Hey Everyone I have a 2001 tahoe ls. I want to beef up the suspension a bit but not do a crazy lift. In the end my goal is to get 1 to 2 extra ground clearance and do upgrades that will allow my truck to handle rough turrain. What I looking to eventually do is go with 18 in rims and bigger tires to achieve the extra 2 inches of clearance (is that a good idea). I am aware that i will have lift the tahoe a bit to compensate for the tires. What are some upgrades that won't break the bank but are worth doing to achieve durability and slight ride hieght. Thanks
beef up 2001 tahoe suspension
- Thread starter ladorn45
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middelgriff1
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lift keys, rear lift spacers, Bilstein 5100 shocks. Should be about 400-450
middelgriff1
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Just dont crank them all the way to where your control arms are smacking your bumpstops. Ive had the setup for a couple years now with no problems.
01TX_Tahoe
Semper Fi
or you could do 3" spindles and spacers in the rear and go with the billstein 5100s. that's what i did and it rides pretty good
owl_93
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I'm planning on doing 1-3" keys cranked to 2". and 2" rear spacers and then taking out the autorides (dead anyway) and putting bilstein 5100's all the way around? is this a good way to get clearance for some 33s while keeping a nice ride?
I can get all the bilsteins for ~$300 and the keys and spacers together for $75
owl_93
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New shocks as well?
01TX_Tahoe
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For $300 I would definitely do the 5100s
owl_93
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I just realized non of this is an option for me. I have a 4x4 with auto ride. I just bought keys, spacers, front shock extenders, and z71 rear coils.
01TX_Tahoe
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I've got the z71 coils also. Only time I can tell the difference is when I have it loaded down
TheAutumnWind
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Just delete auto ride. That's what I'm doing.
My compressor never runs, and shocks are blown, I don't want the headache of dealing with autoride issues in the future and I'm certainly not willing to spend $600 to maybe get it working right. I'm planning to run some Gabriel Max Control (monotube) shocks as they are dirt cheap in slightly longer than stock configuration.
Should allow me to level and lift the rear an inch or so when I get around to purchasing new tires.
Good to know.
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owl_93
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The autoride conversion is really expensive though isn't it?
TheAutumnWind
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To remove it? Not at all.
Just get standard shocks for a vehicle without it (bilstein 5100s). Remove the relay and use 39 ohm 25w resistors ($1 a piece @ radioshack or the like) for the connectors for the original shocks AFAIK.
Then you don't need shock extenders assuming you get longer shocks. IIRC Dodge truck rear shocks are ~2"-3" longer, and 5100s for your vehicle allow up to 2.5" front lift. IIRC here The version for 2500hd trucks are another 1" or so longer.
This should give you a better ride, although youll lose the auto levelling feature.
Keep in mind I'm just looking @ doing this myself so I have not actually done it yet.
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