Project Blue Bomber: Part 1, 2011 Chevy Silverado

10. A warning is cast directly into the face of the spindle stating they are for use with 17-inch or larger wheels. Thankfully we had a set of 20-inch Raceline Illusion Six billet wheels with Nitto NT-05 tires mounted and ready to rock.

11. The new strut assembly slipped right into place thanks to being 3 inches shorter than what we pulled out. All the hardware used was original equipment and our 5-inch lowering was complete.

12. We had already unbolted the sway bar endlinks to help with egress and ingress of the struts, so all that was left was to remove the hardware supporting the stock sway bar to the frame.

13. After properly lubricating the new poly bushings, Belltech's larger 13/8-inch antisway bar bolted directly in place of the former resident.

14. Thankfully, the 2007-and-newer truck frames have a ton of axle clearance designed into them. As such, the old style C-notches have become somewhat extinct when lowering this series of trucks. What did require attention was this bumpstop extension. When cutting this protrusion from the frame, we were sure to only cut through the weld and not the frame. The process went a bit slow as we checked multiple times to prevent an accident.

15. A pair of jackstands was set under the rear axle and the factory shocks and U-bolts were unceremoniously removed.

16. To accommodate the flip kit, it was necessary to also flip the center pin holding the leaf stack together. A couple large C-clamps were employed to keep the leaves together while we removed the U-bolt retainer and popped the center pin through the opposite side.

17. More cutting ensued to remove the brake line bracket under each axle saddle. They interfered with the placement of the Belltech axle saddles.

18. This close-up gives you a good indication of how it all went back together. The leaf springs were pulled from the truck and then reinstalled under the axle. Belltech's new axle saddles were slipped between the axle and the leaf springs to provide a way to mount everything back together correctly and giving us a 6-inch rear drop.

19. A rear sway bar was in the plan, but at the time of our install, it was not available. Luckily, the tuned Street Performance shocks will do a wonderful job of handling the rear of Blue Bomber until the sway bar sees fruition.

20. After getting the new sport suspension completed, we bolted on a set of Raceline Illusion Six wheels with brushed faces and polished hoops on the Chevy with sticky Nitto NT05 tires and hit the track! Wheels were 20x8.5 up front and 20x10 out back with 275/40R20 Nitto tires up front and 315/35R20 NT-05s for the rear.

21. After a test drive, the Silverado handled like a sports car and we were pleasantly surprised with a compliant highway ride.