We'll admit right up front that we're and are a great cure for a small ego, but we tend to not associate lifts with work getting done.
However, we can appreciate the benefits of a lift. Tire fitment, ground clearance, ride quality. etc. And on no truck is that more true than with a Chevy or GMC, no matter the year.
Right off the dealer's lot, you can run 33-inch tires under a Ford Super Duty or a Dodge Ram Heavy Duty. With a $250 level kit, you can easily get away with 35s. But on a Chevy? Thirty-one-inch-tall 265s are about as big as you can go without changing the torsion bar settings.
And the GM chassis tends to favor those who like to slide into the driver's seat rather than climb up to it. That makes for a down-to-earth ride and car-like handling, but the down side is that it makes for a down-next-to-earth ride and, well, car-like handling.
We searched out the options for giving our Chevy Silverado 2500 HD more of a truck-like feel and appearance, while increasing round clearance and making more room for larger tires. We could have gone with the popular six-inch lift that is very common for this truck, but we had our minds set on something a little more conservative.
Few places offer a four-inch lift for Chevy 4x4s, and even fewer with the quality and value of the Trail Master 4-inch lift kit. We wanted a mild lift-something to get the Chevy up off the ground a little, clear 33s with no issues and give the truck a look that's more factory-shoulduvbeen than show truck wannabe. And we wanted a lift kit that would maintain (if not improve) the factory ride quality of the independent front suspension Chevy.
The $2,437 C4102SSV Trail Master 4-inch lift we installed on our Chevy included four SSV shock absorbers, two-inch rear blocks with U-bolts, spindles, drop brackets and everything else required to complete the conversion. And it's just that-a conversion. When you put a lift on one of these trucks, it's not something that you can take off later on.
We don't want to give you a step-by-step guide to the installation process. That's what the instructions are for (and Trail Master 's instructions are as clear and easy to follow as it gets-they've done an amazing job at getting clear pictures of what goes where during installation). We just want to give you a heads up on a few things you might encounter along the way, give you an idea of what to expect and give you our impressions of the lift kit.
A lift installation is something we recommend you have done by a professional shop, although it can be done by a capable shade tree mechanic with the right tools.
Before you begin tearing things apart, you should measure the height of the truck at all four wheel wells. This will give you an idea of how much height you gained and help you adjust the torsion bars properly later on. Make this measurement by measuring from the center of the axle to the bottom of the fender lip.
SOURCE:
Trail Master Suspension
www.trailmastersuspension.com
(928) 636-7080
Installed by:
Custom Auto
(208) 522-7166