Thanks again to CST, Pro Comp, Rancho, RCD, Rock Krawler, Rough Country, Skyjacker, Superlift, and Trail Master. Each company was willing to provide a truck and representative to participate in a brand-new program and help put together a truly unbiased test of the current aftermarket suspensions available for a '99-'06 Chevy 1/2-ton. Their time and money invested was no small act, as every truck had to be driven to the start of the event, ready to go. We really appreciate that.
Thanks also to Pro Comp Tire & Wheel, and SealPak Innovations. We wanted a tire that was very driveable on the highway, with an aggressive tread design that would get good traction in the dirt. We also wanted a wheel that was built with different finishes, but with the same weight, backspacing, width, and offset for every truck. Pro Comp was good enough to provide 35x12.50R17 Xterrains on varied black cast, powdercoated, and polished Xtreme Alloy 89 Series 17x8 wheels. SealPak Innovations provided us with some very cool water bags for the truck beds, called Shur Trax. These water bags were originally intended to be used as traction enhancing devices and can hold more than 400 pounds of water, but we found they worked great as testing devices to simulate a loaded pickup bed.
CST is one of the newcomers in this suspension game, but comes from a background of more than 30 years of off-road racing. The kit they brought out demonstrated just that. Dual Fox remote-reservoir shocks sit in each fenderwell, and did a heck of a job absorbing some pretty decent whoops sections in the sand dunes. The rear prerunner leaf packs from Deaver Spring soaked up hits on the light truck rear end, and kept things in control whether we were at 15 or 50 mph in the sand. The drop-bracket technology, used to lower the new upper A-arm instead of using a longer knuckle, had a few observers questioning the kit when up on the rack, but any question of its performance was quickly dismissed after driving this truck.
| New A-arms? | Yes |
| New CV shafts? | No |
| New knuckles? | No |
| New tie rods? | No |
Rear suspension Deaver leaf pack
CV-shaft bind? | No |
Steering correction Drop bracket
New front sway-bar
links or brackets? | Yes |
Remote-reservoir or
dual shocks? | Yes |
Type Dual Fox remote-
reservoir shocks
Shocks included in kit? | Yes |
| Brake lines addressed? | Yes |
| Front skidplate included? | Yes |
Emergency brake cable
length addressed? | No |
| Cut fenders to fit tires? | No |
| Anything break this weekend? | No |
| Base price | $2,195 |
| Price as tested | $4,200 |
True additional height (measured from center of hub to top of
fender in inches) | 6 1/8 |
| Claimed lift (in) | 7 |
| Ground to subframe (in) | 12 1/2 |
| Track width (in) | 67 1/2 |
Praises
Cool upper A-arm replacement to allow dual Fox shocks in front
Deaver leaves are nice option
Great truck in the sand
Complaints
* Don't like steering drop linkage.
* Why not a knuckle kit?
* Harsh sway-bar angle
* Complex installation