Why is our 2WD truck so high?!

[280Z Turbo]

We have a 2005 Chevy Silverado 2500HD (base model) as our raceteam's tow vehicle. Why does it need to be so high off the ground? Other than creating 15 inches of wheel gap (it has 16" wheels), decreasing gas mileage, and making ingress/egress difficult I don't see the point. I know you might want it a little higher in the back for heavy loads, but even with a 3 axle trailer, it doesn't sag that much in the rear. Why the front is so high, I have no idea.

[Submariner]

Chevy thinks massive wheel gap is hot? 

[Eye of the Tiger]

Cuz its a truck and not a race car?

[2o6]

Ground clearance?

[giant_mtb]

[S204STi]

Pics or ban.

[Submariner]

It looks infinitely worse on the long bed models. 

[Laconian]

Style and spec inflation, I'm sure. Ground clearance is to trucks as horsepower is to cars.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Oh, NOOOOOoooooo! 

[Laconian]

That looks ridiculous. The corners of those wheel arches are going to bang into the tires.

[Eye of the Tiger]

That looks ridiculous. The corners of those wheel arches are going to bang into the tires.

So you're saying that the wheel arches are, in fact, too small! HA!

[280Z Turbo]

Ground clearance?

For what? It's worthless offroad and gets stuck very easily. I'd rather drive my Focus offroad.

It looks like this except it's green and has west coast mirrors:

[SVT666]

You don't want the front to be dramatically lower then the rear, and you want the rear higher so that when you stick 4000 lbs in the box it's not dragging the bumper on the ground.

[280Z Turbo]

You don't want the front to be dramatically lower then the rear, and you want the rear higher so that when you stick 4000 lbs in the box it's not dragging the bumper on the ground.

The suspension is so stiff, it doesn't matter.

You can still have sufficient suspension travel without it being ridiculously high in the air.

[giant_mtb]

+ snowplows are mega heavy.

[280Z Turbo]

+ snowplows are mega heavy.

You can't plow with a 2WD truck.

[giant_mtb]

So are the 4WD models significantly lower like you'd like them to be, or what?

[280Z Turbo]

So are the 4WD models significantly lower like you'd like them to be, or what?

No. The 2WD one should be lower because it would get better gas mileage and be easier to get in and out of.

[giant_mtb]

What does being higher up have to do with gas mileage?  I don't think a few inches of ride height for a truck is going to have any real mileage effect at normal speeds.   If anything, it probably experiences more lift when it's higher up, so the truck is actually "lighter" and thus gets better mileage anyways!!!!

[Submariner]

Oh, NOOOOOoooooo! 

[93JC]

It's so high because they only build the trucks with one suspension design, the 4x4 suspension.

Think about it: if you built a separate suspension for the 2WD truck, a lower suspension, you'd have to have completely different parts. New springs, new dampers, new control arms, new torsion bars, new driveshaft, blah blah blah, etc. This way they don't have to spend money on designing the new suspension, finding a supplier or a retooling a factory to make the parts, yadda yadda yadda.

[giant_mtb]

Plus, for a cheap, dependable work truck, who really cares?

[Pancor]

You can't plow with a 2WD truck.

Yes you can.  A full sander out back helps.

[Tave]

Once again, it never ceases to amaze me why people who don't like trucks continue to dwell on their hate for them and feel the need to bitch about it all the time in the Big Guys forum. Yeesh.

[GoCougs]

It's so high because they only build the trucks with one suspension design, the 4x4 suspension.

Think about it: if you built a separate suspension for the 2WD truck, a lower suspension, you'd have to have completely different parts. New springs, new dampers, new control arms, new torsion bars, new driveshaft, blah blah blah, etc. This way they don't have to spend money on designing the new suspension, finding a supplier or a retooling a factory to make the parts, yadda yadda yadda.

Yep - economies of scale.

[280Z Turbo]

I wonder how much it would decrease the coefficient of drag to lower it down several inches. We run it at 60-70 mph most of the time. One guy told me his gas mileage went up considerably after he lowered his tow rig.

I'm sure it wouldn't be worth the cost, but I'm just curious.

On a side note, better handling would be a nice side benefit of lowering the truck because yes we do drive it on the track.

[93JC]

I bet someone already makes a bolt-on kit to lower it.

[280Z Turbo]

I bet someone already makes a bolt-on kit to lower it.

Not for the 2500, AFAIK.

[93JC]

[rohan]

#1 that's a half ton  #2 that's a 4x4