2005 4x4 Suburban 2" lift

In my 2003 Silverado with a 6" lift and 35s, and ARB bumper and about 200 pounds of "stuff" I went from 18 mpg to 13 mpg when I lifted it at about 35K. I drive it pretty hard and I just did an overhaul at 180K. New front suspension and transmission. Each side has had a new front hub and I am only on my 2nd set of brakes. Other that the gas mileage hit, I do enjoy what it gives me. It is not a Crawler by any stretch, but it gets me through mud and snow that stop most Jeeps when hunting, and that was my goal. For 4-Wheeling, IFS full sized trucks are not the best choice.

I run Bilsteins, which are lifetime warranty and were installed with the BDS lift. I have swapped out all 4 at least once, but it is like 20 minutes with air tools per shock, so not a big deal.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...513b7689e5.jpg

Not a great photo but here she is with the new shoes on 16" wheels.


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Originally Posted by Walker2970

just do a 2" body lift and swap out the break lines to the wheels done.. can be done in a day with a couple of ppl to help

http://www.4wheelparts.com/Suspensio..._pn=DAYPA10113

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NOOOOOO!!!!

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Originally Posted by Martinjmpr

Just a few weeks ago I did my '04 Suburban. A guy from Expedition Portal came over to my house with some tools and we did the entire lift except for the T-bar keys. Since my truck spent its first 8 years in Wisconsin (by the carfax) the t-bar keys were pretty much rusted to the bars. I ended up taking it to shop in Sheridan (Tru Automotive) and they were able to bust the keys loose with a power hammer and put the new keys on.

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I'm doing this same thing on my Isuzu Amigo and my keys are also stuck to my old torsion bars. I have brand new heavy duty torsion bars to install so I need those keys off. Did that shop charge you a lot to press them off for you?

Also, it didn't look like you replaced your torsion bars, so why did you need your keys taken off?

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Originally Posted by Irving

I'm doing this same thing on my Isuzu Amigo and my keys are also stuck to my old torsion bars. I have brand new heavy duty torsion bars to install so I need those keys off. Did that shop charge you a lot to press them off for you?

Also, it didn't look like you replaced your torsion bars, so why did you need your keys taken off?

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On these GM trucks, the simplest and most cost effective way to lift the front end is to replace the torsion keys. The lift keys are "clocked" so that they twist the key a little bit more than stock to raise the front end (IOW, they push the LCA downward.)

Obviously this limits downward travel but for trucks like mine that are primarily tow rigs and mild off roaders the loss of downward movement is not critical.

If you look at message boards for both GMT-400 (roughly 1990 - 1999) and GMT-800 (roughly 1999/2000 - 2006/2007) GM trucks you'll see that the "key lift" is probably the most common one out there because it's the one that requires the least amount of modifications. Less expensive and less wear and tear on the CV joints. The downside to a key lift is that practically speaking, you're limited to about 2 - 3" max lift and even 3" is pushing it in terms of the CV joints.

There are 6" lifts but they involve a lot of bracketry - at the very least you have to drop the differential and in some cases they actually lower the rear end of the T-bar as well as putting on longer LCA/UCA. I think those lifts START around $2000.

OTOH a simple key lift can be under $100 if you don't want to change shocks. Basically you get a set of keys for about $30, and a set of either nylon, aluminum or steel spacers for the rear springs and maybe some extender links for the shocks.

Now I didn't go THAT cheap. Since my Suburban is an LT I replaced the rear springs with Z71 springs (Z71 is the GM RPO code for the "off road" package and included longer springs) and brand new Bilstien 5100 shocks all around (most expensive part of the lift as they were ~$80 each.) The shocks I chose are about 2" longer than the factor shocks to accomodate the lift. Other than shocks and springs the only other new parts I added were some Moog extended sway bar links, even though I'm not sure they are neccessary. They were really inexpensive, I think it was about $20 for both sides and they are much beefier parts than the factory sway bar links.
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I see, your torsion bars are not adjustable. Everything for my Isuzu is exactly the same as what you just said for your suburban, except there is an adjustment nut on the torsion bar keys to allow you to raise, or lower the front end. The issue is that Isuzu has pretty wimpy torsion bars to begin with so the front end has a lot of brake dive and is squishy in general. The remedy is heavy duty aftermarket torsion bars which in my case, unfortunately, are not cheap.

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Originally Posted by Irving

I see, your torsion bars are not adjustable. Everything for my Isuzu is exactly the same as what you just said for your suburban, except there is an adjustment nut on the torsion bar keys to allow you to raise, or lower the front end. The issue is that Isuzu has pretty wimpy torsion bars to begin with so the front end has a lot of brake dive and is squishy in general. The remedy is heavy duty aftermarket torsion bars which in my case, unfortunately, are not cheap.

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Actually, it is adjustable, it's just that putting a new key on gives you more adjustment range. I could crank mine up another inch or so if I wanted to.

I plan on doing the same and being a bit lower in the front than the rear.