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Leveling kit

Brokearrow

Full Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2022
Messages
26
Recently purchased my first avy-Bone stock, 4 wd, uncladed 2003 Z71 and am wanting to level it and upgrade the tires.
Will be mostly used as winter driver and not a wheeler.
Recommended leveling kit?
Maximum tire size?
I tried the search but get lost in a sea of old threads
 
Last edited:
Recently purchased my first avy-Bone stock, 4 wd, uncladed 2003 Z71 and am wanting to level it and upgrade the tires.
Will be mostly used as winter driver and not a wheeler.
Recommended leveling kit?
Maximum tire size?
I tried the search but get lost in a sea of old threads
Unfortunately those old threads are your best source of info and go into detail of what you want based on current condition of your AV and what your plans are etc.
If your suspension is original it may just need replacement with quality Z71 parts. If you truly want to level then look for a good quality kit that fits a Z71 AV or Suburban.
You state you plan to drive it in the winter yet you want larger tires, if you live in a heavy snow region I would think that could work against you if the snow builds up in the wheel wells and rubs on the tires.
I would stay with the Z71 17" rims since it allows you to upgrade your first gen brakes to larger second gen AV brakes when needed.
If you have not driven your AV in snow yet you may be surprised how well it does even in stock mode due to it's great weigh distribution.
 
Safe here from the snow- A rare occurrence- Just lots of rain! Getting a leveling kit installed next week so I guess I will try out a few sizes and see what will work
 
Recently purchased my first avy-Bone stock, 4 wd, uncladed 2003 Z71 and am wanting to level it and upgrade the tires.
Will be mostly used as winter driver and not a wheeler.
Recommended leveling kit?
Maximum tire size?
I tried the search but get lost in a sea of old threads
 
I have alot to share as I also have an 03 and have installed a leveling kit rear springs etc. After alot of typing I somehow M unable to find my draft. I will post again today (different rims and tire sizes, a- arms shocks etc.) when time permits.

Don
 
Recently purchased my first avy-Bone stock, 4 wd, uncladed 2003 Z71 and am wanting to level it and upgrade the tires.
Will be mostly used as winter driver and not a wheeler.
Recommended leveling kit?
Maximum tire size?
I tried the search but get lost in a sea of old threads
Hey Brokearrow,

I bought my '03 4WD 1500 w/cladding, new in '04 and drove it pretty much bone stock for 220k miles. The first ten years were in Northern Indiana, next to Michigan border, so I have a lot or memories to draw from when discussing driving, towing, and rescuing other trucks/cars etc. in the snow.

Recently (after 220K miles) I started putting a little time and a little money, as little as possible for maximum results. (Gone are the youthful days of new trucks and dumping 20K into them overnight.) into my avalanche as time and finances permit.

From new in 2004 to close to 200k miles in 2015, I never had a carport, nor garage and every year we had snow on the road or coming down, at least 6 months out of the year. I ran the stock 17s (265 70 17's) at 31 by 10.4 inches with just the stock "All-terrain...lol" tires without any problems in 4-6 foot snow drifts caused by city snow-ploughs! I have snatched, or pulled out many other cars and trucks that have spun off the country roads and ended up in the snow-filled ditches; one was even a Police cruiser. When things got a little dicey I would slip it into 4w-low, and even with just the G-80 in the rear, and an open front diff., problem solved. Four round trips found me towing a 6500 lb. 'Small-house' trailer down to Alabama and then the gulf without any strain.

In 2018, I picked up a set of brand-new 2nd Gen. 18s with new factory tires for a song and ran those until a few months ago. I replaced the stock tires with 33 x 10.5 all terrains and did not notice any decrease in mpg., rubbing, even when turning lock to lock. Nice thing about the 2wd option is that you can power slide (giving away my age, instead of saying drifting) in the snow all day, on road or off road.

Last Dec. I had off (as a teacher) from work so I went ahead and installed a Ready Lift 2-3" leveling kit's front torsion bar keys. I did not want just aluminum coil spring spacers in the rear so I picked up a set of new, much taller, progressive rate rear coils. In the bed (full time) I have two 10-inch high wooden drawers, full length and full bed-width with all my supplies in them, and a 3/4 Plywood sliding deck.

In total, with myself, my wife, two other adults, my boxes and tools / water, and a weeks-worth of supplies and camping gear, she sits level with the 2-1/2-inch torsion-bar lifted front, using only the upper, softer rate, portion of the new rear coils. With two bikes, two kayaks, and lots more gear it starts using the stiffer rings on the bottom of the rear coils and she stays at the same neutral height as the front. When towing and all my gear I put air in the additional in-coil air bags, but don't feel l use any of the advertised 1000 lb. additional payload.

I just replaced the 18s with 16x8 rims with a larger offset to move the edge of the tires even with the side of truck. I wanted to go back to more rubber and less rim and am so glad I did when hitting ruts, rocks etc. though it does feel a slight bit squirrely above 75mph on 90-degree freeway turns or above 90 on the bridge during high cross winds. Below that it feels great.

The new tires are still 33s but 1 inch wider (11.5) on 16x 8 inch rims with a neg. 5 offset. I did not have to trim any cladding or body. When lock to lock, forward/ reverse I have no rubbing even at full lock and bounding over small ruts and rocks 8-12 inches high.

I did change to larger/ beefier upper a-arms but now don't feel I needed to. I also installed longer, stiffer, Bilstein singles on all corners, and longer sway bar linkage in back only. I wanted limiting straps (high speed So CA. / Mexico dessert running and 10 - ft high jumps are hard memories to shake) so I fabricated some steel plates for mounting limiting straps and taught myself to weld them onto the upper portion of the shock tower.

Can't say anything negative about this set up. After 40-plus years of off-roading 35's on jeeps to 44s on 1-ton trucks, I think realistically that 35's would put too much strain on the puny IFS in front and the darn 5-link coil 'car' suspension in the rear. I know they look better but the added strain on drive-line components and the higher reoccurring costs for larger tires, just to barely gain 1-inch more clearance does not seem worth it at this juncture of my life. However, ... I knew I should have waited until I found a 2500 back in 04. ;)
 
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