Jump to content

Lowering 2500hd?

Silverw5thWheel

Recommended Posts

Silverw5thWheel New Member

Silverw5thWheel

Posted
Posted

I am pulling a 5th wheel rv and have an issue.  The 5th wheel needs to be raised or my truck needs to be lowered by about 2 inches (all adjustments on trailer and hitch have been done).  I wouldn't mind if the truck was lowered as it would give me a bit more margin for fitting in garage.  Has anyone lowered their truck, any issues, general cists,issues ( I do not plan to use off rode).

2017 silverado 2500 xl 4x4, trailer package

bobsiding Enthusiast

bobsiding

Posted
Posted

I would like to lower mine also. what is the best way? other manufacturers have kits, but gm doesn't.

Shall36 Enthusiast

Shall36

Posted
Posted

I’m 2wd and one of the 4wd guys will need to chime in.  But two thoughts. First,  you can likely drop 2” and end up level given the factory rake. Second, I think you can adjust front height, if needed, via torsion bars....just get an alignment afterwards. 

 

 Someone on another forum suggested hooking up and then leveling the trailer front/rear using wood shims or your preferred device and figuring out how much it takes to get things level. If you need just 1 or 2 inches, the shackles should work well for you. More than that and you’ll need to raise the trailer with a sub-frame.  Depending on your pin weight, a 2” drop may put you in a position where you won’t have enough suspension travel and you will be hitting  the bump stops. If you need to go with a 2 inch drop, you may need to get some timbrens or similar. 

 

Once you you get the trailer level then you can figure out if you need to drop the front to get the truck level when towing. 

  • 3 weeks later...
Cowpie Senior Enthusiast

Cowpie

Posted
Posted

Ditto!   I lowered my 2500 with a set of McGaughy's 2" drop shackles and installed Sumo's.  I can put over a ton of material in the back of the pickup and it still is level. That 2" drop in the back is a world of difference compared to the "cat in heat" factory setting, and with mine, there is still about 1.5" of rake.   Ride and handling greatly improved over stock.   And my pickup is a rural farm use situation.  I have been off road frequently with it on the property and the lowering in the back makes no difference.  I suppose it might if one wants to play in the rocks of Moab.

  • 3 weeks later...
Shall36 Enthusiast

Shall36

Posted
Posted

Big shoutout to Cliff for all his posts on the lowering shackles and the Sumosprings. I have a 1” drop and my fifth wheel was chucking. I put Sumosprings on and it really smoothed things out. I think I was hitting the bump stops before. 

ugeesta Enthusiast

ugeesta

Posted
Posted

This topic is timely as I am considering getting a new 1Ton SRA to pull my fifth wheel toyhauler.   Currently have an 02 2500HD with the 8.1/Allison setup.  My new 40 Toy hauler is around 15,000lbs with a pin weight around 2,800lbs.

 

This trailer puts my 2500HD at its upper limits and the GVWR is about 400lbs over.  (9,600 lbs vs. 9,200 lbs spec).  As much as I don't want to give up the 8.1/Allison combo, a DMax/Allison 1 Ton with the 11,600 GVWR would be better for pulling and stopping.  The problem is the new 3500's are 3" taller than my old 2500HD and my trailer is already 2" nose high.   This would not by an issue but the height tot he top of the AC unit on my trailer is at 13'-6".  Can't really go much higher safely.

 

My current truck settles 2" under load.  It used to be 3" but I put Timbrens on to help the stability.  As noted above, I can't take any more out of the trailer so the new truck would have to be lowered.  It sounds like the new trucks would squat about 2" as well.  This still leaves me 3" too high.

 

It looks like the extended shackles are the only real option to lower the back.  I would need to keep the load rating with the 3,000 lb pin weight my trailer has.

 

Is this really the only option out there? 

 

Thanks.

 

Archived

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

Go to topic listing

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • Chuck FB
      OCI, not when but why?

      By Chuck FB · Posted

      I imagine the cold winters up here with repeated short runs in town every day for those that live and work in town and given what I have come to learn on this forum with DI engines having fuel dilution issues, and if they don't change the oil until it says to but keep driving it for a while, I bet all that is just lovely on those finicky lifters. 
    • teamjnz
      AWD conversion to Z71

      By teamjnz · Posted

      I just did some reading and Stabilitrak is more than a what I had originally thought. It is more of a vehicle control system to help the driver in precarious situations. I thought it was only the AWD system. Now I know. So I changed the title for this thread to AWD conversion to Z71 
    • teamjnz
      AWD conversion to Z71

      By teamjnz · Posted

      Sounds like converting will be a bigger endeavor than I was thinking. This truck doesn't have 2Hi like the Suburban did. The Tahoe has 4Hi and 4Lo and a button to turn of traction control.   From what I understand the Stabilitrak uses open diff in the front and rear. When wheel speed is not the same the stabilitrak uses the ABS system to slowdown the spinning wheel(s) to transfer power to the slower non-spinning wheel(s). I thought the transfer case was open too. Being able to transfer power either more to front or rear depending on wheel spin. Maybe I miss understood some information with you saying and power transfer is 50-50. Thanks
    • PunchT37
      OCI, not when but why?

      By PunchT37 · Posted

      My brother has a 2007 Avalanche with afm 5.3. It`s got 176,000 miles. Runs like a clock. Never been apart. Co worker has a 2010 Tahoe with afm 5.3. 230,000 miles. Never been apart. Runs like a clock. So, even though cyl deac is a weak spot, they can go the distance.   BUT, these engines had the oil changed regularly, AND had 5w30 as spec. I wonder if they would have lasted this far on 0w20? I`ll bet not.
    • Chuck FB
      OCI, not when but why?

      By Chuck FB · Posted

      I certainly could be wrong but I hear of pickups far newer than that 2007 cutoff which may not be going to the wrecker but are having engine work done and be that a reman engine or new engine or trying to repair the existing engine. Some of it would be design issues as per the cylinder deactivation system that GM has and one of those lifters wiping out the cam and the question of oil changes moving the needle or not on that whole mess, or in the case of Ford pickup engines that have the long timing chains and wearing them out and the roller followers and phasers and some of that certainly goes back to oil change intervals. But in those various cases the truck has all sorts of life left in it and so the unfortunate owner and may be original owner or used market owner that is pouring money into repairs so the truck is not seeing the salvage yard yet but damage is happening by infrequent oil changes. A friends son had bought a 2018 I think it is half ton GM and it had some sort of extended or used dealer warranty on it and of course the lifter issue bites and its rattling and so the dealer had to swallow the bill and was at least 7000.00 and I think they only replaced what they felt they had to replace so yeah, I can see that being a ticking time bomb in the not too distant future. Would frequent oil changes cure all these engineering "marvels", probably not but some engine designs have shown that they do much better if the oil is changed a lot more often then if the manufacturer service claims are followed. New trucks cost so much that there is an incentive to keep the existing truck on the road by repairing. 

  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...