New Suspension Lift/Spacer Kit

[teebes]

A new suspenion lift/spacer kit is being produced for our platform

ReadyLift is now shipping a kit that provides 2" of lift in the front with 1" in the rear. On a stock Trailblazer/Envoy, this kit brings the vehicle almost level, but still has a tad of rake leftoever. I'm only reviewing the front setup as the rear looks pretty straight forward.

The front features a 1 1/4" tall spacer that bolts up to the outside of the stock strut and provides an overall lift of 2". Note this is different than the BDS kit which is installed within the strut assembly and pre-loads your springs.

For this test I installed the ReadyLift on 'stock' struts and did NOT combine these with my BDS setup. Note, this is their recommendation, too! Combining this kit with other kits is not recommended by ReadyLift! On to some pics...

Top: BDS HD shock. Stock spring. 2" BDS spacer inside the strut:
Bottom: Stock shock. Stock spring. 1 1/4" ReadyLift spacer outside the strut:


Close up. Note, BDS is now on the left, ReadyLift on the right:


ReadyLift installed and positioned within the upper strut bucket. Note it attaches to the strut using stock hardware. However it comes with three studs to leverage all three mounts in the bucket.



Top mounting pic. Note the three studs compared to two on stock struts.



Per their site:
Features & Benefits:

-Keeps your factory ride - Guaranteed
-Will never wear, break or fail - Guaranteed
-Toughest finish – Guaranteed
-Safest way to lift - Guaranteed
-The highest quality TrailBlazer mild lift kit system on the market
-Allows for up to a 32x10.50 tire when using OEM wheels or offset equivalent with a 1.5" wheel spacer.

[teebes]

Initial impressions...

This kit raised my truck over an inch from my 'settled' and overworked BDS setup. So take note current BDS owners. After the ReadyLift install my front is sitting just over 38" from the ground to the underside of my front fender. Note, I'm also on 50% worn 33" tires.

Stiffness wise, the front feels pretty close to stock. In my situation, this is an upgrade from my worn out shocks and springs which I could easily bounce just by pressing down on my bumper with one arm My front has been 'bouncy' for the past 6 months or so (not a side effect of the winch/bumper), most liekly due to not running bump stops along with too much over compression, etc.

I'll follow up tomorrow with some post install pics and another ride report (hopefully some quick trails, too).

So far, so good

[Trail X]

Cool! Thanks for the report.

I was thinking the ready-lift combined with an upgraded factory spring could potentially provide the best possible stock-strut-based lift. The only issue to contend with is the shock's upper bushings. As others have noted before, they kinda become the weak link, especially if you have an upgraded shock. I can't remember... are the BDS bushings compatible with the stock upper-shock plate? Hmm.

[The Roadie]

I agree this could be about as good as it gets for medium-duty offroading. Easy to install since you don't need a spring compressor. Readylift offered this set for evaluation since I expressed my concern about over-extension of the upper ball joint and inner CV joint if the strut was too long. This way preserves the OEM stroke. Since Teebes had his anti-sway bar out, the install was a bit easier for him to evaluate the extension issues. And with sagged springs on his BDS struts, he was motivated to do the experiment.

I thought the spacer was 1.5" thick, though, for a 2.25" theoretical lift.

The BDS design isn't compatible with OEM anything.

[MrSmithsTB]

I really like the look of that. Something that could be combined with the front assemblies out of and EXT or XL for a really fast upgrade.

[teebes]

Exactly. Pretty straight forward install without mucking with the strut itself. Spinning the strut to align the new mount is as tricky as it gets.


I was able to get some trail time in on Sunday, so expect an update w/ pics early this week

[nodak]

Can I get a link to this lift kit?

[teebes]

Sure thing. It's a little hidden in the opening post, our links blend to well with normal text: http://readylift.com/c-196-trailblazer-sst-lift-kit-2002-2009-2wd-4wd-20f10r.aspx

Enjoy

[Gordinho80]

This looks like a really sweet lift... wish it had been available sooner...

Oh well... TECORE in 2 days!!!!

[graverobber]

So teebes, how is it working out with this set up so far?

[KE7WOX]

How long did it take you to do the install?

Sounds much easier to install than other kits


Is this kit compatible with the Z71 shocks/springs?

[teebes]

So teebes, how is it working out with this set up so far?

So far no unexpected results! Even with the heavy front end, it's been doing great. Of course, I'd still prefer to add some HD shocks and EXT springs just for a little extra.

How long did it take you to do the install?

Sounds much easier to install than other kits

Is this kit compatible with the Z71 shocks/springs?

Absolutely. The gem of this kit is the front spacer which completely avoids dealing with the spring compressor (assuming you don't plan to upgrade your springs/shocks at the same time). The Z71 upgrade only upgrades the rear, although the ReadyLift 'kit' does come with a spacer for the rear which 'should' be compatible for a little extra altitude back there.

• Remove wheel
• Loosen strut
• Remove upper ball joint ( you'll need pitman arm pullers (small & large size is ideal), to keep this job easy)
• Loosen strut from lower perch (better to do this before you remove the perch and strut, as you will eventually need to rotate the strut for the new spacer bolts to align correctly)
• Remove strut
• Add spacer
• Reinstall

[KE7WOX]

Absolutely. The gem of this kit is the front spacer which completely avoids dealing with the spring compressor (assuming you don't plan to upgrade your springs/shocks at the same time). The Z71 upgrade only upgrades the rear, although the ReadyLift 'kit' does come with a spacer for the rear which 'should' be compatible for a little extra altitude back there.

• Remove wheel
• Loosen strut
• Remove upper ball joint ( you'll need pitman arm pullers (small & large size is ideal), to keep this job easy)
• Loosen strut from lower perch (better to do this before you remove the perch and strut, as you will eventually need to rotate the strut for the new spacer bolts to align correctly)
• Remove strut
• Add spacer
• Reinstall

Yeah, I was thinking about doing the lift + Z71 upgrade, and in this case sounds like I can recover the original height difference between front and rear.

One of my roommates has done plenty of lifts on full size trucks and has more mechanic experience than me, and he said he can help me with this.

[cbbryan]

So their claims are correct that you can run 32"s on factory wheels w/o spacers on this lift? Has anyone tried it without spacers, and how did it work out?

[The Roadie]

If they're skinny enough, 32's could fit. But they'd have to be pretty skinny - like 245.

Why bother?

Most of us are spacer sort of folks to compensate for the evil GM steering knuckle design.

[teebes]

And you might get away with 255/85 which would be pretty cool (and 33"s, just skinny). There are a hand full of manufactures out there that support that size. I'm tempted to try that size for my trailer (and eventually my truck).

[KE7WOX]

If they're skinny enough, 32's could fit. But they'd have to be pretty skinny - like 245.

Why bother?

Most of us are spacer sort of folks to compensate for the evil GM steering knuckle design.

I'll check this week to see if 245s look like they'll clear the ball joint (I'm still running 245/65/17)

[Trail X]

No way you can fit a 32"... even in 245 I don't think.

I've said this before, but it needs to be repeated over and over it seems... if you don't want wheel spacers, you will have to get something 30.5" or under.

(That is, unless you can find M/Ts in like a 225... ... but it will also really depend on where the max width is and the cross section of the tire/tread.)

[nodak]

My understanding is that z71 springs are stiffer so I would assume that kit would keep the factory ride or maybe just a little stiffer. is that correct? Mark,s kit is cheaper but isn't it just as good as long as you have the tools to compress?

[The Roadie]

Not sure what you're discussing. Please be precise. Z71 springs are ONLY in the rear. This kit's claim to fame is to be an outside the strut front solution, unique in its height. That preserves the OEM travel, which all spacer preload solutions compromise.

No kind of kit changes the factory spring rate, so stiffness will be the same up front. That will be one main reason to go to coilovers.

Mark's kit is like SuspensionMAXX in that it uses the OEM rubber upper mounts, which are not strong enough for aggressive offroading. This means most of us now are using BDS for tough stuff. The new Rough Country front kit is like BDS.