I just bought the wife a 2017 Suburban 4x4. We sold her Land Cruiser. I had a 3" lift with 35's on it. So I ordered a Zone 6.5" lift and the people said it would fit. Well it arrived and said 07-12 so I decided to call Zone and they said it wont fit. The original plan was to run 35's. I am having trouble getting any good info on all these bracket lift kits. So I think I just decided to run a 33x12.5 So I started looking at smaller lifts. Again, this is for my wife and I really dont need anything crazy. The tough country lift has uniball UCA's, and some diff drop spacers. Obviously the concern is keeping the front cv angles good. This does not have the auto leveling package. SO if anyone can chime in that would be great. Thanks
Tuff Country 4" Lift
- Thread starter medic83
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Shaw520
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Sounds like the smaller lift will work,..but the 12.5's are going to be more of a concern with rubbing,.. Worse case is you may have to do a small Nocal mod,.. (a little cutting on the inner fender well) Im going to be attempting 34x 11.5's on my Z71 Tahoe with just 3" lift keys,... I may be looking at the same Nocal Mod.
Tahoe14
Full Access Member
Are you talking about Norcal SS who is a vendor on this site.
01Konvict
Boats n Hoes
If you want the best small lift for an auto ride model you have to go custom. I have a knuckle lift now and next will be bracket to retain stock track width. Get a 4" CST front box kit. Rear get 2" ebay spacers and rough country 3.5" kit rear shock extensions plus sway bar links. You will need to either get FTS ride height extensions by calling them on the phone or make your own length all thread rods so the ride height sensors return to stock position before the lift. That should bring the front up to 4-4.5" and the rear 2" while retaining all stock shock function.
I dont mind trimming inner fenders. The truck does NOT have the magride or rear air. So thats not a problem. I dont mind a bracket lift, but from what Im reading, the 4" ones arent even a true 4" and that it would be cheaper to just piece some spacer lifts together. I originally wanted to use the same tire as the Land Cruiser. it was a toyo RT 285/75-18 which is a narrow 35. I think it might look funny on such a large rig though.
01Konvict
Boats n Hoes
The CST 4" actually measure bolt hole to bolt hole 4.5" so its a true drop. All the other 4" are not true 4" except the zone kit. If it doesn't have the mag or auto ride then I would put 5100s up front with the CST kit and 5160s rear. That tire will fit and look good under this lift for the burb.
Even for 4wd? And this is a 2017... Ill check their site out now. Honestly almost saying f it..and doin a 6" BDS. lol.
01Konvict
Boats n Hoes
They wont show you on the website that it will fit the SUV because the rears are different. Call them up on Monday to confirm it will work with your front end only. They refer to it as the front box kit and will ask you what arms you have on the burb, either cast steel, cast aluminum, or boxed from the factory. Then all you need for the rear is 2" coil spacers, sway links, longer shocks, and if necessary an adjustable panhard bar to center axle if it moves towards passenger side. I would measure front and rear fenders to ground to ensure you get the right size rear lift to match with the true 4.5" front.
Shaw520
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What are the opinions on the Fabtech 6in and BDS 6in? On the BDS, it looks like you are cutting the front diff mounts and welding in some plates, cutting tie rods and stuff. Not that I cant do it but if the fabtech is pure bolt up that would be nice
01Konvict
Boats n Hoes
Both are good kits but knuckle kits. The fabtech has longer trailing arms for the rear where as BDS uses stock lower arm with and adjustable upper arm. I prefer bracket lifts because they retain stock track width. If I was going with a 6" kit I would opt for the 6-8" bulletproof kit with procomp rear trailing arm drop brackets. Otherwise I would go with the 4" CST kit. Personally for a daily driver the 4" is more reasonable versus 6" because with the roof racks you need 7'3" clearance and in any city most parking decks are 7' which you can clear with the 4". It's all preference and I have 7" on my 11 Denali which can be daily driven with no issues.
Etraeger
Full Access Member
Having to trim the inner fender would depend on the wheel offset as well. With the right offset, you may not need to trim the inner fender. The 35's we run on ours with a 6" lift rub a little when the wheels are fully turned and the suspension is under compression. I would think with 33's and a 4" lift you wouldn't have too much of a problem with rubbing.
ok, so i called cst and he told me the silverado kit would work for the front. That front kit with longer rear shocks is like 2300$ I would still need to get rear spacers or a longer coil. Seems kinda overpriced for a basic drop bracket lift. What makes this one better than Fabtech or BDS. At least those would be a complete kit. The CST looks like it doesnt change track width and you can run stock wheels. That is a plus
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01Konvict
Boats n Hoes
You can find the cst kit for $1500 without rear shocks. Then you can get 5100 for front and rear. eBay cool spacers for $25 and sway bar links $15 if the ones from truck don’t won’t. All in with panhard bar maybe $2000.
The kits all do the same thing which is lift. The others increase track width to accomplish the lift. I like the cst because you can run wider wheels without rubbing as much with a knuckle lift.
Ok, I ordered the CST 4.5" kit. Looks like this will cover just the front. Should I order new coils for the rear? Longer shocks? Someone said the bilsteins. DOes anyone have the actual part numbers? And any opinions on rear coils?
01Konvict
Boats n Hoes
What model is the burb? Might get z71 coils and cheapest eBay spacers. Shocks we can find the best ones to fit. Working on other parts for links
