Jump to content

Leveling with Coilovers & Upper Control Arms

sethwick75

By sethwick75
in Modifications & Accessories

Recommended Posts

sethwick75 Enthusiast

sethwick75

Posted
Posted

I just bought a 2014 Silverado 1500 Z71 Crew Cab and I'm loving it. I want to level out the front end, to fit a little larger tire and make it look right, but I don't want to go with a spacer kit. Looking to improve the suspension travel and overall ride both on & off road, so I was thinking of going with an adjustable coilover (ie: Fox, Fabtech, King) to get 2"-2.5" of lift, plus add new uniball upper control arms.

 

Has anyone gone with route, without going up to 4" plus of lift? I don't want to add that much lift, but want to improve ride. The road live out is a single lane, private road and has a bunch of speed bumps. I want to be able to cruise right over them (at around 10-15 mph is all) without having to slow down, hence the set up I'm considering.

 

I used to have an '11 F-150 FX4 with Bilstein 5100's, but I felt like it didn't improve the ride when put under even mild wheel travel situations. Hoping others can vouch for a better experience going with a coilover system.

 

sethwick75 Enthusiast

sethwick75

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Side Note: Fabtech makes a complete kit that includes 2.5" Front Coilovers, Uniball Upper Control Arms, and Rear Shocks for around $2,400. I know it is WAY more expensive than a spacer kit, but I'm looking to gain significant improvements to the suspension, not just a cosmetic leveling.

Kyleorsini Enthusiast

Kyleorsini

Posted
Posted

you could add icon vehicle dynamics. they have a cople stage options for what you want.

 

theres also the bilstein 6112 that should be out hopefully soon. it is a coilover. you then would have to source out a UCA from another company.

A.J. Curtis Enthusiast

A.J. Curtis

Posted
Posted

Lots of people have installed the Icon coil over kit, the fox 2.0 & 2.5 coilovers and the King 2.5 coilovers. Set under 3" lift. I'm on my mobile so I can not give you links but search for

"icon"

"King" or

"Fox"

on this forum and you will see lots of posts about them.

A.J. Curtis Enthusiast

A.J. Curtis

Posted
Posted

Kings:

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/161238-king-coilover-shocks-installed/page-1

 

Fox 2.5:

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/190663-fox-25-cognito-results/?fromsearch=1

 

Fox 2.0:

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/181878-fox-20-coilovers-answer-from-fox/?fromsearch=1

My neighbor has the fabtech kit on his 6.2 NFC and likes it. As he has been going out on the trails more this last season he is going to be upgrading from the fabtech to the King 2.5's front and rear and then camburg A arm. I plan on doing the same swapping from my bilstein 5100 adjustables to kings and camburg a arms.

 

All of the coil overs are going to ride better then a spacer level lift & as a bonus you can adjust ride height. The basic 2.0's will soak up less then say the 2.5 or 3.0 body shocks.

Crafty34 Enthusiast

Crafty34

Posted
Posted

I currently have the Rancho Quicklift which is ok for looks but crappy ride quality. I just pulled the trigger on the Kings and Cognito UCA's. I should be getting them installed the 1st week of December. I had the Icons on my 13 F150 and they rode pretty nice. I chose the Kings because I read that they will ride a little better than the Icons.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

BIGRED811 Enthusiast

BIGRED811

Posted
Posted

Anyone used the customized King coilovers from Mazzulla Offroad? They have some incredible looking upper control arms.

 

http://mzoffroad.com/chevy-4wd-mid-travel-coilovers-14-15.html

 

http://mzoffroad.com/14-15-chevy-1500-uniball-upper-control-arms.html

 

This combo looks really nice. Expensive, but appears bullet-proof.

 

The Kings are on awesome option, however Mazzulla is a little misleading with the advertising. The $1799.00 is for the standard blue king Option.

 

For a daily driven truck, I would really recomend Icon Vehicle Dynamics. They use a digressive valving in their shocks, which is going to absorb the smaller stuff on the road a lot better than a King or Fox.

 

King and Fox are a great off road performance shock, Icon is perfect for daily driven, on road driven vehicles but still has the same performance off road as found with the King and Fox. They just spend a little more R&D testing on vehicles.

 

King and Fox do their tuning by weights of vehicles and what they find would work best based on that application, whereas Icon does real world testing on the vehicle to fine tune performance.

sethwick75 Enthusiast

sethwick75

Posted
  • Author
Posted

 

The Kings are on awesome option, however Mazzulla is a little misleading with the advertising. The $1799.00 is for the standard blue king Option.

 

For a daily driven truck, I would really recomend Icon Vehicle Dynamics. They use a digressive valving in their shocks, which is going to absorb the smaller stuff on the road a lot better than a King or Fox.

 

King and Fox are a great off road performance shock, Icon is perfect for daily driven, on road driven vehicles but still has the same performance off road as found with the King and Fox. They just spend a little more R&D testing on vehicles.

 

King and Fox do their tuning by weights of vehicles and what they find would work best based on that application, whereas Icon does real world testing on the vehicle to fine tune performance.

 

 

Thanks for the input. I'm new to all of this. I had an F-150 with Bilsteins on it, but before that truck my previous lifted truck was my '72 Chevy single cab, std bed with an 8" on 35's. Suspension has changed dramatically since I owned that truck. Unfortunately I sold that truck. Never should have! Still have a '72 Blazer, but with only a 2" spring lift.

tyrich88 Enthusiast

tyrich88

Posted
Posted

 

The Kings are on awesome option, however Mazzulla is a little misleading with the advertising. The $1799.00 is for the standard blue king Option.

 

For a daily driven truck, I would really recomend Icon Vehicle Dynamics. They use a digressive valving in their shocks, which is going to absorb the smaller stuff on the road a lot better than a King or Fox.

 

King and Fox are a great off road performance shock, Icon is perfect for daily driven, on road driven vehicles but still has the same performance off road as found with the King and Fox. They just spend a little more R&D testing on vehicles.

 

King and Fox do their tuning by weights of vehicles and what they find would work best based on that application, whereas Icon does real world testing on the vehicle to fine tune performance.

Good info! I am looking into replacing my shocks eventually as well and seeing as this is my daily driver, the icons sound way better for my usage.

ChevyRoofer Senior Enthusiast

ChevyRoofer

Posted
Posted

 

The Kings are on awesome option, however Mazzulla is a little misleading with the advertising. The $1799.00 is for the standard blue king Option.

 

For a daily driven truck, I would really recomend Icon Vehicle Dynamics. They use a digressive valving in their shocks, which is going to absorb the smaller stuff on the road a lot better than a King or Fox.

 

King and Fox are a great off road performance shock, Icon is perfect for daily driven, on road driven vehicles but still has the same performance off road as found with the King and Fox. They just spend a little more R&D testing on vehicles.

 

King and Fox do their tuning by weights of vehicles and what they find would work best based on that application, whereas Icon does real world testing on the vehicle to fine tune performance.

 

Good info, I've heard the exact same thing.

 

$2800 for the King/Mazzulla setup is pretty steep for not off roading every week haha.

A.J. Curtis Enthusiast

A.J. Curtis

Posted
Posted

Anyone priced out an Icon set up?

The Icon stage 1 kit with 2.0 shocks starts @ $1,800.00 with no upper control arm & prices go all the way up to $4,147 for the complete stage 5 kit which has larger 2.5 shocks with remote reservoirs.

All of the Icon kits I am referring to are for 1-3" of lift.

 

http://iconvehicledynamics.com/shop/455-complete-suspension-systems

ChevyRoofer Senior Enthusiast

ChevyRoofer

Posted
Posted

Anyone priced out an Icon set up?

 

The Icon stage 1 kit with 2.0 shocks starts @ $1,800.00 with no upper control arm & prices go all the way up to $4,147 for the complete stage 5 kit which has larger 2.5 shocks with remote reservoirs.

All of the Icon kits I am referring to are for 1-3" of lift.

 

http://iconvehicledynamics.com/shop/455-complete-suspension-systems

 

Looks to be $ 2800 as well for the same style kit. Same price as the Mazzulla and King kit. If they were the same price, I'd def go Mazzulla/King.

A.J. Curtis Enthusiast

A.J. Curtis

Posted
Posted

 

 

Looks to be $ 2800 as well for the same style kit. Same price as the Mazzulla and King kit. If they were the same price, I'd def go Mazzulla/King.

Yes but the basic Mazzulla kit does not include the rear shocks which are an extra $783.00

so the Mazzulla kit with King coil overs $1,799 + rear king shocks $783. + control arms $1,000 = $3,580.00

 

If you do not need 2.5 shocks with reservoirs you can get a complete 2.0 kit from icon for $2,813

 

I still think the King set up would be better but that depends on how thick your wallet is :D

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • Grumpy Bear
      The Peckish Synapse

      By Grumpy Bear · Posted

      Breaking News!    I'm going to tell you that I'm going to tell you.  Then I'm going to tell you what I'm going to tell you.  Then I'm going to tell you.  Then I'm going to tell you what I told  you.  Then I'm going to tell you what I'm about to tell you on the other side of the break.  Then we're going to break. Then I'm not going to tell you what I told you I was going to tell you.  But I'll tell you something else that is Breaking News just coming to the desk that everyone reported on yesterday.  Then I'll tease a human interest telling I'll get to on the other side of a larger break. Then I'll tell you one item in 20 seconds and go back to an even longer break. Longest break of the night.  Then I'll tell you a fluff piece that takes 10 seconds and sign off into a three minute break while you wait for the next 30 minutes of rinse and repeat on the local news.    In al you'll get about 12 minutes of something, 5 minutes of which is worth hearing in a 30 minute show and 18 minutes of advertising at a sound level twice as loud as the news.    Of course you can switch to cable news and hear 12 different people tell the same four stories in much the same format as the Network News for 20 hours of which the majority will be advertising.  And four hours of late night Specials about things you wonder why you stayed up to listen to. Half of which will be repeats.....   OR you can go for a drive  
    • Afennell19
      Audio Dampening and quiet

      By Afennell19 · Posted

      Did you ever figure this out? My 2022 Trail Boss, and now my 2026 LT did this from time to time.  I believe it was more connected to Android Auto and my phone being the cause. Maybe try going for a drive, sans cell phone.... and see if it happens? 
    • Afennell19
      2026 Sierra 1500 Denali - Sound upgrade?

      By Afennell19 · Posted

      I have a 2026 Silverado LT, the non bose as well.  Upgrading the door speakers is pretty straightforward. You could honestly go to walmart, or Auto Zone/ O Reilly and get a set of 6x9s for the front, and 6.5s for the rear. You do also have to get some adapters for each, but they are like $10 a pair on Amazon. Then some plug and play harnesses that are about $10 a pair on Amazon as well.  And I would also suggest a 10 pack of the Amazon Basics sound deadening. Slap that all around the speakers and on the open metal of the inside of the door. And your golden.   I am currently doing this with my Silverado. Although I am having a bit of trouble because I am snooby I guess and bought some Alpine S2 S69c's which are 2 way components and I am having to wire from the door up to the dash....  Having never installed speakers before, its taking me just a bit to get everything correct. But if you dont buy expensive component speakers, and just some $40-$50 door speakers. You will DRASTICALLY improve the sound over these stock paper cone junk speakers. I thought my Silverado had an issue with the radio/ sound for a while.  Come to find out.  The stock speakers are just THAT SH*TTY   I cannot wait to have some decent sound in the truck   What did you end up doing?
    • newdude
      Parking Brake - Automatic Engagement Questions

      By newdude · Posted

      Its all automatic based on yaw sensor data.  If enough incline is detected, it engages.   My recommendation though would be to disengage it before driving off and not let it auto disengage by touching the gas pedal.  The HD trucks use the same setup as prior years, the drum in hat park brake.  But now with an electric actuator.  If you drive off repeatedly over time, it can torque the park brake shoes and can also prematurely wear them out.           Electric console shift will set the park brake on flat ground too.  Pretty sure they've got it programmed to activate every time.  
    • riddler
      Supercharger (whipple)

      By riddler · Posted

      Anyone install a a supercharger on your 6.6L L8T? Talk to me...

  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...