Silverado Front Suspension Question

[trestlesinc]

New to the forum and I'm sure this question has been addressed before. If so please point me to that thread. Does anyone know why the front left of an older Silverado sits lower than the right side? How can it be fixed? The truck is an 01' 2wd with 130K miles. Thanks for any help.

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by trestlesinc

New to the forum and I'm sure this question has been addressed before. If so please point me to that thread. Does anyone know why the front left of an older Silverado sits lower than the right side? How can it be fixed? The truck is an 01' 2wd with 130K miles. Thanks for any help.

the height can be adjusted..., your height problem i am not familiar with..and why would your vehicle be lower on the driver side is strange...
on other vehicles it is usually the passenger side that gets lower due to the shoulder road damage and storm drains..

It is possible the ball joints or some other componet is worn/damaged/bent..

[trestlesinc]

I have read about this problem somewhere before. I think it's fairly common. How do you adjust the height? Would new springs help?

[bigbadram51]

New springs would solve your problem. Sounds to me like the springs are settling at different rates with the drivers side ahead becasue there is more weight on that side all the time between fuel and the driver.

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by trestlesinc

I have read about this problem somewhere before. I think it's fairly common. How do you adjust the height? Would new springs help?

sorry about that adjustment statement as this only applies to the 4x4 models...
with 2wd/rear wheel drive models this is usually the springs...

battery and fuel tank on the drivers side...

[trestlesinc]

Thanks for replies. Confirmed what I thought. Any good online site to buy replacement springs?

[ukrkoz]

don't buy springs.
it is common sense. how much do you weigh? times how much you drive alone? with weight concentrated in the front left corner of the truck?
is it that hard? i am yet to see a car sagged on the passenger side, unless after accident. i am seeing sagged on the driver front side all the time.

1. if you have them, adjust torsion bars. that raises the front
2. new SHOCKS will lift your front up some 2 inches. mine did. KYBs, though i'd be careful with them - stiff like a rock.
3. i have "driver weight compensation kit" installed on my truck. i need to patent it, but what a hey - if you promise not to tell anyone...
anyways, i weigh 270 lbs, up or down few lbs as it goes. i have 75 lb bag of sand in the front passenger corner of the truckbed, and the rest of my weight, in sand bags and barbell plate form, in the rear passenger corner of the truckbed. LEVELS truck very nicely, it drives smoother, corners better. i have rear weight packed into a large trashbag and secured in place with tiedowns.
it's not even my idea. that's why formula1 cars have drivers in the center of the car - even weight distribution. so does mclaren and many others. in pure stock racing(or is it nascar?) you are allowed to ballast car with 600lbs, distributed through the car to level its weight with driver.

[bigbadram51]

Originally Posted by ukrkoz

don't buy springs.
it is common sense. how much do you weigh? times how much you drive alone? with weight concentrated in the front left corner of the truck?
is it that hard? i am yet to see a car sagged on the passenger side, unless after accident. i am seeing sagged on the driver front side all the time.

1. if you have them, adjust torsion bars. that raises the front
2. new SHOCKS will lift your front up some 2 inches. mine did. KYBs, though i'd be careful with them - stiff like a rock.
3. i have "driver weight compensation kit" installed on my truck. i need to patent it, but what a hey - if you promise not to tell anyone...
anyways, i weigh 270 lbs, up or down few lbs as it goes. i have 75 lb bag of sand in the front passenger corner of the truckbed, and the rest of my weight, in sand bags and barbell plate form, in the rear passenger corner of the truckbed. LEVELS truck very nicely, it drives smoother, corners better. i have rear weight packed into a large trashbag and secured in place with tiedowns.
it's not even my idea. that's why formula1 cars have drivers in the center of the car - even weight distribution. so does mclaren and many others. in pure stock racing(or is it nascar?) you are allowed to ballast car with 600lbs, distributed through the car to level its weight with driver.

First off he doesn't have Torsion Bars, he has a 2wd they run a coilover front setup.

Second, Shocks dont set ride height, all they do is dampen and regulate travel (it disperses motion in the form of heat). Torsion bars (4WD), the coil springs (on 99-07 2wd and NNBS finally get a Coilover setup) and leaf springs set ride height on all GM pickups. For all intents and purposes you could go without shocks, although it would be quite bouncy and feel like you were on a boat.

Third, if your shocks raised you up your so call 2 inches, no wonder it rides so rough, you chances are you are hitting your droop bump stops, a properly valved shock will ride as smooth or smoother than factory. I am running dual Fox 2.0s up front and it rides better than it did from the factory. Being he has coil-overs, that comes as one unit (there is the outside chance Im wrong on this portion)

Over time any type of spring will sag and lose its ability to support the weight. Its physics. He has a decent amount of mile on his front springs (my TB are maxed out because of sag over time, granted have been they have been cranked up an inch, so Im losing a certain amount of leeway) ,but regardless metal will fatigue.

Does he have to replace his springs, chances are no. But the only way to properly fix the problem is to buy new coil-overs.

But that is my .02 cents

[ukrkoz]

usually, i do not get into forum arguments, but....
1. my post did say "IF you have torsion bars"
2. can't help, but i have replaced countless shocks, and every time vehicle raises up. maybe it did not go up full 2 inches, but front went up significantly.
3. droop bumpers are to prevent suspension from bottoming out. they are not touched if the vehicle is raised up.
reason i bought KYBs was that they had excellent references from user reviews. one of them, actually, said - they are so powerful they will raise your truck 2 inches up. so i trusted the guy - and he was right. he was, also, the one who said - if you do not like bumpy ride, don't buy them, they are so stiff. well, i did not listen to that one. he was right again. rear end with billsteins rides much softer. oh, and factory shocks - 65K miles - were dead shot.
why 2 different makes? i just wanted to give it a try. oh, and i bought best they had, i do not go cheap on parts.
next one will be set of 4 toyos and 4 billsteins. done with my R&D phase. have about 50K more miles to get there, he-he.

[j cAT]

[quote=ukrkoz]
quote]

sorry ukrkoz your wrong ...the springs must go...replacing the shocks ONLY is not recommended...when new shocks are put on a vehicle with a sagging spring set you are wasting time and money ...the spring will rapidly destroy the new shock...

only springs on the rear wheel drive....bad design..

where can this guy get good springs for a good price ...?

[mbumgua]

Ebay Item number: 310041299674 $111.95 and 39.00 shipping Raised my 99 3 inches with these--178,000 miles on it. Remember coil springs can kill-- not a job for a beginner.

[pdr3abn]

I have the same problem on my 2002 Silverado.

I was looking for a cause when I found this thread via Google, this is the third GM truck that I've owned that had this problem.

The batt/fuel tank/ride alone makes sense.

I had the same thing happen on my 93 Sierra and my 84 Silverado, I replaced my coils on my 84 with Heavy Half springs and leveled the truck up. I traded the 93 and I'm looking for a solution for my 02. I guess I will go with the new shocks / coilovers.

[dlstewart01]

[quote=j cAT]

Originally Posted by ukrkoz

quote]

sorry ukrkoz your wrong ...the springs must go...replacing the shocks ONLY is not recommended...when new shocks are put on a vehicle with a sagging spring set you are wasting time and money ...the spring will rapidly destroy the new shock...

only springs on the rear wheel drive....bad design..

where can this guy get good springs for a good price ...?

This is common, its called the chevy lean. GM has a couple of TSBs on this. I don't have the #s off hand. ON 4x4 the torsion bars are cranked. On two wheel GM makes a spring spacer for the front and and a 1/2 block spacer for the rear leaf spring. I've got one of them on my work bench.

If it is not more than 1/2 inch the dealer would not do any thing about it.

Also the truck needs to be completely level when measured. Most of the time it looks worse than it really is. I worked for a GM dealership in 04 and 05. You could measure every truck on the lot and all of them would be somewhat low on the drivers side. Replacing springs will not help.

My 05 is 1/4 low on the left side. I stopped worrying about it long ago.

http://www.fullsizechevy.com/forums/...9-19-06-a.html

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/inde...howtopic=62904

have a good one,

Don

[bd2008]

And it could be that they installed the wrong spring at the factory or it could have been done by previous owner? Stranger things have happened. I like the chevy lean thing though

[j cAT]

[quote=bd2008] I like the chevy lean thing though[/quote ]


ya if it leans alot on the driverside its easier to climb in..