The Stupid Lowered Questions Thread

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Moparmat2000

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Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. The KYB GR2s work great on a budget even better they were from rockauto, and had a $25 rebate. They dampen everything with just a hint of stiffness. Exactly what i was looking for. Bilsteins might have been a little better, but i am on a married w 3 kids budget. The bell tech upper rear shock relocators, and evilbay lower rear extenders do a lot to smooth out the ride as well. I hope my replies, suggestions, and pix of my install help others out who are going to do this install.

Matt
 

Uncle Ben

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Really liked your install on these. Never thought to use a single bolt with a pipe spacer. Much cleaner and probably easier.



Picked up some lower shock extenders off evilbay last week. Won auction for $58 shipped. Made in Chinna. They came bare metal, pretty thick steel, well made. I did have to spread out the tabs that the shocks fit into a bit using my vise, and a large pair of challellocks lol. Then i epoxy primed em and painted em semigloss black.

They came with 6 mounting bolts though only 4 are needed, wasnt sure of the bolt quality, plus they were smaller than the shock bolts that you take off. When i hit the wrecking yard earlier this week i just grabbed 2 shock bolts and nuts off another GMT400. I also heated and removed the metal tubes from my old shocks to use as spacers. You could easily use a small piece of 3/4" tubular black pipe from home depot and cut it down to make these.

My parking brake cable bracket on the passenger side needed a tab trimmed to fit with these. You can see the sharpie mark in pic 3 where it needs to be cut. I am glad i used a second set of shock bolts to pin these in place as its a much cleaner install than it would have been with seperate hardware. IMHO.

I installed everything loose, then tightened up the shock bolts first, then the bracket bolts second since tightening the bracket bolts up first will draw everything in to where the shock wont fit easily.

I used the square washer on the left mount, used the parking brake cable bracket as the washer on the right side. I could get longer grade 8 bolts, however once i tightened down on the locknuts, i had between 1.5 to 3 threads showing past the nut. This is concidered sufficient for aviation industry standards so as far as i'm concerned, its good enough for this.

I am happy with the install. Took about 30 minutes start to finish.

Hope this helps
Matt

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Tiny Trucker

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I used the beltech street performance shocks all around. I probably could have stuck with stock length shocks, but they bolted up just fine. I think I would have done the Bilsteins in hindsight.

The fronts were a different story. I had to jack up the lower control arms and put weight on the front suspension to make the shocks long enough to thread on the top nut.

Were you not happy with the Belltechs? What drop are you? I would imagine the Bilsteins being firmer.
 

Uncle Ben

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Were you not happy with the Belltechs? What drop are you? I would imagine the Bilsteins being firmer.

The ride felt rough in the back. Had a real “clunk” over bigger bumps. Turns out I needed to notch out a box support, as it was making contact after the suspension compressed a couple inches.

2/4 drop. I think the beltechs will be fine now.
 

Moparmat2000

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Ended up notching mine for the rear leafs on my 2-4 drop, and notching for the RH upper shock mount relocator.

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RoJo2

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After reading through the 107 pages of this thread lots of good stuff but no mention of the BellTech 2-3” drop springs with the top spacer. Using the spacer gets you to 2” of drop vs 3” without it. Mine are squeaking like hell everytime I hit a bump or make a turn... anyone else having this issue?

Side bar, when I installed the springs and BT 2” spindles up front on my 98 RCSB, I had to trim the LCA and grind the turn stop on the back side of the spindle in order to get my turn radius back. Unloaded, I was only able to get about 1.25 turns before the stop on the LCA and the stop on the spindle made contact. Once I ground the turn stop... I got a little better than 1.5 turns lock to lock. I may grind a little more once I go to bigger wheels if it’s still and issue. For the record, it would be much much easier to mark the spindles and grind those stops with them off the truck. I should probably trim more off my LCA because with the suspension loaded, I’ve lost some of that turn radius again but I don’t plan to run 15s forever.
 
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J4d320

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i’m the process of lowering my 4 door tahoe and this crossmember is right in the way, not letting my drive shaft move up enough. it needs to be notched. the awkward shape of the crossmember stumps me on how to notch it as high to the floor as possible while keeping most of the strength. anyone dropped a 4 door hoe or know anyone? or just have any ideas on what kind of notch to do here? thanks
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gearheadE30

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i’m the process of lowering my 4 door tahoe and this crossmember is right in the way, not letting my drive shaft move up enough. it needs to be notched. the awkward shape of the crossmember stumps me on how to notch it as high to the floor as possible while keeping most of the strength. anyone dropped a 4 door hoe or know anyone? or just have any ideas on what kind of notch to do here? thanks

I ran into the same thing with mine with the DJM flip kit. It just barely contacts on bigger hits and I haven't actually done much about it yet, though I have much stiffer leaves than stock so low risk for the moment. I also don't see a good way of dealing with it just cutting material out, so I will probably end up breaking out the welder to really make it right.
 

TC Cunha

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Hey fellas, Noob to the lowered GMT400 scene... I have searched and searched to find out the answer to this question... How can i tell how low this truck is? I just picked it up and the original owner is no longer with us... No one knows the true background, but looking under her, in the rear she has a mini C-notch. two blocks worth of "lowering" re-located spring hangers and "helper bags" for towing... No big issue there so I'm happy with the rear...

it's up front that has me worried.. Not sure of the drop, but she has B/T Nitro drop shocks on all four corners, but the front LCAs are riding on the bumpstops.. ERgo, no front end travel AT ALL..

So the question is how can i "reset" the front end? Buy new springs and shocks to bring her up a bit? If so, what would be a good start? 3" drop and new shocks? HELP!?
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