129 1010 Pieces Of Eight Superlift Kit For Gm Trucks - kicker Braces - Photo 30316063

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The final large components for the front suspension are the kicker braces, which help strengthen the new crossmember assembly. The front of these braces mount to the new rear crossmember and the rear of these braces mount to existing holes in the transmission crossmember using supplied hardware. The kicker braces are made from 1.5-inch-diameter, 0.188-inch-wall tubing.

The Superlift 8-inch kit is all-inclusive, so everything you need to lift your truck is included. Options include premium rear leaf-springs. All bracketry is made from 1/4-inch steel and they're powdercoated gloss black. (Photo: Superlift)

Installation begins after removing all of the frontend components including brakes, axleshafts, struts, control arms, hub assemblies, and differential. The kit requires trimming of various components before the new lift parts can be installed. Per the instructions, the inside corners of the factory front crossmember are trimmed so the new Superlift front crossmember can be installed. The passenger- and driver-side lower control arm mounts are also trimmed to create clearance for the differential/axle assembly.

Here you can see the trimmed rear passenger-side lower control arm mount.

The differential is lowered via a pair of differential drop brackets. This is the passenger-side bracket and it mounts to the factory passenger-side differential mount using the factory hardware.

On the driver side, a similar differential drop bracket is used to lower the differential. This bracket has a hole in the center of the upper end that accommodates a tab in the center of the factory differential mount.

With the drop brackets installed, the front differential can be reinstalled in the vehicle and fastened to the new brackets with supplied hardware.

To lift the front suspension, the lower A-arms must be dropped. Two crossmembers are required to accomplish this-one for the front legs of the A-arms and one for the rear legs of the A-arms. The front crossmember (shown) is the mount for the front legs of the lower A-arms and it mounts to the original lower control arm front-leg mounting points.

The new rear crossmember is the mount for the rear legs of the lower A-arms, and it mounts to the factory lower control arm rear leg mounting points that have been trimmed. Both new front and rear crossmembers are attached using supplied hardware.

Here's a closeup of the triple bolt arrangement used to mount the passenger side of the rear crossmember to the factory lower control arm rear leg mounting points.

A 1/4 inch-thick differential skidplate is included with the kit and attaches to mounting tabs on the front and rear crossmembers.

Taller, ductile-iron replacement knuckles are included with the kit. Here you can see just how much larger and beefier the Superlift knuckle is compared to the stock unit. The factory wheel bearing assemblies and brake dust shields are transferred to the new Superlift knuckles.

Here you can see the passenger-side factory lower control arm mounted to the new Superlift crossmembers. Both lower control arms are attached using factory hardware.

The brake dust shields are trimmed so they don't contact the brake caliper. Typically, they are test-fit and marked and then trimmed.

The new knuckle assemblies are attached to the upper and lower ball joints using the factory nuts.

Due to the design of the new knuckles and the increase in height, new holes for the sway bar end links need to be drilled in the lower control arms. A paper template that lines up with the factory sway bar link mount location is included with the kit. After the new locations are marked on the A-arms, the holes are drilled out.

Billet aluminum axleshaft spacers are included with the kit. They are 15/8 inch wide and simply mount between the flange on the axleshaft and the flange on the differential with new hardware.

Superide premium gas-charged struts are included with the kit, and a heavy-duty strut compressor is required for installation. The retaining ring and lower spring seat are reused, but a new cone-shaped foam compression stop is supplied.

Strut spacers mount onto the top of the strut and help compensate for the added lift. Superlift notes that the top of the factory studs may need to be ground down for clearance.

The upper ends of the strut assemblies are attached with the factory nuts, while the lower ends are attached to the control arms with supplied hardware.

Before the tie rods are attached to their respective knuckles, they need to be shortened. The tie-rod ends are removed and their threads are lengthened by 1/2 inch. Then, 11/4 inches of length is removed from the ends, and the tie-rods ends are reinstalled and attached to the knuckles. Here you can see the shortened passenger-side tie rod assembly.

The Superlift kit also contains various other brackets, including brake-line relocation brackets and sway bar drop brackets (shown). The brackets attach to the factory sway bar mounts at the frame.

The final large components for the front suspension are the kicker braces, which help strengthen the new crossmember assembly. The front of these braces mount to the new rear crossmember and the rear of these braces mount to existing holes in the transmission crossmember using supplied hardware. The kicker braces are made from 1.5-inch-diameter, 0.188-inch-wall tubing.

Lifting the rear of the vehicle is standard as far as leaf-spring trucks go. In the base kit form, the rear of the vehicle is raised via an add-a-leaf and 5-inch lift block. The kit also contains rear bumpstop spacers, Superide shocks, and instructions for re-routing the brake lines, emergency brake cable, and ABS wiring. The Superide twin-tube shocks offer 10-stage velocity-sensitive valving, heavy-duty chrome-hardened piston shaft, and O-ring piston seal.