1vegarick Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 Hello fellow SS owners! I wanted to provide some information on my recent install of a McGaughy's 2"/4" lowering kit for my 2003 SS Silverado. I P/N: 11004 which included their 2" drop spindles for the front and their hangers & shackles for the rear. The rear can be dropped either 2, 3 or 4" with this kit. Small admin note… I consider myself to me mechanically inclined so, please read this with that in mind. I have a V-8 Vega that I built myself (hence my username), have thousands of dollars in tools, race motocross, and recently just built my own shop (ran out of room in the garage) for all my toys. I am also an Army Engineer that just returned from Iraq about a month ago. Not bragging, just letting ya'll know I'm not a tard! As I said, this is my opinion and observations from MY install. Individual results may vary as they say on the Nutri-System commercial. I will attempt to only address those areas that are not "no-brainers". This job was a handful and at several times considered taking it to a shop if I had to do it again. It took 2 full days… and mean "full" days to complete this. It would have cost a small fortune had I taken it somewhere else hence, the decision to do it myself. The company may have won awards at SEMA for the design of this product but, they surely did not "evaluate" the installation process. There is a 1 page set of instructions for the front, a 1 page for the rear spring hangers, and a 1/3 page for the shackles. It looked quite easy (initially) as I have had longer instructions for programming the clock on my VCR. If you don't already own a maintenance manual for your truck, now is the time to go and get one. I was reluctant at first but, I would not have been able to complete this modification without one. Here we go with the front. I knew nothing about torsion bar suspensions so, this was kinda cool to have to learn. I am sure you have heard about lowering the front of a torsion bar suspension by the "keys". I am also sure you have heard that this is NOT the right way to do it as the front suspension geometry is altered in such a way as to diminish ride quality and decrease vehicle performance. You will need a "jaw" type puller to relieve the tension on the torsion bar adjusting bolt. After the tension is relieved, pay attention (and write down) how many turns the bolt was screwed into the chassis as this number will be what you need to re-install these bolts upon reassembly of the torsion bars. Mine was 18 complete turns on one side and 19.5 on the other. Not sure why they were different but, I returned them back to their "original" specs. Returning them back to where they were when you took them out will get you close to where they need to be for when you take it to the shop for the 4-wheel alignment (@ $80 at the Chevy house) You will need to completely remove the CV axle. I initially thought I would not have to do this but, in a later step you will be cutting the bolt that protrudes out of your upper ball joint and you will need the room for this task. As the instructions call for, you will remove the upper and lower ball joints as well as the tie rod end. I used a pickle fork to get some initial separation but, a handy trick is to just smack the crap out of the spindle (not the A-frame) with a 3lb hammer. This is done to avoid tearing up the boot of the ball joint. If you tear up the joint, you will need to replace the ball joint. As luck may have it, on my last ball joint (lower) it would not separate and I wound up using the pickle fork to coax it into submission. Well, the boot sub missed as well and I wound up replacing the lower ball joint… and… since I was doing one lower, I did the other lower while I was at it. You must remove the lower A-frames to have this done as each ball joint is "pressed" into each A-frame. I went to Napa for the lower ball joints and spent like $60 for the pair. I then went to an automotive service business and they pressed them out and installed them for another $60 (apparently they were quite the task). Side note, if you ever have a ball joint going out on your truck… I can guarantee they will charge 3-4 hours of labor per ball joint if you leave them on your truck and have them take it apart for you. Do it yourself, I saved those franklins for beer and pizza. If you are an "old school" kinda guy, you remember how the upper ball joint "points" down and the lower ball joint "points" up to attach to the spindle??? Well, on the newer trucks the lower ball joint points DOWN (yes towards the ground). Note to the wise… do NOT go back to the place that pressed in your ball joints and tell them they pressed them in backwards because they will either argue with you or take 'me out and press 'me back in how you want them. I let you decide what I did! You will have to use the nuts supplied in the kit for the upper ball joint as the threaded part that sticks "out" from the nut must be cut off using a grinder or cutting tool. I cannot imagine not having a grinder for this procedure. I hacksaw will NOT work. Remember when I said to remove the CV axle… you needed to do this because you need the "room" to get to the ball joint stud to cut it off. When it's cut off… the nut supplied is shorter, does not use a cotter pin, and will fit "inside" the recession on the top of the spindle. Pretty straight forward task here. The instructions say that if you are running 17" rim, the bottom will also have to be cut. I hope all of you are running at least 20's on your rides. Last bit of notes on the front. The ABS sensor plug that goes into the hub assembly, and the hole it came out of, must be kept clean. I thought I did but got an ABS warning light on my dash and had to take it to the Chevy house during my test drive. If it were not covered under my extended warranty, it would have cost $130 for the sensor and $120 for the labor for the one sensor I guess I got dirty? Anyway, to the rear we go... Step 3 of 17 for the rear hanger easily states that the gas tank needs to be dropped down. Yes, this task is easy but, the "Chilton's" manual has many steps like disconnecting the fuel relay in the fuse box, purging the pressure from the tank, etc. YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO THAT. Just disconnect the fuel tank straps and slide the tank towards the center of the truck about 5". I had a heluva time trying to get the tank straps re-attached to the frame… I probably spent 2 hours doing this. Step 4: drill out the rivets. A royal pain in the @$$! There are 6 rivets per hanger and you have easy access to 4 and the other 2 will make you question your sanity. Just something about grinding metal and having the shower of sparks flying all over the gas tank you just man-handled away from the frame. The hanger instructions say to remove the leaf spring, I never did… but maybe I should have. Seemed like an extra step that did not need to be done to swap out the hangers. These hangers will allow a drop of 1" or 2" and if you have the McGaughy's rear shackles, you can go to a 3" or 4" drop. Look on eBay in the next week and my shackles will be for sale as it dropped the rear of the SS more than I wanted. We'll talk about shackles here shortly. So, if you just install the rear hangers you get 2" of drop for the rear to compliment the 2" drop of the front. And finally to the rear shackles… and a straight forward installation. Thank god! It probably only took me an hour per side and we were done. Cut the bump stops 1" from the frame rail as the instructions say. If you drop the truck the full 4" in the back, you will have about 1" of travel between the frame and the suspension. Also, the 4" drop lowered the back of my truck 7/8" lower than the front. I did not like this "stance" and immediately began to brainstorm on what to do. In light of the lower rear height (than the front), the severely reduced ride height (suspension travel in the rear), and inability to ever put my motocross bikes in the back (and then have axle rest on the bump stops)… I chose to completely remove the rear lowering shackles. This restores a ride height that is 1" higher than the front and allows me to haul bikes in the back of the truck. I had no center drive-line carrier bearing issues with only dropping the rear 2. All ride height measurements were taken with a ½ tank of fuel. Final ride height with 2" drop front and rear is 33 1/8" (front) and 34 1/8" (rear). Pictures attached. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1BAD2K Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 i havent heard much good about Mcgaughy's anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoke03 Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 and how long did it take you to type that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUTOGUY Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 (edited) I've had mine installed for almost 3 years now. 32 7/8" Front and 33 1/2" Rear. Edited February 27, 2008 by AUTOGUY (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTMD8R_SS Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 Well ive heard nothing but good on the mcgaughy kits. But im 2wd so for the awd's might be diffrent. And im letting the pros do the install on mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r8rs4lf Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 Here we go with the front. I knew nothing about torsion bar suspensions so, this was kinda cool to have to learn. I am sure you have heard about lowering the front of a torsion bar suspension by the "keys". I am also sure you have heard that this is NOT the right way to do it as the front suspension geometry is altered in such a way as to diminish ride quality and decrease vehicle performance. You will need a "jaw" type puller to relieve the tension on the torsion bar adjusting bolt. After the tension is relieved, pay attention (and write down) how many turns the bolt was screwed into the chassis as this number will be what you need to re-install these bolts upon reassembly of the torsion bars. Mine was 18 complete turns on one side and 19.5 on the other. Not sure why they were different but, I returned them back to their "original" specs. Returning them back to where they were when you took them out will get you close to where they need to be for when you take it to the shop for the 4-wheel alignment (@ $80 at the Chevy house) I'm curious, why did you need to remove the torsion bar set up? I've seen many, many McGaughy's installs posted here and never have I read where one removes the torsion bar set up. I'm not questioning your abilities, but with that first paragraph, it already seems like you were making it harder on yourself. I have that same drop and I didn't do what you did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1vegarick Posted February 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 I'm curious, why did you need to remove the torsion bar set up? I've seen many, many McGaughy's installs posted here and never have I read where one removes the torsion bar set up. I'm not questioning your abilities, but with that first paragraph, it already seems like you were making it harder on yourself. I have that same drop and I didn't do what you did. I never removed the torsion bars... I just releaved the tension so the lower A-frame's didn't separate from the knuckle too quickly. I did not want to see the suspension come apart like a spring type would. Thanx for the comments guys... just having some fun and trying to keep it real. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackvert Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 truck looks good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1vegarick Posted March 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 thanx brother... had a blast doin' it!... stay real! rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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