General vehicle thread

[Erni]

A question on raising the truck front end. The suburban has the front a bit lower than the back. Since I am changing the fronts I thought about buying the raised swaybar keys and adjusting the front up by an inch. Anyone got experiance with this? Good/bad?

[Irving]

Is there Suburban a torsion bar front end? That's what all the Isuzus are.

[Gman]

Is there Suburban a torsion bar front end? That's what all the Isuzus are.

I think it depends on the model year and if it's 2WD or 4WD. I seem to recall they got away from the torsion bars in the front, but I can't recall when?

[Martinjmpr]

I think it depends on the model year and if it's 2WD or 4WD. I seem to recall they got away from the torsion bars in the front, but I can't recall when?

Half ton (1500) Suburban/Silverado went to coilovers with the GMT900 platform (2007 for Suburban/Tahoe and I think 2008 for the pickups.) AFAIK the 2500/3500 (3/4 ton and 1 ton) trucks remained torsion bar.

[Irving]

I don't have a ton of experience with how long replacement parts last with respect to suspension. I'm a big fan of OEM for things like electronics and water pumps. I did all this same suspension stuff on my Amigo and it's been something like 14k and everything seems fine. Moog just seems to be what people recommend. I like that they have Zerg fittings and that seems to be a selling point, plus I don't feel they are overly expensive. Everything I'm replacing on Trooper is completely shot, so even factory parts would make a world of difference. Moog is nice that they have a big catalog of parts to mix and match and make upgrades if you can, which is exactly what that tie rod is.

[Irving]

If it's torsion bars, you shouldn't need extended anything. When you lift, you are just moving the resting point of the control arms up. So you lose down travel and gain up travel. If you go up too high (past 3" on my platform) the spring rate turns very harsh and your CV axles are at extreme angles and tearing boots will be common. At that point you can do a front diff drop that will lower your diff and give you better CV angles. On my platform, people do a ball joint flip where they install the upper ball joints under the upper control arm instead of on top where it is from factory. This is just to allow you to still get a proper alignment.

I wouldn't expect to run into any of these issues only lifting an inch, unless the ifs components on a Suburban are unusually short. You won't need longer shocks or anything because the shock travel doesn't change.

[ray1970]

I?ve seen more than a few broken torsion bars on the front of GM trucks when people crank them up lift the front end. I think the purpose of the offset torsion keys was to allow the lift without adding additional twists to the torsion bars.

[Irving]

I think I've read that somewhere. There are about zero, and dwindling, aftermarket parts for Isuzu stuff so those keys aren't available. I bought HD torsion bars for my Amigo and they were something like $400. The same bars for my Trooper are something like $650. Ridiculous when you can get stuff like that for an S-10 for like $150. I'm not going that route this time. If I decide to go big or go home, I'll just SAS it.

[Erni]

Thanks. Yeah, the torsion bars are on this model suburbans. With the minor adjustment I think CV joints should last, but the angle will increase.

Any issue with reducing the down travel for a 95%+ daily driver?

[Irving]

I can't see any. You probably have something like 4-5" of total travel.