MadDogDelpho
Texcellent
Yep, plug and play. It's an easy, and popular, swap for people wanting to lift, or get out of nivomats
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Thanks a lot. What bushings are you referring to exactly? Reason that I ask is that I am wondering if it would be wise to replace anything else in the back as I'm doing the shocks and springs?Good deal, I figured it was in the family, but it's always nice to know about a vehicle from the beginning. I only mention bushings and such, because once you lift, if any of those parts are near the end of their life, the new angles with the lift will promptly put them out. Lots of people here like the poly Bushings from Energy Suspensions.
Z71 is just a buy and swap, and not to hard so long as you have a 3ton jack, and some basic mechanic know how. Premium Sooth Ride is what my dad's truck has, and the shocks cost far too much for what they do.
Simplest lift would be keys for the front, and Z71 springs and spacers in the rear, along with shocks. I used a set of lift keys for a Ford Expedition, got me just about 3", and I have over half the threads remaining (they are indexed more than Chevy indexed keys, or Ford stock keys). Have the aforementioned Z71 springs and 2" spacer in mine, along with 3" longer rear sway bar links (for a Jeep Wrangler). For shocks, most on here recommend Bilsteins, but I got KYB MonoMax for mine (front extended for 2-5" of lift, and 2" spacers on stock length in the rear).
Am currently running 285/75/16's on 16x8 wheels, no rubbing at all. Some say you can fit a 295/75/16, or a 305/70/16. With some trimming, you could squeeze 315/75/16's.
If you need to do the brakes, I'd recommend doing the NNBS upgrade (front caliper brackets, calipers and rotors from a 07-13), but you'd need 17" wheels. If you're going that far, you can step up to 20's, and run 275/65/20's, just over 34", and probably not have to trim any sheetmetal.
If you need more tire, the easiest solution (and least expensive) would be to add a 3" body lift. Most don't care for the look of the frame showing, but if you have nerf bars or running boards, it'd hardly be noticeable. Then, you'd be able to clear 35x12.5's (16, 17 or 20" wheels) with no problem.
I did the nibs brake upgrade and my truck is hydroboost. Next will be braided hoses. I figure with 3/16" steel bumpers and the recovery gear on board, any extra braking power will be good.
The extended links are to keep the angles of the rear sway bar close to factory, and provide "close to factory" handling. You don't need to run them (I didn't on my '01 Suburban), but I do on my '04 Yukon XL. But for $20, well worth the "why not?" factor.Why the extended rear sway bar links? And what rear spacers did you use?