What Is The Correct "z" Height For The Front Suspension

[overlord1]

I've got a bone stock '06 Z71 1500 and it seems that the rake on my truck is more severe than most I have seen. Like most GM trucks, the front end on mine sits lower than the rear. Thing is it seems to be noticeably lower than other trucks similar to mine that I have seen. I also noticed that on the front suspension the lower arm (A-arm ???) almost rests on the bump stop. Shouldn't their be a noticeable gap between the lower arm and the bump stop? Truck has 13k miles and its never been in an accident and I have never touched the T-bars. I'm mainly wondering if their is certain height that the front end should be according to the GM service manual and if so what is it and how do you measure it? I thought this was referred to as the "Z" height but I could be mistaken. Thanks for the help.

 

Ed

[asilverblazer]

Imagine a level horizontal line at the bottom of the lower ball joint bolt. Now measure from that line directly up/down to the center of the lower control arm pivot bolt. I believe it is supposed to be 1.XX" i never measured it personally but I would think the easiest way would be a string from lower ball joint bolt to the opposite sides lower ball goint bolt. then trying to measure straight up from the string to the center of the pivot bolt. It looks really easy on paper in a picture but I think executing the measurement exactly is a whole nother deal.

 

And my truck rode pretty close to the bumpstop too. It is supposed to be a pretty little gap.

[ChevyTech007]

Trim Height Specifications

Model

Option

Service Allowed

Service Preferred

 

Z Trim Height: Models with torsion bar suspension must be adjusted before aligning the vehicle.

 

C 1500

 

Extended, Extended Short, Short Box and Crew Cab, Crew Cab Short, Short Box

w/o WSS

 

w/NHT, B2E

110-122 mm (4.3-4.8 in)

116 mm (4.5 in)

 

K 1500

 

All

All

110-122 mm (4.3-4.8 in)

116 mm (4.5 in)

 

C/K 2500

 

All

w/o ZW9

110-122 mm (4.3-4.8 in)

116 mm (4.5 in)

 

K 3500

 

All

All

110-122 mm (4.3-4.8 in)

116 mm (4.5 in)

 

C 3500

 

Extended and Crew Cab

All

110-122 mm (4.3-4.8 in)

116 mm (4.5 in)

 

C/K 3600

 

All

All

110-122 mm (4.3-4.8 in)

116 mm (4.5 in)

 

C 3500

 

Standard

All

100-122 mm (3.9-4.4 in)

106 mm (4.1 in)

 

C/K 2500

 

All

w/ZW9

100-122 mm (3.9-4.4 in)

106 mm (4.1 in)

 

C 1500

 

Crew Cab Short, Short Box/Extended Cab

W/QSS, B2E, B4U, B4V

90-102 mm (3.5-4.0 in)

96 mm (3.7 in)

 

C 1500

 

Standard, Extended, and Crew Cab

w/o NHT, B2E, B4V, B4U

86-98 mm (3.3-3.8 in)

92 mm (3.6 in)