an old Fiat?
by the way, he's 73 years old... tough breed!
I will now manufacture some hoses and probably use an hydraulic unit from a Citroen C5
brt666
Registered Member
By the way, i forgot to thank you for the nice comments! 
I like to say, procrastination drives innovation! Right on!
brt666
Registered Member
Wrestle with a Citroen is not fun to begin with and doing it in -7° Celsius does not help.
But the owner of the Citroen was very helpful and provided me with tools and hot tea so it was manageable and he also gave me a good "take what you want for a fixed price" so i scavanged a lot of good things.
The hydraulic unit with computer
The height correction sensors (front and rear)
The hydraulic tank
The dampers
The ackumulators
The button
And some wiring...
But the owner of the Citroen was very helpful and provided me with tools and hot tea so it was manageable and he also gave me a good "take what you want for a fixed price" so i scavanged a lot of good things.
The hydraulic unit with computer
The height correction sensors (front and rear)
The hydraulic tank
The dampers
The ackumulators
The button
And some wiring...
brt666
Registered Member
My current problem is to transform the pipes from the hydraulic units from the special (what else?) citroen connection to a regular 3/8 hydraulic connection, any ideas?
And fix the piping between the hydraulic reservoir and the hydraulic unit, i will probably use an old citroen DS tank instead, it's more pimp
And fix the piping between the hydraulic reservoir and the hydraulic unit, i will probably use an old citroen DS tank instead, it's more pimp
This sounds interesting...
Any thoughts on beefing up the shock mounts? They aren't meant to carry weight.
brt666
Registered Member
Yep, i have plans for the mounts but i want to see that the system works at all before i start to modify things on the truck.
Last night i tried to figure out the electrics and i think i got it but i did not manage to see any actual life from it when i powered up the computer/valve assembly and fiddeled with the height sensor but maybe it do not activate the valves if there is no hydraulic pressure.I did not fire up the pump motor since there was som hoses missing so i could not fill up the system.
Current state (i admit it looks kind of crazy
)
I will solve the problem with the high pressure connection by hard soldering a 1/4 standard connection to the stump
Last night i tried to figure out the electrics and i think i got it but i did not manage to see any actual life from it when i powered up the computer/valve assembly and fiddeled with the height sensor but maybe it do not activate the valves if there is no hydraulic pressure.I did not fire up the pump motor since there was som hoses missing so i could not fill up the system.
Current state (i admit it looks kind of crazy
)
I will solve the problem with the high pressure connection by hard soldering a 1/4 standard connection to the stump
brt666
Registered Member
I soldered the hydraulic connections (1/8", not 1/4 as i wrote before) and hooked up the electrics and....... the tension is rising...
Absolutely nothing at all happened! dead, quiet, zero.... no matter how i flipped the sensors.
I did some research and it seems like the suspension computer needs a CAN-BUS signal from the vechicle computer and i cannot bypass this.....
Ok, f*ck the computer then, let's go analog (like my brain)
The only thing the computer do is activating 4 valves thru coils
There are no sensors that tells the computer when the pressure is right or something like that. I suppose it is handeled by a hydraulic regulator in the hydraulic block itself.
So i piggy backed the coils
And voila! i got life!!!! the hydraulic unit has it's own accumulator and it seems that the 4 valves just lets the oil from the accumulator to the pressure line or the oil from the pressure line to the tank thru the hose connection, 2 valves for each circuit (front/rear).
So i will use the unit only as a pressure source and let it cycle periodically by a timer relay. I handle the height correction by standard CX height correctors
Absolutely nothing at all happened! dead, quiet, zero.... no matter how i flipped the sensors.
I did some research and it seems like the suspension computer needs a CAN-BUS signal from the vechicle computer and i cannot bypass this.....
Ok, f*ck the computer then, let's go analog (like my brain)
The only thing the computer do is activating 4 valves thru coils
There are no sensors that tells the computer when the pressure is right or something like that. I suppose it is handeled by a hydraulic regulator in the hydraulic block itself.
So i piggy backed the coils
And voila! i got life!!!! the hydraulic unit has it's own accumulator and it seems that the 4 valves just lets the oil from the accumulator to the pressure line or the oil from the pressure line to the tank thru the hose connection, 2 valves for each circuit (front/rear).
So i will use the unit only as a pressure source and let it cycle periodically by a timer relay. I handle the height correction by standard CX height correctors
Interesting...
Your determination to figure this out is admirable!
brt666
Registered Member
Thanks for all the nice comments, it really boost me when i'm feel more like looking at "Walking dead" than working on the system 
I have re-soldered the connections and tested the system, this is the test rig!
I used a turn signal unit from a old Oldsmobile to raise and lower the cylinder. and i maybe use it instead of the button
It moves the forklift without problem, and the system is reasonable leakage free, so the next step is to test it on the truck!
I have re-soldered the connections and tested the system, this is the test rig!
I used a turn signal unit from a old Oldsmobile to raise and lower the cylinder. and i maybe use it instead of the button
It moves the forklift without problem, and the system is reasonable leakage free, so the next step is to test it on the truck!
brt666
Registered Member
This weekend i tried the system in reality. I started by mounting the hydraulic cylinders and connected them with 3/8" hydraulic hoses. This size give the same inner diameter as the pipes Citroen use between cylinders on the same axis on the Hydractive 3 system, i intend to put a extra sphere from a Hydractive 3 system between the cylinders later on.
Then i connected the hoses from each cylinder with a T Connection and put a ball valve on it so i could pump up the pressure with the hydraulic unit and then disconnect it from the car since i have not installed the hydraulic unit in the car yet.
The stroke for the cylinder is 140mm but the hydraulic unit could only pump it up to approx 120 mm before it stopped, that could be a problem if i put a lot of cargo in the trunk but i need to find out if this is because the leaf packs helps the hydraulic cylinders or if they works against them in the upper part of the stroke.
I lowered it to the middle of the stroke, 70 mm, closed the ball valve and put a cap on the connection for extra safety. Then i took it out for a test ride!
The moment of truth...
It works like a charm! you can feel when the front hits a pothole but not when the rear enters the same hole. Total success!
i had some worries about how it would react if the load in the trunk was not evenly distributed so i tried it by putting a lot of heavy junk in the right side of the trunk.
and the moved it to the other side.
I measured the distance between the fender and the tire at both sides in both load states and the differens was less than 1". it would probably have got the same difference if it rested on the leafs so this is not a issue.
Next step is to make a good installation on the truck!
Then i connected the hoses from each cylinder with a T Connection and put a ball valve on it so i could pump up the pressure with the hydraulic unit and then disconnect it from the car since i have not installed the hydraulic unit in the car yet.
The stroke for the cylinder is 140mm but the hydraulic unit could only pump it up to approx 120 mm before it stopped, that could be a problem if i put a lot of cargo in the trunk but i need to find out if this is because the leaf packs helps the hydraulic cylinders or if they works against them in the upper part of the stroke.
I lowered it to the middle of the stroke, 70 mm, closed the ball valve and put a cap on the connection for extra safety. Then i took it out for a test ride!
The moment of truth...
It works like a charm! you can feel when the front hits a pothole but not when the rear enters the same hole. Total success!
i had some worries about how it would react if the load in the trunk was not evenly distributed so i tried it by putting a lot of heavy junk in the right side of the trunk.
and the moved it to the other side.
I measured the distance between the fender and the tire at both sides in both load states and the differens was less than 1". it would probably have got the same difference if it rested on the leafs so this is not a issue.
Next step is to make a good installation on the truck!
This weekend i tried the system in reality. I started by mounting the hydraulic cylinders and connected them with 3/8" hydraulic hoses. This size give the same inner diameter as the pipes Citroen use between cylinders on the same axis on the Hydractive 3 system, i intend to put a extra sphere from a Hydractive 3 system between the cylinders later on.
Then i connected the hoses from each cylinder with a T Connection and put a ball valve on it so i could pump up the pressure with the hydraulic unit and then disconnect it from the car since i have not installed the hydraulic unit in the car yet.
The stroke for the cylinder is 140mm but the hydraulic unit could only pump it up to approx 120 mm before it stopped, that could be a problem if i put a lot of cargo in the trunk but i need to find out if this is because the leaf packs helps the hydraulic cylinders or if they works against them in the upper part of the stroke.
I lowered it to the middle of the stroke, 70 mm, closed the ball valve and put a cap on the connection for extra safety. Then i took it out for a test ride!
The moment of truth...
It works like a charm! you can feel when the front hits a pothole but not when the rear enters the same hole. Total success!
i had some worries about how it would react if the load in the trunk was not evenly distributed so i tried it by putting a lot of heavy junk in the right side of the trunk.
and the moved it to the other side.
I measured the distance between the fender and the tire at both sides in both load states and the differens was less than 1". it would probably have got the same difference if it rested on the leafs so this is not a issue.
Next step is to make a good installation on the truck!
Awesome! Glad the concept worked out.
brt666
Registered Member
Thanks you sir!
