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Old 09-03-2009, 03:28 AM   #1
bzdqkq
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Silverado Rear Lowering Kit?

Hi, does anyone know who makes a 1-2" lowering kit for a 2008 Silverado 2500HD?

I just bought a 2004 Mountaineer 318BH and the front of the trailer sits a few inches higher than the rear. Also, there is no enough truck bed clearance. I looked at the suspension on the 5th wheel and there is no adjustments anywhere and the axles are already under the leafs. So, this leaves me either putting a block lift on the camper or lowering the truck a few inches. I figured lowering the truck would be easier and tow better than lifting the trailer.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?
 
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Old 09-03-2009, 03:56 AM   #2
Jolu
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bzdqkq,
I can not address the lowering of your truck. I had to play with the height adjustment on the hitch in the truck bed. I was able to raise and lower it in the bed by using different bolt holes. You still may not be able to get the bed clearance by doing this.

The other problem I had was the lower back bottom of the pin box would hit the bed rails in a sharp turn on my 08 Chevy 3500. I bent my bed rail and had to buy a new rail cap. I ended up nipping the lower corner of the pin box by about 1". This solved that problem for me. I mention this as something for you to look for when making a sharp turn.
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Old 09-03-2009, 07:19 AM   #3
Tom S.
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If your hitch is adjustable, can you raise the hitch and lower the pin box to even the trailer out?
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Old 09-03-2009, 08:31 AM   #4
Joeagrant
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There is a place that I once found on the Internet that sells shackles for lowering the rear of the Silverados. Sorry, I don't remember the name of the company.
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Old 09-03-2009, 08:41 AM   #5
Joeagrant
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Just checked. Bell Tech sells them in 1 and 2 inch lengths.
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Old 09-04-2009, 05:52 PM   #6
rgrpmr
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bzdqkq,

I have a 2009 Anniversary Edition 3400 RL that I drag around with a 2007 3500 SRW Silverado. I had the same problem.

The hitch was as low in the TV as it would go and besides I wanted to keep space between the TV and the Montana where it was so they wouldn't bump into each other. My solution was to add a 1.25 inch structural tube inserted between the axle and the springs to raise the Montana (I noticed the other day that Dexter has a raising kit) and I installed a set of Belltech lowering shackles on the TV.
http://www.streetbeatcustoms.com/200...ckles-Hangers/

I got mine from Lordco.

This has just about levelled things out, nothwithstanding the further air-bag complication explained near the end of this post.

The distance between the new shackle hanger and the spring is 7.25 inches, centre to centre (Canadian spelling) on the hanger bolts. I'm not at home and I don't remember the distance on the OEM hangers so you will need to measure yours to get the distance. Remember, because the axle is about half the distance from the hanger, you actually only lower the truck by half the increase in distance between the bolt holes on the new and the old hangers.

For the install, I found a good website, but I have misplaced the web address (at home again), suggesting you put a 4 x 6 piece of wood under the spare to lift the truck whenyou do the install. Worked great. I'll try and fine it later, if you want.

I have a set of PacBrake air bags on the TV that, prior to lowering, I ran at fairly high pressure because that pressure worked best for me (between 60 and 90 psi, depending on my mood). I needed to make sure that I didn't lower the TV so much that I didn't leave enough room for the deflated air bags. It seems to be working OK. At least the bags still hold air. I found that if I used the former higher pressures, I was carrying all the weight on the air bags. This resulted in a bouncy ride. I now run them at about 30 psi and all is well.

One last caveat. If you aren't using air bags (which raised my loaded TV about 1.75 inches), you may only need to do one of the things I did to level out the Montana.

I hope this helps. Good Luck.

Rob
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Old 09-05-2009, 03:22 AM   #7
mtheo
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bzdqkq
My Chevy high in the rear and needed to be lowered 2". I went to the dealer and got lowering shackle, took less than and hour to install and it is easy to do, and now my truck rides level. This does not change to load capacity but you hit the load limiting stops sooner.
Chevy dealer stocked both 1'" and 2".
I have been told you can raise or lower the front an 1" or 2"s by having the front torsion bars adjusted, need to go to an shop for that I would think.

good luck
Mark
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Old 09-11-2009, 07:05 AM   #8
bzdqkq
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Thanks for the info. I could adjust my pinbox, which would give me additional clearance, but would make the trailer nose even higher (don't want). I'm going to check w/the dealer or Bell Tech on those shackles. Thanks. MDC
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