I’m
a big fan of Chevy trucks, but ever since they went to IFS front
suspensions the 4 wheel drive trucks just did not seem to have
that big 4x4 look to them. My truck is mainly used as a daily
driver and serves as my tow rig to haul around my Land Cruiser.
I traded my old 2wd dually for the 4wd because I occasionally
have to tow my trailer into rough roads and sometimes muddy or
snowy conditions. So the 4wd serves me well, but the looks of
the low riding truck does not! That’s when I decided to
give a call to Tuff Country and talk about suspension kits. I
didn’t want to go overkill with too much lift and end up
dealing with handling or drive line issues, so I decided on a
4 inch kit. This is the perfect amount of lift to allow enough
room for some 33 inch meats, and to give it that look it deserves!
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Bone
Stock 97 Chevrolet 4x4 extra-cab dually. |
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One
last picture of the stock truck before it goes under the knife! |
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New Tuff
Country SX6000 EZ Shocks & Boots. |
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The
Tuff Country suspension system to be installed is for 88 - 97
Chevy /GMC K2500 & K3500 trucks, part # 14823. This kit does
not include shocks, so they need to be ordered separately. |
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The following steps
and procedures in this article are not intended as Tuff Country suspension
system instructions. Although I did follow their instructions during
this installation, this article is intended simply to show the quality
and simplicity of installation of the Tuff Country EZ-Ride suspension
system. And also to demonstrate that the average shade tree mechanic
can install this kit in the garage or driveway with basic shop tools.
Note: GM uses alot of odd ball sized nuts
& bolts, so be prepared to use a large variety of metric and standard
tools.
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Getting
started! Here the front tires are removed and the truck is jacked
up and supported with jack stands. |
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Front
Suspension:
As soon as I got started I ran into a small problem, the instructions
make mention of a "torsion bar removing tool". This tool is
used for releasing the presure on the torsion bars. I quickly realized
that I didn't have one of those! So I made a few calls but ended up
coming up short. So I decided to fabricate my own tool, seemed simple
enough.... After spending a good 30 minutes or so making the tool I
attempted to release the pressure of the torsion bars, but the tool
simply bent and failed to release the pressure of the torsion bar. After
a little thought and reading ahead in the instructions I decided to
remove the torsion bars by separating the upper ball joints and dropping
the lower control arms. This was suppose to take place after I removed
the torsion bars anyhow. So on with the project!
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Disconnecting
upper and lower A-arms, brake lines, CV shafts, and sway bar. |
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Torsion
bars and cross member removed. |
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There
are three brackets that need to be cut off of the frame to make
room for new brackets and a new lower control arm sub frame. The
first cut is the lower center section rear wrap that needs to
be cut off flush with the lower control arm bracket. The next
two are the bump stops. The picture to the left shows the bump
stop that needs to be removed in order to make room for the new
upper control arms. |
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The
bump stop bracket had to be cut off flush with the frame to allow
clearance for the new upper control arm brackets. |
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Here
the new upper control arm bracket is temporarily mounted to check
for proper alignment. Basically you need to make sure the bracket
sits perpendicular (90 degrees) to the frame. If it does not, more
grinding where the bump stop was removed is needed. |
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Once the front end of the truck was pretty much gutted,
the installation process began.
Installing this suspension kit is really not that difficult, but be
warned that it is very time consuming! The instructions say that average
time is 12 hours and that Tuff Country highly recommends that a qualified
or certified mechanic perform the installation. I would guess that 12
hours is based on a mechanic that installs these lifts often, because
it took me the better part part of 3 days! But really it was not that
difficult, just time consuming and labor intensive.
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Next
was to locate the new lower sub frame. This is what the lower
control arms and differential mount to. Before mounting the sub
frame, the lower stock bracket that wraps around the differential
must me cut off flush with the driver side rear lower control
arm bracket. |
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The
bracket that sits real close to the ribs on the center section
is the part that needed to be cut off. I was a bit confused as
to how much of the bracket actually need to be removed so being
extra cautious I failed to cut enough off. So during installation
of the lower sub frame I had an alignment issue. Of course I had
to remove everything and cut more off. Oh well, better that than
if I had cut too much off! |
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Mounting
the new lower control arm sub frame. Tuff Country supplies you with
all new grade 8 hardware. The sub frame mounts using new hardware
and stock frame and bracket holes. Except for two new holes that
need to be drilled in the front location just below the radiator.
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Hardware,
bushings, sleeves, brackets, etc.. |
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New
lower sub frame mounted and torsion bars locked back into place. |
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Lower control
arms with new bump stops mounted to the new lower sub frame. |
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New torsion
bar drop blocks. The drop blocks mount to the stock torsion bar cross
member. |
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Another view
of the torsion bar drop block and cross member. |
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Nothing special
here, just installing the torsion bars and brackets |
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Seen
here is the new upper control arm bracket loosely mounted as well
as the lower control arm sub frame, lower control arms, and torsion
bars. Everything at this point is being test fitted and checked for
proper alignment. |
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Front
view of the lower control arm sub frame and control arms installed. |
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Lower arms
and tie rods installed. |
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Towards the
completion of the front end installation. |
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New
Tuff Country EZ Ride shocks installed, all that's left here is to
re-mount the brake line brackets and re-install the inner fender splash
guards. |
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Here
the front end is mostly completed except for the brake line drop
brackets, which I'm fabricating my own because I really didn't care
for the brackets that came with the kit. After that
it was off to the alignment shop.
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I
took this picture just after completing the front end to show just
how far out of whack the front end alignment was. You can see that
both the camber and toe in is pretty far out of alignment! This must
be why they mention several times through out the installation instructions
that you will need to take it to an alignment shop following the completion
of the lift kit! I spent the better part of the third day dialing
in the alignment myself and got it very close. So the drive to the
alignment shop was a smooth comfortable drive. |
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For the brake line bracket, I welded
a nut into this peice of tubing. I then welded the tubing to the upper
control arm bracket. |
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The brake line bracket bolts to the new mount and
is out of harms way. |
| Rear
Suspension: The rear suspension is a
piece of cake being that it's just solid axle and leaf springs. When
ordering the kit from Tuff Country you have the choice of using 4"
blocks or 3". If you want to level out your truck, the 3"
blocks are perfect for a pick up truck since the rear end has a rake
from the factory to compensate for loads. My dually had about 2 inches
of rake in the rear end, plus I have air bags which can pump it up
another 2 inches. I ended up using 2.5" blocks which made the
truck sit perfectly level with no load. Also, I didn't want to have
any issues with rear drive line vibrations which I hear can be a problem
with dually's that have two-piece drive lines like mine. From what
I've been told, most of the problems have been when the rear end was
lifted 4 inches or higher. So I should be good..... |
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New U-bolts
and 3" blocks supplied by Tuff Country. |
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I
don't think I really need to get much into installing a set of lift
blocks! But here's a picture of a big ass GM 14 bolt brake drum held
up by a nice shinny Harbor Freight jack stand! |
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Stock rear
axle with airbags mounted to axle using a U-bolt. |
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After
installing the lift blocks, my next issue was addressing the now un
usable airbags. Because of the 2.5" lift I of course had to unbolt
the airbags from the axle, so now I just had to figure out how to
remount them 2.5" higher. |
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Pretty
simple, I just cut down some 2.5" receiver tubing and welded
into place. Done! |
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Mounting
the shocks reminded me of installing the Bilstein 5150's on my Land
Cruiser. They came with the strap wrapped around them like the Bilsteins
did, but I didn't think I'd ever come across a shock that stiff ever
again! I was wrong, after cutting the strap on the first shock while
installing it on the front end I was quickly reminded of how stiff
a shock can be! After wrestling with the first one for a while I remembered
the best way is to install it with the strap installed and then mount
the upper part. After the upper shock eye is mounted you can either
compress the suspension or just cut it and hold the shock really tight
and muscle it into the lower mount. |
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Here's what
the rear looked like before the lift. |
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And here it
is after the lift. |
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Side shot. |
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Full profile
shot. She's looking much more like a 4x4 truck now. |
| Tires
& wheels: The previous tires where
235 X 85 X 16's on stock GM steel wheels with chrome wheel simulators.
Those tires when new measured close to 31 inches tall. The new tires
are Dunlop Mud Rover 255 X 85 X 16's. They measure a true 33"
tall by 10" wide. They are mounted on 0589 Polished Eagle Alloy's. |
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Pictured
here are the old bald 235's on stock wheels. Pretty lame! |
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New Dunlop
255 X 85 X 16 next to the old Big "O" 235 X 85 X 16. |
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Another
angle of the comparison. The 255 is 2.5 inches taller than the 235
un mounted and about an inch wider. |
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When
I purchased these tires I was told from the tire shop that they mount
255's on stock width dually wheels all the time with no tire to tire
contact. As you can see here, I was not so lucky! |
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I
had to install a set of 1/4" wheel spacers in between the wheels
to solve the problem. After installing the spacers I now have about
an 1/8" of clearance. |
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For
the exhaust pipe modifications I took the truck to
Casper's Muffler & Hitch.
They specialize in custom off-road exhaust systems, so this small
task was a walk in the park for them! Here the cross over pipe is
being cut out.
Casper's Muffler & Hitch Service
4500 Missouri Flat Rd.
Placerville, CA 95667
(530) 626-6751
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A
new peice of alluminized tubing was bent into shape to allow clearance
for the driveshaft. |
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Exhaust is complete,
now I have 4-wheel drive again! Nice... |
Conclusion:
I am very pleased with the Tuff Country
suspension system. The product is made of high quality materials,
and comes complete with everything you'll need to complete the installation
successfully including very detailed instructions and a 800 tech
support line (which I used a couple of times!) A few things to remember
when considering a GM IFS suspension kit is that the installation
process is not a simple task! It is highly recommended that installation
of suspension systems be performed by qualified technicians. To
insure proper tire wear, it is recommended that a front end alignment
is done after installation of the suspension kit. Also, you will
need to have your exhaust modified in order to reinstall the front
drive shaft. This is a simple task that any muffler shop can handle.
Contact
Information:
Tuff Country EZ-Ride Suspension
4165 West Nike Drive
West Jordan, Utah 84088
(800) 288-2190
(801) 280-2777
(801) 280-2896 fax
customerservice@tuffcountry.com
www.tuffcountry.com
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