Tow Vehicle

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Originally Posted by sandm

rd, looks good. I've been contemplating doing something with the chevy. the ramps here are super shallow and my ass end is in the water when dumping the boat so want to get it a little higher with a bigger hitch drop.
I think the way you went is what I have been looking at. any downside to the "lift" in the front? really want this truck to run another 10 years for me and seems there's pros and cons to even a slight lift.

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It’s only been on for a day so I don’t have a good review yet. I think that the increased angle on the front CV joints can cause them to maybe wear out earlier. I think if I were going to do it again I would use the next setting down in the struts instead of the max lift. The front ended up being almost a little higher in the rear and I had bump the unloaded bag pressure from 5 to 15 psi to get the rear about 1/2” higher than the front. The ride doesn’t seem worse and I’ve heard the 5100s help when towing even.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by sandm

rd, looks good. I've been contemplating doing something with the chevy. the ramps here are super shallow and my ass end is in the water when dumping the boat so want to get it a little higher with a bigger hitch drop.
I think the way you went is what I have been looking at. any downside to the "lift" in the front? really want this truck to run another 10 years for me and seems there's pros and cons to even a slight lift.

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I regret not doing a control arm upgrade with my 3” lift. Adjustable struts are nice, but the right sized control arms maintain the front wheel offset and CV angle. CV angle reduction in IFS systems is often done with a differential drop spacer when lift is under 3”, and wheel offset is usually accommodated by new wheels with machined offsets in these types of lifts/levels. Ball joint wear is a definite concern, and I’ve lost stability.

A consideration in lifting the rear is to drop the carrier bearing accordingly to reduce the driveline angle.

I did a 3” spacer kit in front and Toytec adjustable shackles in the back. I’m not a fan of trucks having rake, and I think RD did a good job of leveling out. On my truck I first went with 1”, but preferred the 1.5” rear lift.

When adding a compressor, assess the location for the compressor and the intake. Submerging the compressor on our Range Rover cost me $3k. A very bad design and system leak got the best of me.


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not looking to go overly crazy. maybe 1.5" and level out the back but also don't want to dump a grand or 2 into a lift and don't want to see increased wear on the front end. ya I know- cake and eat it too :) weighing that between having to dump the back every time we launch and frankly rc's truck looks much better in the after pics. our f250SD stock is much taller than the chevy and want a nice inbetween which rc looks to have found :)

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Originally Posted by sandm

not looking to go overly crazy. maybe 1.5" and level out the back but also don't want to dump a grand or 2 into a lift and don't want to see increased wear on the front end. ya I know- cake and eat it too :) weighing that between having to dump the back every time we launch and frankly rc's truck looks much better in the after pics. our f250SD stock is much taller than the chevy and want a nice in between which rc looks to have found :)

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Not sure what size Chevy you have but on my 3500 I cranked the bars in the front just enough to get them off the bump stops and help the ride.
If you look close there is a frame stop on the UCA of the GM trucks and you want at least 3/4" gap in both directions. It can be aligned after that and not cause any premature wear.
I wanted a lift so badly but 33's are expensive enough and going to 35's or 37's would have ruined towing. I already use a 6" drop receiver to pull level. I bought 5100's and keys and called it a day. I needed shocks anyway so that was justified and $100 for keys was certainly less than $2K. I am only lifted 1-1.25" in the front so close to your desired result and being a 3500 the rear is so stiff there is no sagging. I run level with 4K worth of mulch or dirt in the bed after the mods.

Leveling the current 1/2 tons looks great. 33’s are perfect and the new F150’s come with factory 33’s


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by sandm

rd, looks good. I've been contemplating doing something with the chevy. the ramps here are super shallow and my ass end is in the water when dumping the boat so want to get it a little higher with a bigger hitch drop.
I think the way you went is what I have been looking at. any downside to the "lift" in the front? really want this truck to run another 10 years for me and seems there's pros and cons to even a slight lift.

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I had a GMC 2500 with a leveling kit installed. It was done by a professional, and prior to me purchasing the truck used. I ran the truck to 100k miles with no premature wear or any problems at all. I will say though, my truck always got terrible highway gas mileage compared to others with the same truck. It always made wonder if the leveling kit changed the wind drag and caused me to loose 1 or 2 mpg. Or maybe I just have a lead foot. Either way, trucks look much better leveled out in my opinion. I love the air bag idea because I can’t stand seeing the front ride higher than the rear when towing.


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Leveling absolutely kills mpg, the massive air dams on trucks and rake angle is for mpg.

Heavy tires are a mpg killer too, LT’s are much heavier that P metric.

LT’s are 20# heavier than the same same size p metric

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Originally Posted by larry_arizona

Leveling absolutely kills mpg, the massive air dams on trucks and rake angle is for mpg


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Well then, question answered. [emoji23]. Of course I didn’t buy it for fuel mileage so I didn’t care too much.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by larry_arizona

Leveling absolutely kills mpg, the massive air dams on trucks and rake angle is for mpg.

Heavy tires are a mpg killer too, LT’s are much heavier that P metric.

LT’s are 20# heavier than the same same size p metric

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I hadn't given that any thought. Good point!
My new DMax is leveled it looks great but the MPG are less than I would have expected for a tuned deleted truck, maybe this plays a role.
Gotta love a diesel though, 14mpg around town and 14mpg pulling a loaded 30' gooseneck down the interstate.

I wouldn’t sweat the loss in mpg unless I was running mostly highway miles. Leveling just looks good.

LT tires on a 3/4 ton+ are required obviously, but I would never put them on a 1/2 ton mainly due to significant loss of ride quality.


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