Lifting or Leveling? Opinions on towing performance and looks?

Treehugger · April 8, 2019

Great forum! First time Chevy truck owner.

What do ya’ll think of Leveling vs Lifting on new Silverado? Any performance advantages to one or the other? Love the way Trailboss looks so considering GM kit. Also considering Readylift 2” front level with 1” rear block lift to keep a little rake and save some money. Is this a good compromise?

Need more clearance for deep snow conditions, but also need to trailer 7000+ over high passes. Should I be concerned about giving up towing capacity with a lift?

I also plan to remove front foil which will help clearance in snow. Think it looks better without it anyway (as on TrailBoss). I read that it may lower MPG. Any other issues with removing?

Thanks for any advice. Just got a great “truck month deal” on a 19' Shadow Grey Silverado LT Z71 5.3 8spd, leather, All-star, and convience 2 packages, 20” rims w/ Bridgestone AT. Love the solid stable ride and smooth 8spd with the 5.3. (Hope it doesn’t develop any issues like others have had). LTZ 6.2 would have been nice but went where the most value was and got everything else I wanted for a great price. Bridgestone's are pretty smooth for an AT but will replace next winter with KO2 for snow traction (had them on my 4Runner and they were amazing in snow). I might have gotten a Trailboss if I could have gotten a better deal but glad I’ve got chrome bumpers. Saved plenty of money for lift and wheels if I go that way.

New ride with April snow pack in my front yard.

goose hunter · April 8, 2019

TH , I got the 2" GM levelling installed on mine at dealer before delivery ( 3 year warranty) here's a few pics

Snuff · April 9, 2019

You have beautiful truck. I love the KO2’s. I would NOT lift it if you plan to tow much. You might consider the Bilstein 5100 shocks to level the front. If you are happy with the ride leave the rear alone. You can always change rear shocks later.

I plan to order a very similar truck soon. I may go with the RST (for Bose and bucket seats) and ZZ1. I will shy away from the LTZ only because if Texas heat and leather.

I know a lot of people hate the Rancho shocks but my 2011 Z71 has 192,000 miles with 18” KO2’s and the ride is fine for me. I did lift the front 2” but in 2011 the Silverado had more rake than the newer models.

Treehugger · April 9, 2019

Thanks Snuff. Lots of control towing is a priority. I'm at 6000' and still have to climb to leave the Lake area on steep windy freeway or highways. I guess I'll see how it tows this summer and how much the rear lowers with tongue weight. Makes sense not to mess with rear now that you mention it. Leveling front with shocks instead of readylift type product.

Nice ride Goose! Notice any change with the level?

amxguy1970 · April 9, 2019

One thing to consider, if you level and then add 7k to the hitch it will sag a good amount and those LED headlights are very bright and will cause issues for on coming traffic. Driving in a winding unlit area with your headlights pointed to the sky is possible to cause an accident with people who don't have great eye sight. Food for thought. If you tow at all keep the rake, not sure why you wouldn't. I did a 1.5 front 1 rear on mine so I only reduced my rake by half an inch. Got the added room for a an upsize in tire and kept front end wear lower than if I went with a 2.5 kit.

Tyler

Treehugger · April 9, 2019

Thanks Tyler I think thats good advice. Kinda why I wanted to get some feedback. I suspect the rake is important for weight distribution heavy loads and towing. Like the offroad lift look but not going to compromise utility.

5 minutes ago, amxguy1970 said:

One thing to consider, if you level and then add 7k to the hitch it will sag a good amount and those LED headlights are very bright and will cause issues for on coming traffic. Driving in a winding unlit area with your headlights pointed to the sky is possible to cause an accident with people who don't have great eye sight. Food for thought. If you tow at all keep the rake, not sure why you wouldn't. I did a 1.5 front 1 rear on mine so I only reduced my rake by half an inch. Got the added room for a an upsize in tire and kept front end wear lower than if I went with a 2.5 kit.

Tyler

aseibel · April 9, 2019

19 minutes ago, amxguy1970 said:

If you tow at all keep the rake, not sure why you wouldn't.

ditto. You don't gain much by lifting front end (other than additional wear and tear on steering and suspension components), but anytime you load the back, your lowbeam headlights are now aiming above horizontal- blinding drivers and putting lights in the trees instead of on the road where it helps you see. You sound like you use your truck for more than to sit and look at, so don't wast your money on appearance upgrades.

Z71RST · April 9, 2019

I'm doing a 2" front lift, but that's so I can do 33's on the truck. I don't tow much of anything and definitely not at night, so hopefully the headlight issue will be minimal. I had a 3" level on my 16 Silverado and never had any issues with it.

Treehugger · April 9, 2019

3 hours ago, aseibel said:

ditto. You don't gain much by lifting front end (other than additional wear and tear on steering and suspension components), but anytime you load the back, your lowbeam headlights are now aiming above horizontal- blinding drivers and putting lights in the trees instead of on the road where it helps you see. You sound like you use your truck for more than to sit and look at, so don't wast your money on appearance upgrades.

Thanks for the input. Admittedly appearance has an influence: I like the way off-road lifted look! As I mentioned the Trailboss just looks right to me. But my interest and needs are more practical:

1. Need to be able to handle muddy ungraded roads to access Job sites in early stages.

2. Towing utility job trailer cross country thru mountain terrain occasionally.

3 Towing Boat up and down mountains for winter storage and service.

4 Winter driving in extreme snow conditions. We get multiple feet at a time. Feb was a 20' month!

Sounds like form your comments and others I will be compromising towing if I do a lift and if I do one I should maintain stock rake, right?

Should I also assume upgrading shocks/suspension is better than just a strut extension block?

aseibel · April 9, 2019

34 minutes ago, Treehugger said:

Thanks for the input. Admittedly appearance has an influence: I like the way off-road lifted look! As I mentioned the Trailboss just looks right to me. But my interest and needs are more practical:

1. Need to be able to handle muddy ungraded roads to access Job sites in early stages.

2. Towing utility job trailer cross country thru mountain terrain occasionally.

3 Towing Boat up and down mountains for winter storage and service.

4 Winter driving in extreme snow conditions. We get multiple feet at a time. Feb was a 20' month!

Sounds like form your comments and others I will be compromising towing if I do a lift and if I do one I should maintain stock rake, right?

Should I also assume upgrading shocks/suspension is better than just a strut extension block?

You can achieve your desire to increase ground clearance with some relatively cheap/easy changes to the front end. such as removing the air dam or adding the bilstein 5100's as mentioned earlier. Its just a slippery slope where most people who lift/level follow that up with new tires. And any time you increase the width, height, or weight of the tire you compromise with worse acceleration, power and efficiency. So you have to figure out what balance of looks & performance you want. Everything in moderation and you will be fine.

I personally would keep factory rake, but that's just me. I added timbrens on my front to help with plow weight and Helwig helper springs on rear for sandbags. So unloaded my truck sits somewhere between 1/2" - 1" higher than stock all around.

Treehugger · April 10, 2019

18 hours ago, aseibel said:

You can achieve your desire to increase ground clearance with some relatively cheap/easy changes to the front end. such as removing the air dam or adding the bilstein 5100's as mentioned earlier. Its just a slippery slope where most people who lift/level follow that up with new tires. And any time you increase the width, height, or weight of the tire you compromise with worse acceleration, power and efficiency. So you have to figure out what balance of looks & performance you want. Everything in moderation and you will be fine.

I personally would keep factory rake, but that's just me. I added timbrens on my front to help with plow weight and Helwig helper springs on rear for sandbags. So unloaded my truck sits somewhere between 1/2" - 1" higher than stock all around.

Plan to remove the air dam assuming there aren't any serious negatives. Hope to get some some more feedback on it. With approximate 8" clearance and 2" dam that in itself is a big improvement.

Not looking to increase tire size. Plan to switch to KO2's next winter. Heavier and better traction which are both good things to me. Stock Bridgestone's strength is likely only smoothness and MPG.

Hope a get some more feedback but everything I've heard indicates those that level do it because they don't like the look of the rake and want oversize tires. Neither matter to me.

Won't do anything until I do some towing this summer. Interested to see how much the tongue weight effects the rake. Really hate the nose up look of some leveled trucks towing.

I have plenty of time to research and decide, just more fun thinking about it while truck is new and exciting!

Cruising1976 · April 18, 2019

Have a 2inch level and just installed ko2 285/65r20. No rub so far. I will likely block the back 1in to keep a 1/2 rake. Right now the front is 1/2 high. I also may go with just a front 1.5inch level and leave the rear alone.

Edited April 18, 2019 by Cruising1976

Treehugger · April 18, 2019

Nice. White with chrome looks so good! I decided I would keep some or all stock rake when I lift. I think it looks better and don't see any benefit to just level front. Good to know ko2 285/65r20 will fit. Was planning on stock size KO2 but that looks good. Like to see it when you're done.

2 hours ago, Cruising1976 said:

Have a 2inch level and just installed ko2 285/65r20. No rub so far. I will likely block the back 1in to keep a 1/2 rake. Right now the front is 1/2 high. I also may go with just a front 1.5inch level and leave the rear alone.

scdaren · May 1, 2019

Putting on a 2" spacer in the front and a 1" block in the back next week. Currently has a rake of 1 1/8", so it will just about level it.

I drive about 36,000 miles a year, and replace my truck every ~90k miles. Always done levels like this, never had any wear and tear issues. Just drops the gas mileage a bit. I've gone both the Bilstein and spacer route a few times each, never really been able to tell much difference.

I think the level makes the trucks look so much better. These new ones don't have much stock rake though, on the previous generation with the 2" rake a level was an absolute necessity for me.

You guys know you can re-aim the headlights to compensate for rake/load issues, right?

At least you could on the past generations, I'm assuming it's the same with this one.

Maize & Blue · May 1, 2019

1 hour ago, scdaren said:

Putting on a 2" spacer in the front and a 1" block in the back next week. Currently has a rake of 1 1/8", so it will just about level it.

I drive about 36,000 miles a year, and replace my truck every ~90k miles. Always done levels like this, never had any wear and tear issues. Just drops the gas mileage a bit. I've gone both the Bilstein and spacer route a few times each, never really been able to tell much difference.

I think the level makes the trucks look so much better. These new ones don't have much stock rake though, on the previous generation with the 2" rake a level was an absolute necessity for me.

You guys know you can re-aim the headlights to compensate for rake/load issues, right?

At least you could on the past generations, I'm assuming it's the same with this one.

Can you please post pics once the install is complete? I just ordered a MotoFab 2" for the front and a 1" block for the back. I haven't seen many '19s with this setup and am curious how mine will look. Like Treehugger, I tow a lot so I'd like to keep some rake for the hitch weight though I do use a WD hitch so the sag shouldn't be too much. With my public school math, I currently have 2" of rake stock so the 2" spacer in the front will level it then I'll add the 1" block in the back which should give me 1" of rake. At some point in the future I'll swap the shocks out with Bilsteins but they don't have anything available for the '19 Sierras yet.