Geometry
of the GM front suspension - almost a
good design
The GM front IFS suspension design on
these models lacks in certain areas that
limits the suspension travel of the front
of a non-lifted vehicle. The first problem
is the front shocks are too short, bottoming
out at full extension before the upper
control arms ever touch the droop travel
bump-stops. This is extremely hard on
the shocks, and premature failure of the
shocks is unavoidable (see pic#1). The second problem is that GM upper
control arm hits the droop stop on the
frame before you ever reach the maximum
potential of the travel of the front suspension.
Even on 4wd models, the front CV axles
have more travel potential than GM provides
you from the factory
(see
pic#2). We believe
this is a design flaw on the 8-lug models.
Cheaper
leveling kits,
don’t waste your money!
These GM models come with a
hefty rake to them, lower in the front
by at least 2”, undesirable by many owners.
Some owners would just like a small amount
of lift in the front to be able to run
a slightly larger tire. There are a number
of companies out there selling a leveling
kit that consists of new torsion bar adjuster
keys, and claim that they will not affect
the ride of the vehicle. This is a false
claim. It is a fallacy that cranking the
torsion bars up on a vehicle stiffens
the ride
(see pic#1 & #2). This just is not true, but cranking the torsion bars
can affect other areas of the suspension
system that will give a harsh ride. Just
cranking the torsion bars, or adding the
new
adjusters
preloads the suspension more to raise
the height of the front of the vehicle.
The problem is that the shocks and upper
control arms bottom out to soon, giving
the harsh ride. By cranking the torsion
bars, you are not changing the spring
rate of the torsion bars. There are also
companies selling leveling kits that consist
of the new torsion bar adjuster keys,
and slightly longer front shocks. While
this kit will ride better than the previously
stated kit, you only gain a fraction of
an inch of travel, because even though
the shock is not bottoming out any more,
the factory upper control arm is still
bottoming out on the bump-stop way too
soon, again giving a harsh ride
(see pic#2). In fact,
the torsion bar adjuster keys are not
even needed in most cases, because the
factory adjusters could have been turned
up all the way to achieve the same ride
height. Just purchasing the longer shocks
would be a better investment than purchasing
the new torsion bar adjusters.
The
Cognito Leveling Kit transforms your front suspension
into a superior engineered design!
Lets
face it, you get what you pay for! The
Cognito leveling
system is engineered to transform the
factory ‘almost good design’, into a superior
design by maximizing the travel of the
factory independent front suspension on
the 2001-2005 GM 8-Lug models. We create
a better system in several different ways.
1.
First, we offer either new shock brackets
that replace the factory shock bracket
that is bolted to the factory lower control
arm, or aftermarket extended length shocks.
If you are on a budget, the new shock
brackets extend the lower shock mounting
point so that the factory front shocks
can be used and will not bottom out at
full suspension droop. If you would like
to upgrade your front shocks, we offer
aftermarket replacements such as Pro Comp
ES3000 or
Bilstein
5125 series that are longer than stock
and custom tune your front suspension
dampening.
2.
Second, we use replacement tubular
upper control arms that relocate the bump
stop on the a-arm to maximize the down
travel of the front suspension. This allows
the suspension to cycle without being
prematurely stopped, and creating the
harsh ride that occurs when just turning
up the torsion bars, or changing the torsion
bar adjuster keys. The
Cognito tubular upper control arms use a polyurethane
bump stop to provide a subtler stop, unlike
the factory upper arms that use metal-to-metal
stops.
3.
The
Cognito
tubular upper control arms, correct the
upper ball joint angle that is a problem
with angles of the factory upper control
arms after turning up the suspension.
The alignment of the front end is also
corrected so that it will fall into factory
alignment specifications, something that
is almost impossible on a truck leveled
out with the factory upper control arms.
4.
Last, the
Cognito
tubular upper control arms are supplied
with bolt in upper ball joints. The factory
upper control arms use a press in ball
joint, and on some vehicles in order to
change the upper ball joints, a new upper
control arm with the pressed in ball joint
must be purchased.
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)