Suburban mild lift parts? (GMT800 '00-06)

[Darren01]

Have fun out there in what I would say is the American made Land Cruiser (bring on the comments...).

Heck, even a LC snorkel fits in the GMT800s lol

 

[FourOff]

My tires finally arrived (after sitting in a FedEx warehouse for a week), so those are finally getting mounted Wednesday.
Ordered the springs and shocks, but now looking at bushings and control arms to do "while I'm in there."

Have acdelco swaybar end links and bushings coming, but the upper and lower control arms are driving me crazy.
I think I got the right Moog LCAs (RK620830/1) but there are three different UCAs (not including the nicer "CK" options) they list for the 2003 Suburban 1500:
RK80942 (which I think is the right one)
RK80826 (with "offset" bushings - not sure what that does)
RK621782 (which is 4x the cost and can't tell why...)

If that first one is correct, a few reviews say they had trouble fitting it. Anybody struggle with these (or is this the wrong part)?

 

[03tahoe]

Would you consider aftermarket UCA with replaceable ball joints? Otherwise MOOG CK80942 from Rock Auto would do. I've been very happy ordering parts from them since you know exactly what your going to get. That's more than you can say from some other sellers.

 

[FourOff]

Would you consider aftermarket UCA with replaceable ball joints? Otherwise MOOG CK80942 from Rock Auto would do. I've been very happy ordering parts from them since you know exactly what your going to get. That's more than you can say from some other sellers.

Thanks, I'll check those out. Might be worth the extra $40 to have replaceable ball joints.

 

[SubSar]

My tires finally arrived (after sitting in a FedEx warehouse for a week), so those are finally getting mounted Wednesday.
Ordered the springs and shocks, but now looking at bushings and control arms to do "while I'm in there."

Have acdelco swaybar end links and bushings coming, but the upper and lower control arms are driving me crazy.
I think I got the right Moog LCAs (RK620830/1) but there are three different UCAs (not including the nicer "CK" options) they list for the 2003 Suburban 1500:
RK80942 (which I think is the right one)
RK80826 (with "offset" bushings - not sure what that does)
RK621782 (which is 4x the cost and can't tell why...)

If that first one is correct, a few reviews say they had trouble fitting it. Anybody struggle with these (or is this the wrong part)?

The RK80826 with offset bushings are the ones that will give you more adjustment to bring the alignment back in after lifting the front end. With my 3/2 Lift and Level I did not have to change the upper control arms. I still have the factory originals. The alignment technician did warn me that if he could not get the alignment back into spec the offset bushing arms would be the fix.

 

[FourOff]

The RK80826 with offset bushings are the ones that will give you more adjustment to bring the alignment back in after lifting the front end. With my 3/2 Lift and Level I did not have to change the upper control arms. I still have the factory originals. The alignment technician did warn me that if he could not get the alignment back into spec the offset bushing arms would be the fix.

I ended up using the CK uppers and it seemed to align up okay.

Anybody else have trouble getting the rear springs in? I didn't have enough space with the brake line limiting the rear axle drop so I had to use some spring compressors to squeeze them in. I was worried they would pull on the brake lines once everything was in, but it looked like it was loose enough once everything was together (and even better once the truck was on the ground).

 

[Landrew]

The stock springs for an LS or LT will depend if you have the Premium Smooth Ride and/or the Nivomat self leveling shocks. The self leveling shocks take more load and use softer springs. I found out the hard way when my 2” lift only gave me about 3/4” with the aftermarket shocks (before the Bilsteins). Originally I put the Nivomats back on with some shock extenders to get the full 2”.
After I literally melted all 4 shocks on a trip into Death Valley I installed the Bilsteins and the Moog Springs. The Bilstiens are longer shocks than stock for the lift. The Moog are the HD or Z71 springs that are taller and stiffer than the stock springs I had.

I'm debating this right now as well. Going to max the stock torsions and 5100's front. How much lift do just the rear Moog 81069's give vs my ZM7 SmoothRide? It's either that or the stock rear springs plus the 2" spacers. Mine are quite tired at 325,000kms. Will the stock shocks handle either combination of lift, just wondering so I can get the springs sorted until I get the 5100's here. Those jobs are independent of each other and it helps with the amount of time I have to work on it. Goal is 33's and go some of the places my sons Jeep can.