gmt400 (1996 k2500 suburban) - compatible gmt800 suspension parts?

[thebigcar]

Hi ya'll - I'm finally getting around to restomodding a 1996 k2500 Suburban 8 lug (stamped lowers) I picked up over the winter but to my surprise, there isn't much in the market for upgrade suspension parts! After coming from a mopar background, I thought owning a GM product meant TONS of aftermarket parts for every mainstream vehicle but as it were told to me by BDS tech support, nobody makes much for the 1st gen independent front axle GM's ... I mentioned seeing Lawrence Tolman's YT channel and how he bolted in gmt800 front suspension parts into his 1999 Suburban and support said that some 1999,2000 gmt400 models already had the geometry for the modern gmt800 suspension from the factory so the modern parts will bolt in and perform fine but a 1996 does not that ability.

Does anyone have any direct experience with this? If I can somehow make the gmt800 parts work, I could upgrade my suspension to say Kryptonite parts, which seem to have everything awesome for the 8 lug gmt800 line.

 

[454cid]

You can use the late 400 forged lower arms on your 96, or an 88 if you had one..... in other words, it's all of them not a couple of years. The lower forged arms are almost the same between the 400 and 800..... I think Lawrence used the 800 lowers, but don't remember for sure. The ball joint is different. I do know the shock mounting is not quite the same. The 800 knuckles may or may not be compatible with the 400 outer tie-rods depending on what you get the knuckles from. Instead of using an 800 ball joint, the 800 knuckles can be reamed out for the 400 ball joint, and this is the way it was done first. I think it's the early 3/4-ton 8-lug Non-HD GMT-800 knuckles that will take the 400 tie-rod ends... or something like that.

The whole point of this is for better brakes... the suspension will be about the same but have slide off rotors with dual piston calipers hung on them.

It's basically careful mixing and matching of stock parts, not the ability to bolt on a bunch of aftermarket upgrades.