Topic: Does this look right?

[ARMYtango]

Ok...I need a little help from all of you experienced Avy owners....especially the ones who work on their own Avy.
Yesterday, I was looking under my Avy, trying to get to know the workings a little better, when I happened to notice a couple of things that I was unsure about.

In this first pic, you will notice that there seems to be a boot missing where the arrow is pointing.  Is there supposted to be one there, and if so, is it bad that there isn't one?  It looks the same on the other side, butit also looks like there is some sort of reminants of one being there.

Also, you will notice that I am also pointing to a cap that is covering the center of the front passenger wheel (I am assumung it is covering where the 4 wheel axle would be if I had 4 wheel drive), but if you notice in the second picture, that cap is missing...is it important for me to get that covered?

On the third picture, I had noticed that the large front cross member is CAKED in what looks like rust, and the rest of the undercarriage has a brown/orange look to it.  It almost looks like it got buried in mud.  Does that crossmember have some sort of coating, or could it really be rust?   
The truck orignated in Florida, then came to SC, then to NC, so it never has really needed to deal with any major salt.

What do you all think?  And thank you for all your help in advance!

[Richie_Rich]

I'm not seeing any pictures.
There are some attachments, but they are not valid images.

[ARMYtango]

really?

It said that PDFs were eligible.  When I click on the links in the forum, they open for me. 
Do you have Adobe Reader?

[project black out]

I can view them just fine!... I'm guessing in the first 2 pos is where your front axles would go if you had 4x4.. stick you're finger in there if you can stick it all the way down where you're wheel bearings would be I'd say get a cap on the ASAP!!! If it could be the cap is shaped like a bowl and that is sealing the hole for your axle... As far as the discoloration  on the frame I'd say you're ok because mine looks the exact same way!... I might be wrong on the axle caps so wait for somebody else to chime in and maybe confirm it... Hope this helps.

SENT FROM MY EVO 4G

[ARMYtango]

Project black out,
That does help...a lot!

I will do the finger check like you stated and see what it brings me.  I do remeber sticking my finger in there, and i do not believe that I felt any bearings or hole, but i wasn't really looking for them either, so i will check again.
I will aslo wait to see what anyone else may think.

As for the undercarriage, the only reason I was worried was because the Avy is only 2wd, so I didn't expect to see all the mud/ rust look under the truck, and according to the carfax, this truck has had a recall/lemon reported in 2005 and it also listed an alert.
My first thought was that it may have been in some sort of flood, but maybe just to the under carriage.
I guess I may not have much to worry about if yours look that way too. lol

Thanks again!

[Richie_Rich]

really?

It said that PDFs were eligible.  When I click on the links in the forum, they open for me. 
Do you have Adobe Reader?

Weird. When I clicked on the attachment, it said it was a php file.
I chose Acrobat and it opened ok.   

[Main One]

I'm not sure, but to me it looks like you've got two different styles of caps.

On the first picture it looks like there is some remnents of a boot missing from what I think is the shock absorber strut.  I don't imagine they replace those boots - they'd replace the entire shock absorber.  In that case, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

In the first picture it looks like the bottom A-arm is pretty much up against the bump stop on the right side of the picture.  If you've got the truck on a single ramp under that tire I'd say you're all right, otherwise I'd say you may want to crank up your torsion bars keys some to lift the suspension up off of the bump stops some.  You may want to lift the front some anyway.  The torsion bars do get "tired" after a while and the front starts to sag so a crank or two on the adjustment bolts may be a good thing to do, and you may like the look of it more leveled some anyway.

The front crossmembers did not come from the factory looking like that - I'm the original owner of my 03 and know what these things looked like new.  I got worried about not only the crossmember but the actual frame turning orange on mine over a year ago, and applied the product at this link, directly on top of the rust.  After about 13 months, (its been about a month since I got back under there OBB), there's a few places where it chipped off, probably due to minimal/no prep prior to application.  I'll probably get some more to apply in the spring.  Overall I'm pretty happy with it.  OBB helped me apply the stuff - he had a shop apply another product on his truck which was getting rusty.

There's been a post or 2 on here where folks had their trucks "impounded" by dealers who told them there frames were rusted to the point that they were no longer safe for the street.  Your's doesn't look too bad yet, but if you want to keep the truck a long time, you may want to start thinking about options to deal with the rust.  As Neil Young told us, rust never sleeps.

http://www.rustbullet.com/Products/Automotive/Automotive.asp

Edit - added link

[ARMYtango]

Main one,

thank you so much!  I didn't even realize the A-arm was hitting that.  The truck was NOT on a ramp at the time of the picture, so I will definately look into adjusting the torsion bars!

As for the rust prohibitor, I do plan to have this baby for a VERY long time if she will let me, so I will definately do what I need to to keep her happy! lol

thank you so much for your help!

[BooomerX]

Do you know what part of Florida? Could have made some regular visits driving on the beach.

[ARMYtango]

I believe the carfax stated it was bought near Tampa.

[Donnie1]

That first pic is part of the pitman arm setup for your suspension. If you look from underneath that, their should be the same style bushing on the bottom side as well.

Here is a pic of the suspension kit for the front end.

http://www.1aauto.com/1A/ChassisSuspension/Chevy/Avalanche/1ASFK00497/552047

Not sure about the 2nd pic but it does look as though it is meant to be that way.


The 3rd pic of the rust is an undercoating I would say. Most vehicles that come from states subject to salt even if it is sea salt, get the undercoating. If you look at a window sticker, they actually charge for it or try to get to you to pay extra for it when you buy the vehicle.

[MyBigToy]

GM dipped the frames in a wax coating for a rust inhibitor on the GMT800 trucks. It is soft and comes off easily. It's come off the bottom of my frame where it's rubbed when 4-wheeling on the farm. I may get a rust converter spray this spring and take care of the surface rust that's on all the frame and undercarriage components, then try some bedliner spray to see how that holds up.

It looks to me like your bump stop is split in the first picture. If so, it's evidently been hitting fairly hard for quite some time. Like M1 says, you may want to crank the torsion bars a little.

[ARMYtango]

Thank you all for the help!

I am definately going to crank on the torsion bars to lift that up a little.

As for the undercoating/rust, I am going to get the bulletproof rust prohibitor to coat the frame underneath.