Mid travel or long travel Yukon Xl?

[Mondaytown]

plus you gain 4.5" of body clearance + whatever extra tire size you use so you can get around rocks and obstacles easier
the kit will allow for up to 35's

rough country sells a 3.5" cheap lift kit $499, but that doesn't keep your differential lined up right, not sure what else it out there that doesn't make your front end 4" wider making you have to use spacers which are garbage

Thats good to know. I will reach out to them on Tuesday and see what they say! Thank you!

 

[Trey Hardy]

*I just realized I put this in the 21+ forum and not the correct year. I just reposted in the correct forum. Sorry!*


I’ve got a 2015 Yukon XL that I bought for cheap with a blown transmission.

I’m building an overland vehicle and plan on doing a lot of off-roading

I’ve completely rebuilt and upgraded the drivetrain. I’ve ordered front and rear bumpers from baseline Overland and just ordered new 32 inch all-terrain tires. I’m now looking to figure out what to do with the suspension.

I was told that Izzy Fab just came out with a mid travel suspension kit for these that gives you 10 inches of travel. You have the option of king shocks or Icon.

I’ve been scouring the Internet trying to see if anyone has done a mid travel or long travel kit on these and I can’t hardly find anything so wondering if anyone has had any experience with either one and has any recommendations?

We do have a 4000 pound Overlanding trailer that we will be pulling. I occasionally tow ATVs and such but usually never over 5000 pounds.

I will say kings will offer a more plush and comfortable ride where icons will be more firm and planted. You can have either custom valved for your needs and if you got the extra money get the dsc adjusters and you can really dial it in on and off road.

My vote is for the kings this is coming from someone with icon coil overs

 

[Trey Hardy]

For the lift it’s all on how deep your pockets are. You can budget build a decent lift or you can go all out.
For overlanding a lift kit I feel like would be needed more so then long travel simply for ground clearance reasons. However I’ve contemplated on a lift kit stacked with a long travel setup… hmmmmm
Anyways I think bds cst and maybe cognito makes the best kits with nice big skid plates and all that.
If you’re having isssues finding long travel kits just look for Silverado kits.
Not many company’s make kits for surburbans or Tahoes but a lot do for the Silverados so find you one within your budget and you can build your rear kit easily with a set of springs shocks and control arms to match your front build.
Dirt king fabrication is good
Camburg is also really nice

 

[2001 TX Tahoe]

I have both a 2016 Yukon XL and a 2020 Yukon Denali. The XL is my "overlanding" vehicle with a 2" leveling kit with 34x11.5 tires and the Denali is a daily driver with a 6" BDS lift with 35x12.5 tires. You're right, the XL is long and low, but based on my experience offroad, I wouldn't want the 6" lift because I think it would be too tall and top heavy. There have been situations where even my XL feels uncomfortably tipsy. My advice, with the leveling kit and some inner fender liner trimming, you can fit the 34's which helps increase your height / ground clearance. Go with small diameter rims for more tire sidewall. I have 18's and can air down to 18-20 PSI just fine but if I did it again I would go with 17's. I just have a leveling spacer, but King shocks or ADS shocks would be a superior option. You can get them with an adjustable collar to level out the front. You can even combine them with new upper control arms. I have the auto-level rear air ride shocks which I really like because the rear suspension would otherwise squat under load with all my gear, and you say you plan on towing a trailer. Regarding long travel suspension, my 2 cents, totally unnecessary for your needs and could get very expensive (quickly exceed $10K) and probably complicated. It would also involve new front quarter panels, paint, there's not anyone that makes a flared rear quarter panel for a Suburban (that I'm aware of), and lots of labor and likely some custom fabrication. I'm sure you could build a very cool and unique long-travel ride, but like I said, not necessary and that's biting off a lot. Alternatively, I wouldn't go with a budget lift. You get what you pay for. I would spend a little money on a selectable rear locker instead. That will get you places you otherwise couldn't go - and help get you out of places.

 

[Mondaytown]

I have both a 2016 Yukon XL and a 2020 Yukon Denali. The XL is my "overlanding" vehicle with a 2" leveling kit with 34x11.5 tires and the Denali is a daily driver with a 6" BDS lift with 35x12.5 tires. You're right, the XL is long and low, but based on my experience offroad, I wouldn't want the 6" lift because I think it would be too tall and top heavy. There have been situations where even my XL feels uncomfortably tipsy. My advice, with the leveling kit and some inner fender liner trimming, you can fit the 34's which helps increase your height / ground clearance. Go with small diameter rims for more tire sidewall. I have 18's and can air down to 18-20 PSI just fine but if I did it again I would go with 17's. I just have a leveling spacer, but King shocks or ADS shocks would be a superior option. You can get them with an adjustable collar to level out the front. You can even combine them with new upper control arms. I have the auto-level rear air ride shocks which I really like because the rear suspension would otherwise squat under load with all my gear, and you say you plan on towing a trailer. Regarding long travel suspension, my 2 cents, totally unnecessary for your needs and could get very expensive (quickly exceed $10K) and probably complicated. It would also involve new front quarter panels, paint, there's not anyone that makes a flared rear quarter panel for a Suburban (that I'm aware of), and lots of labor and likely some custom fabrication. I'm sure you could build a very cool and unique long-travel ride, but like I said, not necessary and that's biting off a lot. Alternatively, I wouldn't go with a budget lift. You get what you pay for. I would spend a little money on a selectable rear locker instead. That will get you places you otherwise couldn't go - and help get you out of places.

That’s awesome, thank you for the suggestions. It looks like you got exactly what I’m working on.

I’ve got sort of a budget I promised I wouldn’t go over. The engine, trans and supercharger took most of it. The front and rear bumpers, winch, skid and rock sliders are taking a decent chunk. Im also planning to redo the steering box and rods with an all billet system

With all that I’m hoping to be around 7500 on the suspension. It’s a bit close, the mid travel with kings is 5500 on the front. Kings, Dobinson 2” coil springs and air bladders is around 2500 for the rear. So I’m a bit over. But that’s what I’m thinking of doing right now. That puts me around 3” of lift over stock and 10” of total travel. With air for load leveling in the back.

Just debating on whether I go bigger on the tires. I just got new agressive 32” that actually measured closer to 33”. But I’m on the edge of regearing.

They are 18” rims. I can’t go smaller because I did a brake upgrade with new calipers and rotors.

 

[2001 TX Tahoe]

That’s awesome, thank you for the suggestions. It looks like you got exactly what I’m working on.

I’ve got sort of a budget I promised I wouldn’t go over. The engine, trans and supercharger took most of it. The front and rear bumpers, winch, skid and rock sliders are taking a decent chunk. Im also planning to redo the steering box and rods with an all billet system

With all that I’m hoping to be around 7500 on the suspension. It’s a bit close, the mid travel with kings is 5500 on the front. Kings, Dobinson 2” coil springs and air bladders is around 2500 for the rear. So I’m a bit over. But that’s what I’m thinking of doing right now. That puts me around 3” of lift over stock and 10” of total travel. With air for load leveling in the back.

Just debating on whether I go bigger on the tires. I just got new agressive 32” that actually measured closer to 33”. But I’m on the edge of regearing.

They are 18” rims. I can’t go smaller because I did a brake upgrade with new calipers and rotors.

Sounds like it will be pretty awesome when you're done! What parts are you using for the steering or are you doing all custom? What upper control arms are you planning for the front?

If it's not too late to return the 32's, you might want to consider it. With 3" of lift they may feel small. My XL isn't regeared and feels sluggish, at least compared to the Denali (5.3L vs 6.2L).

 

[Mondaytown]

Sounds like it will be pretty awesome when you're done! What parts are you using for the steering or are you doing all custom? What upper control arms are you planning for the front?

If it's not too late to return the 32's, you might want to consider it. With 3" of lift they may feel small. My XL isn't regeared and feels sluggish, at least compared to the Denali (5.3L vs 6.2L).

Izzy Fab has a kit that comes with boxed uppers and lower control arms with a uniball and it moves the front hub forward about an inch so you can clear bigger tires. Keeps the stock track width. They also offer a full billet steering kit with billet tie rods and rack and pinion.

Man I just put them on about a week ago. But I can sell them I'm sure.
My main issue is cruising at 75 with bigger tires, I'm currently at 1650-1700 rpms. Any bigger and I'd be even lower. On the dyno we didn't really build boost until 1900 rpms. We hit 400ft lbs of torque right at 2000 rpm which would be sufficient for maintaining the gear with most loads.

But currently it feels gutless and likes to downshift to 5th gear all the time. I'm hoping to get my cruising rpms to 2000 or at least 1900

 

[Mondaytown]

For the lift it’s all on how deep your pockets are. You can budget build a decent lift or you can go all out.
For overlanding a lift kit I feel like would be needed more so then long travel simply for ground clearance reasons. However I’ve contemplated on a lift kit stacked with a long travel setup… hmmmmm
Anyways I think bds cst and maybe cognito makes the best kits with nice big skid plates and all that.
If you’re having isssues finding long travel kits just look for Silverado kits.
Not many company’s make kits for surburbans or Tahoes but a lot do for the Silverados so find you one within your budget and you can build your rear kit easily with a set of springs shocks and control arms to match your front build.
Dirt king fabrication is good
Camburg is also really nice

Thanks for the response. Yes I've been trying to decide how big I need to go. I looked into dirt king, but the owner of Baseline Overland who is building the bumper, roof rack and rockers told me about a new kit that Izzy Fab just released. It doubles stock wheel travel with no increase of width, and it moves the front wheel 1 inch forward and gives you 2.5-3.5'' of lift depending on what you set the springs at. That really seems like a sweet setup so I decided to do that over the weekend. I should be under 10k on the suspension. Hopefully closer to 8k if all goes well.

 

[Mondaytown]

I have both a 2016 Yukon XL and a 2020 Yukon Denali. The XL is my "overlanding" vehicle with a 2" leveling kit with 34x11.5 tires and the Denali is a daily driver with a 6" BDS lift with 35x12.5 tires. You're right, the XL is long and low, but based on my experience offroad, I wouldn't want the 6" lift because I think it would be too tall and top heavy. There have been situations where even my XL feels uncomfortably tipsy. My advice, with the leveling kit and some inner fender liner trimming, you can fit the 34's which helps increase your height / ground clearance. Go with small diameter rims for more tire sidewall. I have 18's and can air down to 18-20 PSI just fine but if I did it again I would go with 17's. I just have a leveling spacer, but King shocks or ADS shocks would be a superior option. You can get them with an adjustable collar to level out the front. You can even combine them with new upper control arms. I have the auto-level rear air ride shocks which I really like because the rear suspension would otherwise squat under load with all my gear, and you say you plan on towing a trailer. Regarding long travel suspension, my 2 cents, totally unnecessary for your needs and could get very expensive (quickly exceed $10K) and probably complicated. It would also involve new front quarter panels, paint, there's not anyone that makes a flared rear quarter panel for a Suburban (that I'm aware of), and lots of labor and likely some custom fabrication. I'm sure you could build a very cool and unique long-travel ride, but like I said, not necessary and that's biting off a lot. Alternatively, I wouldn't go with a budget lift. You get what you pay for. I would spend a little money on a selectable rear locker instead. That will get you places you otherwise couldn't go - and help get you out of places.

What tent is that? Also, what hitch rack are you using? I like that setup!

 

[Fifty]

Ok. This may have been covered already but it’s too important of it hasn’t.

The cst kit is a mall crawler type set up. Do not go that route if you plan on doing anything but a slow roll down a grated fire road.
It uses shock spacers and sub frame and control arm mount drops. So at the end of the day you end up with a lot of legos bolted on to each other that multiply the leverage. It is fine for trucks that stay on road, but not ok for the extra vibrations and… everything of going offroad.

The Izzy kit is actually meant for off-roading.

That being said, a proper shock that is tuned is better than extra inches of travel.

Now a proper shock that is tuned AND extra travel is the way to go!

If Izzy had released his stuff before I went my route I would have gone with his stuff but ordered my shocks from filthy Motorsport or accutune and had them tuned for my use.

I’m running ADS coilovers up front and piggyback reservoir shocks out back and border patrol springs. And the RC forged uca with high angle ball joint. It’s actually a really good arm for cheeeeaaaap. If I didn’t go with those I’d run the Camburg arm.

If you go the Izzy route, go with kings over icon. Icon is not horrible, but the kings use a better piston design, and rebuilds and repairs are a lot easier and readily available.