"CHUCK" 1998 Chevy Suburban K2500 Build

[mface7]

Couple updates: got my "isolated" dual battery system in. Luckily there was an existing tray unused (it's there for the diesel option) so that made it easy. Used the infamous @evldave post for this setup.

Now running wiring for a couple flood lights up front, light bar in the roof and additional reverse lights. Removed the CD player to make room for switches. I'll put in a pic when I have them mounted.

Also putting together custom quick fist mounts for the roof basket to hold jack, axe, shovel. I'll snap some close ups when I finish those.

 

[mface7]

 

[mface7]

Pulled the CD player to mount switches for lights.

And I cut the "wings" off the grille guard I had picked up at the tear-a-part, fabbed some "custom" brackets out of 3/16" bar steel (meaning I cut it, whacked it with a big hammer, drilled out holes) and mounted it with grade 8 1/2" bolts and lock nuts. Mounted the flood pod lights on what is now basically a push bar.

These lights are connected to the sasquatch switch. Rear lights and roof light bar still need install. Started working on cutting the rear bumper for those lights. I'll pull it off when i have that worked out and hit it with a coat of bed liner before final light install. More fun to come...

 

[mface7]

Rear lights mounted in the bumper. it was too cold to hit it with the bed liner, and I have little to no patience, so I'll figure out spraying it later when it's warmer.

 

[mface7]

Back from red rock country...Goblin Valley, Utah, and vicinity.

 

[cbattles]

The front ends on those trucks are pretty stout as long as you keep the lift minimal. 3" is probably about the most you'll get from cranking up the torsion bars but that will kill your ball joints and your ride quality.

This is obviously an old post, but for anyone that reads this:

You can't just generically assert that cranking the torsion bars will kill ride quality and ball joints. It all just depends on the bars and keys in place, as it relates to the weight of front end. You have to look at the orientation of the control arms and their proximity to the bump stops. Extreme angles (at rest) are what kills the ball joints.

I had a Suburban 2500 that was not overly worn out or abused, but the bump stops were essentially gone because all of the up travel was just compressing the bump stops (probably from the factory). If you want to make it "right": replace the bump stops with some good heavy duty ones and just crank the torsion bars until you have a reasonable amount of clearance between the bump stop and control arm. You want to keep the lower control arm as level as possible while ensuring that there's at least SOME uptravel before it touches the bump stop.

These things don't have much suspension travel, but I found that cranking the bars so that it was closer to the center of that travel at rest, and putting on a good set of shocks (Bilstein 4600's which are great for ride heights close to stock) was just about the best thing that I ever did for it. This leveled it out pretty nicely and made the entire system work like it was actually supposed to. Before I cranked the torsion bars, speedbumps felt like curbs because the suspension just couldn't absorb any of the upward motion.

 

[nitro_rat]

You can't just generically assert that cranking the torsion bars will kill ride quality and ball joints.

I didn't generically assert anything. What I said is that if you go full crank you'll kill ride quality and wear out front end parts.

Just so no one gets the wrong idea from what you wrote - KEYS HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH RIDE QUALITY OR TRAVEL!!! A different key may let you achieve a taller ride height with less cranking on the bolt but a stock key will crank just as high as a different key with exactly the same results UNLESS the stock key runs out of travel before you hit the droop stops. The bar doesn't know or care what key is on it or how far you cranked the bolt...

Turning the height to mid travel USUALLY results in best ride quality and correct suspension and steering geometry in MOST applications but you have to look at each vehicle on a case by case basis and make your own decisions on what's best.

 

[mface7]

wheels and tires on. some trimming to be done.