2014+ Suspension Lifts

Mike1220 · November 10, 2014

This may be a really dumb question but I figure this would be a good place to ask it. Also keep in mind this is my first truck and first lift so this is a newbie question, is it possible to put an air bag helper system in the rear even after lifting it? I don't tow often so don't want to put an add a leaf just cause it will make the ride stiffer.

Main reason I ask is my truck already sags when I tow my family's boat or the trike I posted in another thread and I hate the sag. Especially once I start driving at night with those things and my headlights are way up in the sky.

cjz28 · November 13, 2014

7" Fabtech, Stock 20's and 35" Lexani Mud Beast. Decided to keep the wheels stock for now to see what it looked like. So far im happy with it.

did this setup require spacers at all? looks good.

b_faulk75 · November 13, 2014

That makes since as I called a Zone rep about an hour away that installs these kits. He mentioned the tie rod cut needs to be just right. I also called Zone and they think their engineers may be able to help with me supplying some measurements of before and after, etc. I have my first alignment paperwork from the shop who installed the kit and from a dealership who checked the alignment and reset the steering sensor. I am going t have a shop check it one more time and I am going to give them the paperwork and the specs from the Zone kit manual for them to compare and see if they can come up with something. if not, I am going to have GM run diags on my speed sensors. I am not pulling any codes with my scanner though, so hopefully not a faulty sensor and I do not get any lights on any other time than sharp turns. The shop also said you also need to have all the cuts just right. I remember the shop who installed my kit mention afterwards they had to do a lot of cutting and grinding for this kit.

Well I had a chance to talk with the other 2 owners of 14 Silverado s with the zone 6.5. They are both still having some issues. By the way they describe it I would say theirs is worse than mine. We reset the steering sensor on both of them and verified proper alignment on one. The one person did tell me that he swapped back to his factory wheels and tires and the issue went completely away. This tells me the issue has something to do with tore diameter. None of us have done anything as far as a tune to calibrate the ebcm for the larger tires. Really am at a loss. There was nothing g wrong with any of them until after the lift installs. Also just food for thought. One of these guys had a 6.5 zone on a 2012 silverado and he claims he had zero issue on that truck...not sure what is causing this but I have full access to a gm MDI and gds2 which is the factory scanner for our trucks. Did the zone engineers have any input?

ChevyTrucks_95 · November 13, 2014

Maybe you should try changing your tire diameter in the computer of your truck. I read somewhere, can't rememene where though, that when you change to a bigger or smaller tire that it will throw the calibration off and that the traction control comes on around turns. Just try recalibration the new tire size and see if that resolves the issue.

badchevy · November 13, 2014

Well I had a chance to talk with the other 2 owners of 14 Silverado s with the zone 6.5. They are both still having some issues. By the way they describe it I would say theirs is worse than mine. We reset the steering sensor on both of them and verified proper alignment on one. The one person did tell me that he swapped back to his factory wheels and tires and the issue went completely away. This tells me the issue has something to do with tore diameter. None of us have done anything as far as a tune to calibrate the ebcm for the larger tires. Really am at a loss. There was nothing g wrong with any of them until after the lift installs. Also just food for thought. One of these guys had a 6.5 zone on a 2012 silverado and he claims he had zero issue on that truck...not sure what is causing this but I have full access to a gm MDI and gds2 which is the factory scanner for our trucks. Did the zone engineers have any input?

After you had mentioned before one of the guys put his stock wheels back on and didn't have an issue, I got to thinking about that. I am running an aftermarket 20x9 with the Toyo open Country AT2 295/65r20 tire. Toyo's site claims the tire is a 35" tire, but that is actually true when the tire is inflated to it's max 80psi and not mounted on a truck putting weight on it. The tire is actually a 34" tire when I measured at 42psi. I am using the Diablo Intuner to tune my gears and new tire height over the 31" stock tires. In the tuner i was actually inputting 34" in the tire size section to adjust the speedometer, odometer, etc. There is a section you can actually punch in 295/65r20, but that throws off the speedometer slightly as it thinks it is a true 35" tire.

So over the weekend I had my tires rotated and the alignment checked against the recommended Zone specs one more time. Everything was within 1/1000's of the specs so I know it isn't the alignment. Before I left the shop, I adjusted my tune and punched in 295/60/r20 (not 65 to bring it closer to 34") and drove it home. The truck did MUCH better on turns at intersections and in parking lots. It still has the stabilitrak kick on once in awhile but not like it was. So I am thinking the system is that sensitive and was looking for a stock width of about 8.5". These Toyo's are about 11" wide and without all the dimensions punched in, it was throwing it off. However, since it is still doing it occasionally, I am still going to need to talk to the Zone engineers. I just want to try and cover everything I can on my end so they can eliminate all they can.

cjz28 · November 13, 2014

can anyone explain why the lift shop I'm talking to is recommending I don't use wheel spacers? I really like the look of this truck, but requires spacers.

Mike1220 · November 13, 2014

can anyone explain why the lift shop I'm talking to is recommending I don't use wheel spacers? I really like the look of this truck, but requires spacers.

zone6.5.jpg

zone6.51.jpg

wheel spacers aren't really recommended for a few reasons, the most common ones I have heard are

1) its one more thing to have break and go wrong and you certainly dont want a wheel to break off, especially at high speeds

2) they will cause a more negative offset in the rim and will cause rubbing to be much more likely to occur

3) if you use any slide on spacer then you start to give the lugs less thread to bite, leaving the lug more likely to be able to loosen overtime if not properly maintained and you need to use at least a 1.5" bolt on spacer to avoid having to cut down the stock studs. Also if you use a bolt on spacer then you want to remember everytime that you rotate your wheels to check (and retighten if necessary) all lugs on the spacer bolts

These are th big 3 I remember off the top of my head

badchevy · November 14, 2014

How would the truck ever know the width of the tires? I highly doubt that has anything to do with it. Height throwing things off is a completely different story. I have 34" tire on mine and have not had any lights come on and have not touched the computer.

Who knows, it doesn't make sense. Are you running the Zone lift with your 34s? Maybe it's my tuner, but there are some having the same issue with no tune. I will adjust my tune to not adjust for the larger wheels and tires. My speedo will be off during this test but I want to see if the problem still occurs. It all boils down to needing the correct height of your tires programmed in the ECm so the abs and stabilitrak will not flip out. If it is my tuner not doing the job on this truck I will change to another one.

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badchevy · November 14, 2014

I had a 2.5" level on my 13 with 33x12.5 trail grapplers and had no issues. Tuned truck with same tuner I have now. Just set tire height to about 32.5 and speedo was on no issues.

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blackout07 · November 14, 2014

I had a 2.5" level on my 13 with 33x12.5 trail grapplers and had no issues. Tuned truck with same tuner I have now. Just set tire height to about 32.5 and speedo was on no issues.

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Did you regear the truck?

badchevy · November 14, 2014

The old one? No regear. I did regear the new one I am having problems with to 4.10. The issue started before the gears and the tuner seems to correct that change. If you change gears, but don't reprogram the ABS light and others would be on all the time while driving. This issue is only while making sharp turns at normal speed.

b_faulk75 · November 15, 2014

The old one? No regear. I did regear the new one I am having problems with to 4.10. The issue started before the gears and the tuner seems to correct that change. If you change gears, but don't reprogram the ABS light and others would be on all the time while driving. This issue is only while making sharp turns at normal speed.

So you changed gears? What gears did you use? Do you think it was worth it? I am also pretty sure the issues we are having are related to the diameter of the tires. I need to get a tuner, was looking at superchips because i have used them before but i also have been considering diablo and black bear. I like the idea of a custom tune but dont know if its worth the extra money.

rotten tomato · November 15, 2014

can anyone explain why the lift shop I'm talking to is recommending I don't use wheel spacers? I really like the look of this truck, but requires spacers.

zone6.5.jpg

zone6.51.jpg

I run 1.5 inch wheel spacers on the rear of my 2014. I did it to match the front. I have a 4 inch BDS lift and the lift moves the front out 1.78 inches. I have not had any issues with the spacers, but again they are only on the rear.

gatoroi · November 16, 2014

did this setup require spacers at all? looks good.

No spacers at all. If I didn't have the 20's it would need spacers. 18's wouldnt work at all without them

b_faulk75 · November 17, 2014

I ran 1.5 spacers all around on my truck before I lifted it and had do issues. As a matter of fact over 10k miles on 2 different trucks. Now just running them on the rear. Still no issues and no worries. These really dont hurt anything when properly installed. You will have some haters tell you not to use them but they are most likely going off a myth that these are unsafe.. I did a great deal of research before installing as I haul my kids in my ride and didn't want anything unsafe..