My 2011' Airstream Avenue - Chevy Express Van - Locked & Lifted

Mat Mobile

Adventurer
View attachment 429390

They trimmed about 1.5" off the fiberglass cladding on the wheelwell, it is only about 1.5" wide now but looks good. My 285 tires were only 32.56" tall in diameter but they look good proportional to the lift. I really like the Cooper Discoverer AT3 tire, it looks good and drives nice!

Thank you very much GpnAZ! I appreciate it. It pretty much confirms that I should be good to go with 285s on mine too.
 

Weldtec Designs

Supporting Sponsor
We always love great threads like this getting your feedback and pics.
It looks great! it was a pleasure meeting you and thank you very much for the post. We cant wait to see some pics of your van off road along with your feedback on how it performs. You can have a lot of fun with a 2 wheel drive set up like yours.

Thank you very much GpnAZ! I appreciate it. It pretty much confirms that I should be good to go with 285s on mine too.

Mat, keep in mind he did the coil spacers and you did not.....?
 
If you're considering gearing, I changed mine from 3.42 to 3.73 when I changed my tires out for 285/70R17's. Mineruns 1900rpm at 75mph and returns 14mpg on the highway. Mine has the 6.0 engine.

Good call on the Coopers, I have them too. Great on the highway and grippy in the dirt. I only got stuck once and winched out.

Speaking of, I recommend a winch. Cheaper than 4x4 and good insurance.

What locker did you go with? I have the full old-school Eaton Detroit Locker. It's worth every penny.
 

Mat Mobile

Adventurer
Sorry GpnAZ if I'm gently hijacking your thread. It's just there's lots of good info here! :sombrero:

Mat, keep in mind he did the coil spacers and you did not.....?

Thanks Jeremy! Per our conversation, I was planning on putting taller springs instead. What I was really curious about was where the trimming was done since I have similar skirts on my van.

Speaking of, I recommend a winch. Cheaper than 4x4 and good insurance.

What locker did you go with? I have the full old-school Eaton Detroit Locker. It's worth every penny.

That's my thinking too. Thanks for the feedback on the Locker wantahertzdonut. I am also curious as to what locker you had installed GpnAZ.
 

Devin W

Observer
After it was up and running and the test drive showed a brake sensor /abs sensor light we decided we would have to buy a Bully Dog tuner to dial the new tire diameter and gear ratio in.

Hi Mark - I just finished the lift on my van and have the service stabilitrak/ABS warning lights as well. I'm guessing it's due to disconnecting the lines without having the battery disconnected so it's throwing a code. Did you get yours corrected? If so can it just be cleared with a regular computer like Autozone has? I seen some reference on the web to manually resetting but haven't seen the actual procedure. Also curious if you did the Bully tuner and how that worked out. I'll be going up in tire size this week and will want to have speedo correction capability.

Thanks,
Devin
 

GpnAZ

Observer
If you're considering gearing, I changed mine from 3.42 to 3.73 when I changed my tires out for 285/70R17's. Mineruns 1900rpm at 75mph and returns 14mpg on the highway. Mine has the 6.0 engine.

Good call on the Coopers, I have them too. Great on the highway and grippy in the dirt. I only got stuck once and winched out.

Speaking of, I recommend a winch. Cheaper than 4x4 and good insurance.

What locker did you go with? I have the full old-school Eaton Detroit Locker. It's worth every penny.

I changed my gearing to 4:10 with an ARB air locker using the twin air compressor so I can air up my tires also, I'm running 2000 rpm at 70mph.
 

GpnAZ

Observer
Hi Mark - I just finished the lift on my van and have the service stabilitrak/ABS warning lights as well. I'm guessing it's due to disconnecting the lines without having the battery disconnected so it's throwing a code. Did you get yours corrected? If so can it just be cleared with a regular computer like Autozone has? I seen some reference on the web to manually resetting but haven't seen the actual procedure. Also curious if you did the Bully tuner and how that worked out. I'll be going up in tire size this week and will want to have speedo correction capability.

Thanks,
Devin


I ended up buying the Bully Dog tuner so I could correct my speedo reading and clear my warning light. My speedo was 15% off comparing to my gps and now is right on and it also cleared the warning light.
 
I changed my gearing to 4:10 with an ARB air locker using the twin air compressor so I can air up my tires also, I'm running 2000 rpm at 70mph.

I originally read this on my phone and missed your locker and gear swap notes in your first post. What engine do you have?
 

GpnAZ

Observer
What kind of fuel mileage are you getting? I have the same configuration and get about 14mpg.

I haven't paid real close attention to it, but one tank I hand calculated at 13.2 mpg, I will check closer once I do a few more trips with it. I was getting 14.5 to 15 mpg before the lift and bigger tires.
 
I haven't paid real close attention to it, but one tank I hand calculated at 13.2 mpg, I will check closer once I do a few more trips with it. I was getting 14.5 to 15 mpg before the lift and bigger tires.

Sounds close to mine. I was able to get just shy of 16 without the lift and while carrying a motorcycle inside.
 

GpnAZ

Observer
Off road pics

I thought I would post up a few pics from my off road trek in the desert last weekend, these were mild off road trails but I was still able to flex the suspension a little and see how it rode on the bumpy stuff. I have posted these on some other sites, sorry for redundancy for those that have already seen them. Overall I was happy with the performance of my van when offroad and feel a lot more comfortable with the added clearance I got from the Weldtec lift spindles and coil spacers. I also got to test out my ARB air locker on a ledge and airing my tires back up after airing down, it worked great!
 

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guidolyons

Addicted to Gear Oil
Looks good. The ARB in the rear will really make a difference for offroad traction.


Now, you can get stuck further off the beaten path. :elkgrin::D
 

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