Rize Industries’ Bowtie Billboard

As hard as it is to believe, there isn’t a magical fairy that sprinkles pixie dust and makes aftermarket parts appear. Everything from injector nozzles to taillights — the good ones at least — requires hours of research and development before they’re available for sale to the end user. When it comes to the latest trucks, the process becomes more complicated with one of the biggest problems stemming from finding someone willing to give up his or her rig for a few months to be the guinea pig.

Wanting to be one of the first to release a suspension kit for the new GMs, Rize Industries, headquartered in El Cajon, California, struck a deal with Courtesy Chevrolet, also based out of El Cajon. Courtesy Chevrolet offered to let Rize borrow a 2008 2500HD for R&D for six months under some conditions like showing it at the SEMA show and using it as a marketing tool for both Rize and Courtesy Chevrolet.

The crew at Rize went to work designing a 10-inch kit able to offer clearance for tires 37 to 40 inches in diameter. Keeping in mind that it wanted to build a kit that could be installed by a weekend wrench warrior, Rize made the kit to be bolted in with no frame or differential cutting and opted for a billet control spindle that requires no modifications to the upper control arm. It also steers from the factory tie rod location, putting less stress on the alreadyvulnerable factory GM steering.

Rather than leave good enough alone, to make further improvements on the IFS’ weakest link, the Rize kit uses a roller bearing steering system design that isolates the steering box and idler arm from excessive horizontal and vertical movement. Rather than keep them exposed, the compression struts hide the unsightly torsion bars. For the SEMA show, Rize outfitted the Chevy with 40-inch Toyo Open Country M/T tires wrapped in 22-inch RBP1 wheels. After the show, to display the kit’s versatility, the tire package was downsized to 37×13.5 Toyo MTs. The Rize/Courtesy Chevrolet crew cab also wears one of the first of soon-to-be-available Rize’s custom mono-tube Black Label shocks on all four corners and the rear suspension is leveled out with Atlas springs.

Part of the agreement was to campaign the ’08 at various shows and events. Although it already wore bright red paint, a 10-inch lift and a set of RBP’s new wheels, Rize wasn’t done modifying the exterior to get it to head-turner status. Amp Research running boards drop down when the doors are opened and an AMI fuel door gives a burlier look to the sides. Leer Truck Accessory Center in San Diego, California, doused the bed in spray-on liner and the windows were given limo tint all the way around.

Since the theme of red and black was already taking place, Rize stuck with it and had the door handles paint-matched red before giving the rear bumper and entire front façade the blacked-out treatment, including the bumper and grille shell. A black RBP grille and tinted head-lights top off the package.

The Rize crew wanted to give the LMM a dose of performance, but the Duramax tuning couldn’t get too involved, seeing as how sending the Chevy back to the dealer to be sold with a hacked-off DPF and crazy turbo wasn’t an option. Instead, they stuck to proven basics like a 4-inch filter-back exhaust from MBRP powder-coated black, Volant air intake and Edge Juice programmer.

For Rize Industries and Courtesy Chevrolet, the deal was a win-win situation. Rize had six months to develop and show off its new 10-inch GM system and Courtesy Chevrolet’s willingness to do without a truck for a while is rewarded with the return of a show-quality rig most anybody would be proud to have sitting in their driveway. UDBG

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