a buddy of mine in my car club is going to lift my truck free of charge for me next week. he has cranked the torsion bars on his s-10 and works at a Goodyear Gemini store, and is an avid truck/off road enthusist, so i can trust him to do a good job.

my plans are to crank the torsion bars 1-2", then replace the 2" factory blocks in the rear with aftermarket 3", and then add shackles to the leaf springs.

i know that there are con's to lifting my truck with torsion bars, but i dont exactly know what they are, if someone who knows their stuff could please reply to this quickly, i'd VERY much appreciate it. i just want to know what kind of possible problems i could be getting myself into for a little higher in altitude. gracias.

 

First off, seems to me with blocks AND shackles in the rear with 1-2 inches of TB crank, the truck will sit VERY tail high, or stinkbug... Usually with the stock rear height, a couple inches on the front with torsion bars will level it... Cranking your torsion bars have some pretty shitty side effects. One being a substantially rougher ride, dependent on how much you crank them. Another being, putting more tension on the torsion bars increases load and wear on the balljoints which may cause premature wear on the balljoints.

 

well, i know it sounds crazy for that much lift in the back, but thats the look i like...plus, i should have mentioned that the rear of my truck is sagging bigtime, i guess from age, and plus my dad installed like a class 3 hitch, and i have a fullsize spare...so my truck's droppin it like its hot.

i think trucks rear's should sit about 2 inches higher than the front, if i remember right thats the average height, but eh...i dunno. all i know is i have the pre-runner look going on and i dont like it.

 

You will loose some of the ride quality, but it should be that bad as long as you do not raise the front more than 2". I've also heard that it wears on your ball joints more, but nothing excessive. Also remember to get your truck aligned properly.

 

Yeah, spring for a lifetime alignment. It'll pay off in the long run, and you can lift it all you want.

 

just remember that the more you crank them the stiffer the ride will get... 1-2 inches is not bad but more and its not fun to drive

 

I'm right at the "getting harsher" point now. I have 2" blocks, and 1" shackle in the back, plus enough torsion crank in the front to nearly level it. Since my 4x2 Edge had 1.5" blocks to start, the larger blocks helped as well.

I am thinking about fabbing shock extensions for the bottom mount if it turns out some of the harshness is because the shock is at max extension right now. I'll be checking that this weekend, weather permitting, and having 1" extensions (a 1" thick block of steel with holes drilled in it) made at work next week. Longer grade 8 bolts will connect the shock to the lower arm via this block. Hopefully that will restore some downtravel without taking the ball joints into the "locking zone".

If it works out, I'll let you all know in a separate post.

 

We all have full-size spares.

 

And I have a 31" spare down under there.

 

is there anything i'll have to watch for as far as like brakelines or anything with a 2" lift?

and 2" is a safe range to be in? i've heard not to go over 1".....but i dunno...i dont even know how far i COULD go if i wanted to, i know to stop at 2"

 

There are no brake line issues at that height.

 

Don't forget about suspension operation. When you remove the static sag of the suspension you hurt the performance of the suspension. That causes mulitiple issues from crappy ride, to poor traction and off road performance.

 

i say go for it and if u don't like it turn them down a bit :)

 

well, i guess i'll go ahead and do it...i just wanna get it up in the air a bit and plus, i'm tryin to get prepped for all this crappy snow we're gonna have soon...i figure if i can get even an extra inch of height, thas one more inch i can get over snow....

and i guess i'm gonna have to get some rims with more offset so i wont look so top heavy, also for better handling..... what do ya'll think of a rim with 3.75" offset? i think stock my offset is 4.5"

 

This is not entirely accurate. When you turn up the torsion bars and add blocks to the rear you are moving the chassis further from the ground however you have not actually changed your ground clearance at all because the rear differential has not been elevated at all. If you want a "lifted" look, or want to level the truck, then you will be satisfied with the torsion bar crank but do not expect to be able to ford rivers or navigate deep snow any better than you can now.

If you're looking to increase your ground clearance, the only way to do that is to install larger tires. In some cases, simply turning the torsion bars up an inch or two will make the necessary room for the tires but in other cases it will not. Keep in mind that for every inch you make your tires larger, it's only one-half-inch of ground clearance you gain. If your stock tires are 285/75/15 (for example) which works out to be about 28" tall on a 7" wheel, then you would need to go to a 30x10.50x15 on a 7" wheel to gain an inch of ground clearance. In this case, the inch is useful but turning up the torsion bars and adding blocks has no useable benefit.

 

Well MOSTLY true. The torsion crank DOES move the chassis and front crossmember up relative to the ground. You do get a bit more under the center of the truck. Doesn't help that much as my skid plate will testify!!! :p

It also does increase your departure, approach, and breakover angle some. There is usable benefit, Tom, it's just small. One other thing it does is move your FOGLIGHTS up out of the way some -- I think you could have used that a while back!!! :)

 

I was looking at your topic title... And i seriously dont see how they could give it to you crooked.. :p

 

Depending on how high you want it in the end you could always get an RCD lift kit. http://www.rcdsuspension.com/product...uspensions.htm
It will delete the torsion bars.

 

Agreed, but none of this will really allow him to cross deeper snow becaue the rear axle will still get caught after everything else clears. You are correct tho, that there are marginal benefits.

Foglights?? What foglights?? That's what I call incentive to build a bumper. Now all I need is funds for matterials.