93 Lift

[UndeadGMC]

 

 

Heres my 93 2WD V6 4.3 that must have the front suspension almost completly redone this week so I would like to do the following at the same time. Reason is 3 of the 4 ball joints are bad (one has the zert sucked up so far inside that it can't be greased), the shocks although replaced 6 months ago are pretty sorry and the rear ones still need done, and all the rubber boots on the steering components are all cracked/1/2 gone/or completly missing.

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1. -Leveling kit (looks like it needs at least a 2")

 

2. -4"-6" lift (not a body lift)

 

3. -Change 5 lug to 6 lug without crazy offset (reason for this is its getting very hard to find 15" tires when one of mine goes pop. If I changed to a 16" stock steel rim and painted it black I think it would look pretty good and allow me to find tires easily again. There seems to eb a lot of screws, nails, trash, etc where I drive so I go through 3 maybe 4 sets of tires a year so its nice to be able to buy used.)

 

4. -Rims and wheels to accomidate the new setup (the wheels I'm looking for cheap steel stock looking to be painted black, the tires are open for debate but its a daily driver so not too agressive)

This is what the junkyard has to offer

 

I am thinking something more like this or a really cheap aluminium wheel

 

5. -I'm also replcaing all the suspension rubber and bushings at this time so if you know where to find a complet kit that would be helpful. (not replacing the motor mounts or body bushings at this time)

 

It just needs a little lift to help me get through the winter snows so cheap without sacraficing too much quality would be best (a body lift won't help with snow). The one requirement is that I don't want to do any welding, cuting is fine but no welding please. To accomidate this requirement I was looking at spindle lifts like Fabtech, I really have no clue though so some well thought out direction would be much appreciated. The reason I had to stop my research on fabtech spindles and other lift kits is when I got a blowout this week and couldnt find a replacement tire I decided there is a need to have 16" wheels now. To allow me to purchase cheap wheels in the future I am thinking it would be best now to just upgrade to 6 lug. I have read that I can change to 6 lug if I find a 2WD 2500 at the junkyard (theres 2 of these trucks right now). What I got stumped on is if I should order a spindle lift from fabtech for a 2WD 2500 then I could just buy a 6 lug rotor and be done with it or do I go with my stock 2WD 1500 for a spindle lift and use a 5 to 6 lug adapters?

 

Heres what my suspension setup looks like. I show this because I have read some lift require the control arm or arms to be replaced with aftermarket ones that typically are not included with the lift kit. I have to take my control arms off to replace the bushings at this time so its not a huge deal to replace them other than the pricing, even stock replacement arms are pricey so I would prefer to get a lift that doesn't require replacing them.

 

I find it more and more difficult to find pages on the web that exactly fit this truck so links to your recomendations would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help.

[UndeadGMC]

Lift in just looking for wheels and tires now.

 

 

 

1. I went with the Daystar 2" coil spring spacer to level the truck out.

Part # KG09101BK $129.99

 

Great product and came prelubed and ready for install right out of the package. The only thing I question is that the 1" spacer cost $40 while this 2" spacer is $120. Seems odd to be 3 times as much but i don't know, maybe its harder to get out of the mold or something.

Rating 10 of 10 (The cost is high but the part is worth it)

 

2. For the lift I used Fabtech 4" spindle lift

$556.00

 

Overall the Fabtech spindles are great, well machined and a perfect no hassle bolt on fit. They don't come powder coated blue like you typically see in photos though. They are given a single coat of blackish primer/rust preventative paint and then they are milled/machined to the correct specs. With all the machining that must be done a fair amount of the primer rubs off here and there before the part is even shipped to you. This isn't so bad but then they specifically say in the warranty sheet that accompanies the parts that any painting or coating will void the warranty. Short of throwing the spindle infront of a convoy of tanks I don't see any way these spindles could break though, so I reprimered and tripple enameled mine gloss black. The 3" blocks that come in this kit are also given minimal paint and the U bolts got none at all. I thus painted my U bolts chome (not true chome as this can make the metal more brittle) and the blocks got tripple gloss black. The shocks that came with this kit are original equipment diameter and basically the same as what you could get at your local auto store with one exception. You get a lifetime waranty at your local store that you can walkin anytime and swap out a bad/wornout shock for a brand new one, fabtech gives 90 days. The shocks also don't come with dust boots like you would expect, boots arent in the pictures though so no strike against them.

Rating 8.5 of 10 (If paint voids the warranty then they ought to come painted/powder coated like they are in the pictures when you order them)

 

3. Replaced all front suspension components. I had ordered the Energy Suspension (ES) master kit part # 3.18107G but the bushings supplied for the control arms did not come with the outer metal sleves like its pictured when you order the kit. There are 8 bushings total for the front of the truck and I pretty much ruined 2 of them getting them pressed out. The instructions for installing the ES bushings say to reuse all old hardware which means the outer metal sleves but then they supply the inner metal sleves so I figured the kit I got was just missing the outer. So I gave them a call and was told that I had to reuse the outer sleves with their kit even though it is clearly pictured with new metal sleves when you order. So I used what I could out of the kit and repurchased the parts I used then returned the kit to get my $ back. The price break for buying the whole master kit instead of each part individually is about $10 so no real savings buying a master kit. (Don't buy their master kits) My local Autozone was able to order every part I needed to replace in the kit for $75 and it arrived in less than 48 hours. I returned the $215 master kit thus saving me $140. Also I later found out after the job was already done, that if you order the control arm bushings speratly instead of in the master kit they do indeed come with the outer metal sleves.

- 2 1/4" greasable swaybar brackets & bushings.

- 2 5/8" Swaybar End link kit

- Tirerod boots

- Balljoint boot kit

Another major downfall of the Energy Suspension products is they have the worst warranty of all, only 90 days. Every and any suspension bushing or boot part I looked at in Autozone, Advance Auto, or O'Reilly's offered a minimum of 1 year and most came with a lifetime warranty. That being said I do like the ES parts I used and I would have used more had there been less hassle, they do indeed make a difference.

Rating 4.5 of 10 (The master kit was a major hassle and ended up being easier to order piece by piece. Ordering the correct part piece by piece is also a hassle but it can be done at your local autozone and you will be sure you are getting what you expect. Bring a tape measure when you go to order cause you will be measuring and remeasuring parts on your car. Worst warranty of any bushing/boot manufacturer. When you get the right stuff its a good looking part that bolts right on but then so does everyone elses parts. If I had bought each piece as I needed it from the start I would rate them 9 of 10 because the bushings sold seperatly come with all the appropriate hardware but instead it cost me 4 days getting everything together.)

 

4. Since the Fabtech shocks were just OE top of the line shocks with less warranty than I can get at any store so I opted to go with Rancho 5000 series since they are a trusted brand and offer a lifetime no hassle instore warranty. Infact the Fabtech shocks have exactly the same cylinder length as stock ones they just have a longer rod.

- RS5000 Shock RS5117 for the front

- RS5000 Shock RS5190 for the rear

I had 1 problem with these shocks but its not Rancho's fault since I ordered from a middle man local 4WD shop without talking to a Rancho rep. I am listing this probelm here to help others in the future but wont affect my rating. The front shocks (5117) are to large of diameter to fit inside the lower control arm hole so the hole must be reamed out a good 1/4" to get the shock up in there. It will look like they can squeeze in but trust me they won't. Also the 5117's came with a standard shock bushing and mounting pin instead of the correct one for this vehicle. My local 4WD store anticipated this and got the correct mounting pin for the shocks at the same time. The problem with this is getting the bushing and pin out and reinstalling the correct one is a MAJOR pain. I was able to do it with just a vise, hammer, some wood pieces, and some sockets but I deffinatly will NEVER do that again no matter what. And then after all that hassle of getting the right pin in the 5117's they wouldn't fit without grinding away 1/4" larger hole in my lower control arms. So I gave up on the 5117's and just used the 5190's on the back and my stock yellow $13 shocks on the front for now. I could have ground away the LCA but I was pretty fed up with all the hassle and just wanted my truck back on the road. I might still grind the LCA to add Rabcho's but I'm doin a bit more research.

 

The Rancho's I got aren't gas filled like the truck uses for OE replacement. Gas filled means they will suport weight or rather you must push them in with a good bit of force to put them on the truck. I am thinking I might ought to used gas filled shocks for the extra weight they carry and they should shorten extension time, which means it should make it a bit stiffer. I'm still researching though so I'll post back with what I end up using.

Rating 9 of 10 (The 5190's do ride very nice, deffinatly a major improvement over my stock rear shocks and they come with nice boots too. I think they ought to include 2 new bolts and nuts per shock though just incase you stip out a bolt thread or break one removing your old. Hardware like that is like 20-30 cents when ordered from the manufacturer, small price to add to make the Rancho brand just that much better than the competition. All shocks are made by just 2 manufacturers and then sold to resellers like Rancho that stick their brand on them, so any little thing they can do to appear better than the rest should help.)

 

 

It took me 6 days to complete this transformation because of all the hassle involved. It should have take 1 day maybe 2 because I painted everything with 2 coats of primer and 3 or more coats of high gloss enamel. I had ordered all the parts I thought I would need just prior to tearing it all down so that the parts would arrive the next day. The Energy Suspension stuff was the main time killer. I had to go to 5 different stores all over town just to get enough OE replacement bushings to finish the job because ES didn't supply what they pictured. I would have liked to feel the difference of the ES bushings on my control arms but I am happy I went with lifetime warranty bushings instead of 90 day ones. Don't do anything to make your truck undriveable untill you are sure you have all the parts you need.

 

Complete cost

-Lift-

Fabtech Spindle Kit $556.00

Fabtech U-Bolts $39.00

Fabtech Blocks $49.00

Rancho 5190 $93.00

Daystar 2" Coil Spacer $129.99

Tax $98.71

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Total $940.69

Alignment $50.00

Grand Total $990.69

 

 

 

-Extras-

Sandblasting (control arms, springs, etc) $40.00

Control Arm bushings pressed $40.00

Stainless hardware for front shocks $10.06

Paint/primer (8 cans) $43.76

Cotter Pins (2 boxes just in case) $4.38

Brake Caliper Washers $4.38

Brake Lube (2) $3.98

Extra Grease $4.99

Deep Sockets (22m for shackle nuts) $7.59

1/2" x 2ft breaker bar $7.89

Highlift Jack $36.88

Upper Ball joints (2) $55.98

Lower Ball joints (2) $71.98

Upper control arm bushings (2) $59.98

Lower control arm bushings (4) $35.96

Energy Suspension stuff from above $75.04

Tax (all but top 3 items) $35.08

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Total $537.98

 

My local 4WD shop was going to charge $650 to install the stuff listed for $990.69. So by doing it all myself I got the entire front end taken apart, sand blasted, cleaned, double primered, tripple coated gloss black, all new bushings, boots, and ball joints, stainless hardware (where acceptable), a couple new tools, and a sweet jack that will make changing tires a laughing matter. Its all liftetime warranty too, so its just my labor if anything fails later on. And still came out about 50 to 100 bucks cheaper depending how much gas I used driving all over the place because of those ES parts.

 

Driving it a week or so now and sometimes at very low rpm (jsut above idle) there is a tiny bit of transmission shuter so I am thinking the U joints ought to be done for my truck and if you do this lift you might factor that cost into it as well. Probably drain and fill the rear diff at the same time and maybe get a diff cover with a friggin drain plug. There is a bit of bump steer at the moment because I still have the stock front shocks on there but that will be fixed soon. Other than that it rides fantastic, soft when it should and stiff when it matters.

 

 

As for tires and wheels I really would like to shoehorn in some 35's and do some fender/wheel well cutting but I might go with 33's. I always go to a local small business for my tires and typically buy used so I will just mount some 35's on some wheels and see what will need to be done to squeeze them on. Finding some 5x5 bolt pattern 16" wheels cheaper than $100 each is one hell of a task. I was hopeing to find some 5x5 pattern 16" steel wheels for close to $100 a set but thats near imposible it seems. For those interested heres a list of wheels that will fit a 5x5 2WD truck, most of them use 15" wheels though not 16".

99-04 WJ grand Cherokee

88-00 C-1500 2WD

92-99 Suburban/Tahoe 2WD

Yukon/Denali 2WD

Blazer/Escalade 2WD

94-96 Impala SS

85-96 Caprice

94-02 2500 Van

85-02 Astro Van

[UndeadGMC]

Well I finally decided on wheels and tires. I got them on about a month ago now so although this thread has gotten little intrest I figure I'd post the info for those few that did look.

 

For wheels I chose some black Allied Racing beadlocks that are easy to find off ebay. Shipping time was less that 2 days! These are 16 bolt beadlocks which are not DOT approved at the moment. I talked to 2 Allied reps. Prior to making the purchase though and they seemed like they would stand behind their products for street or offroad use even though they could not recommend using them for street use because that could get them in trouble. I chose beadlocks not for trailing but because I am tired of having to go to the tire shop any time theres a problem. With beadlocks I can fix my own tires whenever I feel like with patch kits and an air compressor in my truck box, even the side of the road.

Packaging

 

Included in Packages

Lots of stickers and instructions. I also got a lot of stickers from the lift kit components I used but I havent contaced anyone about sponsorship yet so no stickers are going on my truck.

 

Wheels

These are 5 on 5 bolt spacing (127mm) 15 x 10 inch wheels.

Every wheel had paint and scuff blemishes, but I didn't find this to be a problem because its a truck. If your looking for show quality these aren't the wheels for you. I think the simple cardboard packaging with no filler was the reason for most if not all the scuffs. There is a paint chip on the center hole of each rim where it looks like they were hung on a pole horizontally for paint. The paint was 1 thick coat instead of sever thin otherwise it wouldn't have chiped. With 1 thick coat the paint driped a bit onto teh bar suspending them and dried. When they took the wheels off the bar, the paint chiped in 1 small spot on every wheel. On the up side the welds are superb. Also the machining is top notch as you can rotate the locking ring to any position and the holes line up perfectly. The bolts high quality and well machined also. Only 1 of the 64 bolts did I take out to the grinder to improve its centering capability in the threads.

 

Wheel Backspacing

The backspacing is exactly 4 inches if not a tad shorter. I believe they off these wheels in 4.5 and 5 inch backspacing as well. When I ordered my thinking was to keep the backspacing as close to stock as possible to eliminate any clearance problems. Having them in my hand I would now have chosen to go with 4.5 inch or even 5 inch backspacing. There is no clearance issues but if I ever chose to get 15 inch wide tires instead of 12 there would be.

 

Spare

Having the wheels in hand I then called up soem local 4x4 shops to see if they had any spare tires to fit my new rims. 1 of the 6 shops called had 1 tire in moderate condition and the others had none. So I went over and picked it up a 35x12.5x15 Pro Comp $50 cash. I didn't yet have a spare wheel but I figured I could mount it up and see if it would clear. It did indeed clear but I could not fully tell because turning the steering with 1 35 and 1 stock wheel doesn't give an acurate picture of turning clearances.

 

As for tires I settled on 35x12.5x15 BFG T/A KM2. This was not my 1st choice but I quickly found out that finding a set of 35's is a real pain. And finding 35x15's is almost impossible. Only the local 4x4 shops carried 35's and they only stocked 1 or 2 brands and they were all 16 inch rim diameter or larger. They said since 96 most people want 16 inch wheels or bigger so they don't even stock 15 inch dia ever.

 

My original idea was to find what I wanted online then go to a local shop and get the tires slightly cheaper possibly or at least get the price down a bit. This did not happen though as the local shops all said they can't compete with the online prices for tires anymore. So I went to buy online from discount tire direct. After paying online they called me back early the next day and told me it would be 6 weeks before they could get them in and then add shipping to my location on top of that. Needless to say I canceled that order. I must say though that DTD is a very good company because they did not actually charge my card so my $ was ready to spend elsewhere the minute I canceled the order. They said they do not charge a card untill the order is actually on the truck ready to be shipped. That kind of practice is top notch in my book. Tirerack was the only online comapany that actually had a selection of several different tires in the size I needed so thats who I went with. The 4 KM2's cost me $932 shipped which is $68 more than what I was going to get at DTD but I could get them in a week instead of 6-8. The tires arrived exactly 1 week later because one of the UPS station either in Oklahoma City or Tulsa dragged their feet, as shown by watching teh tracking. If that hadn't happened they would have arrived in 4-5 days.

 

Tires

35x12.5x15 BFG KM2. Overall its a good looking tire. As I read online they are indeed not as wide as some of the other brands of the same size. You can see in the pictures below that the BFG is actually 11 inches wide where the Pro Comp is 12.5 inches. They are very soft, a little too soft for my tastes really but the sidewalls are sturdy. To show just how sturdy the sidewalls are, in one of the pictures further down with the tires on the truck, the front tire closest was aired down till my dial gauge wouldn't ready a number. Notice the truck still looks level. Now thats a sidewall! the tread depth is 5/8 inch.

 

Mounting

To mount the tires on the I just cleared out some space on the floor in the living room. You will need the tools pictured and a 5 gal bucket preferably with a lid because it adds rigidity to the bucket. They are 1/2 inch bolts and you need a normal socket wrench to get them lose the 1st time and a torque wrench to put them back in. Having 2 no scuffing clamps to clamp down the ring in place helped a ton. The 1st wheel put together I didn't use clamps and it took as long to do that 1 as it did to do all the other 3 combined. these wheels are 1 side beadlocks so to get the other side to seat I just went to the local gas station and used their air pump. I didn't think it would work without removing the valve core but I was wrong, it was easy as pie. Having all that soap on there helped a lot I'm sure. One thing to note is don't get to thinking your all done once you got them all put together. Yes they will work and roll but you will most likely need to deflate the tire and losen the bolts to rotate the tire on the wheel to get it to a reasonable balance. I took mine to the local joe tire shop to get them balanced. He informed me that adding standard wheel weights usually will not balance such big tires and that he doesn't even balance the ones on his tow truck. This is where the rotating the tire comes into play. Get them to put it on the machine and see where it says to add weight. Then you mark it and get out your trusty bucket and tools and go to work losening up the bolts so that you can rotate the tire on the wheel 180 degrees. Most of the time that puts the balance within .5 on the machine. If you can get each one to within .5 then you've done good for this size tire. 2 of mine were spot on balanced just as I brought them in. 1 needed to be rotated and is at .5 while the last one had to be rotated and some stick-on wheel weights added to the inside to get it to .5.

 

Clearance

They all cleared for going in a straight line but there was some slight rub when turning.

Before Cut

 

After Cut

 

It really wasn't enough rub to justify cutting but it was already 3pm when I got back to the house from the tire shop and I had to work the next day. To do it right I should have just put on a 2 or 3 inch body lift because tehre really needs to be about another 1-2 inches of height to get enough up and down tire movement for what I wanted (curb hoping and not caring about speed bumps). Because of this I am still going to add bit of a body lift but I had just run out of time that week because the tires came in 2 days later than expected. I'm going to mod/paint that bumper anyways so no harm in taking off a bit. the back end still needs to come up 1 more inch also. The 3 inch blocks that came with the fabtech spindles didn't account for the 2 inch daystart coil spacers I used to level out the truck. I really need 4 inch blocks in the back as you might be able to tell by the tire to wheel well spacing.

[UndeadGMC]

My image limit was reached so heres the end.

 

Before

 

With Lift

 

Finished

 

Oh yea and its 2 wheel drive and yes the ol 4.3 handles them balloon tires great! It still can spin the tires should I feel the need and still barks em in 2'd and even going into 3rd if I get on it. I'd love to have a 4x4 but I don't so for all those 2wd guys out there, yes you can put some balloon on there and still be alright.

[Hieneken49]

looks good man.

[UndeadGMC]

Thanks man! That really means a lot, I've spent a lot of time on this and generally all I get is my girlfriend looking at me weird and shaking her head.

[onntn87]

That truck looks really cool. Reminds me of the 93 GMC that I had, sure did like that truck.

[Mckenzie]

love the truck and the way it looks, but you need 4WD, i reapeat, you NEED 4WD! maybe that could be another project for you?

[JeepXJ]

...but you need 4WD, i reapeat, you NEED 4WD! ma

 

You dont really NEED 4wd, there's plenty of offroading fun to be had with just rwd, I hardly ever use 4wd on my XJ, it's just too easy and I like the challenge of only using the rears. Granted for some things you cannot get through without 4wd, but I dont know if the op is doing anything like that.

 

Truck looks effin fantastic dude, it warms my soul to see that beasty still alive and kicking I can only imagine the smile that passed over your face when you stood back and looked at it after all the work.

A+ work as always sir, and yes I registered just to compliment your build lol.

[97reddodge]

one tuff looking truck man!!

[Texas-JD]

I have been looking for someone else who had used the spindle lift on a 1993 GMC. Glad to find you and the truck looks great. I have a question for you. I am looking to use the RC 4" spindles and put some 33X10.50R15LT tires under it. I currently have 31X10.50R15LTwith no lift and they fit, I have had the front finder dig into the top of the tire with them and the lift should resolve that. However, did you have any issues with the 35's hitting the back of the wheel weld by the cab?

 

Also, I was looking at buying the kit but after reading your post I'm thinking that it might just be best to buy the spindles only and then add the other parts individually. What is your take?