Rear suspension way too low for off road

[Jonesmechanical]

Glad to see someone bring this up.  I've noticed this since the first one I was behind.  Yesterday I saw a 18" base model, and I actually had to go under it with my tape measure.  The rear a arm low point was 5.5" off the ground, and the rim was 6" off the ground.  

 

This is illegal is most states, for obvious reasons you can't have anything hanging down on the driveline that is lower than the rim edges, as if you get a flat tire, or loose a tire, it will hit the ground.  Its only a matter of time before there is a statement about this.  

 

 

 

I completely shake my head when I saw a tahoe in front of me in me one lane, and a subaru next to it, and the subaru has literally twice the clearance.  

 

Typical design by committee with zero common sense.   

[A muz]

On 8/1/2021 at 10:07 PM, Jonesmechanical said:

Glad to see someone bring this up.  I've noticed this since the first one I was behind.  Yesterday I saw a 18" base model, and I actually had to go under it with my tape measure.  The rear a arm low point was 5.5" off the ground, and the rim was 6" off the ground.  

 

This is illegal is most states, for obvious reasons you can't have anything hanging down on the driveline that is lower than the rim edges, as if you get a flat tire, or loose a tire, it will hit the ground.  Its only a matter of time before there is a statement about this.  

 

 

 

I completely shake my head when I saw a tahoe in front of me in me one lane, and a subaru next to it, and the subaru has literally twice the clearance.  

 

Typical design by committee with zero common sense.   

If you get a flat tire it wont hit the ground unless you break the rim, in that case all cars will hit the ground , i saw someone make a test where he deflated the tires to 0 psi the arms were close to the ground but didnt hit 

[Pawg]

Yank all that out and put a 12 bolt in there.  Otherwise, yeah, these are not off roading, rock crawlers at all.   Not sure how tall a tire you can go with these. 

[The Bach]

The rear suspension arms are way to low GM got it this wrong big time. A Subaru has more ground clearance. A Hyundai SUV has more ground clearance.  The IRS should be a option not the standard. The ground clearance  smooth ride and tow capacity of the solid rear axle was tried and true. GM do your research before putting crap out.  You just turned a international vehicle into an American piece of crap.  Increase the ride height offer a solid rear axle without additional cost. I have and had GM for years now I am looking at Toyota and Nissan Large SUV's for my next purchase both have more than double the clearance. I don't rock climb and never have but if I need to go off road and don't want to cringe going over a speed bump then the new GM Large SUV is not the way to go. They MESSED UP! 

 

Armada here I come.

 

Also whoever designed the rear irs put them in the car division.

 

 

Edited September 20, 2022 by The Bach

[Amcguy1970]

On 9/20/2022 at 5:09 AM, The Bach said:

The rear suspension arms are way to low GM got it this wrong big time. A Subaru has more ground clearance. A Hyundai SUV has more ground clearance.  The IRS should be a option not the standard. The ground clearance  smooth ride and tow capacity of the solid rear axle was tried and true. GM do your research before putting crap out.  You just turned a international vehicle into an American piece of crap.  Increase the ride height offer a solid rear axle without additional cost. I have and had GM for years now I am looking at Toyota and Nissan Large SUV's for my next purchase both have more than double the clearance. I don't rock climb and never have but if I need to go off road and don't want to cringe going over a speed bump then the new GM Large SUV is not the way to go. They MESSED UP! 

 

Armada here I come.

 

Also whoever designed the rear irs put them in the car division.

 

 

 

They did do their research which is why they switched. You aren't hitting the control arms in most situations, it is a non-factor for most people. It has to be a specific position where it gets hung up. But as someone else pointed out instead of dragging one pumpkin through a rut you drag two control arms. 

 

Please do switch brands, the grass isn't always greener. The Toyota has been knocked heavily in most testing on the switch back to SRA and it shows in many circumstances. 

 

This truck will go further easier than the Subaru, Hyundai, etc. and I promise an AT4 or Z71 will hang with a TRD Sequoia off road and out perform the Armada.

 

Be realistic with your uses, it sounds like you have an image problem with something you won't even use. 99.9% of owners of these trucks won't put them in a position that the rear IRS control arm gets them stuck or hung up, and it can pull it just fine through muddy ruts, they don't cause that much drag...

 

Some posts:

 

"Note that Land Rover has a very similar independent rear suspension design on their rigs. I owned a 2007 LR3 with this setup after having owned a 2004 Discovery 2 with the solid rear axle setup. The rear suspension arms hung low like those on the new Yukons, and everyone in the Land Rover world was worried about them, but their fears were proven to be for naught. The LR3 was a far superior off-road truck to the Discovery 2 in every way. Mine was bone stock and it made it through the infamous "Metal Masher" in Moab with no issues. I don't think the IRS in these new trucks will cause any trouble at all off-road."

 

From Expedition Portal:

 

"Okay, so GMC was very hush hush on official numbers with this truck. They wouldn’t provide ground clearance, breakover angle, or departure angle, so of course, we crawled under the SUV in the snow to do some research.

For ground clearance, we measured three distances on the truck. The bottom of the skid plates rested roughly 13″ from the ground, while the low point in the rear was 11″ from the ground. The lowest point we could find, roughly as we said, was the rear sway bar at 10″ from the ground. Assuming 10″ was accurate, that would be pretty impressive for a stock SUV."

 

This is being made a mountain out of a mole hill. 

 

Tyler

Edited September 29, 2022 by Amcguy1970

[KARNUT]

5 minutes ago, Amcguy1970 said:

 

They did do their research which is why they switched. You aren't hitting the control arms in most situations, it is a non-factor for most people. It has to be a specific position where it gets hung up. But as someone else pointed out instead of dragging one pumpkin through a rut you drag two control arms. 

 

Please do switch brands, the grass isn't always greener. The Toyota has been knocked heavily in most testing on the switch back to SRA and it shows in many circumstances. 

 

This truck will go further easier than the Subaru, Hyundai, etc. and I promise an AT4 or Z71 will hang with a TRD Sequoia off road and out perform the Armada.

 

Be realistic with your uses, it sounds like you have an image problem with something you won't even use. 99.9% of owners of these trucks won't put them in a position that the rear IRS control arm gets them stuck or hung up, and it can pull it just fine through muddy ruts, they don't cause that much drag...

 

Tyler

It’s amusing to me reading some of the complaints about off roading. I spent my working life off road on pipelines and transmission electrical ROWs. And land clearing job sites. My first car a Mazda RX3 would go off road on land clearing jobs. Many years later I used my trailblazer ss off road when training new land clearing equipment owners. I wanted it bad enough I made it work. Even with my Z-71s or any other 4WD I didn’t pick the worst way to go. I’ve taken regular 4WDs up mountain roads you couldn’t walk up easily. I stuck one truck in over 40 years getting caught way off road in a flash flood. A 91 Ram diesel 2WD non posi. It just wouldn’t climb a hill. Heavy Engine. The rest of my diesels were 4WD only to go where 2WD gas will go. Funny thing I noticed the people I met in the field with their trucks jacked up with big tires. Would try things they shouldn’t and get stuck. While I drove around them to get them out. If I did anything to a truck was to lower it. You can only raise the center section so much. That’s usually where the problem lies. Keeping that clear is the trick to off roading.