Cognito motorsports leveling kit

LtE-36 · October 27, 2005

Thinking about the cognito leveling kit for my 03 2500 HD 4X4, anyone have one?

Anyone have pros or cons, looks fairly simple to install w/out changing keys and still keeping front end w/in factory specs.

facn8me · October 31, 2005

Somebody on here got one and loved it. try the search. Never heard a bad word about cognito

CHevyHD4x4 · October 31, 2005

I have it works good for what I wanted it for. Got more lift and smoother ride.

bushhog · November 22, 2005

Can anyone comment on the installation of this kit? Any special tools or skills required? Looks pretty basic, but that is usually never the case for me it seems

Mattt · November 30, 2005

I have one with the pitman/idler support kit that Im considering selling. I bought it from another GM-trucks member that installed it for 1 hour then removed it because it wouldnt work with his wheels supposedly. He kept the wheel spacers so I dont have those. Other than that, its new. PM or email me if interested.

luchenbach · December 9, 2005

I have installed one on my truck, and it gave me 2.5 inches of lift in the front. My truck also rides better now, and definitely looks better with the 33" tall tires.

Everything is not perfect with this kit though, as the mounting points for the upper 'A' arms is not as substantial as the factory 'A' arms. On an 'A' arm it connects to the truck frame at two points. At each point there are two tabs on the frame, and the 'A' arm slides between them. A bolt goes through an alignment cam, then a tab, through the 'A' arm mount, and through the other tab, through another alignment cam, then a nut attaches. On the factory 'A' arm, the mount has a large metal face which butts up against the factory tabs. The factory torque spec's for the nut is very high, over 100 ft-lbs. On the factory 'A' arm, that is not a problem because the tabs will push against the steel faces of the 'A' arms and it snugs down nicely.

On the cognito kit, the mounts are poly with a metal 'anti-crush' sleeve in the center. Well, in the installation instructions, it tells you to torque the mounting nut down to the factory specifications. If you do, you will have problems. The reason for this is that mounting tabs will bend in, and will not have much resistance from the poly mounts, and will contact the anti-crush sleeve. The small contact area of the sleeve against the mounting tabs is problematic, because you are putting a huge force on the assembly by using the high factory torques spec's. The anti-crush sleeve will deform the mounting tabs, and will prevent you from getting it aligned. I know, as this happened to me. I was able to get it fixed, and aligned, but it was a real hassle. I would like to see cognito change the mounting design. Or tell you in the instructions the correct torque specifications to use.

Also, if you do get the steering braces, do a search on the internet for other people who have done the installation. The installation instructions that cognito supply are not the best. They appear to be written by the guy who designed the kit, so he knows what he is talking about, but doesn't translate it as well as I would like. Someone who installed it himself took some really good pictures of the install, and put it on a website. The pictures really helped me. I would have been lost with only the factory installation instructions.

It might seem that I am recommending against this kit, but I am not. I like my kit, but there are some problems. If cognito changed the mount, and supplied a little better instructions, with better pictures, I would give it 5 stars. As it is now, I give it three stars.

Gary

luchenbach · December 27, 2005

I was asked about pictures of the idler and pitman arm braces. I could not find the post on the cardomain site, but there are some pictures on kennedydiesel.com. Click on Suspension, then click on Steering. There are two pictures that will help you figure out how they should be mounted.

Gary