2015 4x4 Tahoe - purchased lowered and need to raise 2-3" above stock

[John Hanses]

Correct, hard to believe! These are supposed to be stiffer than stock but holy hell! If anything they may compress an inch, but by the time they start lifting the truck it's still about 3" to get the upper arm down onto the the knuckle - I just don't see how this is going to work! Looks like the upper arm will be completely bottomed out if I can get it connected.

 

[iamdub]

I've never disconnected the ball joint for a spacer. I disconnect the sway bar end link and let the control arms hang all the way down and use a big pry bar braced against the lower arm to pry the strut up.

In your current predicament, maybe you can use a ratchet strap to draw the lower arm to the ball joint? Have you set the weight of the vehicle down on the lower arm, like on a cinder block (with a piece of board as a hard cushion)?

 

[wjburken]

Might take that front 3” spacer out and see if that lets you get everything back together and then go in with a big pry bar and get that spacer back in as Chris described.

 

[John Hanses]

Long story short I think the strut I bought gives me the 3-inch lift and I don't need the spacer. Bought from Carid and they said it was a strut for a lifted vehicle and that I could put the space on. Manufacturers site says it gives a 3-inch lift! That's why I was having so much trouble I think I'll know soon enough. I wouldn't have diconnected the upper ball joint if I could have gotten it in without that trouble. And I was lifting the truck from the lower a arm and it lifted the whole vehicle.

 

[iamdub]

To expand, I sit on the pry bar so I can use my hands (sometimes with another tool) to maneuver the strut into position. I don't have my full weight on the bar, I'm more like squatting so I can apply and remove my weight as needed.

 

[John Hanses]

Boy am I glad I wasn't able to get it on with the spacer, lol! Removed the spacespacer and then install went fine and the vehicle is setting just right! I'll post pic tomorrow.

 

[John Hanses]

Ok, all's good.....except! The bracket for the rear shocks turns the shocks 90 degrees - the air shocks don't like that at all so I left them off till I could get an extender that doesn't do the rotation. However, my shocks are at bottom (or top) and I didn't hook up the little arm that adjusts the height of the air shock since it's already fully extended - figured I'd hook that up once I got the new bracket and there was actually some range. However, driving it feels like there's no shock at all - bouncy to say the least. I did hook up the air lines and now I'm thinking I should hook up the little lever's to maybe get some air in there - will let you know how it goes. Anyway, the lift did give 6" from it's lowered position - front and rear had 14" from body to ground, now front is 20 and rear is 21 - little rake looks perfect to me. Pics attached.

 

[wjburken]

Ok, all's good.....except! The bracket for the rear shocks turns the shocks 90 degrees - the air shocks don't like that at all so I left them off till I could get an extender that doesn't do the rotation. However, my shocks are at bottom (or top) and I didn't hook up the little arm that adjusts the height of the air shock since it's already fully extended - figured I'd hook that up once I got the new bracket and there was actually some range. However, driving it feels like there's no shock at all - bouncy to say the least. I did hook up the air lines and now I'm thinking I should hook up the little lever's to maybe get some air in there - will let you know how it goes. Anyway, the lift did give 6" from it's lowered position - front and rear had 14" from body to ground, now front is 20 and rear is 21 - little rake looks perfect to me. Pics attached.

View attachment 242297 View attachment 242298

Glad to hear you were able to get it back together. Sounds like other than some fine tuning, it’s where you were hoping to be.

 

[John Hanses]

Thanks Burken! Funny, looking at the pics it almost looks like the rear is low, but it's definitely raked just a bit. I'm looking for how to adjust the rear air shocks. I bought the rod stock to lengthen them but not sure where to set them. I'll probably just set them to where it's throwing the lever half way and see what happens. Any experience doing this?

 

[wjburken]

Thanks Burken! Funny, looking at the pics it almost looks like the rear is low, but it's definitely raked just a bit. I'm looking for how to adjust the rear air shocks. I bought the rod stock to lengthen them but not sure where to set them. I'll probably just set them to where it's throwing the lever half way and see what happens. Any experience doing this?

One thought is see if you can find a stock height vehicle with auto level control and see what angle the sensors are at when at rest and try and duplicate those angles on your vehicle’s sensors.