Chevy & GMC Vans

Awesome, thanks for thos buying tips!

Going to order up the Hellwig #7534 kit soon

So I have been reading about swaybars more.

Will I have issues running 1 make of sway bars to another, being the van is carrying alot of weight and as a result the ride height being lower?

I.e. will I have to run the Belltech because they have more adjustment for stock ride height and lowered ride height? I really would prefer the Hellwig due to ease of installation and the fact it goes over the axle, looks cleaner

Have a look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKsIvmKtWZE

Jim

So that begs the next question, does the Hellwig Rear sway bar have the 3 hole positions?

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1894 Half way down you can see WVKayaker install. Maybe the upper brackets that go onto the frame has those adjustable positions?

I have this to offer:
My belltech sway bar came with three sets of endlink bolts, one really short for a lowered van, like three inches or so, a 7 inch and a 10 inch end link bolt. when I first installed it, I put the 7 inch end link bolts on it and it worked just fine. according to the instructions, the ends of the bar want to be more or less parallel to the ground at unloaded height. After some discussion on the site here, I installed the 10 inch end link bolts to see if there was any difference. the answer is no. I kind of liked the 7 inch bolts since they tucked the sway bar up a bit. Now that I think about it, I've got the extra parts in a ziplock bag in the garage. maybe I'll just tuck that bar back up again.
so I think the point I'm getting to here after my dissertation is that the belltech bar with the 7 inch end link bolts might handle the kind of variation in height you are looking for. I can't speak for the hellwig bars but that might work as well.
next?

There are no adjustment holes in a Hellwig kit. When I raised the SPB the first time, I made longer end links.

Would I have a problem with the hellwig kit and being lowered ride height?

I don't think you will. Worst case is you would need to modify or make shorter end links.

Lumpywrote:
Perhaps...Have your local welder guy tack on a pair of additional shock mounts on the "other side" from the OEM mounts. ie, passenger side add a rear-of-axle mount, driver side add a front-of-axle mount. Then add whatever you like to increase the damp.

Rear shocks are simple and accessable. With an xtra set of mounts, you could experiment a lot, remove a pair when you're not hauling monster loads or when you want to sell the van.

FWIW, I have Rancho Shock 9000s (adjustable) on my 89, front and rear. I generally keep them at either max or just one click below max damping. I don't haul anything heavy or tow. So it's not likely that the 9000s would help in your situation, at least not as the only pair of shocks.


Lump

I also got the Rancho Suspension RS9000XL Ajdjustable Shock. It provides me with exceptional performance and an on-road comfort & off-road control.