new to offroadtb

[AWCougar]

hey guys, i'm chris and i bought my 2003 gmc envoy off my parents who kept it all stock since the day it was born. with me being related to them i am completely different but want to keep some of the same luxuries. like the heated seats. i want to keep the IFS but want more than 3 inches (thinking about fabricating an adapter plate). i also want to keep my wonderful autolevel rear... i dont do body lifts so it will probly all be suspension. i had a friend of mine chopped in half because all of his body bolts sheared in half...
a lot of my questions come more from does anyone have experience with the rcv joints company?
is there anything i can do to my engine to give me more power all around? super charger type of stuff.
and what are the main mechanical problems everyone seems to face when offroading if any?

i already go off road. i just have some 265/70/17 with the mark mc spacers.
not too terribly much but just enough to have a little muddy fun

[Conner299]

i had a friend of mine chopped in half because all of his body bolts sheared in half...

I think THIS is a story we need to hear!

[Trail X]

Adapter plate eh?... let us know how that works out for you.

But seriously, major modifications to ifs isn't something to be taken lightly. Not sure what your past experience is with major suspension modifications, but it isn't something to just tinker around with and hope it doesn't kill you or someone else on the road.

Oh, and its good to have you, but talk like that without presenting any experience worries me.

[djthumper]

Welcome to the site

i had a friend of mine chopped in half because all of his body bolts sheared in half...

I think THIS is a story we need to hear!

[87chevy]

Welcome

[The Roadie]

If you're serious about offroading, read the build threads. Not a single one of us here has a turbo or supercharger. If you have spare money for more HP, then you haven't completed spending on your functional modifications yet.

On the trails, you will run out of traction and ground clearance FAR before you run out of power. In 4LO with a bit of wheel spin, I can climp short stretches of 45 degree sandstone (slickrock, they call it in Moab.)

Would love to know if you can imagine an adapter plate that can deal with your front differential being bolted to the SIDE of your oil pan with an intermediate shaft going through a tube CAST into the middle of it.

And the first thing to ditch would be the air suspension inthe back. WAY too fragile unless your only trails lead to the mall. Seriously. The system sucks.

Glad you found us. We just saved you $2500.

[DirtyBacon04]

Glad you found us. We just saved you $2500.

Even that estimate might be low... But then again, it's a fools choice to debate Roadie's calculations.

Like these other gentlemen have already stated, our IFS is a tricky system and not one to be "ballparked". Curious to see what you can bring to our platform, though.

Welcome!

[v7guy]

Some interesting comments in an intro post.
Had to be one hell of a wreck to shear a dozen grade 8/10.9, 1/2" or so bolts.
Intersted to see what kind of adapter you're looking at building.
There's a turbo build on gmt.
The few mechanical issues are pretty well documented here, but they may not be a problem depending on what you do.
RCV has a decent reputation on pirate, I wouldn't worry about doing buisness with em.

[Cable810]

Welcome...

[navigator]

welcome!

......
Had to be one hell of a wreck to shear a dozen grade 8/10.9, 1/2" or so bolts.
......

I was thinking the same thing. I wonder if the guy put together his own lift with low quality material or used a sketchy aftermarket company.

[mikekey]

Welcome. I can add nothing to the above statements.

There is a super charger available for the 5.3L. If I had a 5.3L, I'd probably put the supercharger on it just for giggles and because I like lighting my money on fire.

[Diacom]

Welcome to the Site

[AWCougar]

sorry just getting back online.
i know that the 4.2 has extrordinary power and even better torque. As my daily driver as well I like get up and go. which is the reason for the want of more power.

Roadie you presented the biggest problem to the lift (and our adapter plate idea) the side of the oil pan is either inconviently placed or the intermediate shaft is. the adapter plate would have to be a minimum 6 inch lift. I have no clue where he got the number exactly but my best friend is a custom fabricator with a full blown shop in his back yard.

and as far as the story goes. there was a group of 4 vehicles we were all screwing off in Dumont Dunes. and one night we pissed him off just with our crap talking and he drove out into the dunes it was estimated he was doing about 70 into a bank got airborn and the tires hit straight down and his 6 inch body lift took too much and sheared. he was found next morning by a group on quads and they called him in... we didnt find out until we were leaving

[v7guy]

70 mph, airborne, 6" body lift... gotcha.

I looked a bit at dropping the whole diff down, you'd be dropping it more than 6 inches. I got a spare diff I held up and measured. As far as functional lift it's relatively worthless.

If you were using the 10.25 from the 3500 it might be worth it cause you'd at least be able to put a good selectable locker in it and it already has the housing for the intermediate shaft in the assembly. You'd have to get pretty creative to tuck it up high since the sub frame mounts the lower control arms. The diff would also be the lowest point and you'd want to have some beefy armour around it.

I think there's high potential that it wouldn't be much use off-road. If you got the motivation to tackle it I'm sure we're all really interested in what you come up with

[AWCougar]

he had a 12" total lift running 40's if i recal and i believe it was 70 through the dunes not exactly while he was airborn. i could be wrong on the exact incident numbers it was quite a few years back and i was very young. i more remember the funeral over the entire trip itself.

the lift itself (i could be wrong) i'll clearify later tonight. but doing all this would relocate 90% of anything front end wise. the dif would have to be dropped low enough to run the intermediate shaft... under? like i said i'm not the fabricator my best friend is i'm just the pocket book... i wish i was as inclined as he was. he keeps telling me to just get a jeep lol

[Diacom]

he had a 12" total lift running 40's if i recal and i believe it was 70 through the dunes not exactly while he was airborn. i could be wrong on the exact incident numbers it was quite a few years back and i was very young. i more remember the funeral over the entire trip itself.

the lift itself (i could be wrong) i'll clearify later tonight. but doing all this would relocate 90% of anything front end wise. the dif would have to be dropped low enough to run the intermediate shaft... under? like i said i'm not the fabricator my best friend is i'm just the pocket book... i wish i was as inclined as he was. he keeps telling me to just get a jeep lol

SAS would save you money, time and fab work to be honest.

[AWCougar]

SAS would save you money, time and fab work to be honest.

SAS? straight axle swap?
would it still be a smooth ride? well fairly smooth because i know leafs can make it extremely... bumpy?

[NC_IslandRunner]

Welcome to site site, now chose comfy ride or badass offroad rig, you don't get both.

[Trail X]

SAS would save you money, time and fab work to be honest.

SAS? straight axle swap?
would it still be a smooth ride? well fairly smooth because i know leafs can make it extremely... bumpy?

All depends on how well it's designed. If you have a pocket book big enough for custom IFS fabrication, it should be big enough to do a coilover SAS. That'd be a first. Much more difficult than leaf, but hey, its supposed to ride a bit smoother.

[The Roadie]

Relocating the diff to under the oil pan has been done by an ironworker who doesn't wheel it hard. He had to splice in a lengthening patch to his steering knuckles. Not for the backyard mechanic, which most of us are. Large lift companies all offer longer steering knuckles for this sort of lift, but our market could never support the investment. Not when most folks who like GM IFS are getting Tahoes. Just look at any 4-8" Tahoe lift and see how easily they do it.

Fabbing the brackets and driveshaft/CV/hub mounts for a Tahoe front diff and lift would be easier (in my mind at least) than modding our existing design. And if you're going to that much trouble, might as well SAS it.

All depends on your mission.