I don't have an exact measurement, but I know they are not even close to the stops. There's still a few inches of down travel at the tire before it hits the stops. And the control arms are still at neutral angles, no severe high stress angles or excessive ball joint angles requiring a special replacement control arm like a cognito or rough country
You said, "greasing the suspension, as it had no grease in it"? I have a 2024 2500 Chevrolet double cab 4x4 gas. Just checking the 9 grease fitting on the front suspension, I put 2 squirts in each fitting just to make sure I could lube them. Was very easy job. After hearing what you said about no grease in them, I will go back and lube them. I have heard that the dealers never lube these trucks!
Yes mine had no grease in it. Actually had a popping and clunking noise in the steering from it. After it was all greased it went away. Alot of others have noticed it as well along with the rear differential being a quart low from the factory
@@adventureandrepeat My rear differential was a full quart low. I like the idea of having the grease fittings on the front suspension, but only if you do your own maintenance on your truck.
@@adventureandrepeat I drive each wheel up 6in lift blocks, use small one hand grease gun with long extension cord, was surprised how easy it was to lube. Also easiest vehicle to change oil I have ever owned.
Yea I'm glad that over the generations gm has kept the oil filter right at the bottom and easy to get to. And also kept the oil life reset procedure easy to do as well. Some manufacturers have interesting ways to reset the oil life
I realize its not the first thing that comes to mind when one buys a new truck and that is to measure the fender to ground height before the truck is driven any amount of distance but was curious if you had done so. As you mentioned, you had at least noted the lower A arms were not settling onto the bump stop when the truck was new and now they were and the ride degraded as a result. Do you know much if any that the truck is riding higher now than when it was new after your adjustment.
The truck had settled on me about half an inch when bushings and joints worked in. Now, technically the truck is higher than original by half an inch. Which is by choice for running a plow and to have better ride quality because we spend a lot of time on trails and dirt roads
@@adventureandrepeat Right, so the reality is its only set a 1/2 above the stock new setting and although not that easy to tell from the video it would appear the cv shaft angles are looking good and expect the tie rods are not too far out of whack either. I know from viewing videos when one cranks them up way too far and be that putting in aftermarket keys to accomplish the height and needing to put different upper A arms on to prevent the stress on the upper ball joints, the fact is the cv shafts get pretty steep as well as so the tie rods and that geometry is just not kind to parts or the ride as its gotten the the point of changing the angles so much that the ride deteriorates, and never mind there is no droop in the suspension left and that is very negative as well to the ride. What you did makes perfect sense and allows for some further droop when the plow is attached. Its this false thinking that a jacked up levelling kit to the max even with aftermarket parts is a good thing, at that point to do a proper job a true diff drop lift needs to be implemented to retain proper suspension geometry but that costs a lot more.
Yes that's correct. If it gets cranked way up it's unnecessary stress and wear. Changing upper control arms just fixes ball joints wear and not geometry. With what I did everything is still at a neutral angle so there won't be any geometry issues. In fact the ride feels better because I actually have up travel on the suspension and it's not just hitting bump stops on sharp jolts
@@adventureandrepeat Totally, I couldn't agree with you more and when ever I do get another pickup and if it is a GM HD truck, I will have this all in mind to plan for to fine tune it to retain the best ride after the suspension does its initial break in.
I just bought a 2500HD a few weeks ago, same model as yours (same color even). If I understood your adjustments correctly, you left 1/2" forward rake on the truck so your front fender measurement after the adjustment was about 41-1/2" (42" at the rear fender less 1/2" for the front)?
I just got one last week in silver! I’m new to torsion bars but I followed your video and gained about an inch in the front. I still need about another inch to get 1/2 inch of rake, that would put me at 8 turns instead of 4 though. Do you think the weight of the duramax requires more turns?
Any kind of suspension adjustment it is recommended to get an alignment. Even like ball joint replacement it is recommended. But I do also have a video up on my channel on how to do an alignment yourself at home!
Depends on what year truck. But anything 2008 and later in the half tons uses a strut coil for the front suspension. They just require a spacer to be added to the top of the strut to lift the front end. Half tons no longer use torsion bar suspension like the 2500 and 3500 do.
You mentioned keeping a nice suspension ride however you just made it worse by cranking up the torsion bars. The proper way to level a truck is with a quality leveling kit then realignment. You have to pay to play unfortunately.
@@kurtisgothreaux3057 a "quality" leveling kit is no more than a set of keys indexed to provide front end lift with the factory bolt settings. The keys themselves provide no suspension characteristics. The bars themselves are the springs. This truck was only brought up an inch. Upper and lower control arms are still at neutral angles to not affect ride quality. However if they were pushed to more of a 3 inch angle then yes, ride quality may be affected because the arms are no longer at neutral angles. These t1 chassis are much different than older models where these issues and stigmas were developed. But yes, an alignment is always suggested after any kind of suspension work or change
@@adventureandrepeat 4 full cranks on the keys had to have raised it more than an inch. I cranked my 24 LTZ 1 full turn and got 1/2 an inch out of that. Also shop SuspensionMaxx or Cognito and you will find a true leveling kit is much more than just fancy keys. But hey, if you're happy and your truck is happy that's all that really matters in the long run.
very cool!
Thanks!
5:12 For your upper control arms how far away from the upper stop are they?
I don't have an exact measurement, but I know they are not even close to the stops. There's still a few inches of down travel at the tire before it hits the stops. And the control arms are still at neutral angles, no severe high stress angles or excessive ball joint angles requiring a special replacement control arm like a cognito or rough country
You said, "greasing the suspension, as it had no grease in it"? I have a 2024 2500 Chevrolet double cab 4x4 gas. Just checking the 9 grease fitting on the front suspension, I put 2 squirts in each fitting just to make sure I could lube them. Was very easy job. After hearing what you said about no grease in them, I will go back and lube them. I have heard that the dealers never lube these trucks!
Yes mine had no grease in it. Actually had a popping and clunking noise in the steering from it. After it was all greased it went away. Alot of others have noticed it as well along with the rear differential being a quart low from the factory
@@adventureandrepeat My rear differential was a full quart low. I like the idea of having the grease fittings on the front suspension, but only if you do your own maintenance on your truck.
I like having them. Pain to get to some tho!
@@adventureandrepeat I drive each wheel up 6in lift blocks, use small one hand grease gun with long extension cord, was surprised how easy it was to lube. Also easiest vehicle to change oil I have ever owned.
Yea I'm glad that over the generations gm has kept the oil filter right at the bottom and easy to get to. And also kept the oil life reset procedure easy to do as well. Some manufacturers have interesting ways to reset the oil life
I realize its not the first thing that comes to mind when one buys a new truck and that is to measure the fender to ground height before the truck is driven any amount of distance but was curious if you had done so. As you mentioned, you had at least noted the lower A arms were not settling onto the bump stop when the truck was new and now they were and the ride degraded as a result. Do you know much if any that the truck is riding higher now than when it was new after your adjustment.
The truck had settled on me about half an inch when bushings and joints worked in. Now, technically the truck is higher than original by half an inch. Which is by choice for running a plow and to have better ride quality because we spend a lot of time on trails and dirt roads
@@adventureandrepeat Right, so the reality is its only set a 1/2 above the stock new setting and although not that easy to tell from the video it would appear the cv shaft angles are looking good and expect the tie rods are not too far out of whack either. I know from viewing videos when one cranks them up way too far and be that putting in aftermarket keys to accomplish the height and needing to put different upper A arms on to prevent the stress on the upper ball joints, the fact is the cv shafts get pretty steep as well as so the tie rods and that geometry is just not kind to parts or the ride as its gotten the the point of changing the angles so much that the ride deteriorates, and never mind there is no droop in the suspension left and that is very negative as well to the ride. What you did makes perfect sense and allows for some further droop when the plow is attached. Its this false thinking that a jacked up levelling kit to the max even with aftermarket parts is a good thing, at that point to do a proper job a true diff drop lift needs to be implemented to retain proper suspension geometry but that costs a lot more.
Yes that's correct. If it gets cranked way up it's unnecessary stress and wear. Changing upper control arms just fixes ball joints wear and not geometry. With what I did everything is still at a neutral angle so there won't be any geometry issues. In fact the ride feels better because I actually have up travel on the suspension and it's not just hitting bump stops on sharp jolts
@@adventureandrepeat Totally, I couldn't agree with you more and when ever I do get another pickup and if it is a GM HD truck, I will have this all in mind to plan for to fine tune it to retain the best ride after the suspension does its initial break in.
I just bought a 2500HD a few weeks ago, same model as yours (same color even). If I understood your adjustments correctly, you left 1/2" forward rake on the truck so your front fender measurement after the adjustment was about 41-1/2" (42" at the rear fender less 1/2" for the front)?
Yes that is correct
I just got one last week in silver!
I’m new to torsion bars but I followed your video and gained about an inch in the front. I still need about another inch to get 1/2 inch of rake, that would put me at 8 turns instead of 4 though. Do you think the weight of the duramax requires more turns?
Yes it is very possible it needs more turns and that is ok. Duramax is a much heavier engine than the L8T
Do you have too get an alignment after this level lift?
Any kind of suspension adjustment it is recommended to get an alignment. Even like ball joint replacement it is recommended. But I do also have a video up on my channel on how to do an alignment yourself at home!
Can you do these on the Chevy Silverado 1500 LT as well or is this a 2500 only model
Depends on what year truck. But anything 2008 and later in the half tons uses a strut coil for the front suspension. They just require a spacer to be added to the top of the strut to lift the front end. Half tons no longer use torsion bar suspension like the 2500 and 3500 do.
@@adventureandrepeat can we do this on a 2019 ram 2,500 diesel ???
No. Completely different suspension system. @@FernandoGperez-b2v
That was easy!
Very easy!
You mentioned keeping a nice suspension ride however you just made it worse by cranking up the torsion bars. The proper way to level a truck is with a quality leveling kit then realignment. You have to pay to play unfortunately.
@@kurtisgothreaux3057 a "quality" leveling kit is no more than a set of keys indexed to provide front end lift with the factory bolt settings. The keys themselves provide no suspension characteristics. The bars themselves are the springs. This truck was only brought up an inch. Upper and lower control arms are still at neutral angles to not affect ride quality. However if they were pushed to more of a 3 inch angle then yes, ride quality may be affected because the arms are no longer at neutral angles. These t1 chassis are much different than older models where these issues and stigmas were developed. But yes, an alignment is always suggested after any kind of suspension work or change
@@adventureandrepeat 4 full cranks on the keys had to have raised it more than an inch. I cranked my 24 LTZ 1 full turn and got 1/2 an inch out of that. Also shop SuspensionMaxx or Cognito and you will find a true leveling kit is much more than just fancy keys. But hey, if you're happy and your truck is happy that's all that really matters in the long run.