G
Guest
·Superlift 6\" added to \'03 Silverado - report
I am posting this incase anyone searching for info on lifting a '03 or selecting Superlift/National Tire & Wheel
Report:
I ordered the 6" Superlift from www.ntwonline.com nice process,
and managed to get free shipping (not sure how though). The kit
came with a high angle drive shaft and twin shock hoops for the front. Came in in about 4 days from Superlift directly.
I was worried about removing the torsion bars, and that ended up no big deal. Turned the adjuster bolts al the way down,
took a jack and a punch and lifted the adjuster keys a little so that I could slide the adjuster pins out, lowered the jack and the t-bars just slide out!
The kit seems rather well built and made of good quality metal and heavy. I only had two bolt holes that did not quit line up
(rear frame cross rail) I chased them with a drill and they went in.
The first real problem came putting the shock hoops on. The passenger side one was off by 1/8" at the top hole. Had to drill it out. The Driver's side top hole was 3" off! called
Superlift and explaned the problem. They were very nice and
fed-exed a new hoop out to me. The one that came in the kit
had been miss welded (visibly crooked). Got the new hoop next day in the morning, and it was very close. The top hole lined
up, but the bottom was not lined up, after 2 hours and using
3 people, two prybars, two hammers, and a drill. we managed to tap, pry the lower end into place. Once in place there was very little binding on it and the UMC rails.
The next problem was the drive shaft, the new high angle drive shaft must have been meant for autotrac only equipped trucks, because the shifter linkage on my truck interfered with the drive shaft, called Superlift, and they said don't use it.
The instructions could use more diagrams. I spend too much time trying to figure out what the instructions were trying to tell me. After I had been driving a couple days, I crawled under the truck to look at a few things and noticed I had put the passenger side diff bracket on up side down :-( . The instructions mentioned how to determine the front and back on the bracket, but not which end should go up. (took about 20 minutes to remove, flip, replace).
The biggest problem was that the alignment shop said the closest they could get the driver's side alignment was 2 degrees pos camber. Pass side was fine. After looking at the adjusters, the driver's side was adjusted as far in as possible, and the pass side, almost as far in as possible.
This means the A-arm braces (lower front and back) are about an inch too far to the pass side, and no way to adjust them
Called Sperlift, they said loosen all related bolts on Diff, A-arms, and brackets push, and re-tighten. Even using a port-a-power the most I could get was 1/16". After visiting two mechanic shops, and getting their advise (mostly
remove bolts and hone out holes in the right direction and weld/fill), the best suggestion I got was to crank the t-bars down a little. sure enough I dropped the fron end 5/8" and got to 0 camber. I will take to the alignment shop tomorrow
for proper alignment.
There is also the issue of wheel offsets the new tires are 315/75R16 on 16x8 wheels with 5" backspacing. This barely clears the ABS and brake lines. I put heavy wire loom around both on each side and adjusted mounting to avoid contact.
At 90% full turn the tires contact the shocks. Have been thinking about putting 1/4" or 5/16" wheel spacers $15/pr to help this (although the packaging says "not for off road
use"). The other option is the bolt on type ~$80/pr (any one know of a place with a goo price?). But, I am worried, the smallest I have seen is 1&1/4" which might mean I have to grind the studs down (they look longer than that), and might lead to tire - wheel well/feder contact?
I am posting this incase anyone searching for info on lifting a '03 or selecting Superlift/National Tire & Wheel
Report:
I ordered the 6" Superlift from www.ntwonline.com nice process,
and managed to get free shipping (not sure how though). The kit
came with a high angle drive shaft and twin shock hoops for the front. Came in in about 4 days from Superlift directly.
I was worried about removing the torsion bars, and that ended up no big deal. Turned the adjuster bolts al the way down,
took a jack and a punch and lifted the adjuster keys a little so that I could slide the adjuster pins out, lowered the jack and the t-bars just slide out!
The kit seems rather well built and made of good quality metal and heavy. I only had two bolt holes that did not quit line up
(rear frame cross rail) I chased them with a drill and they went in.
The first real problem came putting the shock hoops on. The passenger side one was off by 1/8" at the top hole. Had to drill it out. The Driver's side top hole was 3" off! called
Superlift and explaned the problem. They were very nice and
fed-exed a new hoop out to me. The one that came in the kit
had been miss welded (visibly crooked). Got the new hoop next day in the morning, and it was very close. The top hole lined
up, but the bottom was not lined up, after 2 hours and using
3 people, two prybars, two hammers, and a drill. we managed to tap, pry the lower end into place. Once in place there was very little binding on it and the UMC rails.
The next problem was the drive shaft, the new high angle drive shaft must have been meant for autotrac only equipped trucks, because the shifter linkage on my truck interfered with the drive shaft, called Superlift, and they said don't use it.
The instructions could use more diagrams. I spend too much time trying to figure out what the instructions were trying to tell me. After I had been driving a couple days, I crawled under the truck to look at a few things and noticed I had put the passenger side diff bracket on up side down :-( . The instructions mentioned how to determine the front and back on the bracket, but not which end should go up. (took about 20 minutes to remove, flip, replace).
The biggest problem was that the alignment shop said the closest they could get the driver's side alignment was 2 degrees pos camber. Pass side was fine. After looking at the adjusters, the driver's side was adjusted as far in as possible, and the pass side, almost as far in as possible.
This means the A-arm braces (lower front and back) are about an inch too far to the pass side, and no way to adjust them
Called Sperlift, they said loosen all related bolts on Diff, A-arms, and brackets push, and re-tighten. Even using a port-a-power the most I could get was 1/16". After visiting two mechanic shops, and getting their advise (mostly
remove bolts and hone out holes in the right direction and weld/fill), the best suggestion I got was to crank the t-bars down a little. sure enough I dropped the fron end 5/8" and got to 0 camber. I will take to the alignment shop tomorrow
for proper alignment.
There is also the issue of wheel offsets the new tires are 315/75R16 on 16x8 wheels with 5" backspacing. This barely clears the ABS and brake lines. I put heavy wire loom around both on each side and adjusted mounting to avoid contact.
At 90% full turn the tires contact the shocks. Have been thinking about putting 1/4" or 5/16" wheel spacers $15/pr to help this (although the packaging says "not for off road
use"). The other option is the bolt on type ~$80/pr (any one know of a place with a goo price?). But, I am worried, the smallest I have seen is 1&1/4" which might mean I have to grind the studs down (they look longer than that), and might lead to tire - wheel well/feder contact?
