Possible Wearing Issues After Installing Leveling Kits

[rockytckr]

I was just wondering if anyone has had any issues with wearing in the front end of their truck after they have installed a leveling kit. I have a leveling kit on my Chevy and was wondering what to expect. Any help would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks

[dirtfan21]

Tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints, wheel bearings possibly. GMT 900's have non greaseable ball joints so that would be the number 1 place I would keep an eye on.

[Knowklew]

I will not install a leveling kit because of the possibility of premature wear on the tie rods and the ball joints. To me the risk is not worth the reward of simply having a leveled truck. I would much prefer to wait and buy an actual suspension lift kit from a company like BDS.

[dirtfan21]

A 2" leveling kit does not have angles much worse than most full suspension lifts. Any modification from stock will cause slightly premature wear, the key is to stay under 30 degrees or so of angle to stay away from CV binding, ball joint issues, ect.

 

On my GMT 900 I had a 2" leveling kit for 50,000 miles and when I traded the front end was as tight as ever. If you are worried about the possibility of wearing out parts prematurely then a full suspension lift is not the answer either.

[MikeNH]

Several people have reported premature upper balljoint wear with these kits.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AEB]

I have about 20K on my truck with a leveling kit and no issues so far

[dirtfan21]

You have to pay to play. If people are concerned about wearing out front end parts, keep the truck stock. If you are worried about wheel bearings, don't put a wheel on that has a wicked offset. If you are worried about your drivetrain, don't put 35" tires on your truck without re-gearing. I've read stories of trashed ball joints on GMT 900 trucks with no mods, they are piece of crap non greaseable junk.

 

Long story short, whenever you mod your truck and take it away from factory trim there is the possibility of prematurely wearing out parts.

[Ragsy1083]

It's my understanding that if you add larger blocks in your rear to restore some of the rake, you should reduce the amount of premature wear, if there is any. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me before I drop the $$$ for the rear blocks :-P

[louann11chevy]

Tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints, wheel bearings possibly. GMT 900's have non greaseable ball joints so that would be the number 1 place I would keep an eye on.

 

 

if those are possible premature wear areas, is it possible to upgrade those parts when you do level the truck so that it wont cause any premature wear?

[C-Dub]

FFR makes a heim tie rod kit, but you're looking at $240 for the GMT900 platform. As far as upgraded ball joints, the only thing out there I would imagine is a greasable version from Moog. I had a leveling kit for 12,000 miles, and have been lifted now for 8,000 more and haven't noticed one bit of slop or wear in the suspension since changing from stock. The key is don't put the push your parts to their limits with the taller levling kits or maxed out lifts like the RCX 7.5" kit.

[wwallace75]

i have the premium kit and it comes with new upper arms and a greaseable upper ball joint and i haven't had any problems

[KrisRozay]

@WWallace75 which kit would that be? Do you have any pics of your truck?

[Doug_Scott]

It's my understanding that if you add larger blocks in your rear to restore some of the rake, you should reduce the amount of premature wear, if there is any. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me before I drop the $$$ for the rear blocks :-P

 

 

You mean you put a leveling kit in, now you want to know if you can raise the rear to restore the rake? First off, raising the rear will have zero effect on the changes in the angles of the front end. Pretty sure you could just remove the leveling kit from the front to restore both the rake and the correct angles of the front end.

 

When listening to reports of premature parts wear, keep in mind that people only complain of failure, they do not say anything if it works correctly. If they sell 10000 kits, and 20 people complain, is it an issue? I have no idea how many kits have been sold, or how many people have complained, or even how many premature wearouts were actually premature. Tie rod ends are designed to work within a set range, if you exceed that range, you will see failures fairly quickly, way faster than just premature. I would be interested in hearing how many that had premature wear were using the truck as it was designed to be used (in other words, driven like a 50 year old lady drives).

[Brian66D]

You mean you put a leveling kit in, now you want to know if you can raise the rear to restore the rake?

 

a lot of people like adding blocks to the rear just to gain a little bit more height versus just a leveling kit.

 

A GMT900 with a 2" level versus a GMT900 with a 2" level and GMT800 blocks in the rear looks substantially different/better IMO.

[jarettg]

I just had to replace my passenger side UCA as the upper ball joint was loose, about $300 with labour. My truck has 70,000 Kms and we have terrible pot holes in our "roads". The RC kit was put on 2.5 years and 30,000 km ago.

 

I noticed it was clunking on the passenger side. Add in a wheel allignment and good to go.