Looking for info on a lift

[TroySmith80]

Has it been confirmed that avalanche parts will fit on an express?

[nely]

i can confirm that the lower control arm for a 2000 3500 chevy express is the same in design as pre 99 suburbans, tahoes and pickups. Thats according to to napa. i can pull up a list of what the parts will fit so thats how i determined that.

i did a quick look up on a 2005 3500 express and the balljoints seem to fit 2000 and up pickups 'burbans avalanche and h2 hummers

hope this helps someone. i can look up fatory replacement parts and see what other vehicles they will fit. this MIGHT help determine what lifts can be used for the express vans

note. i havent looked up allwheel drive parts. if someone can gimme a year for the AWD i can look it up. but i dont know much on chevys, i own 2 fords

frame dimensions are probably the best. next time i have an express van and suburban in the shop i work at, i can take some measurments

[TroySmith80]

I believe (not certain) the AWD was an option beginning in 2003 on the 1500 and 2500 series only, never on the 3500.

[nely]

`I kinda assumed they never came awd 1 ton, but wasnt sure. Ill did checking on 03 2500 awd

coil springs and axle shafts are van specific. upper control arm fits 2000+ 1500 suspensioned avalanche, suburbans, pickups tahoes

that control arms specifys 7300 gvw vans

[zuren]

I'm glad to see a dedicated thread on this.

As for the Roadtrek picture, Roadtrek offers a Quigley converted van. I'm not sure if Quigley uses Fabtech suspension parts or if the owner of that van added hardware.

I was under my van this weekend. It is a 2005 Chevy Express 1500 AWD and here are the numbers I pulled off of the torsion bars:

Right (orange) - 2LK 484, R 720, P/N 15750720
Left (blue) - 2NE 075, L 719, P/N (unreadable, believed to be 15750719)

I'm not sure why my torsion bars have 2 different colors on them. The keys are rusted so I have no idea what they were. I have been poking around FullSizeChevy.com and was pointed to this webpage:

http://www.gmfullsize.com/tech/torsion401.html

It was helpful and not helpful at the same time. None of the numbers on my bars appear on that list of GM pickup torsion bars. I take this to mean that the AWD vans have bars that are specific to them. The thought is that installing a torsion bar with a higher rating will lift the front easier but may make the ride harsher. Adjusting the torsion keys on mine yielded zero lift. I'm considering 2 different reasons:

A. The torsion bars could be tired at 120,000 miles and won't lift the van.
B. According to Photog (member here), GM independent front suspensions have limited travel so the shocks may already be sitting at maximum travel. Turning up the torsions bars won't yield any lift because the susp. has no where to go.

To test B, I need to unbolt the top of the shock and see if the suspension travels down further than what the shock allows. If it does, keeping the current bars and installing longer or adjustable shocks may be the answer. I haven't had time to do this.

Dwalt, another member here, has an AWD 1500 van with blue-coded torsion bars and was able to get some lift with doing nothing more than turning the adjustment screws. He has a newer model and uncertain why his bars work and others do not. I'd be interested to know what codes are pressed into the ends of his bars.

Nely - would you be able to look up those codes/part numbers I listed above and see if there is any mention of what their load rating is? At least that may give us some starting point for the 1/2 vans. I've been looking and can't find anything.

Thanks!

[nely]

according to your 05 1500 express it shares the lower control arm with avalanche suburbans tahoes and pickups. i can only assume these lifts will work on the awd vans aswell.

im looking up the parts numbers on those torsion bars without luck. ill keep trying

[zuren]

frame dimensions are probably the best. next time i have an express van and suburban in the shop i work at, i can take some measurments

What dimensions do you need? I'm sure those of us with Express vans could help out.

I "heard" somewhere that the Express may share some design features with the Avalanche and Suburban. I didn't record where I found that info but it was speculation anyway.

[nely]

How about the width between the lower control arm mounting points?
Measure from center of bolt to center of bolt.

Im gonna speculate that the 99-06 chevy truck kit will be the one to use. Its the only one that doesnt say it will not work on awd models. It doesnt have the coil springs like on the suv/sut kit. Im just not sure if the lift knuckle will work on the vans.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk

[chasespeed]

It was helpful and not helpful at the same time. None of the numbers on my bars appear on that list of GM pickup torsion bars. I take this to mean that the AWD vans have bars that are specific to them. The thought is that installing a torsion bar with a higher rating will lift the front easier but may make the ride harsher. Adjusting the torsion keys on mine yielded zero lift. I'm considering 2 different reasons:

A. The torsion bars could be tired at 120,000 miles and won't lift the van.
B. According to Photog (member here), GM independent front suspensions have limited travel so the shocks may already be sitting at maximum travel. Turning up the torsions bars won't yield any lift because the susp. has no where to go.

To test B, I need to unbolt the top of the shock and see if the suspension travels down further than what the shock allows. If it does, keeping the current bars and installing longer or adjustable shocks may be the answer. I haven't had time to do this.

Okay, we all know t-bars are just springs that work on torsion...

Even if you remove the shock mount... LOOK HARD. There is probably a droop stop somewhere. They usually use something HARD to limit travel in suspension and steering components. It may be a hard metal stop, or have a rubber/plastic snubber..

Once all is clear, even then, you are only able to adjust your static ride height, BUT, problem areas are CVs, and ball joints being near the edge of their tolerances.

All things being equal, if nothing is preventing further droop, adjusting the bars, should yield higher ride height.

Chase

[TroySmith80]

As for the Roadtrek picture, Roadtrek offers a Quigley converted van. I'm not sure if Quigley uses Fabtech suspension parts or if the owner of that van added hardware.

I thought quigley put solid axles under the chev's, just like they do on Ford.

Adjusting the torsion keys on mine yielded zero lift. I'm considering 2 different reasons:

A. The torsion bars could be tired at 120,000 miles and won't lift the van.
B. According to Photog (member here), GM independent front suspensions have limited travel so the shocks may already be sitting at maximum travel. Turning up the torsions bars won't yield any lift because the susp. has no where to go.

Don't mean to sound negative here, just trying to help figure this issue out... Neither of those options makes sense to me because:

A. Unless your van is resting on it's bump stops, the torsion bars are still lifting it up. If the torsion bars are tired, your ride height may come down a little from what it once was. Even if that is so, turning the bars should result in a lift because you're increasing the pre-load on the spring. Tired or not, they're still holding the van off the ground.

B. This would be true if the van was sitting static at full suspension extension. In that case, adding preload would not increase ride height. However, the van does not sit at full extension. It sits somewhere in the middle of its travel, so that if you drive over a hole, the suspension can extend into the hole. So your shock is not a limiting factor when your van is just sitting there, and rotating the bar should yield an increase in ride height.

If you adjust the rotation (pre-load) of the torsion bars, due to friction in the linkages, the front may not instantly rise. You may have to go jump on the bumper once and bounce the suspension, and then when it comes to rest, it will do so at a slightly higher point than before. Conceivably you may even have to do this while rolling, because the tires will have to be ever so slightly closer to each other due to the suspension arms being at a steeper angle. I doubt it would be that sensitive though.

I hope that all makes sense. Seems logical to me. Let me know if i'm not thinking correctly.