Technology in brand new vehicles is always getting better, from big screens to adaptive cruise control to even automatic braking. Yeah, all these new bells and whistles are cool, but us gearheads require more than what the factory offers. In this case, this 2024 Chevrolet Tahoe RST 4WD needed to be a little bit taller to meet the owner’s desired finished look.
For years, the GM SUV lineup has come with independent front suspension and a solid rear axle. This allowed for standard lift kits to be used, like the full-size trucks. But a few years ago, General Motors decided to revamp the SUV platform and give them a little better riding and better handling suspension. To accomplish this, all the full-size SUVs (Tahoe, Yukon, Suburban, and Escalade) now come with an independent rear setup. Because of this change, you can’t do the massive 10- to 12-inch lifts you used to see for a while on them. This Tahoe has full struts on each corner, so without some crazy custom fabrication, you can’t go crazy tall with it.
We reached out to our friends over at Belltech Suspension to see what they had to offer for this vehicle. We opted to go with an upgraded kit that utilizes coilovers and upper control arms in the front and coilovers at the rear. The kit also included beefier front and rear sway bars as well as a front skid plate. This is Belltech’s 4-inch lift kit with Trail Performance coilovers (Part #150220HK, MSRP $2,595). Even though we wanted to go taller, we felt the 4-inch lift would give enough presence to this brand-new SUV when rolling down the road as well as give it a better look. As you know, driving stock is frowned upon in our custom truck world. The Belltech springs come powdercoated red, and since red is the accent color on this vehicle, we also had the new upper control arms powdercoated the same color to give it just a little more pop.
No lifted vehicle looks right with the stock wheels and tires on it, so we had to upgrade those as well. There is a reference photo in the install to show how it looks with the stock wheels versus at stock height. For this build, we opted to go with 24×10 with -24 offset TIS Wheels 565 wheels in a custom brushed finish with grey letters on the lip and center cap. These retail for $475 each in standard black, with optional custom finishes for a bit more. We then wrapped them in 33x12x50-24 Venom Power Terra Hunter RT tires ($460 each) for the aggressive look we were after.
For this project, we also did a matching spare wheel and tire under the rear in the factory location. To make them fit and not rub like crazy, we also got a fender liner pullback kit (Part #95214BK-CHVY, MSRP $130) from Westcott Designs. This kit requires you to remove the front fender liner bracket that is on the bottom door side of the front fender liner and replace it with a flat bracket to pull the carpet liner back a few inches to give just enough clearance for the new wheels and tires. We also opted to trim one small section of plastic on the edge where that fender liner kit was used. This part didn’t get in the way, but it looks visually better with it smooth now. Since the brake rotors had to be removed to do this install, it was the perfect time to install the R1 Concepts E-Line drilled and slotted rotors and high-performance pads (Part #820-WHUH2-47294, MSRP $815 for the whole kit). These rotors come all black, so once you break in the rotors and pads, the centers, edges, and holes all stay black for a clean look.
Follow along to see what all is involved with this install and how we made this already-clean Tahoe even more aggressive while keeping it super classy.
With all the parts laid out, we made sure we had everything we needed before we removed the first bolt.
Once the vehicle was securely supported and the wheels were off, we started in the front by removing the upper strut bolts.
The bottom bolts for the strut also needed to be removed, as well as the sway bar end link and tie rod end from the lower control arm.
The caliper, rotor and axle nut also needed to come off.
The upper control arm ball joint needed to be unbolted so the top of the spindle could be pulled out of the way.
Next, we removed the two bolts holding the factory upper control arm and removed the upper control arm.
Once the factory front strut was out, the top mount needed to come off to be added to the new coilover. The safest way to do this is with a wall-mounted spring compressor.
To set the desired height (3- to 4-inch lift) we adjusted the spring perch to the correct specs. It is much easier to do this step now than once the vehicle is assembled.
We put the new Belltech coilover in the spring compressor and installed the factory top mount. Pay attention to the direction of the bolts when doing this.
Next, the new upper control arm was installed with the factory bolts.
Using the provided hardware, the bottom of the coilover was bolted to the lower control arm. We then reinstalled the factory nuts to the top of the coilover securing it to the top of the strut pocket.
We then installed the new upper ball joint into the stock spindle and secured it.
This is where we installed the new R1 Concepts rotors instead of the factory rotors to give us a little better stopping power and to make it look even better.
We reinstalled the tie rod end, but left the sway bar end link off for now.
The front corner is now done, repeat on the other side next.
Once both sides were done, we made sure to grease the upper ball joints.
Next, the the mounting brackets for the factory front sway bar were unbolted and the sway bar was removed.
You can tell the new Belltech front sway bar (bottom) is way beefier than the stock bar (top), and will provide better roll control.
Using the supplied grease, we installed the new sway bar mounts and bushings to the new Belltech front sway bar
We then bolted the new sway bar into the factory mounting holes.
The sway bar end links were then bolted together on both sides.
Moving to the rear, we removed a couple of the rear wheel well mounting screws to access the top of the rear strut. You don’t need to remove the liner. Just remove enough screws to reach the top nuts on the struts.
The wheelwell liner was pulled out of the way and the top strut bolts were removed.
Same as the front coilovers, it’s easier to adjust the rear ones to the desired height per the instructions before they go in.
We removed the nug and strut bolts on the lower control arms to allow the rear strut to be removed.
Then, we pulled the factory strut out of the lower control arm and removed it. We also removed the factory top strut mount using a spring compressor and swapped it to the new coilover just like the front ones.
The new coilover was then installed into the factory rear strut mounting holes.
The factory lower strut bolt was reinstalled.
The factory strut top nuts also needed to be reinstalled. Once everything was tight, the wheelwell liner screws were reinstalled.
The rear end also got new R1 Concept rotors to match the front.
Once the wheels were back on and everything was double checked, we made sure to do a full alignment, which easily set back to factory specs with the new suspension.
Before the new wheels go on, the Westcott Designs fender liner pull back kit needed to be installed. At the rear of the front fender well, we removed a few liner screws so we could access the frame bracket behind it.
Next, we remove the four bolts that hold on the factory bracket.
The new pull back kit (top) is much thinner than the factory bracket and allows for enough room for the new tires to clear the liner.
Using the supplied bolts, we then mounted the new pull back liner bracket into two of the factory bracket holes.
We install the supplied bolt through the factory liner hole, into the new bracket.
The new 24×10 TIS Wheels and 33×12.50-24 Venom Power Tires filled in the wheel wells.
The stock height is noticeably lower than it is once lifted. For comparison, the front lift added right at 4.5 inches of height and the rear added right at 3 inches of height.