Just purchased a 96 suburban 4x4 and looking to possibly do a 6” BDS lift with new rims/tires. I plan to upgrade the exhaust along with ball joints, pitman arm and ideler arm. Any suggestions on lifts, tire size, other items needed?

 

Nice looking Burb, Al!

Anytime you lift a vehicle multiple things come into play. You'll need to make sure your driveshaft splines, can take that lift for one. You already know that you won't be able to take turns as sharp as you used to. You'll have to upgrade your shocks for the extra distance. You're tires, if larger, will drop your engine RPM's and I'd beef up the brakes with something with extra stopping power like Akebono's next brake pad change, which is on my to-do list for my vehicle. Scotty Kilmer swears by them.

You will not like this much but it's something rarely mentioned and it should be. If one is found to be at fault in an accident, people like me are coming for them with an attorney at hand. Modifying a vehicle to jack it up very high is very real a safety issue, and I for one am tired of large, jacked-up pickups and SUV's tailgating me while in my car. I have a commercial drivers license to protect, so speeding in my vehicles is not an option as it is possible I could be fired for it, even driving in my own vehicles.

I always have a digital camera with fresh batteries and a formatted with dedicated SD card and audio too, to take pictures, video and any verbal sounds from drivers, police, ect. and a great attorney to file a lawsuit against any driver who acts like an idiot, even those driving a car, including non-stock additions that are plainly obvious.

Please don't tailgate other people in your Burb. I am a professional class A driver and I never tailgate anyone. I will do everything possible to let a faster driver by, but sometimes it's not possible. Tailgating is almost as dangerous as drunk driving, and I have seen my share of fatality accidents in my time. They are NOT pretty at all.

That said, have fun with your Burb, man. I am not at all trying to sound off as "mean", or scare you, just make you aware that a jacked up vehicle takes extra aware driving issues while on the roadways, just like it is for me in a Class 8 vehicle with up to 80k on my rig. Off-road, you can have at it with the extra ground clearance in your Burb.

 

Thanks for the information. I was a Fleet Manager for years and understand the issues professional drivers face on a daily basis. I have had several lifted trucks I'm not one to follow close. I'm not going up to high as a 6" lift only brings the vehicle up 4" and the stance on the Burb is somewhat low. Great minds think alike. since I have 188k on the burb and lifting I'm replacing all of the steering components with new US made heavy duty parts. I'm also replacing the breaks as you motioned with better stopping power. Since I do not have the time to do it, I'm having everything professionally Installed by a shop in my area (DK Diesel) who does this type of work all the time. Thanks for the comment.

 

Fleet manager? that must be fun! I hate dealing with other drivers too much. Too much gossiping. Glad CB radios are gone too. I always drive solo.

I did put the 3.5" inch lift on my old Jeep CJ-5, but as you said, it was more like 2.5" inches. Even at that, it made a big difference in rock crawling and mudding. Had to modify the skid plate since Jeep got cheap on the 4-speeds and used the three-speed skid plate. Had about an inch of spacers from factory to make it fit along the frame, Had a welder cut the skid plate/ transmission-mount down, got rid of all the spacers and gained an inch of ground clearance at the center.