I want to spend money on suspension but no idea what to do

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ShaneM

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99 Tahoe 2-door Z-71 4WD. Tires 305/55R20 (comes out to 33.2", works with a little cutting) with about 1.25" torsion key lift in front. 188K miles on the body.

The suspension is stock. Other than the suspension and paint, everything has been redone on the truck. It rides horribly, and don't tell me it's the truck...this is my 3rd such truck, I've owned them half my life and I know how they ride stock. Clearly the suspension is old, and the cranked key doesn't help.

My Goals:

1) Replace parts as needed to improve ride
2) Replace parts as needed due to age
3) Maintain current front height or go up a little, if needed.
4) Level rear
5) Avoid bad angles that will result in highly accelerated wear

I'll spend whatever makes sense, I'm not too concerned about cost as I view it as an investment.

I've looked at Rough Country 2-3" which fits the bill on the lift but I've seen bad anecdotes about that, the ride, the angles.

Rough Country 4-6" seems like a more complete solution, obviously a lot of additional work cutting etc, but better angles. 4" is a lot more than I have now, so I was hoping to avoid going that high. I'm only up 1.25" with no rubbing so I'd like to stick around 2" if possible...but 4" would be acceptable only if needed.

I feel like every time I make a tentative decision on how to proceed, I find more information or opinions that makes me question that decision.

Based on the looks alone, I'm heavily leaning toward the RC 2-3", but open to other options in this lift range and also not sure of choosing add-a-leaf vs rear blocks....

Any help would be greatly appreciated....
 
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b454rat

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I thought bout the 2-3" lift, but after checking, and the price, better off going with the full 4". Angles go back to stock, so ride would be the same as before. Rebuild kits are available, I'd say rebuild it as you lift it. I have a 4" lift on my Yukon, it's a 4 door, but same difference. It has the Rancho 9000s that are adjustable, and if adjusted right rides like it's on a cloud. It was hammered on my previous, would never know it only has 68k miles on it.
 

ShaneM

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I thought bout the 2-3" lift, but after checking, and the price, better off going with the full 4". Angles go back to stock, so ride would be the same as before. Rebuild kits are available, I'd say rebuild it as you lift it. I have a 4" lift on my Yukon, it's a 4 door, but same difference. It has the Rancho 9000s that are adjustable, and if adjusted right rides like it's on a cloud. It was hammered on my previous, would never know it only has 68k miles on it.
Yeah, the price is really trivial between the two and you get a lot more in the 4" kit, plus as you said the angles are a lot better. So did you just toss the shocks that came with the 4" kit or did you piecemeal the 4" lift and selected the 9000s?
 

b454rat

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I bought it that way. I think mine might be a rancho but can’t find any ID anywhere. Think it was put on when the truck was new, sat for awhile, then PO got it and beat the **** outta it.

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boy&hisdogs

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4" lift or nothing, those 2-3 inch lifts are just the worst of both worlds. The RCX kits are all 5" lifts, you crank up to get 6 or down to get 4. But if you get one thats actually 4, you can de-crank down to 3.5 or 3.

I put Bilstein 5100s on my truck and they are amazing. Most kits come with cheapo shocks, so see if you can get it without shocks for a little cheaper then just buy something good. I got a Zone lift and if you buy it directly from them, not from a retailer, you can get it without shocks for a couple hundred bucks cheaper.
 

Zerio29

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4" lift or nothing, those 2-3 inch lifts are just the worst of both worlds. The RCX kits are all 5" lifts, you crank up to get 6 or down to get 4. But if you get one thats actually 4, you can de-crank down to 3.5 or 3.

Nailed it. 2-3 is just bad ride quality and you'll be replacing front end parts annually.

You can always lower the RCX 4" down to 3.5" and order seperate 3" blocks for the rear so it'll sit level without going too high. Plus, I don't think I've ever met anyone who's regretted getting a bigger lift.... just sayin.
 

Hipster

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The only thing the 2-3 inch kit does is give you more room to the droop stops. It corrects nothing else. Not the angles(steering) or the ride quality. Buy the 3 inch control arm kit and crank it to 3 inches your going to have a very similar ride to cranking it way up without the control arms because your increasing the pre-load on the t-bars the exact same way. Most off the shelf shocks are going to be neutral valved so different shocks won't necessarily improve the ride and I'm not sure a custom valved shock will correct for a 0 compression 100% rebound situation created by cranking.

Pay attention to the advice given by others. Pick your poison accordingly. I'm sure you tried cranking 2+ inches already and are aware of what happens to the ride quality.

The control arm/crank kits are the worst of both worlds like said. If your anyway concerned about ride quality buy the 4 in kit and be happy.

Over and over on this site guys try and justify going with these kits claiming they don't quite need 4 inches and when they decide they're unhappy they still need a 4 in kit to correct the shortfalls.
 
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Frank Enstein

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I lowered Frank (the truck in the picture) about 2" in the front because the previous owners (Idiots) cranked them up a bunch. The ride it worlds better. If the kit you get has urethane bushings add grease fittings and get a tube of this

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/upi-3008

And grease them a couple of times a year.
 

ShaneM

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Wow guys thanks for all your thoughts, that is exactly what I needed to hear. So you've sold me on 4". I was kind of hesitating about the RCX kits because I wanted to get better shocks and I didn't want to waste money on the kit shocks.

This is the only Zone lift kit I could find, and I don't want to go up 6". https://zoneoffroad.com/products/6-...evygmc-1500-trucks-4wd?variant=33731548971096

Does Superlift not make a kit for our trucks anymore?

So it's only RCX and Zone then, for a 4" lift?
 

ShaneM

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Also, maybe this is a dumb question but since I'm only cranked 1.25" in front, how much will it help the ride if I just get new shocks and keep the torsion key where it is, and add a 1" block in the rear? I'm fine with the current ride height, I prefer it closer to stock. The angles look fine where they are, so really I want to just improve the ride. Can that be done and otherwise leave it alone?
 
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