Stiffening up suspension with little/no drop

[randeez]

2012 yukon awd -
As much as i would love to do a 4/6 drop, i really just need to run over stuff sometimes. It does have the autoride as long as i can keep lights off the dash i have no problem deleting it. it's just mushy all over, sway bars should take care of the cornering, but it's the weight transfer accel and braking that i want to tame. Im also open to lifting a little bit but looked at most kits are just spacers for anything up to about 4" of lift

upgraded sway bars - djm, belltech, hotchkis any other worth looking at any realy differences between them? and would I just use stock end links(upgraded stock length available?)?

front- endgame will probably be a coil-over... been keeping an eye on tony/belltech's offering. there's some other options that pretty much steal lift kits coilover mount to convert it to an eye, and then piece together a set of QA-1, viking, etc with bearing/bearing mounts, adjustment for compression/rebound

rear - i think belltech makes a 2" drop spring? the PPV is also dropped? are there differences between stock springs? will also be looking for shocks I can adjust compression/rebound be able to keep pretty comfy most of the time - and run the compression way up for track night. QA1 part looks like 901 aluminum stocker should work pretty well 14.88 compressed/23.63 extended. as my yukon sits it's just over 20" eye to eye. and available single, double, or non adjustable. would probably be ok for 2" drop also as 2" on the spring shouldnt be exactly 2" on the shock

wheels tires - prob 22-24, not stock, light as i can afford

 

[NORCAL SS]

pm me ive been down this road many times over the years.

 

[randeez]

thanks tony!
ended up starting out with the 2/3-4 kit, got most of it installed yesterday/ went pretty good. still need to put endlinks on rear sway bar, at the time we didnt realize it needed to move over to clear the panhard bar bracket. just threw the stock links back on bar doesnt sit level but it'll do for a few days till i can get back to it.
will be removing the autolevel shocks, hoping that has something to do with the fender height between sides
need some new tires, plenty of tread left but they are just chopped, noisy on the highway, and won't stay balanced. The chrome on the stock rims is starting to peel so i'll probably replace wheels/tires before new shocks

forgot to take before measurements but iirc rear was way up around 38" before drop.
now driveside is 1" lower than passenger side :
LR- 34", LF 33-3/4"
RR-35", RF- 34-3/4"

***took a look at the links for the level sensors, passenger side front was about 1/2" longer so I pushed it back together, may have to get some threaded rod if it pulls apart again

 

[992dr]

Looks great Randy, nice job.

 

[randeez]

Checked the front level sensor links had pulled out of the cup a little bit, maybe 1/2" ...think that may have been why it was sitting uneven - havent remeasured but i dont notice the difference anymore

I did get the sway bar links on, didn't move the driverside bracket tho so it's kinda into the radius

I ordered some QA-1s, ride height as it sits now (with autolevel) is right about 18" shock length. I may throw the spring spacer on if it drops much more deleting the air. I grabbed the delete resistors from ebay and hopefully the correct shock eye bushing.

QA-1 TS806: Compressed Height-13.50", Extended Height-21.00" single adjustable, 3/4" poly eye on both ends

Fox shock makes a sleeve that is 3/4 OD, 14mm ID, and 1.675"L which i'm hoping is the correct one needed, i ordered 4 of them
part no. FOX-213-28-001-B

 

[992dr]

Sounds like you're doing a coil-over conversion.
How are you mounting the rears? The angle in the stock location isn't the most ideal and may change the rate of the coil at such a steep angle.

 

[randeez]

nope rear is staying stock setup, eyeing those spohn arms and panhard now . They make stock replacement shocks but none for our specific application it took a while to figure out which was needed, found the correct length but they make 6-7 different mounting configs ended up just emailing them is the easiest lol belltech shock extensions move the shock back about 2" to help out with the angle

front is prob getting actual coil over tho

 

[992dr]

Nice. I'm doing a conversion in the front as well. What method are you going for mounting them? I've been talking to Atomic (Richard), great guy.

I really like the design of bell techs shock extenders. I have them but cant use them because of DJMs link relocating kit design wont let me.

 

[randeez]

probably the same, am AWD the bottom of atomics bracket kicks out a little bit for more clearance, not sure lowering spindle can be used or not.

 

[992dr]

Nice. Ohh gotcha, yup he's got the right kit for yah. Mines 2wd
If you're planning on using spindles, let him know.