2 Inch Lift on H2.

[HumminNBoatin']

I am looking to lift my truck. But I dont want a 4inch or 6 inch lift. I just want a little bit of lift. Somewhere around 2 inches. Anyway I have a couple of questions and thought I would post my plan and see what you guys think.

Front End:
Currently the front end is all stock. I was thininking of cranking the T-Bars for another 1 1/2 - 2 inches for height.

But how far is the max I can crank for height before I max it out? I want to be sure that I can leave at least 1 full inch of upward motion if not more before whe arms hit the bump stops

Also how far can i lift without putting too much stress on the CV's and Tierods??? Is an 1 1/2 - 2 inches really going to stress them that much more??

I would also probubly get new shocks as well. I am currently running the original ones so im sure after the adjustment they would be rendered usless pretty quickly??

Back End:
I currently HAVE factory Air ride.

I was thinking I would really like the truck to ride at its extened ride height all the time in the rear with the possibility to raise it yet another 2-3 inches when pressing the ride height button on the dash.

I have some questions about that:
Can I just adjust the height sensors to make it ride higher and trick the computer?? Then press the button and get another 2 inches??
My gut tells me this will not work as the bags will not expand that far.

I was really thinking of placing a hockey puck under the air bag to help with this.

If raising this high, am I staring to change the geometry of the rear end too much. Trailing Arms? Drive Shaft? Brake Lines?

Any insite would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!

Eric

[OrangeCrush]

When I had my '03 H2, I installed the fabtech 6" kit. It was an excellent product but unfortunately along with a liftkit went bigger tires, different gears and supercharger.

Too much for my daily driver...

Having said that, last week I picked up an '06 SUT. I installed the torsion keys and raised the truck up 2 1/2". With a 2" taller tire, that raised the truck up an add'l 1".

3 - 3 1/2" inches was perfect for what I was looking to accomplish. Here's a pic of before and after.





The best part is the ride.... virtually unchanged.

Mark

[hdmlnium]

I just did the Truxxx lift kit on my 08 H2 sut. It is a 2"-3" in front with different keys and shock extenders and in the rear it is 1.25" coil spacers.. Took about an hour and a half to install and am very happy with the kit. It was $315.00 shipped.

Bill

[HumminNBoatin']

Well the hard part for me is the Rear End Lift. I have Air Ride. I want to keep its functionality. I need to find out if there are spacers for the air bags.

[NJ H2]

Originally Posted by OrangeCrush

When I had my '03 H2, I installed the fabtech 6" kit. It was an excellent product but unfortunately along with a liftkit went bigger tires, different gears and supercharger.

Too much for my daily driver...

Having said that, last week I picked up an '06 SUT. I installed the torsion keys and raised the truck up 2 1/2". With a 2" taller tire, that raised the truck up an add'l 1".

3 - 3 1/2" inches was perfect for what I was looking to accomplish. Here's a pic of before and after.





The best part is the ride.... virtually unchanged.

Mark

Looks Great Mark! Are those 37" Toyo MT's?

[DuckTruck]

You might also look into the 2-3" cognito lift. I am also looking to go this route.

DUCK

[HumminNBoatin']

I not really a fan of the cognito kit. The reality is you can use the OE upper A-Arms and just have it aligned unless you want to push the front end to the max. I am not looking to go all the way with the front end. Just up a little. Also the rear end is where I have more questions than anything. I am going to call Travis over at Rubber Duck as he may know more about what to do in the rear.

[DuckTruck]

"to the max".......that's exactly what I intend to do and run 40"s

DUCK

[SummitUp]

Originally Posted by hdmlnium

I just did the Truxxx lift kit on my 08 H2 sut. It is a 2"-3" in front with different keys and shock extenders and in the rear it is 1.25" coil spacers.. Took about an hour and a half to install and am very happy with the kit. It was $315.00 shipped.

I'd like to impart some valuable info to anyone who wants to do the torsion bar lift. IMO it's a waste of money to pay $267 for the <Truxx Torsion Bar Keys> with the shock extender brackets when for $44 ($22 each) you can buy the same keys from <gmparts direct>. Just order GM Part # 15592573.

With the money you save, you can buy quality Bilstein shocks which are longer and do away with the shock extenders. it's a much better way to go IMO.

Here's a photo I took which shows the difference between the OEM stock key on the H2 compared to the GM Part # 15592573.

[Boss Hoss]

Originally Posted by HumminNBoatin'

I not really a fan of the cognito kit. The reality is you can use the OE upper A-Arms and just have it aligned unless you want to push the front end to the max. I am not looking to go all the way with the front end. Just up a little. Also the rear end is where I have more questions than anything. I am going to call Travis over at Rubber Duck as he may know more about what to do in the rear.

Please post up when you find out. I may want to do this as well, and while you are at it run 38s just to make sure i can as well .

[DuckTruck]

SummitUp......I agree with you 100%. If all someone is looking to do is crank the t-bars, then the keys you mentioned above from GM and some longer shocks is the way to go.

However, if you want to gain 2-3" of lift, with better articulation, alignment, etc. than I think the kit I mentioned from Cognito is the way to go.

DUCK

[SummitUp]

Originally Posted by DuckTruck

SummitUp......I agree with you 100%. If all someone is looking to do is crank the t-bars, then the keys you mentioned above from GM and some longer shocks is the way to go.

However, if you want to gain 2-3" of lift, with better articulation, alignment, etc. than I think the kit I mentioned from Cognito is the way to go.DUCK

I couldn't agree more. I raised my front end a full 3" to accommodate the 37" KM2's. If the front end is cranked a full 3" and the OEM UCA isn't replaced with the Cognito UCA, the premature contact of the metal to metal bump stop on the OEM UCA's will create a harsh ride as the result. Also the angle of the upper ball joint on the OEM UCA will be too extreme, and will wear out prematurely.

<Click Here> for the full in detail information on this.

Here's a pic of my front suspension:

[DuckTruck]

SummitUP,

To get the full 2-3" from the Cognito kit, does one need to purchase the green keys also or can this amount of lift be had from the full crank of the stock t-bars?

Thanks for the input in advance,

DUCK

[SummitUp]

Originally Posted by DuckTruck

SummitUP,

To get the full 2-3" from the Cognito kit, does one need to purchase the green keys also or can this amount of lift be had from the full crank of the stock t-bars? Thanks for the input in advance, DUCK

That's a good question Duck, and I would say it all depends. In my case I needed the "green keys" to get the lift I needed. The adjusting bolt on the driver's side only had a 1/4" of adjustment left before bottoming out (passenger side was at 1/2"), and turning it in all the way didn't give enough lift.

My advice to anyone wanting to do this is just go ahead and start cranking the T-bars up and see how far you can go. There's a tremendous amount of pressure on those adjusting bolts, and to avoid damaging the bolts (i.e. stripping the threads) it's highly advised to unload the front suspension first by jacking the front end high enough to get the front wheels off the ground. And don't forget the WD40!

One other thing to consider, is the torsion bar key installation tool is required to change the keys. Looks like this:

[DuckTruck]

Thanks man.

I was thinking that I would install the Cognito kit.....then crank fully.....then determine if more is needed (aka if I can or can't fit my 40"s).

DUCK

[HumminNBoatin']

I hear you guys on the Cognito etc.... But if you crank it all the way the truck will have no squat at all. Am I not right?? And if I dont crank them all the way then do I really need the cognito kit?? I understand im going to need new struts no matter what.

Boss. I would imagine that if you got 38's that were 12.5 inches wide it should fit with a slight lift. Hell I got a buddy who did a 2inch custom body lift on his SUT and he is running 40's!

Also what about the rear end? Have any of you guys lifted a rear end with Air? I have not had time to put a call into Travis yet but I will soon.

[DuckTruck]

HumminNBoatin'.....

All I have heard re: lifting the rear end w/ air susp. would be to "extend" the sensor arms that control the rear lift option.

I think I remember reading something about "fooling" this sensor OR being able to have the "standard ride height" of the H2 adjusted upward.

DUCK

[timgco]

So, there are three options on that page.

Two are $460 and one is $680.00. I would think it would be better to use the extended length shocks over the added brackets as well.

So what is needed if you are going to raise the front end up 3".

maybe a full list with part#'s would allow us to order all teh correct parts at once.

Maybe we can list this out as FRONT and REAR parts added/modded.

I the past i turned the tbars up just a little, added fabtec tie rods and rancho shocks/steering stabilizer....but the shocks would blow out up front quickly....too short.

This time i want to add to the height (without doing another Rancho 4" kit), add to the steering support, idler/pivot support, and increase what little travel we can get up there.

So, what do I need?

Here's what I have so far:

FRONT:
Rancho steering stabilzer $55 RS5407
Fabtech tierods $245 FTS71002
GM green keys (3" lift to the front) $44 15592573
Cognito Idler Pivot Kit $200 IPAWG8
Cognito Pitman/Idler Support $216 PISK2008
Cognito Upper Control Arm Kit (someone please fill in all that is needed)
Shocks (not sure, I would like to go extended length without adding purchases)(does fox make the proper extended length)

Rear:
Samco rear Springs (1" of lift) $360 SCH2Rear Spring
Crown Brake Lines (+2 length) $159 CR-H2
Shocks (not sure on shocks needed) (fox maybe)
rear spring spacers (not sure if these would be needed after adding the samco springs or not)

Originally Posted by SummitUp

I couldn't agree more. I raised my front end a full 3" to accommodate the 37" KM2's. If the front end is cranked a full 3" and the OEM UCA isn't replaced with the Cognito UCA, the premature contact of the metal to metal bump stop on the OEM UCA's will create a harsh ride as the result. Also the angle of the upper ball joint on the OEM UCA will be too extreme, and will wear out prematurely.

<Click Here> for the full in detail information on this.

Here's a pic of my front suspension:

[Bimmer9938]

I also have the Truxxx 2.5-3 F 1.5R lift and like it very much.


Before lift.

After lift.


New wheels (old tires).

[DuckTruck]

Looks good Bimmer.....all you need now is some bigger meats! Maybe 40"s?

I also agree that the "best" option for the Cognito kit would be to get the longer shocks. However, I have Rancho 9000's on all four corners (they are adjustable for those who didn't know) and I am in love with them.

Thus, this fact coupled with the reports of the Bilsteins being valved much harder and that I have adjustability as we speak......I will be opting for the extender hardware.

DUCK