Bigger tires without a lift. Level kit w shocks?
 

Hello,

First post here.

I have a 2001 suburban and want to put bigger tires and aftermarket wheels on. I do not wish to do a lift kit for various reasons but I wish to replace original shocks and give a leveling kit a try. From what I understand the leveling kit below

Ready Lift Leveling Kits - 125+ Read Lift Leveling Kits Reviews - 4WD, SuperDuty, Duramax - Front & Rear

will raise my front up to 2.5" with torsion key kits and the rear either 1.5" or 1" using coil spring spacers.

Does anyone have any experience with a system like this? How does it affect the ride, handling ect?

Now for shocks I was first going to go with Ruff Country here, comes with leveling kits and shocks

Chevrolet/GMC Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban 1500 2" Leveling Kit 2001-2006

but most the reviews and threads I've read say these shocks are not that good for normal and highway driving and more meant for off-road of which I won't be doing much. I assume it's the actual shocks that are no good rather than the leveling kit itself. If this is true would the Bilstein shocks here be a better option?

Bilstein 5100 Shocks - Best Price & Reviews on Bilstein 5100 Adjustable & Nonadjustable Off Road Shocks

If so would the cheaper shocks, the 5100s work just as good for normal driving as the more expensive 5160s on the same page? I notice the 5100 rear shocks are for a 3" lift, would they work with the 1.5" coil spacers? The front 5100 shocks are perfect as they are for 0-2.5" torsion key lift but again the back 5100 shocks say 3".
Are the more expensive 5160s meant more for off-road or would they be the better choice for both front and rear as the front 5160s are for 0-2.5" key lift and the rears 0-1"

Or does someone have a opinion of better shocks that would work with a leveling kit?

Not a suspension person and am clueless on this. My goal is to get bigger tires, about 305/60/18s with aftermarket rims on and maintain good ride comfort and handling without having to do a full 4-6" suspension lift.

What if anything else in general would I need to replace, modify or add-on in order to maintain good ride with no loss of handling? Mainly do highway and in town driving but do get in the mud, sand and snow now and then. More concerned with overall comfort and handling.

Thanks.

After doing a search on leveling and shocks I found about a half dozen threads similar to mine and none of them were ever answered, a few were 5+ years old. It seems the experts and the majority here have no experience with leveling.

I will be doing the leveling and new tires/wheels in a few weeks or so and will post info and pics back here.

Welcome to the forum and thanks! you could be our lift and level expert:p
looking forward to the updates

I am literally looking to do the exact same thing and am running into the same issues. Indecision and a lack of overall "lift" knowledge is preventing me from making the leap. Not looking to do anything crazy, in the market for new tires and figured why not go bigger. I would love to find out what you ended up going with so I don't have to re-create the wheel.

Thanks

I've never been impressed with anything Rough Country's made... I've had several Jeep and have only heard bad to mediocre things about them.

As for adjusting the torsion bars, it's going to ride rougher, you'll wear out the front CVs faster, and you may lose some track width the higher you go.

Bigger tires also means more wear and tear on suspension components, combined with slower acceleration and worse MPG.

Just FYI. my suspension experience comes from installing at least 3 lifts on all Jeeps I've owned and helping friends w/theirs...

Sadly I just sold my Jeep last week, it had a 3" lift and 35s.

Bigger tires and lift
 

I did the torsion key lift on my 2010 2500 Suburban, I went to GM and got the 1/2 ton keys from the parts department. These keys are indexed differently, that is what gives the lift, about 2-2.5. The ride did'nt change, I did add the shock extensions,got them on E bay. hope this helps.

Visit norcaltruck.com or cognitomotorsports.com and you will learn a lot about leveling and lifting.

The only leveling kit I would consider includes all of the fix's that cognito makes. The Iridium Stage 8 should give you peace of mind for about $1400 in parts plus an alignment, but you'll still have steep CV angles.

I lifted my 2000 Sub 2500 with a Tuff Country 4" kit and Rancho RS9000 adjustable shocks and the ride was nice. I ran that rig hard and it never gave me any trouble.

I'm getting ready to lift my 2003 Sub 2500 with a 4" kit from Cognito. It comes with Fox shocks. I'm also getting the front CV Driveline. I'll do a post when I'm done with the new rig...

To Lifting Your truck Add torsion keys you can lift your truck up to 1.5 inches. If you have a suspension system. I recommend you use torsion keys.

You can accomplish it with ease through air shocks. if you get too lenient and try increasing it beyond 2 inches, the truck will give out, and you won’t be able to drive comfortably.

I bought a set of 20 inch Chevy OE wheels of a 2016 Tahoe. I want to put them on my 2001 Suburban. No plan to lift. The wheel wells look to be big enough and then some. I worry about turning. Any advice or pointers?