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In my last vehicle upgrade post I replaced my shocks with the new Belltech Street Performance shocks, I did not have all the components for the entire suspension upgrade at the time so I just did the shocks. The Street Performance shocks alone made a noticeable difference in the ride quality and handling characteristics of my truck.

Now for part 2 of my Belltech suspension upgrade. When I inked my sponsorship from Belltech I was asked how low I wanted to go. In the past I had considered lowering my truck but seeing how I go fishing while hauling a bass boat as well as driving down dirt roads I needed the ground clearance when I went off road. While I’m sure I could have gone lower I opted the 2/2 kit to lower my center of gravity a little to improve the handling. The fact that the lower stance looks nice is an added benefit.

For my system I got the Spindles, part number 2508 for the front end and shackles, part 6400 for the rear as well as the Sway Bar set part number 5405. These part number listed are for my 2005 ECSB with the Silverado Performance Package. It is basically a 2wd SS without the SS accents. Also known as the VHO, for the motor which is the Vortec High Output 6.0 LQ9.

For my installation I contacted Guy at AV Sport Truck & Off Road Center in Lancaster CA to arrange the installation. Lancaster is about 90 miles to the south of me and the wife wanted to do some shopping so we decided to make a day out of it.

Here is a picture of my truck sitting in front of his shop prior to the installation of my Belltech 2/2 drop.

The installation is pretty straight forward and the directions that are provided make it very simple so I won’t go into too much detail on the specifics.

Lets start with the front spindles. First of course you must remove the stock spindles. This will include the brake caliper and rotor as well as the hub to get to the spindle. The extra bracket you see is the caliper relocation bracket for my Baer Eradispeed Plus 1 braking system.

Here we have a side by side view of the stock spindle and the Belltech 2508 spindle. You can see the difference between the 2.

The only issue we ran into was the splash shield needed to be slightly trimmed, this was not because of the Belltech Spindles, it was due to the caliper relocation bracket’s lower bolt not being able to go in. Not a problem, a dremel with a cut off wheel and about 1 minute and the installation process went on.

Here is a picture of the completed spindle install, for those that noticed, yes I installed some stainless steel brake lines while I was at it.

On to the rear shackle install. This process was very simple, swap out the stock shackles with the Belltech ones. If you have a tow hitch removing it makes the removal and install of the shackles much easier.

Here is the stock shackle being removed.

Here is a comparison of the Belltech and stock shackle

About the only thing I suggest you watch for is to be sure to follow the directions as to the shackle install orientation. While it may appear wrong, look like they are backwards, it is not. This was something that Doug, the installer, told me was a common made mistake. Bottom line, put the new shackles in the same way the old shackles were before you removed them. Here we have the Belltech shackle installed.

That’s pretty much it. The total time for install was not quite 2 hours total, then again AV Sport Truck specializes in the type of install so they knew all of the little issues they might encounter along the way. The included install instructions are very well laid out and make the install pretty simple. I believe that if a person were to tackle this job it would probably take maybe 4 hours, as long as they have the correct tools.

Another thing worth mentioning is when you install any new spindles it will alter your front end alignment so be sure to have a front end alignment done as soon as possible to avoid the front end wobble and uneven tire wear.

While I was at it I had my TA Performance Rear End Girdle and ARP Bearing Cap stud kit to help strengthen and cool the rear end. The added benefit of looking great is also a big plus. 

Once again, for the observent people out there viewing this picture, this picture was taken before its installation was complete. Thats why the brake line is just kind of hanging there as well as the cover missing 2 bolts.

Where is the write up and pictures of the sway bar’s being installed you may ask. Due to the fact that a certain delivery company did not get them to me in time to have them installed at the same time as the lowering kit, the installation of them will be delayed until sometime in the near future. 

Here is an after picture of my truck in pretty close to the same location as my before picture.

On to my impressions. First off, I believe that it does look nicer with its slightly lower stance, not to low for functionality yet still slightly noticeable. Onto performance. Now remember I went out of town for the install. Between the town that I live in and Lancaster there is a short cut road that has some nice tight turns. On the way there I once again put the Belltech Street Performance shocks to the test and they continued to impress me over my 2 year old Edelbrocks. I purposely drove hard into the turns to really evaluate how the suspension felt prior to installing the drop.

Now the ride home after the install. On I-14 the ride was still just as smooth as it was on the way down, which was to be expected. Then we came to the Garlock short cut. Again I drove hard into the curves to see if it felt better and to my surprise it did. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that it was like night and day but I honestly did notice less body roll due to the lower center of gravity. Does it now handle better than my Monte Carlo SS? Umm, sorry to say but no it does not. It does however handle fantastic for a full sized extended cab truck with a camper shell.

On a side note, I don’t know if the drop had anything to do with it but I did get better gas mileage coming home than I did going down. Has anyone that has already lowered their truck experienced this? I know I drove just as fast as I did on the way down as well as hard into the corners. I’ll have to post this question on an on line forum I frequent, SilveradoSS.com and see what kind of response I get from the guys there. More than likely it was just a fluke but who knows. I’ll be sure to do a follow up with my findings.

As of this posting I have not hooked up the Champion bass boat to see how the suspension handles it but like I said before in my shock install post, I truly don’t believe there will be any issues. Here again, I’ll post a follow up a little later down the line.

I would highly recommend this suspension upgrade to anyone wanting to improve their performance and ride capabilities of their truck, trust me when I say that you will not be disappointed.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon!

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

Belltech Lowering Kits Why just drop your truck when you can turn it into a corner-hugging sport truck? For more than 20 years, professional truck builders have trusted Belltech for all of their lowering suspension needs. Belltech’s complete lowering systems include everything you need to lower the front and rear of your vehicle. Includes Nitro Drop shocks (unless otherwise noted). Tested for performance and ride quality. Easy install – made for the handy, do-it-yourselfer. Computer designed for a perfect fit. Made in the USA using the highest-quality materials. Transferable lifetime warranty. Order your kit today, and find out why "nobody drops ‘em like Belltech."

I recently swapped out my 2 year old Edelbrock IAS shocks with Belltechs new Street Performance shocks. Part numbers for my 2005 Extended cab Short bed with torsion bar front suspension are as follows, for the rear the number was 2212FF and for the front the number was 310400.

I took mine to my friend Matt’s shop, AAS Tuning located in Ridgecrest California, that’s where I live, for installation because I figured it was much easier and quicker to do it on a lift but as it turned out it would have been just as easy to do on the ground with a couple of floor jacks and a creeper.

The installation was very simple and straight forward. For the rear shocks there are just 4 nuts and bolts, 13/16 or 21mm that you have to deal with. Remove the nuts and bolts, remove the old shocks and reinstall the Belltech Street Performance shocks. Piece of cake.

The fronts were not quite as quick and easy, but still was no dig deal. By the way, you don’t really have to remove the front wheel to swap out the shocks but it does give you more room to work if you do so the choice is yours. Use a 5/8 open end wrench to hold the bottom of the upper collar so it does not spin and a 17mm deep socket to remove the top nut of the Edelbrocks. On a side note, if you are replacing your stock shocks the top nut will be a 15mm. Bobby at AAS attached the wrench from inside the wheel well and I held it in place as he went in from under the hood with the deep socket with a long extension on an impact wrench so this went very quickly. The bottom nuts and bolts were just like the rear ones were, both a 13/16 or 21mm will work fine.

Installing the Street performance shocks up front was just a reversal of the removal with a couple of exceptions. First off, the new supplied top nut is not a 15mm like the stock nut would have been, it is a 17mm. just like the ones removed from my IAS shocks. Secondly there is a second nut that is used to lock the main nut in place, like I said, nothing tough at all. I read on an online forum where someone said to install the bottom part first and this will automatically cause the shock to compress when you tighten up the top nuts, great advice!

As far as tightening the nuts to the torque specifications go, there is not enough room to get a torque wrench in so Bobby just tightened the nut down until the bushing squashed to approximately the same size as the washer then he installed the secondary nut to lock the nuts in place to avoid them backing off.

Total install time was just a little over 30 minutes for all 4 corners. Mind you this was in a shop, with an experienced mechanic with power tools. In my opinion I figure if a person who knows absolutely nothing about suspensions but they had the ability to follow instructions, they could do the complete swap in their drive way with regular hand tools and a floor jack in no longer than 2 hours total. That would include finding the right tools, going to the restroom, answering the phone and helping the wife unload the groceries if she came home while they were in the middle of the install.

On to the important stuff, how do ya like them Mike? If I had to describe in one word how I feel about the Belltech Street Performance shocks that word would have to be NICE. The ride is a little more firm than my Edelbrock IAS were, then again they were over 2 years old so that might not be a really fair comparison. I would however like to believe that seeing how they were just 2 years old they would be at least close to what they were originally but who is to say for sure.

The town that I live in does not really take very good care of their streets, lots of bumps and pretty rough roads. I thought the ride I had previously was not bad but in comparison there is really no comparison. The Street Performance shocks handle the roads very nicely making the ride pretty darn smooth. They take pot holes very well making them less jolting when you cant help but hit them from time to time.

On to how it handles while cornering. I believe this is where the engineers at Belltech did their home work. The Street performance shocks excel in this department. I have yet to really put them to the test but I did take a drive, in spite of the high fuel prices, on a semi windy road to try them out and I was very surprised with them. Slow turns at 55 are not any issue at all, very, very little body roll at all. While it is true that I currently have a Hellwig rear sway bar, which by the way I will be swapping out with a Belltech one, I do notice a difference in comparison to the IAS shocks I had on previously.

Does it handle and corner as well as my 2005 Monte Carlo SS? I know, wish full thinking huh? I can however honestly say that for a full sized Extended Cab truck with a camper shell it handles exceptionally well. Allot better than I would have ever imagined a truck could handle. As of this writing I have not yet hooked up the bass boat to see how they handle hauling it but I feel very assured that there will not be any issues.

I highly recommend the Belltech Street Performance shocks to anyone out there that is wanting to upgrade their stock suspension to achieve a smoother ride and much improved handling performance. Not only do these shocks perform fantastic they look great while doing thier job.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon! 

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

Belltech Lowering Kits Why just drop your truck when you can turn it into a corner-hugging sport truck? For more than 20 years, professional truck builders have trusted Belltech for all of their lowering suspension needs. Belltech’s complete lowering systems include everything you need to lower the front and rear of your vehicle. Includes Nitro Drop shocks (unless otherwise noted). Tested for performance and ride quality. Easy install – made for the handy, do-it-yourselfer. Computer designed for a perfect fit. Made in the USA using the highest-quality materials. Transferable lifetime warranty. Order your kit today, and find out why "nobody drops ‘em like Belltech."