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In this day and age it seems like anything can be lifted, but usually at the sacrifice of how the vehicle will perform. Our 2015 Chevrolet Silverado towed our sister magazine’s Factory Five Racing Cobra to the 2015 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, and while it came from the factory ready to tow, we wanted to increase its performance.
The truck received a series of parts added to it before heading off on its maiden voyage, towing the car more than 250 miles from Southern California to Sin City. Our goal was to give the truck a more aggressive off-road look with a lift, wheels, and tires before heading out.
Our Silverado before we got our hands on it.
We chose to go with BDS Suspension and its four-inch suspension system for the 2014 to 2015 GM 1500 trucks, Dick Cepek DC Matrix wheels, and Toyo Tires Open Country R/T. This combination got the truck looking the way we wanted, while maintaining its functionality, both on and off the road.
As you may remember, we did a review on the Open Country R/Ts, so we knew exactly what we were getting. One main reason we chose to go with Toyo on this build was our Factory Five Cobra Challenge car also sports Toyo Proxes R888. The DC Matrix wheels completed the look and tied into the factory black accents on the truck.
We added BDS Suspension with Fox Shocks (left), Dick Cepek DC Matrix wheels (center), and Toyo Open Country R/T tires (right) to our 2015 Chevrolet Silverado.
BDS Suspension was founded in 1996 by a business group that wanted to create a suspension company and incorporate the best interests of the off-road consumer. Frustrated by the lack of quality, and the unwillingness to make things right by other 4×4 companies, BDS Suspension came up with the motto, “Use it, abuse it,” as a testimony to the durability of its products.
BDS Suspension received Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 126 compliance, which requires that all-new passenger vehicles under 10,000 pounds GVWR include an electronic stability control (ESC) system as standard equipment. FMVSS No. 126 tests new vehicle ESC systems through a series of evasive lane-change maneuvers at highway speeds to ensure the driver can maintain control in critical driving situations.
On a closed test course, the BDS Suspension-equipped vehicle was accelerated to 50 mph, at which point an operator initiated the test by allowing the computer to take control. The computer-controlled steering wheel is spun abruptly, both left and right, causing the vehicle to change direction and begin to slide. This event causes the vehicle’s ESC system to activate and regain control. When the data was analyzed, it clearly showed the BDS product did not interfere with the performance of the ESC system.
Time To Go Up
Our project was estimated to take approximately eight hours. We started by unpacking the lift kit and lifted the Silverado in the air with the help of our Bendpak. All four tires were removed so that we could disassemble the front suspension.
Since this is a four-wheel-drive kit, the front differential needed to be relocated for proper angles at the CV axles, while keeping the stock front driveshaft. A three-piece differential drop system kept the differential secure, and the three-piece front skid plate system will protect the underside when we take the truck on future off-road excursions.
With the factory skid plate removed, we could see everything we had to remove.
We removed the front suspension all the way down to the frame, so that meant the spindle, control arms, and strut all had to go. The kit reused the factory control arms, but used new taller ductile cast iron spindles. Once everything was stripped down to the frame, we wremoved the front differential.
The kit is not for the faint of heart, and by that we mean the differential needed to be cut. The pumpkin needed to be modified to clear the electronic steering rack in the relocated position, which meant the passenger side mount had to be removed. One mounting location was completely removed while the other side only had to be notched. This process was required since the front differential would be sitting lower than it was stock.
Just some of the trimming the front differential had to undergo to be relocated.
The differential and the truck were not completely done with surgery just yet. The lower tab of the differential had to be removed to clear the high-clearance skid plate as well as the inside driver’s side control arm pocket. The modification only needed to be done on the driver’s side to allow the differential to clear its new home.
Once cut, the control arm pocket had the supplied plate tacked and welded to the backside to cap off the pocket. We used our Miller Millermatic 252 and made quick work of making sure the plate was not going anywhere.
Cutting and welding on the driver rear lower control arm mount.
With everything cut, and clearances checked, we reinstalled the suspension with the new parts. New high-clearance crossmembers were installed, which also supported the differential. Factory upper and lower control arms, and the new larger spindles have a higher mounting point for the supplied outer tie rod.
Our kit used replacement front struts that provided the lift required in the front of the truck and reused the factory coil springs. We had to also reuse the factory mounting hardware from the original struts.
Most lift kits use blocks to lift the rear of the truck, but we chose to replace with the rear lift springs with BDS Suspension Glide-Ride leaf spring to reduce axle wrap and create a more controlled, and stable feel, when towing.
We supported the rear axle and loosened the rear leaf springs to begin the swap. One thing that was noted for the 2014-2015 GM 1500 trucks is the fuel tank needed to slide over five or six inches to maneuver the front bolt out in order to remove the spring.
Installing the rear leaf springs was a little more than just a simple swap. The fuel tank had to be slid over to gain clearance and remove the front bolt.
We used the supplied longer U-bolts to secure the springs to the axle. The new springs added lift to the rear of the truck, which meant the OEM shocks needed to be replaced. Our kit came with the optional Fox 2.0 shocks. The shocks are BDS Suspension and Fox-branded and just by installing them we could tell would be the perfect upgrade for the rear of the truck.
Time To Tow
We made quick work of swapping on the new wheels and tires to finish the install. With the new lift, wheels, and tires, our Silverado got the needed ground clearance for off-road performance, but still maintained its manners on our drive to Vegas.
The new Toyo Open Country R/Ts gave our truck the traction it needed on and off the road. The install went quick, and before we knew it the wheels and tires were on the truck.
Driving a brand new truck always has certain ride and feel, but even after we installed the lift kit, wheels, and tires, it still drove like a new truck. The overall feel of the lift kit did not change the ride quality compared to the factory ride.
We got everything we were looking for to perform off-road, while maintaining the performance needed to tow the Cobra Challenge car to SEMA. Stay tuned for updates on the truck, and check out the gallery of pictures from the install.
