leveling kit for 2016 chev 3500
- Thread starter Blu Du
- Start date
Second the duramax forum idea. If I were you, see if you can crank your factory keys to where you want the front to sit. If you like the ride, leave it. If not, I'd get some cognito ucas and different shocks.
I just bought a 16 3/4 dmax. 7 1/2 turns on the bars brought the front end up 1.5 inches. Well fit 275 65 20 tires without rubbing they are 34 inches tall. Need to align afterword. I personally don't like going any higher because as you get the bars tighter with a leveling kit/key kit the ride goes to hell. Service manager at a Chevy dealer and we do a ton of that kind of stuff.
Dmax Store This is the leveling kit I put on my 2015 2500. Dmax's kit has a lifetime warranty no questions asked. As for the ride yes the leveling kit changes it. If someone says the ride didn't change, they are lying. You have to change the preload on your torsion bars to gain height in the front. Is it terrible? No but defiantly not factory. I will be replacing my leveling kit with a CST 3-6" lift kit.
For leveling kits we use Traxda. Have had no problems with them. It's a key and shock spacer. The down side is to get enough preload on the bars to get close to level, the thing rides like a hay wagon. The Cognito kits that come with upper control arms I personally would avoid. We have seen several upper ball joint failures on their arms. The only way to retain factory ride is a lift that repositions the spindle rather than preloads the bar. On those IMO you maintain ride quality, but give up steering/driving quality.
I would argue that point. I have had an '03 and '05 lifted duramaxes that road/steered as good as factory. Just make sure you buy a good lift kit and not a cheap as possible lift kit. And for good quality lift kits IMO are, CST, Cognito, ZONE, etc.. But to help with steering you will also need to add PISK and these are optional but I would add with a lift, kryptonite tie rods or tie rod sleeves. Dmaxstore also has the PISK and their Tie rods in a kit. My '03 Duramax had a CST 6-8 lift set at 8" on 37" toyo mts with PISK and kryptonites tie rods, I wouldn't hesitate to let my wife drive the truck and not worry about.
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I think the cognito kit is probably the best idea with the new upper control arm bent so you end up with stock amount of wheel droop. but $1200 is a little steep. I think for now I will just try cranking down on the torsion bolts 7 times. it needs to come exactly 2" to be level and I also figured on airbags with a pump so I can level it back the other way when I put 3 sleds up on the deck. I just wish I could ind a truck with the look I want and see what equipment he used and what tire and wheel size
I just got a 2500 HD and was thinking the same but after some research I see a lot of owners do the rear drop for leveling. Several different drop shackles out there.
ok I just got my truck all done. I went with a pro ryde leveling kit which raised the front 2" to level the truck. I went with 285 65 r20 BFG KO2 on 20x9 fuel wheels. the combo raised the truck 3" in the front and now I cant hardly get into the damn thing, LOL. I haven't done an alignment on it yet because I will see igf I can lower the front a 1/2" and see if it rubs or not. all in all it drives the way it did when new.
Dug back a long ways and found a pic
Wyo's setup is a 6" BDS kit, 37" tire.
This is the kit I would do if I had a 2500/3500. Has not been released yet and will be spendy.
http://bds-suspension.com/blog/?p=10354
