rough country leveling issue

[thewhitestallion]

Mine is a Silverado LT Z71 CC with steel control arms. Bought last august, so assuming it was one of the early runs.

 

nope that didn't matter either. I ordered mine in sept of 2013 and picked it up at the end of nov 2013 with a build date of 11/13 and I have aluminum. there is a thread from a while back discussing this exact topic and it had hundreds of responses and there was no reason for why gm put what on the truck.

[14SLTZ71]

i just installed my rough country 2" leveling kit on my 14 z71 4x4 and i saw somewhere another member saying that he had to cut a bolt because it was hitting his C.V. shaft but couldn't find the thread as im pretty sure it was in the middle of a picture thread or something. well when i installed mine today i had to do the same. you have to cut the rear most bolts that bolt the lower shock / strut assembly to the lower control arm other wise it will hit the C.V. shaft. i just emailed rough country about it and we'll see what they say. just an FYI for anyone who wants to put the RC kit on be aware that this is an issue. other than that issue it was fairly easy to put on.

anyone else put on a different kit that can chime in and say if they had this same issue?

here are some pics. gonna take some better pics tomorrow with a DSLR camera.

i measured before and after the install and it came out to just about 1/16" under an exact 2" lift.

I installed mine today and had the same issue, one of the bolts would hit the CV shaft if I installed it with the head of the bolt on the bottom per the instructions from Rough Country.

With the upper ball joint and steering linkage ball joint disconnected I was able to tilt the hub assembly enough to get the CV shaft out of the way and then put the bolts in with the head on the top side and nuts on the bottom. Here are some pics.

Edited August 11, 2014 by 14LTZZ71

[Daryl LBZ]

The Zone Offroad leveling kit I installed on my 2011 was the same way as far as the bolt hitting the CV shaft. I had to unbolt a few extra pieces and put the bolt in with the head up. Worked out fine after that just like posted above.

[Trueman09]

I just installed my rough country kit and noticed the same thing, but in my box I had 2 sets of bolts, the shorter and longer. I used the longer installed as the said and it was close to the cv, so I installed the bolts going down without cutting them, I didn't have to remove anything extra from the directions it just went straight and it worked a lot better that way then going up.

[chevydeth]

I'm looking to buy this kit soon, 2015 double cab z71 4x4, appears they are steel (painted black). Is it okay to put the bold facing down with the nut closest to the ground to avoid the bolt sticking up hitting the cv?

Edited March 18, 2015 by chevydeth

[tyrich88]

From what I have gathered here, it's fairly easy to tell if the arms are aluminum or steel, but a Silverado LT Crew Cab 4x4 (non Z71) should have steel arms... correct?

Edited April 24, 2015 by tyrich88

[Iflyforfood]

glad to find this thread & find out I'm not the only one... Just picked up my 2015 crew AT yesterday & immediately put the RC 2.5" kit on. Well, tried to.... Bought the aluminum kit as RC told me that even if I had steel arms, I could "flop the bolts over" and it would work. Turns out I have steel arms. Tried to install with the stock nut clips & really didn't like the lack of CV clearance. RC said to just cut the bolts... Decided to find some shorter bolts and try the supplied locknuts on top as the locknut is a little shorter than the stock clip. Went and found some 75mm bolts locally (nobody had any 80mm) which BARELY engage the nylon part of the locknut. Still didn't like the clearance. By now is was 1am with a 10am appointment for 33" tires so I threw in the towel, reverted to stock, canceled the tire installation and went looking for info like this. The not-so-smooth front install got me thinking if I really wanted to mess with a perfect brand new truck..... love the leveled look but I do need to rely on this vehicle! I guess I'll try the heads-up approach after I convince myself that modifying the suspension is a good idea in the first place.

[El_Diablo_John]

I have steel arms on a 2015 4x4 LT. The instructions provided said to install the bolts up and I had to cut mine. This was with the RC 2.5" kit for steel arms.

[Iflyforfood]

I bought my kit a few weeks ago & the instructions said heads up! strange. El_Diablo, did you use the stock nut clips or the locknuts that came with the kit? any signs of rubbing on the driveshaft with your installation?

[gmtech117]

Why are you guys having such difficulty with this? Just install the bolts facing down so there is no clearance issues with the cv axle =the end . Every kit I've done I've had no issue installing the bolts down, and all the kits I've seen the instructions say put the bolts down.

[El_Diablo_John]

I bought my kit a few weeks ago & the instructions said heads up! strange. El_Diablo, did you use the stock nut clips or the locknuts that came with the kit? any signs of rubbing on the driveshaft with your installation?

You must use the new nuts provided with the new bolts. No signs of rubbing on the axles so far. I do plan on replacing the hardware with shorter grade 8 hardware eventually though.

 

I didnt want to risk having the hardware hanging down and when I tried the bolts provided would even clear the axles. Simple as that.

[iCryWheniGoPoop]

I added a couple extra washers to the CV side

[robvas]

Same thing happened on mine. Had the same guy install my Skyjacker blocks and he didn't have the problem, not sure if the bolts were different or what.

 

[iCryWheniGoPoop]

Same thing happened on mine. Had the same guy install my Skyjacker blocks and he didn't have the problem, not sure if the bolts were different or what.

 

Those bolts are to short... You are not utilizing the lock not and will more than likely experience issue with a nut coming loose. At minimum I would put red loctite on them to avoid issue. A good rule of thumb is no less than 3 bolt threads showing past nut. Edited June 28, 2015 by TDT

[iCryWheniGoPoop]

double posted

Edited June 28, 2015 by TDT