torsion bar

If I adjust my front end height by cranking on the torsion bars a few times do I have to get the steering realigned?

It depends on how much you crank them. I cranked the snot out of mine a fw years ago. I have about 68k on the original Goodyears and are still wearing great.

I'm curious about the ride quality after doing this. Does it make the truck ride like a lumber wagon in the bush or is it not too bad?

If you crank them too much, you'll get a very harsh ride as the downward travel of the suspension is nearly eliminated. I usually recomment about 4 turns which has worked very good for me and all my friends. If you go very many more than that, you should have the alignment checked coz it will eat the outside of your tires up VERY badly.

4 turns. looks good. thanks

Well there are guys that have used the Ford keys in order to get the ride even higher. When doing that, you'll have to get it aligned. I cranked mine 8 turns. It almost leveled out the stance and looks awesome. No, it won't eliminate ANY travel or make it ride harsher or softer(if going the other way). All you are doing is changing the static ride height. Trust me, if this was going to be a problem I've heard about it since my wife is usually the one driving it. You can check all of this out on www.chevytalk.com there are many GM techs on there and that's where I got my info.

It does eliminiate downward travel of the suspension. You're preloading the "spring".

I understand what you are saying but that's not the case. Cranking these even 6 or 8 times you'll still hit the bump stops on nasty pot holes or offroading.

Did it seem to firm up my ride when after I did it? Yes. But when I changed the front shocks at 39k to Rancho 9000 seemed to stiffen the ride more.

At one of my dealerships I had them do the recall on the brakes. He has basically the same truck as I do and commented on how well it drove. I told him what I did and he ended up doing the same exact thing!

I know you'll hit the bump stops, thats the upward travel. i'm talking about when you suddenly hit a pothole, or dip in the road and the suspension travels down..... it eliminates some of that which can result in a horrible driving/riding vehicle.

I'm like you, I cranked the crap out of mine and it helped alot. The tires never needed aligning or anything, it just rode good after the crank :D

I turned the adjusting bolts in 9 turns on my HD and got almost 3" height out of it. It seems to ride the same as it did before. My '95 rode HORRIBLE with the same adjustment. Must be the different geometry or control arm length. Im not even close to the frame limiters where it was just about touching on my old truck.

Get it aligned afterward. Mine was towed in 1/2" after the adjustment. Would have toasted the tires in no time.

I know you'll hit the bump stops, thats the upward travel. i'm talking about when you suddenly hit a pothole, or dip in the road and the suspension travels down..... it eliminates some of that which can result in a horrible driving/riding vehicle.

I'm like you, I cranked the crap out of mine and it helped alot. The tires never needed aligning or anything, it just rode good after the crank :D
Please, don't start flamming me after I make this statement. I understand what you are saying but you are backwards. By cranking these up, you are not decreasing the downward travel. Actually you are very so slightly speeding it up since there is more torque on the bars. Either way, I like the way mine rides and is wearing tires. I do feel that not all of the Silverados are set the same from the factory. I think that's why some only crank them up a few times and others really crank them.:2cents:

Thats cool, but what is it that raises the front end then if the downlard travel is not decreased?

Hmm, not sure. You said downward travel is when the wheel goes down for a huge pothole right? Well, THAT IS the thing that also raises the truck, the downward movement. It really doesn't matter. You say you like tits but I like boobs. We can argue that but it's just the same thing, just a different way of putting it.

Oh I wasnt arguing, just asking a question. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page, and I see we are. :D

Biggest thing I can say is keep careful count on how many turns for each side and take measurements.

I installed the Ford keyS in mine and cranked the front end up about 2" to 2 1/4". Truck looks great, but Im finding that under hard acceleration the steering is very light and is kind of unstable. I havent had any weight in the back yet, but I may need to lower the front back down a bit if the handling bad under load.

Ok I think I am following this discussion and I think it might solve an issue I am having but would like some confirmation. I have a 2002 Z71. I recently replaced the tires and had an alignment done and ever since the front end of my truck feels light. It is almost like the the low compression range of my shocks is gone therefore it feels like the wheels are bouncing around. When under a load i.e. braking I the bounce goes away. Can an adjustment to the torsion bar possibly fix this?

It might. You need to find out exactly what they did and how much out of line you were before. Also, are you running the OEM shocks and if so, how many miles on them???

Lower the bars back down a few turns.

Thanks guys, I do have 85K on the OEM shocks but the issue arose immediatle after the new tires and the alignment. Unfortunately that dealer is out of business so maybe that should tell me something. I believe the camber was out before as it steered perfectly straight. It just wore the sh$t out of the outside edge of the fronttires.

I'm going to sound like a big retard, I have a 2000 Silverado 2WD. I don't think I have torsion bars...... Do I.

I'm going to sound like a big retard, I have a 2000 Silverado 2WD. I don't think I have torsion bars...... Do I.

No. 2wd has coil springs in front.

Cranking up torsion bars decreases downward and travel,and in some cases stiffens up the ride

It doesn't decrease downward travel. It just takes more energy to bottom out versus the way it is prior to cranking the bars.

So ive heard about my brother doing this to his nissan. I can tighten up my torsion bar a few turns and get a couple more inches in lift. Is this true for the front and the back? Anyone got any pictures of the adjustments? Like where are they located? And what they look like?

Over cranking wiil cause premature upper ball joint failure. You can max out your stock keys (about 3 inches) and your starting to flirt with that line. If you use the purple keys or ford keys you can get more than 3 inches but, alignment will be next to impossible, ball joints could shear off. If you want to do that I would get some type of leveling kit (I like Cognito's but other companies make them, Cognito's comes with replaceable MOOG ball joints, and longer shocks to help restore the softer ride) with new UCA's designed a bit longer and have a geometry with alingment in mind. Also with a lot of crank you will need to watch your CV axles, as they dont like a lot of angle. When the wear out just go to Autozone or the like and get there warrentied for life ones.

I was just wanting to adjust them so that i could get like an extra 1-2" lift just to make my stance look a little better, would there be any problem turning the adjustments a few turns to get an inch or two?

I was just wanting to adjust them so that i could get like an extra 1-2" lift just to make my stance look a little better, would there be any problem turning the adjustments a few turns to get an inch or two?


Long story short, an inch or two, you will be fine, just might want to have the alignment checked afterwards. I will def. make it look better. and with that little of a crank you will hardly notice the difference in ride.

have cranked my stock suspension, and now changed out the stock keys(leveling kit)....gives a firmer ride(IMO), but i love the way it looks & i dont mind if my TRUCK rides likes a TRUCK.....