Zr2 front suspension

kylant · May 21, 2025

awesome, thank you

kylant · May 24, 2025

got it done, well 99% of it. spent all day yesterday doing it. started at 845, finished at 545. all that is left is adjusting final ride height and the skid plates. everything went relatively smooth/easy. There just a couple small little struggles. The driver side lower ball joint took for ever to pop, the diff actuator wire retainer was on the nut pretty good, and torquing the lower control arm bolts while the truck was on the ground were the biggest challenges. I was able to get everything torqued to spec.

i ended up getting lower control arm bolts from an outside source, the factory ones still have not arrived. when they do, i will swap them.

I will fiddle with the ride height today, install the skid plate(s), and steering stabilizer. Then off for an alignment, (although truck drives just like it did stock) and get my new tires mounted/installed.

GMCnewbie · May 24, 2025

Mine is done with the exception of new wheels/tires being installed. I was a moron and listened to the sales guy from Custom Offset. I called and asked for a +20 offset wheel to match the AEV wheels that GM is installing on these trucks along with 305/70 tires. The goal was not to go so big that I'd have rubbing issues. If GM can run this size with these suspension components, I should be good to go. Well the sales guy convinced me a 0 offset wouldn't rub at all. He was wrong. I have significant rubbing on the front bumper on both sides of the truck. I took it to the dealership for an alignment and to verify the geometry up front. They still don't fit. The service advisor told me to take it to this shop that the dealer takes all of their new trucks to for lift kits.

I took it to the lift kit shop and they said the only way these wheels will fit is to cut the bumper and lower valance... OR... to install a bumper extender. So, I'm not waiting for a bumper extender to show up. Hoping it gets here on Monday or Tuesday.

Here are final height values before/after for center of wheel openings.

Front driver - before: 39 7/8" after: 42 1/2"

Front passenger - 40 1/4" after: 42 1/2"

Rear driver - before: 41 5/8" after: 43 3/8"

Rear passenger - 42" after: 43 3/8"

The factory obviously didnt do a great job of dialing in the ride height of my truck as the driver side was 3/8" lower front and back.

I'll post pics of the truck once I get the bumper adjusted and wheels installed. Hoping that will be either Monday or Tuesday.

Edited May 24, 2025 by GMCnewbie

OS RR · May 24, 2025

https://www.aev-conversions.com/product/salta-xd-wheel-2024-silverado-hd-sierra-hd/

According to them stock AEV (and I assume ZR2/Bison?) wheels are +32.

Theirs are +18. If you look at an offset chart, that pushes the wheels out an additional half inch.

Edited May 24, 2025 by OS RR

KvetL5P · May 24, 2025

4 minutes ago, GMCnewbie said:

Mine is done with the exception of new wheels/tires being installed. I was a moron and listened to the sales guy from Custom Offset. I called and asked for a +20 offset wheel to match the AEV wheels that GM is installing on these trucks along with 305/70 tires. The goal was not to go so big that I'd have rubbing issues. If GM can run this size with these suspension components, I should be good to go. Well the sales guy convinced me a 0 offset wouldn't rub at all. He was wrong. I have significant rubbing on the front bumper on both sides of the truck. I took it to the dealership for an alignment and to verify the geometry up front. They still don't fit. The service advisor told me to take it to this shop that the dealer takes all of their new trucks to for lift kits.

I took to shift kit shop and they said the only way these wheels will fit is to cut the bumper and lower valance... OR... to install a bumper extender. So, I'm not waiting for a bumper extender to show up. Hoping it gets here on Monday or Tuesday.

Here are final height values before/after for center of wheel openings.

Front driver - before: 39 7/8" after: 42 1/2"

Front passenger - 40 1/4" after: 42 1/2"

Rear driver - before: 41 5/8" after: 43 3/8"

Rear passenger - 42" after: 43 3/8"

The factory obviously didnt do a great job of dialing in the ride height of my truck as the driver side was 3/8" lower front and back.

I'll post pics of the truck once I get the bumper adjusted and wheels installed. Hoping that will be either Monday or Tuesday.

Isn't the stock wheel offset +44? I would go with the G22 replica wheel. Looks like the stock black 18 but comes in 20 or 22. Also my truck measurements were all over the place, front and back .

GMCnewbie · May 24, 2025

Yup. I wanted the +20 offset to more or less match the stock AEV wheels (+18). The only way I can do that now is to re-wrap these wheels on the pallet and ship them back to Custom Offset. And then comes the long wait for new wheels (my initial order took 8 weeks as they were backordered and shipped from China). And, I'd most likely have to deal with the new tariffs.

So, I'm just gonna make these work and deal with it. The 0 offset isn't very aggressive at all and actually looks good in my opinion. It just sucks that I now have yet another unexpected cost to finish this up.

Chuck FB · May 24, 2025

53 minutes ago, GMCnewbie said:

Mine is done with the exception of new wheels/tires being installed. I was a moron and listened to the sales guy from Custom Offset. I called and asked for a +20 offset wheel to match the AEV wheels that GM is installing on these trucks along with 305/70 tires. The goal was not to go so big that I'd have rubbing issues. If GM can run this size with these suspension components, I should be good to go. Well the sales guy convinced me a 0 offset wouldn't rub at all. He was wrong. I have significant rubbing on the front bumper on both sides of the truck. I took it to the dealership for an alignment and to verify the geometry up front. They still don't fit. The service advisor told me to take it to this shop that the dealer takes all of their new trucks to for lift kits.

I took it to the lift kit shop and they said the only way these wheels will fit is to cut the bumper and lower valance... OR... to install a bumper extender. So, I'm not waiting for a bumper extender to show up. Hoping it gets here on Monday or Tuesday.

Here are final height values before/after for center of wheel openings.

Front driver - before: 39 7/8" after: 42 1/2"

Front passenger - 40 1/4" after: 42 1/2"

Rear driver - before: 41 5/8" after: 43 3/8"

Rear passenger - 42" after: 43 3/8"

The factory obviously didnt do a great job of dialing in the ride height of my truck as the driver side was 3/8" lower front and back.

I'll post pics of the truck once I get the bumper adjusted and wheels installed. Hoping that will be either Monday or Tuesday.

That factory height being out doesn't surprise me given my new chev as well as one bought new years ago, both were out from side to side and was all about the how they set the initial torsion key bolt setting and nothing to do with the rear springs. My old one was low on the left side, my new one was high on the left side though which is the opposite to yours, 1/2" on the front and 3/8" on the rear. The good part is its not that difficult to it make it level from side to side in the front but they should have a better standard of what they do at the factory.

That's the ****** about the wheels, you were probably on the right track with what you were planning with offset and then an "expert" throw you a curve ball and now having to deal with that. Speaking of offsets, there are hardly any factory spec offset wheels made in the aftermarket to swap with a factory wheel and I think the factory 20" wheel is a +47 offset. I think the factory 18" wheel is a +44 offset. That seemed to be the two offset numbers that would come up for the HD truck wheels through various sources for a few years of truck but had nothing to do with the AT4X truck theme. I gave up trying to get a set of aftermarket wheels to use as my winter wheels/tire setup and found a good used set of factory wheels. Factory wheels bought new though are insanely expensive and no doubt those wheels on the AT4X have some price tag attached the them at the dealership !. I just didn't want tires that stuck out any further than factory due to the crap they put on our roads during the winter or for driving down gravel roads come summer.

Edited May 24, 2025 by Chuck FB

KvetL5P · May 24, 2025

21 minutes ago, Chuck FB said:

That factory height being out doesn't surprise me given my new chev as well as one bought new years ago, both were out from side to side and was all about the how they set the initial torsion key bolt setting and nothing to do with the rear springs. My old one was low on the left side, my new one was high on the left side though which is the opposite to yours, 1/2" on the front and 3/8" on the rear. The good part is its not that difficult to it make it level from side to side in the front but they should have a better standard of what they do at the factory.

That's the ****** about the wheels, you were probably on the right track with what you were planning with offset and then an "expert" throw you a curve ball and now having to deal with that. Speaking of offsets, there are hardly any factory spec offset wheels made in the aftermarket to swap with a factory wheel and I think the factory 20" wheel is a +47 offset. I think the factory 18" wheel is a + 44 offset. I gave up trying to get a set of aftermarket wheels to use as my winter wheels/tire setup and found a good used set of factory wheels. Factory wheels bought new though are insanely expensive and no doubt those wheels on the AT4X have some price tag attached the them at the dealership !.

This is the G22. It's the 18" just in 22" size with 44+ offset. I think it's the closest "look" to the zr2 with out it being "it".

https://shopcwo.com/oe-concepts-g22-hd-22x8-5-8x180-44mm-gloss-black-wheel-rim-22-inch-g22-22858180-44gb/?srsltid=AfmBOorDRB8lB5MJLXYz2uN3yvmY_qkGdu49AK_KPd7ZkT6DvJR031SJRBM&gQT=2

kylant · May 24, 2025

stock at4x/zr2 wheels (both styles, standard and AEV) are 18x9, +18 offset.

I went with an 18x9 +12 offset method wheel. ended up with Falken AT4W 285/75-18. They measure bigger than everyone else 285. so with the +12 offset, they will land about the same as the 305. most 35x12.5 are not true 35" tall and are anywhere from 12.5-13" wide. I wanted the Falken 35x12.5, but they measure 35.1x13. with the +12 offset, I'm pretty sure they would have rubbed

GMCnewbie · May 24, 2025

17 minutes ago, kylant said:

most 35x12.5 are not true 35" tall

This is very true. I ran 35×12.5 Nitto Ridge Grapplers on my Ram and they closer to 34" tall if not a bit shorter. They were plenty wide but not anywhere close to 35" tall. I chose the BF Goodrich KO3's for this truck in the 305/70r18 size. They are true to the sizes posted online. Mine measure in at just over 34 3/4" tall. I matched them with the Black Rhino Alpha wheels (18×9 and 0 offset). They look awesome to me. Looking forward to having them on the truck.

KvetL5P · May 24, 2025

21 minutes ago, kylant said:

stock at4x/zr2 wheels (both styles, standard and AEV) are 18x9, +18 offset.

I went with an 18x9 +12 offset method wheel. ended up with Falken AT4W 285/75-18. They measure bigger than everyone else 285. so with the +12 offset, they will land about the same as the 305. most 35x12.5 are not true 35" tall and are anywhere from 12.5-13" wide. I wanted the Falken 35x12.5, but they measure 35.1x13. with the +12 offset, I'm pretty sure they would have rubbed

I'm putting nitto ridge grapps on truck on Tuesday that are 37x12.5r18 on the stock 18s. I'll post some pix up when done.

kylant · May 24, 2025

7 hours ago, GMCnewbie said:

Mine is done with the exception of new wheels/tires being installed. I was a moron and listened to the sales guy from Custom Offset. I called and asked for a +20 offset wheel to match the AEV wheels that GM is installing on these trucks along with 305/70 tires. The goal was not to go so big that I'd have rubbing issues. If GM can run this size with these suspension components, I should be good to go. Well the sales guy convinced me a 0 offset wouldn't rub at all. He was wrong. I have significant rubbing on the front bumper on both sides of the truck. I took it to the dealership for an alignment and to verify the geometry up front. They still don't fit. The service advisor told me to take it to this shop that the dealer takes all of their new trucks to for lift kits.

I took it to the lift kit shop and they said the only way these wheels will fit is to cut the bumper and lower valance... OR... to install a bumper extender. So, I'm not waiting for a bumper extender to show up. Hoping it gets here on Monday or Tuesday.

Here are final height values before/after for center of wheel openings.

Front driver - before: 39 7/8" after: 42 1/2"

Front passenger - 40 1/4" after: 42 1/2"

Rear driver - before: 41 5/8" after: 43 3/8"

Rear passenger - 42" after: 43 3/8"

The factory obviously didnt do a great job of dialing in the ride height of my truck as the driver side was 3/8" lower front and back.

I'll post pics of the truck once I get the bumper adjusted and wheels installed. Hoping that will be either Monday or Tuesday.

are your measurements with your new tires on?

kylant · May 24, 2025

2 hours ago, GMCnewbie said:

This is very true. I ran 35×12.5 Nitto Ridge Grapplers on my Ram and they closer to 34" tall if not a bit shorter. They were plenty wide but not anywhere close to 35" tall. I chose the BF Goodrich KO3's for this truck in the 305/70r18 size. They are true to the sizes posted online. Mine measure in at just over 34 3/4" tall. I matched them with the Black Rhino Alpha wheels (18×9 and 0 offset). They look awesome to me. Looking forward to having them on the truck.

i went back and forth with those tires. almost went with them. i was looking at the mickey thompson in the 305 as well