Geometry of the GM front suspension - almost a good design
The GM front IFS suspension design on these models lacks in certain areas that limits the suspension travel of the front of a non-lifted vehicle. The first problem is the front shocks are too short, bottoming out at full extension before the upper control arms ever touch the droop travel bump-stops. This is extremely hard on the shocks, and premature failure of the shocks is unavoidable. The second problem is that GM upper control arm hits the droop stop on the frame before you ever reach the maximum potential of the travel of the front suspension. Even on 4wd models, the front CV axles have more travel potential than GM provides you from the factory. We believe this is a design flaw on the 8-lug models.

Cheaper leveling kits, don’t waste your money!
These GM models come with a hefty rake to them, lower in the front by at least 2”, undesirable by many owners. Some owners would just like a small amount of lift in the front to be able to run a slightly larger tire. There are a number of companies out there selling a leveling kit that consists of new torsion bar adjuster keys, and claim that they will not affect the ride of the vehicle. This is a false claim. It is a fallacy that cranking the torsion bars up on a vehicle stiffens the ride. This just is not true, but cranking the torsion bars can affect other areas of the suspension system that will give a harsh ride. Just cranking the torsion bars, or adding the new adjusters preloads the suspension more to raise the height of the front of the vehicle. The problem is that the shocks and upper control arms bottom out to soon, giving the harsh ride. By cranking the torsion bars, you are not changing the spring rate of the torsion bars. There are also companies selling leveling kits that consist of the new torsion bar adjuster keys, and slightly longer front shocks. While this kit will ride better than the previously stated kit, you only gain a fraction of an inch of travel, because even though the shock is not bottoming out any more, the factory upper control arm is still bottoming out on the bump-stop way too soon, again giving a harsh ride. In fact, the torsion bar adjuster keys are not even needed in most cases, because the factory adjusters could have been turned up all the way to achieve the same ride height. Just purchasing the longer shocks would be a better investment than purchasing the new torsion bar adjusters.

The Cognito Leveling Kit transforms your front suspension into a superior engineered design!
Lets face it, you get what you pay for! The Cognito leveling system is engineered to transform the factory ‘almost good design’, into a superior design by maximizing the travel of the factory independent front suspension on the 2001-2005 GM 8-Lug models. We create a better system in several different ways.

1. First, we offer either new shock brackets that replace the factory shock bracket that is bolted to the factory lower control arm, or aftermarket extended length shocks. If you are on a budget, the new shock brackets extend the lower shock mounting point so that the factory front shocks can be used and will not bottom out at full suspension droop. If you would like to upgrade your front shocks, we offer aftermarket replacements such as Pro Comp ES3000 or Bilstein 5125 series that are longer than stock and custom tune your front suspension dampening.

2. Second, we use replacement tubular upper control arms that relocate the bump stop on the a-arm to maximize the down travel of the front suspension. This allows the suspension to cycle without being prematurely stopped, and creating the harsh ride that occurs when just turning up the torsion bars, or changing the torsion bar adjuster keys. The Cognito tubular upper control arms use a polyurethane bump stop to provide a subtler stop, unlike the factory upper arms that use metal-to-metal stops.

3. The Cognito tubular upper control arms, correct the upper ball joint angle that is a problem with angles of the factory upper control arms after turning up the suspension. The alignment of the front end is also corrected so that it will fall into factory alignment specifications, something that is almost impossible on a truck leveled out with the factory upper control arms.

4. Last, the Cognito tubular upper control arms are supplied with bolt in upper ball joints. The factory upper control arms use a press in ball joint, and on some vehicles in order to change the upper ball joints, a new upper control arm with the pressed in ball joint must be purchased.

Spend your money wisely!
8 out of 10 GM 8-lug vehicles do not even need new torsion bar adjusters to level out. Typically, with a Cognito leveling kit install, the factory torsion bar adjusters are turned all the way up, and that’s it! If the vehicle happens to have torsion bars that have sagged more than normal, then new torsion bar adjuster keys are in order, and we carry those also. The Cognito leveling kits tubular upper control arms also work with our lift kit systems, so if you decide to go with a Cognito lift kit down the road, you are not losing out on your money now on this leveling kit. The upper control arms also have a dual lower shock mount built in, so if you ever want to run dual shocks up front, your mounting is half way there.
No matter if you have a stock height 2001-2005 GM 8-Lug, the new torsion bar keys, cranked up your factory torsion bars, or the Cognito leveling kit, your steering system needs attention. The pitman and idler arm design on these vehicles has a premature wear problem, no matter if you are using GM components or aftermarket components. This failure will prevent holding a toe alignment on the front end, thus wearing tires abnormally. The problem can also cause tie rods to bind up and break, leading the owner to believe there is a tie rod problem when actually it is the pitman and idler arms that are the culprit. Cognito Motorsports has solved this problem with the pitman/idler arm support kit. It bolts on to the existing pitman and idler arms preventing the premature wear, and it tightens up a sloppy steering system. Highly recommended!!

Note: The Pitman Idler Support Kit is highly recommended, but not required.

Download Installation Instructions Here

2001 - Present GM 8-Lug Upper Control Arm Kit (for use with LSMBK8) UCAK100001 $471.50

2001 - Present GM 8 Lug Lower Shock Mount Bracket Kit LSMBK8 $30.75

Recommended Upgrades

Pitman and Idler System	Idler Pivot Assembly	Tie Rod Steering Kit	8Lug Torsion Bar Adjuster Key
Heavy Duty End Links