Hello All,

I'm a noob here and looking for advice.

I just purchased a 1999 2500 Suburban (Still the old carry over body style) with the 6.5TD.  I am wanting to make it more capable off road with a nice look.  Function will come first before looks.

I don't want go nuts lifting it as I don't want to raise the center of gravity too much.  However, I would like to fit a decent tire size to allow for better Axle clearance.

Can I get input on recommendations for a suspension lift, Body lift, Tire, wheel combination?

I just cant decide if I should leave it at stock height and fit the biggest possible tires?  (Shop says I should be able to get 33's without rubbing.)

Should I lift it and go with larger tires?  If so, Should it be body lift, suspension lift? How much and how large of tires?

I also did not want to go too big on the tires if it will cause issues with premature diff wear from the extra strain.

Thanks for any and all tips and\or suggestions.  

lift it first because  most shops will tell you that and they will end up rubbing ruining your tires and your wheel wells always lift when you want bigger tires but do a suspension lift not a body lift that way you aren't raising the centre of gravity as much as you would with a body lift and body lifts are ugly....my best advice ....just keep it simple do like a 6" suspension lift and put 35's on it.  

UM.. I know I'm new to this, but it seems to me that physics would dictate that a body lift would not increase the center of gravity as much as a suspension lift.  With a susp. lift your lifting the Chassis, engine, trans, and body.  With a body lift, your only increasing the height of the Body leaving the chassis, engine and trans at stock height.  Am I missing something?

Also, Right now I can fit 33's on it stock without rubbing.  How big could I go with a 6" lift?  It seems that I would add 6 " between the fender's and the CL of the Axle which should allow more than only a 2" increase in tire height. Going up 2" on Tire size only brings the tire 1" closer to the Body.

Thanks for your input.  

yeah it would def. but it makes more sense to stay safe....it's not lik you can try out wheels and bring them back:P
and by putting on a suspension lift it raises everything and keeps the centre of gravity in the CENTRE even if it is higher off the ground with whatever size wheels you put on it the weight/height ratio is till the same  

Well i have a 94 GMC Sierra with a Pro Comp 4-6" adjustable lift. You can adjust the front ride hidth with the torsion bars and the rear with just swapping out bigger or smaller blocks. This is a good lift if you want to get 33's on they fit really nicely with only a lil inner fender hammer treatment, only a tiny bit for turning. But then if you decide you would like to go bigger then the 4" with the 33's all you have to do is crank the torsion bars out and put the bigger block in the back. That way you wont have to buy a whole new lift to go bigger.

My set-up is a Pro Comp adjustable w/ 35/12.5/17 and these tires dont rub at all in my wheel wells. the ride is nice and smooth, and not much body roll. plus it comes with a drop down bracket for the A-Arms so u dont have to get a longer spindle arm.  

Even if your new to this you need to know something about trucks and wheeling you are not cut out for this i suggest you buy a solid axle ford and go get stuck the 6.5 turbo surburban is to mch for you to handle as a begginer stay with ford and dont bother lifting it if your scared of rolling you shouldnt wheel..................................... its not for the faint of heart  

Rob88:
Well i have a 94 GMC Sierra with a Pro Comp 4-6" adjustable lift. You can adjust the front ride hidth with the torsion bars and the rear with just swapping out bigger or smaller blocks. This is a good lift if you want to get 33's on they fit really nicely with only a lil inner fender hammer treatment, only a tiny bit for turning. But then if you decide you would like to go bigger then the 4" with the 33's all you have to do is crank the torsion bars out and put the bigger block in the back. That way you wont have to buy a whole new lift to go bigger.

My set-up is a Pro Comp adjustable w/ 35/12.5/17 and these tires dont rub at all in my wheel wells. the ride is nice and smooth, and not much body roll. plus it comes with a drop down bracket for the A-Arms so u dont have to get a longer spindle arm.

            I ALSO HAVE A 94 GMC SIERRA BUT MINE IS A 2500 EXT. CAB LONG BED...so she ain.t no wheeler.... but id like to have some height for tires so i can get places i need to be.... so i was wondering how much i can tighten the tortion bars.... and how much is too much should i just buy longer ones and a set of blocks??

-john  

E.DUBWHEELERS:
Even if your new to this you need to know something about trucks and wheeling you are not cut out for this i suggest you buy a solid axle ford and go get stuck the 6.5 turbo surburban is to mch for you to handle as a begginer stay with ford and dont bother lifting it if your scared of rolling you shouldnt wheel..................................... its not for the faint of heart

Dont listen to the ignorant ford guy, his advice is horrible and biased.  A 6 inc lift for your suburban will work great with 35 inc tires, and sicne you have a 2500 u dont have to worry about axle breakage.  

I see that the original post to this is over a month old, but the last 2 treads brought it back up.  Going back and reading, I have to ask, kasadiepunk, what have you been smoking, you are messed up on center of gravity.  Raising only the body keeps the center of gravity lower than raising the whole vehical with a suspension lift.  And to Rob88, cranking torsion bars up are a very bad idea.  It not only makes a stiff ride, but messes up suspension geometry; and lift blocks out back are also a bad idea unless you use traction bars to stop spring wrap.  I agree with Geo450racer about ignoring that bad advice from E.DUBWHEELERS.  

If I was you I would get a 6" suspension lift, and put a set of 35x12.5's on it. As far as rims, I'd run 15" rims with a 10" offset. The reason I would go with the suspension lift opposed to the body lift is with a body lift it lifts you up off the frame, thus you will be able to see the frame a lot more, with a huge gap betwean the frame and the body, were as the suspension lift will lift your frame with it thus giving you better ground clearence and able to fit the tire size you want. It also give it a cleaner look than the body lift. I would also personally run dual front and rear shocks with the lift just cuz it gives it a really mean look. but that's just my openion  

ok... FYI you mean to say a 15x10" rim with maybe a 4" offset... standard is less then 2.5" offset... if you had a 10" offset then you'd basically be running outside dual rims on each corner... and with an IFS front, when you lift the front end it's going to extend your upper and lower control arms which will widen your front stance... so if you get the proper offset then you can counter this stanced look... RCD makes an awesome lift for this type of vehicle... if i remember right it comes with new upper and lower control arms, cv shafts,torsion bars, torsion bar brackets, rear springs, bilstien shocks, you're other option is to do your research and just buy some stout billet spacer rings for the rear and four identical rims... but only if you aren't planning any hardcore offroading...  

what do you think about the urban h1 kits