1500 HD help

B33tl3 · October 14, 2006

I need some help with a 1500HD. I just bought a new 2006 and took it to have new wheels and tires on it. I am running 285/70/r17 Toyo All Terrains. The local 4x4 Shop raised the torsion bars and I have plenty of clearance. Truck looks good and rides good until you go over a speed bump. The front end feels like it has no suspension. They raised the front quite a bit (close to 2 inches) so I suspected that the shocks were the problem. I had them jack up the front and the sure enough the shocks were bottoming out but their was less that ¼ inch from where the shock bottomed out and the bump stop. He said he can put on longer shocks but then I’ll hit the bump stop. Would hitting the bump stop be an easier hit than the shocks bottoming out?

If I lower the front I will get some rubbing from the tires. I think I might be able to lower it about ¼ inch.

Any other ideas?

I don’t want to drop lots of money on s suspension lift and have not seen a small body lift for a 2006 1500HD they all stop at 2005.

ZZebes · October 14, 2006

the reason it rides like crap is becasue you cranked the T-Bars. you are effectively removing the spring property of the bar by loading it to a setting designed for a much much heavier front end. lower the T-Bars because with the bolts bottomed out as they undoutibly are. your front end will be toast before your warranty is up.

If you want 2 inches of lift than find one of the plethora of 3-4" lift kits out there and lift it right and maintain a decent ride. and most importantly of all, save your front end and if you didnt get an alignment than you are going to chew those brand new tires up in short order. probably less than 10,000 miles.

http://www.skyjacker.com/products-search-d...rtnumber=C9461K

That is a 3" Skyjacker lift

http://www.tuffcountry.com/suspension_gm_HD.html

4-6" Tough Country lift

B33tl3 · October 15, 2006

Will a suspension or body life void my warranty?

mmmikkke · October 15, 2006

I just looked at toyo's website to see if 285/70-17's are larger or smaller than the toyo 285/75-16's I have on my truck. Your tires are effectively the same outside diameter that mine are. (Actually, yours are 0.1" smaller.)

So the way my tires fit my truck should pretty much apply to you.

I did not crank the t-bars. I left them stock. I had only to trim 1/2" off the very corner of the front spoiler, such a small amount that you can't tell they've been trimmed. (Click on view vehicles under my avatar and one of the pics is showing where I trimmed the front spoiler.)

Maybe you should lower your front suspension some to get some ride quality back.

Also, make sure you're running reasonable psi. I run 45 front, 40 back. If you're at 65 or more, that would cause a rough ride.

PS-Can you post a pic of your truck? I'd like to see how 17" 285/70-17 Toyo's look, that might be what I put on when mine are worn out.

B33tl3 · October 15, 2006

I'll take some close ups of the suspension today. Here are a few shots of the truck

mmmikkke · October 16, 2006

Your truck looks really good with those wheels and tires, and that amount of t-bar crank.

So I did some refreshing of my knowledge of wheel offsets.

Your aftermarket wheels probably have 0 offset, and the factory wheels have a positive offset of around an inch or 25.5 mm.

So your wheels move the tire centerline about an inch outboard compared to my truck with the stock aluminum wheels.

This makes your clearance situation a bit worse than mine, due to that additional inch of outside dimension on your edge of the front tire as it tries to clear the front spoiler.

But still, I think you can take half of the crank back out of your front suspension and it will still look good, and you'll be able to get some of your ride back.

The ideal situation is to find a wheel that has a 1" positive offset. But I don't know if anybody makes one like that...