Trimming guide for fitting 35's with a 6" lift *covers trimming requrements for ALL width wheels*

[MadDogDelpho]

Nice. Your rig looks great man, and the 33s really fill the wheel wells so I think I'll be satisfied with that lol.

 

[02_Tahoe]

Nice. Your rig looks great man, and the 33s really fill the wheel wells so I think I'll be satisfied with that lol.

Thanks, and just curious, how did you find out my name, was it in one of my posts?

 

[02_Tahoe]

Nice. Your rig looks great man, and the 33s really fill the wheel wells so I think I'll be satisfied with that lol.

Never mind lol, it's in my profile

 

[MadDogDelpho]

Yeah that lol. I promise I'm not some kind of stalker

 

[Kingx1]

Awesome info! I do have a few questions though. I have an 04 Yukon xl 2500. I'm planning on doing a 6" lift and getting 20x12 -44 rims with 35's. Do you think it would clear being that I have a 2500....or do you think I still need to trim? Also I'm new to this, but from I read I saw that you can stack a leveling kit on top of the lift kit. Is that true? My truck does Have a rake in the front so I wasn't sure if the lift kit would fix that it if I needed the leveling kit too anyway.

 

[xFuZzYx]

Awesome info! I do have a few questions though. I have an 04 Yukon xl 2500. I'm planning on doing a 6" lift and getting 20x12 -44 rims with 35's. Do you think it would clear being that I have a 2500....or do you think I still need to trim? Also I'm new to this, but from I read I saw that you can stack a leveling kit on top of the lift kit. Is that true? My truck does Have a rake in the front so I wasn't sure if the lift kit would fix that it if I needed the leveling kit too anyway.

Im not sure if you will need to trim considering your truck is a 2500, and a 6" lift will lift the front 6" but the rear only like 4" so it sits level with the front 6" higher. You can add a leveling kit on top of a 6" lift, but it will severely stress out your ball joints, make your ride very rough and stiff, and put your CV axles at greater risk of binding. Not saying that will ever happen to you, I know some people with both of those together and never had issues, and other people who've gone through like 3 cv axles. So the risk/vs reward is up to you. but if you combine them, your truck will just be the 6" lift, plus 2.5" in the front giving you lean because the rear wont be as high as the front.

 

[BigDaddy13440]

Im not sure if you will need to trim considering your truck is a 2500, and a 6" lift will lift the front 6" but the rear only like 4" so it sits level with the front 6" higher. You can add a leveling kit on top of a 6" lift, but it will severely stress out your ball joints, make your ride very rough and stiff, and put your CV axles at greater risk of binding. Not saying that will ever happen to you, I know some people with both of those together and never had issues, and other people who've gone through like 3 cv axles. So the risk/vs reward is up to you. but if you combine them, your truck will just be the 6" lift, plus 2.5" in the front giving you lean because the rear wont be as high as the front.

If your lift kit is a "true" 6", your CV angles should be almost dead level. A few of the kits advertise as being 6", when in fact they are only really about a 4 1/2", you have to crank your stock keys to get the full 6". If that's the case, you can add keys to get that extra inch, but at the expense of wearing out your front end components much quicker. If it is a true 6" lift, then you can still crank your keys, getting another 1 1/2 - 2" or so.

Another option if you rub is to add a body lift. I've got a Zone 3" ready to go on my Yukon XL so I can clear 35's with just a 3" key lift. I've seen/read of others doing a 1 1/2" BL just to get that little bit of clearance without having to do any metal mods.

And as far as the rear end, I believe your 2500 has leaf springs. If so, you have a couple options, depending on what your lift kit has - if you have replacement leaves, you can add a 2" block underneath, shouldn't have to worry about axle wrap. If you have blocks to lift it, I'd add either an add-a-leaf, or disassemble the complete pack, and add a couple extra leaves. I did this on my old '96 Tahoe, put a leaf in between each of the four stock leaves (7 leaves total), and got about 2 1/2" of lift, with MUCH better stability and cornering ability, not to mention increased load capacity. I carried 21 sheets of 5/8" plywood, 7 rolls of torch-down roofing and 4 rolls of underlayment, and 16 2x6x12's, and only squatted about 1 1/2".

 

[Kasper]

Here is how i did my 2013 model. Couldnt find any real good info on cutting the fender to keep it clean. Thank you.

So I feel as though its common knowledge around here that if you are running a 6" suspension lift on a 2000-2006 tahoe/yukon/escalade and you want to run 35"x12.50" tires that you will have to do some trimming around your front fender well so tires that big can fit.

Well, I have had a 6" lift on my 2002 Tahoe for almost 2 years now and I have owned wheels that were 17x9's with only -12 offset all the way to 20x14's with -76 offset and I have first hand experience with everything you will need to trim to allow the best fitment possible depending on how wide of wheels you want to run with your 35"x12.50" tires.

***All of this information is based on 35"x12.50" tires and I do not know how much these cut lines will differ if you decide to run any other size tires!!!***

Here is a picture for you showing off 3 different cuts you may need to do depending on your lift setup and wheel width:

View attachment 70431

So as you can see there are 3 lines drawn on that picture. You have a red and orange line on the front of the fender well and a purple line on the back of the fender well. (Original pic is from 20Hoe3, I just added the colored lines in paint)

***Here is what these color coded cut lines mean to you based on how much lift you have and how your lift is done***

*** If you are only running a 6" lift and your torsion keys are in their stock position (meaning you do not have a leveling kit/ ford 3" lift keys stacked on top of your 6" lift) then this is what these lines mean to you: ***

+ If you are running wheels that are somewhere in between 0 and -24 offset, then the red line is the only trimming that you should have to do to have full clearance.

+ If you are running wheels that are somewhere in between -25 and -44 offset, then the orange line is the only trimming you should have to do to have almost completely full clearance.

+ If you are running wheels that are somewhere in between -45 and -76 offset, then you will have to do trimming alone the orange and purple line in the pic to get extra clearance.

+ NOTES +

+ If you are running 12" wide wheels with -44 offset you might get some rubbing on the back of your fender well near the purple line if you are only running 6" of lift without anything else adding extra lift, I have heard some people saying they have some rubbing going on there and other people claiming that they clear that back corner, I think it is one of those situations where it just depends on the specific vehicle, what model it is (LS, LT, z71) and the tires they are running.

+ If you are running 14" wide wheels with -76 offset with only 6" of lift then you are going to have horrible fitment and rubbing issues and without doing completely ridiculous amounts of cutting beyond what is covered here, you will still rub no matter what. These cut lines are just what I recommend so you can at least turn your wheels enough to safely drive down the road without ruining your tires.

*** If you are running a 6" lift and you also have a leveling kit stacked on top of your 6" lift to achieve 8.5"/9" of total lift in the front OR if you are running a 8"-9" suspension lift (like the McGaughy's Suspension lift) then this is what these lines mean to you: ***

+ No matter what width wheels you are running, as long as you are only running 35"x12.50" wheels then I believe the only trimming you should need is the red line along the bottom of the front bumper.

+ If you are following this write up, have 8.5"/9" of suspension lift in the front, made the red cut line, and you still rub and decide that you need to make the orange or purple cut lines on your truck, please post here and let me know all of the details of your wheels/tires/lift so I can update this for future users!

+ NOTES +

+ As stated above, I have never ran more than 7" of lift on my Tahoe, so if there is anyone else here that has ran more lift than me and has ran wheels with heavy negative offset (-44 to -76) that knows first hand how much more trimming you would need to fully clear your tires, please chime in and let me know!!!

*** HOW TO MAKE THESE CUTS ***

+ If you are doing the red cut line, as long as you have a steady hand and can make a clean cut, all you need is a dremel because the only material that you are cutting through is plastic.

+ If you are doing the orange cut line, you will need something a little stronger, a sawzall is what I used to make my cut line with through the metal part of my front bumper.

+ If you are doing the purple cut line, this cut is referred to as the "NorCal Mod"
*Watch this video explaining how to do it correctly, they get way more in depth than I can!*

+ Final Notes +

+ Wheels that fall in between 0 and -24 offset usually includes the following wheel sizes: all stock wheels, and most 17x9, 18x9, 20x9, 20x10, 22x9.5, 22x11, and 24x11 (basically anything under a 12" wide wheel regardless of wheel height)

+ Wheels that fall in between -25 and -44 offset are pretty much only going to be 12" wide wheels as -44 is considered the normal amount of offset for 12" wide wheels.

+ Wheels that fall in between -45 and -76 offset are pretty much only going to be 14" wide wheels as -76 is considered the normal amount of offset for 14" wide wheels.

+I know there are 16" and now even 18" wide wheels with even more offset than -76, but I would never recommend running these on a truck that doesn't have a solid front axle as they will cause way too much stress on the stock IFS parts, plus you would easily need 12"+ of lift to clear them when turning.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If you have any comments/questions please post them below and I will help out anyone and everyone that I can. I want to help everyone get the best stance and offset of their truck that they possible can!​

 

[Kasper]

Rough country 7.5" with vertex shocks. 35x12.50r22 with -76 offset

 

[S33k3r]

If you don't have a sawzall -- or a friend with one -- what would you use to cut the inner liner? We are rubbing on a 1/4" of our inner liner that isn't even affixed to anything. But it's like some sort of vinyl, and I don't know what to cut it cleanly with. I guess I could use my pocket knife... But I'd rather not.