2006 Silverado 4x4 ?'s

[TeeShock]

I bought a weekend truck a few months ago and want to start with some basic mods. 2006 5.3 z71 crew cab 88k Ill post some pics later this week from big bend.



Suspension. I don't want a lift but I do want to upgrade the suspension. Has anyone here looked into coilovers for these trucks? The stock torsion bar system can be ditched in favor of a frame welded upper coilover mount with aftermarket UCAs.

Tires. I will need tires sometime soon and there is too much info to decided what I will buy. It currently has Bfg at ko 285/70 r17 on stock wheels/suspension and there is plenty of clearance. Im either going to stick with the same bfg tire or maybe give the general grabbers a shot. Does anyone have any recommendations for good wearing aggressive tire?

Steering. Is there any steering shaft maintenance I need to perform? I feel a little bit of grime when cranking the steering wheel.

Lighting. Retrofit stock housings or buy aftermarket housings to retrofit with projectors?

Engine. Is an intake and tune worth a damn on this motor?

[bcoop]

I did a shit ton of research on tires, and the BFG AT KO2 is about as good as it gets for an aggressive tire. Some say they aren't worth a shit in deep mud, but they suit my purposes just fine. I'm not offroading. Just getting in/out of the farm and around while there, as well as in and out of MX tracks. Both were huge problems on the old tires with a little rain. Mine are LT275/65/20, and so far so good. They're far more quiet than I anticipated. A hell of a lot more quiet than the stock Wranglers that came off of it, and those weren't an all terrain tire. I was shocked at how much heavier the steering wheel feels though, since adding them. Also had to adjust my driving to allow for longer stopping distances.


There is this one, which is the highest rated tire that Tirerack shows in this category. I just couldn't pull the trigger on them though. I've hated every Goodyear tire I've ever owned.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=All-Terrain+T%2FA+KO2

[Treybiz]

Yes you can upgrade the front stuff to C/Os and I had started gathering parts for that process on my 07 (classic) 4x4 before I traded it in.. There was a guy selling the kits on GMFUllSIZE.com for a while.... I found a Used Dixon Mid Travel Kit but ending up reselling after I traded in.

Steering upgrades can be had from a few different places. My last truck didn't have squat but I know cognito, Blitzkreig, and some other places made or used to make steering parts. I have FFR tie rods on my current silverado and they have been fine for 30k.

Your current tires are great. No General Grabbers... Heavy as doo doo.

Lighting. If you need extra light I wouldn't mess with retro-fitting anything into the stock lamps. If you are talking about offroad use you can't beat an LED light bar and they can be hidden pretty easy. If you don't care to hide them get ya some big ol HIDs to slap on the bumper

Tune and Intake... Yes, 4.8,5.3,6.0 all respond well to a good tune and some bolt ons can't hurt.

[TeeShock]

I did a shit ton of research on tires, and the BFG AT KO2 is about as good as it gets for an aggressive tire.

Thanks for the input. It looks like they offer it in 315/70 too. What is the tallest tire I should run with the 3.73s?

So did you get the bfg at ko2s and have they lived up the their name?

[TeeShock]

Yes you can upgrade the front stuff to C/Os and I had started gathering parts for that process on my 07 (classic) 4x4 before I traded it in.. There was a guy selling the kits on GMFUllSIZE.com for a while.... I found a Used Dixon Mid Travel Kit but ending up reselling after I traded in.

Steering upgrades can be had from a few different places. My last truck didn't have squat but I know cognito, Blitzkreig, and some other places made or used to make steering parts. I have FFR tie rods on my current silverado and they have been fine for 30k.

Are you talking about the guy making the coilover bracket that mounts inside the factory upper shock mount? My concern there is travel limitations. I would like to hack off that mount and have a plate-based hoop welded to the frame to clear a higher volume shock.

The cognito guys havent been very helpful in answering my specific questions. Their 2wd UCA looks like what I want (no shock mounts) but they wont respond to my emails.

Thanks on the grabber heads up. I see a lot of sponsored race trucks running them and figured they couldn't be too bad. I just don't want a tire to come apart when I'm running 90 down the highway.

Lightbars are incredibly lame to me. The KC flex pods are probably the route I will take. Do you know anything about the charging system on the truck? I have a new battery and it dims the headlights when I roll a window up. My guess is the alternator or upgrading my stock main wiring.

[bcoop]

Thanks for the input. It looks like they offer it in 315/70 too. What is the tallest tire I should run with the 3.73s?

So did you get the bfg at ko2s and have they lived up the their name?

I should clarify. The BFG AT KO2 offers the best balance between a road and off-road tire imo. I do a lot of highway driving, so I didn't want to go with a strictly off road tire. Longevity is important to me. So with road noise, longevity, and an aggressive tread pattern I thought they were the best balance. I'm a big fan of the Michelin AT LTX, I think they're the best tires around, they just weren't aggressive enough for what I needed.


Yes, I bought the AT KO2s, and they've lived up so far. Iive only got a few thousand miles on them so far, but I have no complaints to this point. I haven't been in deep mud but I don't plan on being in deep mud either.

[Tremor14]

How did you stock truck perform in Big Bend? i would like to take my 4x4 down there in the fall.

[TeeShock]

How did you stock truck perform in Big Bend? i would like to take my 4x4 down there in the fall.

I drove in the West entrance and the drive to the ranger station was a breeze. The roads are pretty choppy and almost unbearable at some points. It was like driving over rows of 3" pipe spaced 3" apart in some areas. Other parts you can open it up to 60mph. Outside of the main road I only drove to the campsite "Yedra 2" and the truck did fine (yedra campsites are off of a "4wd high clearance only" trail). My buddies new forrester XT did great down and back as well. There were a lot of rocks and I bet it would be pretty gross if it rained. Other than some new pinstripes it was awesome. I have a video I need to upload of the roads I drove down. There are some awesome cattle guards to roost off of too. Watch out for spiders.

[Treybiz]

Are you talking about the guy making the coilover bracket that mounts inside the factory upper shock mount? My concern there is travel limitations. I would like to hack off that mount and have a plate-based hoop welded to the frame to clear a higher volume shock.
Yep, same guy... I didn't go that route because I was in search of more travel. I sadly came to the conclusion that any more travel was going to be $$$$.
The cognito guys havent been very helpful in answering my specific questions. Their 2wd UCA looks like what I want (no shock mounts) but they wont respond to my emails.
I never purchased anything from them so I have no idea about customer service but their products always seemed decent. The desert guys are pretty much the same. The mazulla folks are the only ones that consistantly answered my emails. I have a set of Mazulla Mid Travel UCAs sitting in my garage that I was planning to slap on my current truck with some of their mid-travel kings but I got side tracked.

Thanks on the grabber heads up. I see a lot of sponsored race trucks running them and figured they couldn't be too bad. I just don't want a tire to come apart when I'm running 90 down the highway.

They are cool tires but super heavy. I picked up a set of 35s for a buddy that were crazy heavy.

Lightbars are incredibly lame to me. The KC flex pods are probably the route I will take. Do you know anything about the charging system on the truck? I have a new battery and it dims the headlights when I roll a window up. My guess is the alternator or upgrading my stock main wiring.

Hence why I said someting about hiding them. I loved using my LED bar on my last silverado but I did get tired of the way it looked. My 07 and my 11 seem to dim when I do anything including rolling up windows. Although neither have had any electrical problems/ battery drains. I ran my winch, radio, and all the truck lights for 4-5 hours one drunken night in a creek bottom (with the motor running) The battery and charging system survived that.

[TeeShock]

Hence why I said someting about hiding them. I loved using my LED bar on my last silverado but I did get tired of the way it looked. My 07 and my 11 seem to dim when I do anything including rolling up windows. Although neither have had any electrical problems/ battery drains. I ran my winch, radio, and all the truck lights for 4-5 hours one drunken night in a creek bottom (with the motor running) The battery and charging system survived that.

Roof mounted light bars (on a roof rack it does makes sense) are like a flat bill hat for your truck lol. Great for pulling truck sluts but I dont really care about impressing anybody anymore.

I have considered using the two bumper vent openings for hiding some short led bars or possibly behind the grill (least favorable option). Originally I pictured some high powered LEDs (http://www.kchilites.com/flex-dual-led.html) going in the factory fog locations that way I will keep the harness and switch stock. I need to verify the power requirements to see if the stock fog harness is sufficient.

Ill take those UCAs off your hands! Had I known more about the suspension I would have probably gone with an 07+ since the coilovers are much easier but the DOD engines consumption/valvetrain nightmares killed it for me.