Ok guys I got my truck now and I have my first question. The truck is lowered more than it's suppose to befrom the factory. Who ever had it before me lowered it. It's not a hole lot but I want to bring it back up. What is the most common way of lowering the lightnings? I'm kinda new to these trucks and I would like to know from you guys that has lowered yours. Also where can I find the parts to raise it back up to factory stance? By the way I LOVE THE TRUCK!!! It's awesome but the lowered stance bounces me all over the road and at higher speeds like 80 it gets a little shaky. Please send me your input. Thanks,

toslow

 

There's a couple or few ways to lower it.
The most common way of lowering the rear is shackles

They come with a short shackle (the black one)


By adding a Longer Shackle you sit the leaf's up higher, hence lowering the L


As for the fronts, drop springs are the usual move there
Take a taller spring out, put a shorter spring in


Stock Shocks will look like this


Now I said "most common way", but there are clearly more extreme ways to lower a Lightning, some are so extreme they detail notching the Chassis,
maybe Drop Spindles, Diff Leaf's, Diff Shocks, Diff Arm's, Bars, etc.....

I would almost guess yours is more extreme because I have Shackles and Drop Springs and my truck drives awesome at all speeds (except those fk'd up Jersey Roads where you hit a 1/4 mile of land minds) @$^@($^%@($%$

 

Well I had a blazer that was lowered before I got the L and it was really bouncy too. The L is not bad unless you are going high speeds and I don't really know what is causing it. I figured the lowered thing would be the first place to start and bring it back up to factory stance. If that doesn't fix it then it's under warranty so I will have them take a look at it!! I will look at the shackles and and springs and see if that is how they done it. It's not lowered much in the front so I wouldn't think that they put spindles up there or anything else, just lowering springs. As for the back I was hoping shackles or blocks. Thanks for the input!!

 

Your bouncyness in likely either bad shocks or the suspension is hitting the bump stops. Both the these conditions can be cured without raising the truck.

 

At 18,000 thousand miles my front end was very bouncy and felt very dangerous. And it was all stock. I lowered it with a Rouch kit and no more bouncing. It was the front shocks that was causing the bouncing so raising it to stock height might not fix that issue.

 

Well the bouncy part is because it is lowered I am pretty sure on that. Raising it will fix that but the problem is not the bouncy part. The problem is at about 85-90 mph it gets shaky. Is this normal? I assumed that it was because it was lowered. The main reason for raising it will be for a smoother ride. But I like the stance of it lowered just not the ride. The shaky part is what I am wanting to fix more than anything. It was real bad when I test drove the truck but then I had them switch wheels and tires off of another lightning that they had and all that went away. It just does it now if I am just going fast. So where should I start on trying to fix the shaky part? Thanks for all your input guys. By the way I got a warranty on the truck so if all else fails I can take it back to the dealer. By the way it has 23K miles on it.

 

well what kind of shake, an up and down or is the steering wheel pulling side to side. it could just be an unbalanced wheel, i had one of those on my L and if u held the steering wheel real tight it used to shake my eyeballs at high speeds (or maybe it was that brown acid ) anyway i have a roush kit w/qa1s and it drives great at high speeds, the only problem i have is there no weight in the back so on bumpy turns the *** end skips like a friggen stone. look into a few other things before raisin it up start w/the cheapest..balancing, could be a bent rim,warped rotor...
later

 

Why do you say that?

I don't see the relationship between "bounciness" and ride height.

 

You speak without tech here. Lowering a vehicle correctly does
not affect the "bounciness" of the ride. What probably
happened is they lowered it and didn't replace the shocks
and they are now toasted.

My truck is pretty seriously lowered and rides like a dream.

Bring the Tech, and we can help ...

Where in KY are you? We can help ...

PS ... Rob, not ALL shocks that look like that are "stock" < grin >

 

your L could very well be out of alignment, i switched to bell tech springs and drop hangers and shackles, also added a set of nitro drop shocks for the rear and then got an alignment and i think it rides smoother than stock height, especially at higher speeds.

 

My truck rides like it's on rails and has never felt bouncy at all. I've had it over 120 mph on an old little used divided highway with a two mile straight-away and it tracks straight as an arrow. If it was lowered correctly it shouldn't have any problems. I'd check shocks, front alignment and tire balance for some of the problems to start with. Good Luck!

 

I have driven svt_ky truck and it drives better than my oo with 2" shackles. I am coping his suspension well as close as i can get to it sense roush stop making parts for out trucks.

 

Aren't you supposed to be WORKING????????

I'm heading to Summit Point tomorrow noonish ... Keep an eye on things can you, please?

Cliff

 

Please recap SVT_KY's current setup for the folks viewing at home.

 

roush kit (rear leafs and shocks)
hotchkis sway bars
ruslow 1200 coils
ruslow panhard bar
wc lower control arms w/djm upper control arms

i think that is it

not a problem cliff. just bring back some cool videos.