[GaryL]

As mentioned elsewhere on the site. I am planning on installing a Skyjacker 2"-3" suspension lift (part # C2567K ) on my Suburban this weekend. I will try to take photos of the steps and report any problems I encounter. Here are a couple of "before" photos just for a teaser.

Stay tuned and I'll do my best to cover it all.

 

[Cableguy]

Thats cool! A buddy of mine at work just did his little CJ. The Skyjacker kits is really nice stuff, urethane bushings and all. That 3" should look like a million bucks on your Burb. Good Luck. Mind the knuckles Gary...

 

[GaryL]

OK, it's not done yet (I had to work on that F*** and then spent most of the rest of the day sneezing) but here is another teaser for you. I should have it finished up by tomorrow.

Oops, sorry wrong picture. This was a shot of the grill after a long day working on trucks. Gotta keep the energy up. I'll post more soon.

 

[Cableguy]

Nice job! Now we need a profile shot to see the overall look. Gotta love the barbeque this time of year. I'd cook eggs on there if I could figure out how to keep um from slipping thru grill:sarcastic:

 

[GaryL]

Well it's still not done yet, I guess I'll be riding the CB900 tomorrow. I had some issues with the fitment of the differential lowering bracket and finally quit before I beat the s*** out of my truck. I will finish it this week and give an honest opinion (or biased, depending on how you look at it) of the Skyjacker kit. Right now my mood is not the greatest, so I will leave it off here.

 

[ChevyFan]

Nothing gets wrenches flying faster for me that something like that. Just keep at it and keep us posted.

 

[bensblueburban]

Keep working at it. I have a 1997 suburban and I am looking at the exact same lift kit that you are installing right now. Where did you buy your kit and for how much?

I'll be curious to hear whether you would recommend paying someone to install it or to do it yourself? Right now you sound like you would pay someone to install it.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[GaryL]

What ever 4 Wheel Parts charges to install it, it's not enough. I bought mine through Jegs. The main kit was $490 and the shocks were about $40 each. I also put new upper ball joints on that I bought at Autozone for $35 each. Mine was missing parts when it showed up, but Skyjacker overnighted the parts to me so that was nice. The instructions that come with it are a joke. They are very vague and the diagrams and pictures have been copied so many times that they are useless. I am having issues installing the front differential drop brackes and getting everything lined up correctly to install the differential mountin bolts. I spent 3.5 hours yesterday raising, lowering, wiggling and cussing at the differential and finally just pulled out one of the brackets and enlarge the hole so I could get the bolt through. Then I found out that I could not get the last bracket in place with all the other brackets in place and had to remove everything I had been working on to install the rear most bracket (which on the instructions is the last one to be installed). I quit at that point and worked on it a little while today and got the last bracket installed, but now the bolt I worked on so long yesterday doesn't want to go back in the hole it came out of, so I have stopped again. It will probably be raining the rest of the week, so I won't finish the install untill the weekend. Oh well, I get to drive my big block 78 Silverado for a few days and it needed a good leg stretching anyway.

 

[ChevyFan]

What ever 4 Wheel Parts charges to install it, it's not enough. I bought mine through Jegs. The main kit was $490 and the shocks were about $40 each. I also put new upper ball joints on that I bought at Autozone for $35 each. Mine was missing parts when it showed up, but Skyjacker overnighted the parts to me so that was nice. The instructions that come with it are a joke. They are very vague and the diagrams and pictures have been copied so many times that they are useless. I am having issues installing the front differential drop brackes and getting everything lined up correctly to install the differential mountin bolts. I spent 3.5 hours yesterday raising, lowering, wiggling and cussing at the differential and finally just pulled out one of the brackets and enlarge the hole so I could get the bolt through. Then I found out that I could not get the last bracket in place with all the other brackets in place and had to remove everything I had been working on to install the rear most bracket (which on the instructions is the last one to be installed). I quit at that point and worked on it a little while today and got the last bracket installed, but now the bolt I worked on so long yesterday doesn't want to go back in the hole it came out of, so I have stopped again. It will probably be raining the rest of the week, so I won't finish the install untill the weekend. Oh well, I get to drive my big block 78 Silverado for a few days and it needed a good leg stretching anyway.

You touched a bit on what I do for a living. They should have the installation manuals and other documentation online so you can download and print it yourself. They also should make certain that they hire a semi-mechanical writer do their docs for them. Don't make a mechanic or an engineer write docs that that are designed for the general public.

 

[GaryL]

I did find the instructions online and the diagrams and pictures were at least usable. I finished the front installation yesterday (I had jury duty and didn't get picked so I took the rest of the day off and worked on the truck). After messing with it for a couple of hours without much luck, I called Skyjacker and the tech knew about the problem I was having and walked me through how to fix it. After I did some trimming on the cooling fins on the differential, it went where it was supposed to and everything finally lined up right. I still have to do the rear and adjust the torsion bars to get it all back to the correct stance, but that will happen this weekend.

 

[TrailLeadr]

I probably shouldn't have to ask, but I want to be sure. Did Skyjacker give you replacement bushings for the upper control arms, or did they expect you to buy new ones, or use the existing ones?

 

[GaryL]

The kit came with new polyurethane bushings as well as new longer stainless steel braided front brake lines.

 

[GaryL]

Here is the before and after shots. I still need to get the front end aligned before it eats up my front tires, but that's a whole other part of this story. I am going to try to make a write up about the experience, but I haven't done it yet.

Before:

After:

 

[ChevyFan]

Wow, looks great!arty:

 

[bensblueburban]

WOW!!! That thing looks awesome! I want to buy my 2"-3" lift right now. It gives the vehicle a whole new stance. Please do a very detailed write up about putting this lift on because I am 99% sure that I will put one on this summer.

Is your lift 2" or 3"?

So heres the questions:
Was it worth the time and frustration to install the lift on your own or would you pay someone else a fortune to install it?

I do have another vehicle to drive while working on the install, so in your opinion should I try to put it on myself?

How much mechanical ability is needed to install this lift?

What tools are needed for the install?

How much time do you think you spent overall on the install? On the front? On the back?

How does the new suspension feel compared to the old suspension and are the skyjacker shocks of good quality?

Do you like how it looks and drives now?

Can you tell that it has more height when getting into the car now? Does it feel higher while driving it and when sitting next to other cars at traffic lights?

Is the center of gravity thrown off now?

Sorry for all of the questions. I just am very interested in this lift and want to know all of the variables from someone who has installed it before I install mine. Thanks for being the guinea pig that all of us are learning from! haha

 

[Cableguy]

That is a nice stance Gary. Me likey!

 

[collinsperformance]

OK- I hope i not out of place but i not yet done one on my chey (some time soon 6-8" will be on Brutis). i done alot of lifts on my other toys so i pass my information on that to you.


So heres the questions:
Was it worth the time and frustration to install the lift on your own or would you pay someone else a fortune to install it? This would depend on you, if you got money to toss and no tools, patence, space to do the job or time. it is nice to drive into a shop hand the keys to someone and get it back completed. I am too broke to do this and i like to work on my own stuff so i can have peice of mind it is done to my standards (i can be a pain and i likes things done my way or not done at all and i like to know the state of my truck so i can see every inch of it and know what elase needs attention).

I do have another vehicle to drive while working on the install, so in your opinion should I try to put it on myself?again time,space, tools and knowhow. most lifts come with detailed instructions and pictures so one can do it ones self--just ignore the install times or tripple them and you will be fine.

How much mechanical ability is needed to install this lift?common sense, most basic hand tools, a long breaker bar, and alot of PB Blaster to help in removing the bolts and nuts.if you can read and do most popular upgrades to your truck then a lift kit is not too hard. just farm out what you do not know ( for me this was the alignment. i can get close but it rather put in the shop and use my free lifetime alignment)

What tools are needed for the install?depending on condition of truck, common hand tools, breaker bar, ball joint seperator, press (or a shop can do this part drop the parts off), jack, a few jack stands, touque wrench, a place to lay stuff out for removed parts and install new parts,if there are rivets like the ford an air hammer and or grinfder and a BFH and a siz pack or gallon of your favorite cool drink. a friend helps too, but i seem to miss place mine at time of work, they show up at closing time or diner time.....

How much time do you think you spent overall on the install? On the front? On the back?i would say the 1st time installer would do the rear one weekend and the front the next. If all goes well then you might see the rear one day and the front the other day on the weekend. most kits say 10-16 hours to install. i got the ford lifts down pretty good.

How does the new suspension feel compared to the old suspension and are the skyjacker shocks of good quality? the ride will be different, and it will or may change over the first 1000-3000 miles (springs need to setin and well as the other parts) i perfer the SkyJacker Class II lift kits they seem to be the strongest for the Ford crappy TTB front end

Do you like how it looks and drives now? i love the look of a lift and larger tires and most of the time the ride is alot better---remember this is a truck not a custom cruzer.....

Can you tell that it has more height when getting into the car now? Does it feel higher while driving it and when sitting next to other cars at traffic lights?
this would depend on the size lify you use. i went 8" suspension and 3" body so 11" lift was a big difference getting in. you will notice as little as an 1" but you will adjust without thinking.

Is the center of gravity thrown off now? if you drive these like trucks than there is little to no difference, but if you want to cayon carve with it she will be different. i have never been sad that i added a lift to any thing i added one to so i would do it again and again........hope this helps..
Here s what Jezebel started her life with me as (sorry it is a Ford, But Brutis just joined the family and has not gone under the knife yet)

Her she is top less and new lift and tires and just getting ready to out and play.

Lift it and enjoy it.....mike

 

[GaryL]

Michael is pretty much right on with his answers to your questions. This was my first lift to install and I ran into a few snags, but overall I'm glad I did it myself. Like Michael, I took it to the shop for the alignment.

The lift is advertised to be a 2-3" lift depending on how much you crank the torsion bars. When it was all installed, I measured how much I had gained in the back and adjusted the torsion bars to get the same result in the front.

The rear portion was just an add-a-leaf. It went smoothly and only took 2.5-3 hours. The front shouldn't have taken as long as it took me (about 18-20 total hours), but I ran into some fitment issues and fought them for a while before I finally called Skyjacker for some help. The kit I bought shows it is for the 97-98 Burbs and mine is a 99. Skyjacker assured me it would be fine with some minor trimming on the front differential cooling fins. It finally sat where it was supposed to. Here is a shot of what I had to trim.

After I got it all installed and went to get it aligned, I found out this truck has never had the caster/camber adjusted and it still had the factory adjustment blocks in place. The shop wanted $186 to knock them out and I said no and did it myself. If I had known what to look for, I would have knocked them out when I had the upper A-arms off the first time. I had to jack it up, unbolt the upper A-arms, knock out the blocks and put it all back together. This only took me about an hour last night to get done, so it wasn't too bad, but it would have been nice to know about the blocks when I had it all apart the first time.

The only special tools that were required was a ball joint separator and a really heavy duty C-Clamp that had to be used to relieve the tension on the torsion bars. I used a control arm bushing remover (big C-Clamp) for this job and it worked fine.

As far as ride, it is a little stiffer that it was before, but not bad at all. It does feel more like a truck instead of a cruiser like Michael stated. I haven't driven it enough to give a comment about the shocks, but so far I don't have any complaints. I can tell the difference when I get out of the truck, but while driving the difference is very subtle. I love the way it looks and so far the way it drives is just fine.

As Michael stated, you can't tell any difference on the center of gravity and it has about the same amount of body roll in the corners as it did before.

Overall, I am please with the kit and installation (especially now that is finished). The instructions left a little to be desired, but I will try to fill in some of the things I came across when I do the write-up.

 

[ChevyFan]

Michael is pretty much right on with his answers to your questions. This was my first lift to install and I ran into a few snags, but overall I'm glad I did it myself. Like Michael, I took it to the shop for the alignment.

The lift is advertised to be a 2-3" lift depending on how much you crank the torsion bars. When it was all installed, I measured how much I had gained in the back and adjusted the torsion bars to get the same result in the front.

The rear portion was just an add-a-leaf. It went smoothly and only took 2.5-3 hours. The front shouldn't have taken as long as it took me (about 18-20 total hours), but I ran into some fitment issues and fought them for a while before I finally called Skyjacker for some help. The kit I bought shows it is for the 97-98 Burbs and mine is a 99. Skyjacker assured me it would be fine with some minor trimming on the front differential cooling fins. It finally sat where it was supposed to. Here is a shot of what I had to trim.

After I got it all installed and went to get it aligned, I found out this truck has never had the caster/camber adjusted and it still had the factory adjustment blocks in place. The shop wanted $186 to knock them out and I said no and did it myself. If I had known what to look for, I would have knocked them out when I had the upper A-arms off the first time. I had to jack it up, unbolt the upper A-arms, knock out the blocks and put it all back together. This only took me about an hour last night to get done, so it wasn't too bad, but it would have been nice to know about the blocks when I had it all apart the first time.

The only special tools that were required was a ball joint separator and a really heavy duty C-Clamp that had to be used to relieve the tension on the torsion bars. I used a control arm bushing remover (big C-Clamp) for this job and it worked fine.

As far as ride, it is a little stiffer that it was before, but not bad at all. It does feel more like a truck instead of a cruiser like Michael stated. I haven't driven it enough to give a comment about the shocks, but so far I don't have any complaints. I can tell the difference when I get out of the truck, but while driving the difference is very subtle. I love the way it looks and so far the way it drives is just fine.

As Michael stated, you can't tell any difference on the center of gravity and it has about the same amount of body roll in the corners as it did before.

Overall, I am please with the kit and installation (especially now that is finished). The instructions left a little to be desired, but I will try to fill in some of the things I came across when I do the write-up.

Awesome, you should get a salesman's referal bonus from SkyJacker! I'm sure that you'll help to sell some kits to the guys who read this post on here. Thanks for the good write-up so far, can't wait to see a full write-up!

:great::great:

 

[ChevyFan]

OK- I hope i not out of place but i not yet done one on my chey (some time soon 6-8" will be on Brutis). i done alot of lifts on my other toys so i pass my information on that to you.


So heres the questions:
Was it worth the time and frustration to install the lift on your own or would you pay someone else a fortune to install it? This would depend on you, if you got money to toss and no tools, patence, space to do the job or time. it is nice to drive into a shop hand the keys to someone and get it back completed. I am too broke to do this and i like to work on my own stuff so i can have peice of mind it is done to my standards (i can be a pain and i likes things done my way or not done at all and i like to know the state of my truck so i can see every inch of it and know what elase needs attention).

I do have another vehicle to drive while working on the install, so in your opinion should I try to put it on myself?again time,space, tools and knowhow. most lifts come with detailed instructions and pictures so one can do it ones self--just ignore the install times or tripple them and you will be fine.

How much mechanical ability is needed to install this lift?common sense, most basic hand tools, a long breaker bar, and alot of PB Blaster to help in removing the bolts and nuts.if you can read and do most popular upgrades to your truck then a lift kit is not too hard. just farm out what you do not know ( for me this was the alignment. i can get close but it rather put in the shop and use my free lifetime alignment)

What tools are needed for the install?depending on condition of truck, common hand tools, breaker bar, ball joint seperator, press (or a shop can do this part drop the parts off), jack, a few jack stands, touque wrench, a place to lay stuff out for removed parts and install new parts,if there are rivets like the ford an air hammer and or grinfder and a BFH and a siz pack or gallon of your favorite cool drink. a friend helps too, but i seem to miss place mine at time of work, they show up at closing time or diner time.....

How much time do you think you spent overall on the install? On the front? On the back?i would say the 1st time installer would do the rear one weekend and the front the next. If all goes well then you might see the rear one day and the front the other day on the weekend. most kits say 10-16 hours to install. i got the ford lifts down pretty good.

How does the new suspension feel compared to the old suspension and are the skyjacker shocks of good quality? the ride will be different, and it will or may change over the first 1000-3000 miles (springs need to setin and well as the other parts) i perfer the SkyJacker Class II lift kits they seem to be the strongest for the Ford crappy TTB front end

Do you like how it looks and drives now? i love the look of a lift and larger tires and most of the time the ride is alot better---remember this is a truck not a custom cruzer.....

Can you tell that it has more height when getting into the car now? Does it feel higher while driving it and when sitting next to other cars at traffic lights?
this would depend on the size lify you use. i went 8" suspension and 3" body so 11" lift was a big difference getting in. you will notice as little as an 1" but you will adjust without thinking.

Is the center of gravity thrown off now? if you drive these like trucks than there is little to no difference, but if you want to cayon carve with it she will be different. i have never been sad that i added a lift to any thing i added one to so i would do it again and again........hope this helps..
Here s what Jezebel started her life with me as (sorry it is a Ford, But Brutis just joined the family and has not gone under the knife yet)

Her she is top less and new lift and tires and just getting ready to out and play.

Lift it and enjoy it.....mike

Well, it's a F--- but I would think it's still a lot of fun to hit the mud bogs and throw some dirt around. Look forward to your writeups on "Brutis" when you get to it.