Fabtech On Nbs 900

Big Tool · September 28, 2007

I was at the Gmc dealer today and i saw they had a beautiful new white GMC 4x4 pretty much loaded out, with a 6" fabtech lift, and 35" Nitto terra Grapplers. The truck looked awesome, so naturally i asked to take it for a spin, the salesman oblidged of cours so we did just that. I previously had a 2004 avalanche with a 4" rancho lift and to put it mildly it rode rough at best. Naturally i was expecting a rough ride from this truck as well, but boy was i surprised. The ride was absolutely great. It actually rode better than my non-lifted 07 gmc sierra. The nitto's i also noticed were very quiet tires, but once you got up to speed the sterring got very wobbly, "tires needed balancing badly". The truck also had a 5.3 with 3.73 gears and it was intolerable for my driving preferences. My truck with 5klbs of trailer behind it takes off better than that thing did.

My question is, will just lifting the truck kill the off the line performance or is it the bigger tires. I already have 33" toyo Open country At/s and if i did go with the lift i would be running a goodyear wrangler 34x10x20 which is only an inch taller and actually a narrower tire. Do you guys know how much of an impact the lift alone will have on performance. My truck has the 6.0 with 4.10 gears if that helps. Thanks in advance and if anybody is guessing on a lift do yourself a favor and check out the fabtech.

AgDoctor · September 28, 2007

i have had that same thing happen. yes the tires make the larger difference, but the difference the tires make are going to be from a combination of several factors; the heavier the tire the harder it is to start and stop(i have found that for instance an AT 265 may vary in weight from 40 lbs to 90 lbs depending on tread, tire manf., and load range), while the taller a tire is has a similar effect but it is possible to have a taller tire that weighs less, and finally a wider tire usually kills more power than you think but not just beacuse of weight but also more rolling resistance( also wider usually means more aggressive tread, also more resistance). Now on to the lift issue, depending on the stiffness of the suspension on the lift it will have impact on launch power. a softer suspension will raise up in the front and down in the rear and cost you launch power while a stiffer will do the same thing, just not nearly as severe but it will ride rough mostly anywhere. i know that may or may not help you but a general rule of thumb is to keep the CG(center of gravity) as low as possible and increase the tire size to what will fit accordingly. You will probably lose more power than you think by simply going to a 20" wheel since they are very heavy. hope this helps.

Big Tool · September 28, 2007

i have had that same thing happen. yes the tires make the larger difference, but the difference the tires make are going to be from a combination of several factors; the heavier the tire the harder it is to start and stop(i have found that for instance an AT 265 may vary in weight from 40 lbs to 90 lbs depending on tread, tire manf., and load range), while the taller a tire is has a similar effect but it is possible to have a taller tire that weighs less, and finally a wider tire usually kills more power than you think but not just beacuse of weight but also more rolling resistance( also wider usually means more aggressive tread, also more resistance). Now on to the lift issue, depending on the stiffness of the suspension on the lift it will have impact on launch power. a softer suspension will raise up in the front and down in the rear and cost you launch power while a stiffer will do the same thing, just not nearly as severe but it will ride rough mostly anywhere. i know that may or may not help you but a general rule of thumb is to keep the CG(center of gravity) as low as possible and increase the tire size to what will fit accordingly. You will probably lose more power than you think by simply going to a 20" wheel since they are very heavy. hope this helps.

Thanks for the response. That's kinda what i'm thinking, the tires on the truck i drove were pretty beefy and imagine weighed quiet a bit. I'm debating on doing another lift. I know the 5.3 dosen't have quiet as much grunt as my 6.0 but dang that thing was sluggish. Like i said in my post i already have a 33" tire on my truck with the 20" rim, so i hope the extra 1" of tire i will be stepping up to will have any affect.

Have any of you guys had you're truck lifted and kept the same tires on If so then did it affect the performance a noticable amount.

cchupek · September 28, 2007

I was at the Gmc dealer today and i saw they had a beautiful new white GMC 4x4 pretty much loaded out, with a 6" fabtech lift, and 35" Nitto terra Grapplers. The truck looked awesome, so naturally i asked to take it for a spin, the salesman oblidged of cours so we did just that. I previously had a 2004 avalanche with a 4" rancho lift and to put it mildly it rode rough at best. Naturally i was expecting a rough ride from this truck as well, but boy was i surprised. The ride was absolutely great. It actually rode better than my non-lifted 07 gmc sierra. The nitto's i also noticed were very quiet tires, but once you got up to speed the sterring got very wobbly, "tires needed balancing badly". The truck also had a 5.3 with 3.73 gears and it was intolerable for my driving preferences. My truck with 5klbs of trailer behind it takes off better than that thing did.

My question is, will just lifting the truck kill the off the line performance or is it the bigger tires. I already have 33" toyo Open country At/s and if i did go with the lift i would be running a goodyear wrangler 34x10x20 which is only an inch taller and actually a narrower tire. Do you guys know how much of an impact the lift alone will have on performance. My truck has the 6.0 with 4.10 gears if that helps. Thanks in advance and if anybody is guessing on a lift do yourself a favor and check out the fabtech.

One of my customers has a 2007 NNBS Chev. with a 6" lift (brand unknown to me) and 35" mud tires on a Southern Comfort Conversion truck. He stated that with the lift on it, the best MPG he has seen is 8.5MPG on the road! I don't know if having the good looks on a daily driver are worth the trade-off.

AgDoctor · September 28, 2007

superlift makes a good lift for the nbs but like rex said i dont think that it is worth it. my little bro has a NBS GMC CC Z71 4X4 and he has a set of BFG 315's on it and they dont scrub, but he has a revtek 2 inch leveling kit on it too.