The KidWagon

[KidWgn]

Guess I better start a build thread now that I’ve started modifying my “grown up car”

2012 LTZ with every option I know of, and black on black! I couldn’t believe how hard it was to find a black on black LTZ, and this one fell into my lap 8 miles from me at a dealership. Many will say I overpaid at $20,500, but I could not find another one in this condition, with “low” mileage, in the condition I wanted.

Purchased January 21 2023 with 100,321 miles on her. One-owner and copious maintenance records, no negatives on CARFAX history, and most importantly, UNMODIFIED!

These photos are from the morning after purchasing.

 

[KidWgn]

First thing was first, get rid of those beat up LTZ wheels! I searched, and searched, and searched for some 24x10 Vossens, and again, a set fell in my lap. This time I had to drive 40 miles, but it was well worth it. Picked these up September 2 for $1900! The wheels are in PERFECT condition, save for one knick, and came wrapped in 305/35-24 Nitto NT420’s with 8/32 left on them.

Eventually I may have them powder coated all silver, but the two-tone look is growing on me, especially now that I’ve…

 

[KidWgn]

FINALLY lowered the truck. Huge shoutout to K.M. Ash and Travis over at SportTruckPros for all the information and helping me build a piece by piece kit.

Belltech 2511 2” drop spindles in the front
Trekline 5” rear spring with their shock and trailing arm relocation kits.

Still waiting on my Viking rear shocks (you’ll want an "X13" shock if doing this exact setup) and the Viking front coilovers from AFP to drop the front another 1.5”

Edited: X13 shock, not X19.

 

[KidWgn]

Diode Dynamics:
SL1 H11 headlights
XP80 parking lights (amber)
XP80 turn signals (amber)
SS3 Max selective yellow fog light kit

Note how wide the throw is of the fog lights!

 

[KidWgn]

Here’s a little action shot of the head and fog lights, through a 50% tinted windshield.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Very nice find and subsequent mods!

 

[89Suburban]

Nice man.

 

[KidWgn]

Very nice find and subsequent mods!

Nice man.

Thanks fellas

 

[TollKeeper]

You obviously drove the truck before you put the drop on it.. Any noticeable difference in the ride?

Looks good!

 

[KidWgn]

You obviously drove the truck before you put the drop on it.. Any noticeable difference in the ride?

Looks good!

So, I'm one of the lucky few who had a fully functioning air setup. There's a MAJOR dip in the offramp to get to my house, probably 4-5" deep and about 4-foot from front to rear. With the factory suspension I could hit it at 80 and all you felt was a slight bump.

Without the air stuff, you definitely feel the bounce. I'll update again when I get the Viking stuff installed, as I'm sure it's going to make a WORLD of difference over the factory struts without the air.

 

[KidWgn]

After some conversation with @iamdub , he asked me to post these photos here to show that there IS an alternative for 2007-2014 Tahoe / Escalade / Yukon / Suburban rear sway bar links. This is part of the Trekline 5” rear drop kit:

 

[iamdub]

After some conversation with @iamdub , he asked me to post these photos here to show that there IS an alternative for 2007-2014 Tahoe / Escalade / Yukon / Suburban rear sway bar links. This is part of the Trekline 5” rear drop kit:

I see what they did. I like the idea of having the bushed ends inline with each other versus the Z'ed offset design of the DJMs- the joints are in compression and tension versus shear. If I manage to break mine, I'll keep this idea in mind. Or make a stupidly beefy Z.

 

[KidWgn]

I see what they did. I like the idea of having the bushed ends inline with each other versus the Z'ed offset design of the DJMs- the joints are in compression and tension versus shear. If I manage to break mine, I'll keep this idea in mind. Or make a stupidly beefy Z.

I'll probably buy a set of Tony's just to see what they're all about. I like the idea of spherical bushings vs static bushings.

I need my damn shocks/coils to get here so that I can get on with dropping the rear down. I've left it sitting on the bump stops intentionally so as not to blow out the stock shocks!

 

[KidWgn]

Little before work mod-session.

Snagged a Corsa intake from American Trucks for half price because it was “scuffed”. I can’t find a single scuff on this thing.

The factory air box tray comes out and the Corsa tray mounts directly to the body, which is a nice touch.

My only complain is that the filter is bright blue

I’ll probably throw an LED in the air box to really show off the Corsa lid.

 

[KidWgn]

After going back and forth with Richard from Atomic Fab about a dozen times, we landed on doing an X13 shock instead of an X19. I corrected my earlier post to reflect that.

Here's why:
"Generally for handling and stock-type driving, you want a shock that is around 40% compressed at ride height leaving 60% of its travel for compression. So since your mounting holes are 17.75" (let's average) you'll want something with a median ride height a little below that. [...] So with that I would go with the x13 since you will be more concerned about not having enough compression travel vs extension. Extension travel is useful if you plan to do a lot of off-road driving and need the articulation travel, or racing where you need weight transfer. Otherwise you should never really be at the upper end of the shock fully extended unless its hanging in the air on a lift in which case the load is applied slowly so it's not a big deal." --Richard, owner of AFP

The X19 shock had a 60% length of 18.28". If I take my 17.75" shock mounting hole distance and subtract the collapsed length, I'd only have 4.15" of compression travel.

The X13 will have a 60% length of 17.1", meaning I'll actually only be ~30% compressed at ride height, giving me 4.85" of compression travel. That's a gain of almost 3/4" of compression travel!

I also went with the Berserker upgrade on both the front coilovers and the rear shocks, which will allow me to change the valving profiles at home. I ordered them with the Pro-Touring valving (GF).

Oh and I ordered his 1" lower poly engine mounts, which should help with the transmission exit-angle!

It's just money...right?!

 

[iamdub]

After going back and forth with Richard from Atomic Fab about a dozen times, we landed on doing an X13 shock instead of an X19. I corrected my earlier post to reflect that.

Here's why:
"Generally for handling and stock-type driving, you want a shock that is around 40% compressed at ride height leaving 60% of its travel for compression. So since your mounting holes are 17.75" (let's average) you'll want something with a median ride height a little below that. [...] So with that I would go with the x13 since you will be more concerned about not having enough compression travel vs extension. Extension travel is useful if you plan to do a lot of off-road driving and need the articulation travel, or racing where you need weight transfer. Otherwise you should never really be at the upper end of the shock fully extended unless its hanging in the air on a lift in which case the load is applied slowly so it's not a big deal." --Richard, owner of AFP

The X19 shock had a 60% length of 18.28". If I take my 17.75" shock mounting hole distance and subtract the collapsed length, I'd only have 4.15" of compression travel.

The X13 will have a 60% length of 17.1", meaning I'll actually only be ~30% compressed at ride height, giving me 4.85" of compression travel. That's a gain of almost 3/4" of compression travel!

I also went with the Berserker upgrade on both the front coilovers and the rear shocks, which will allow me to change the valving profiles at home. I ordered them with the Pro-Touring valving (GF).

Oh and I ordered his 1" lower poly engine mounts, which should help with the transmission exit-angle!

It's just money...right?!

I never knew such mounts existed, intentionally designed to lower the engine an inch. Cool!

 

[KidWgn]

I never knew such mounts existed, intentionally designed to lower the engine an inch. Cool!

i can't believe I knew about something that you didn't!

Link to the marvelous motor mounts

 

[iamdub]

i can't believe I knew about something that you didn't!

Link to the marvelous motor mounts

Trekline, AFP, Viking... You're using an uncommon combination of parts.

I've seen their mounts, just never knew they offered a 1" drop version. This particularly intrigues me cuz I collected a couple pairs of old stock mounts to use as templates and/or to modify to make a non-oil bag version cheaper than the Hummer mounts, possibly using clamshells. Never thought about any benefit to altering the design to lower the engine or for any other reason. I ended up just ordering some Hummer mounts for my Tahoe. With the cost of them skyrocketing again, I might revisit that idea.

 

[KidWgn]

View attachment 410720


Trekline, AFP, Viking... You're using an uncommon combination of parts.

I've seen their mounts, just never knew they offered a 1" drop version. This particularly intrigues me cuz I collected a couple pairs of old stock mounts to use as templates and/or to modify to make a non-oil bag version cheaper than the Hummer mounts, possibly using clamshells. Never thought about any benefit to altering the design to lower the engine or for any other reason. I ended up just ordering some Hummer mounts for my Tahoe. With the cost of them skyrocketing again, I might revisit that idea.

I wanted to put my OWN kit together. Every "kit" I could find has something about it I didn't particularly like. I may end up swapping out the rear springs for something else, but overall I'm very happy with the quality of every single part so far. I am BEYOND excited to get these AFP parts in. He even emailed me to ask what size shirt I wear so he could throw a freebie in there

 

[iamdub]

I wanted to put my OWN kit together. Every "kit" I could find has something about it I didn't particularly like. I may end up swapping out the rear springs for something else, but overall I'm very happy with the quality of every single part so far. I am BEYOND excited to get these AFP parts in. He even emailed me to ask what size shirt I wear so he could throw a freebie in there

I get it! I used my own combination of parts to get what I wanted- McGaughy, Belltech, DJM, Spohn, Bilstein, Jeep

How's your front dropped in addition to the 2" spindles?