I have an 02 yukon denali AWD. When I bought it, it had already been lowered on 22's. There are eibach coils in the back, and the front had the torsion keys turned almost all the way down. I trimmed the bumpstops so there was just a little left since it appeared to be riding on them, and also I turned both torsion bars all the way down until they bottomed out and left it.

I put some new 24's on it and rode that way for 25k miles. The fronts did wear a bit on the inner edge, similar to how a FWD car wears tires, but nothing too bad. Then last month I went on a trip to florida and back and when I looked at the tires after the trip the front insides were worn severely. I am not sure why this happened all the sudden. All the joints look fine and don't seem to have excess play in them.

So the only place in town that can align with bigger than 20" rims is an old school alignment shop where the guy does everything by hand with no equipment. So he does his thing in about 30 minutes and says it is good, so I pay him and drive home. He told me he had to raise the driver torsion bar to get it in line. Apparently he uses the same specs for just about everything since he doesnt have a computer or a book and didn't ask for the year or any info to look up specs.

When I get home and come back outside later, I notice the front sits higher than the back. It used to sit lower than the front, so it has been raised at least 2", like an OBS 88-98 sits. I measure and sure enough the front sits higher than the back 1 inch on level ground, as measured at the fender well edges. It used to sit about half an inch to an inch lower than the back.

So I let the drivers torsion bar back down and the passenger side actually goes higher than it was before, and the driver stays the same as far as ride height. So I mark where the alignment cams are and then I adjust them back to where they were before (you can still see the marks on the frame) and the truck comes back down where it was.

I didnt think camber would affect ride height that much?

Would I be better off to go with a set of spindles up front and then have it realigned? I read that some people here do not like spindle drops, I am curious why that is. I want to keep the same ride height if not lower it slightly more than it is now, definitely not raise it up.

I am still running the stock air ride shocks, but the compressor is disabled so they never raise the truck. I imagine they are about ready to bottom out...are there any drop shocks available at a reasonable price for this truck?

 

I would put a set of spindles on the truck then raise your keys back up. It will ride alot better than the way you have it right now. I have the McGaughys spindles on mine and I havent had a problem at all with them.

 

thanks for the reply. anyone else?

 

well, I guess that's the end of that.

 

I definitely recommend spindles. Both for ride quality, alignment specs, and most important...CV shaft angles. I think you'll be much happier the whole way around. I ran McGaughy spindles on my old '03 YD. FWIW, I'd now choose Belltech - they handle the stock 17" rims without having to trim the control arm bolt and they don't have as much of an effect on turning radius.

While you're at it - and not to spend your money here - but you might want to consider a complete kit. I was VERY disappointed in the ride quality of my Eibach drop springs. A set of Belltech 3" springs + shock extenders out back will likely give you a huge improvement in the ride.

 

I would recomend the Belltech too. I just installed the complete kit with the spindle drop and rear coils with shock extender brackets.... It still rides really good and sits pretty low. The air shocks are nice to keep too..

 

To get it as low as you want it, AND get the alignment back close to specs, you will need drop spindles. It will also correct your ball joint angles, tie rod angles, and CV angles. It will also handle better. The correct length shocks will also be necessary.

 

SO with all this said, why have I read several comments from different people while searching past posts here, saying "I dont like spindle drops"? I thought that was the proper way to do it, and if I had been the one who initially lowered the truck, that's how I would have done it. I'm just curious what the other side of the coin is.

 

A lot of people that say they don't like spindle drops would be referring to the original 99-02 belltech design, which required flipping ball joints and the upper control arms. It also gave a terrible turning radius. With their new design, just like McGaughy's, there is no problem, except that you have to use 17" or larger wheels. Some manufacturers of old body style spindles had the wheels push out almost half an inch, so some people would dislike those brands.

I would get the spindles, then get it re-aligned. I'm guessing the guy that aligned your denali probably ran out of adjustment on the alignment cams and raised the truck up to get it to align. You'll get the best ride and alignment with spindles. You can get an alignment kit to gain up to 2* of adjustment, but the time/labor to install them will cost as much as spindles unless you do it yourself.