Hi guys this is my first post and I see there are a lot of people that have the same ideas and questions I have. "Great minds think alike" so I thought I'd throw this out if it helps someone or if you have a thought for me. Today I got tired of looking at the 2" rake of my new Dmax. It would look cool on a 55 Chevy not my 4X4! So I climbed under and threw a wrench on the Tbars to try to level it. At 7 turns I still had almost an inch to go but it rode much nicer. Then went to 9 turns, now give or take a 1/2" lower in the front and JUST starting to feel stiff. I'm still debating on the lift, 4K is a hard pill to swallow 2 wks after the new truck but the guys with Impalas want those stock piecutters more than I do! I know I need an alignment now that I been messin with it but is this gonna wear my front end something terrible at this setting? Also do you think this will realign at this height? I haven't tryed 10 but I think I'm pushing my luck as it is. I ordered a set of chrome H2's on Ebay and when they showed up today they were silver ones! That sucks! I may just throw the 6" on it I really want and be done w/it. The info you guys share have been a great asset since the new truck came and I've been glued to archive posts! Thanks!

Instead of startin a new thread I thought maybe I would just jump into this one if you dont mind. I raised mine today and got 2"s out of 5 turns, i didnt even try to go any farther cauz I read on here that 1.5 or 2 is bout as far as you need to go, i know it puts more pressure on all the frontend parts but is it safe?, it drives fine but the tires are slightly bowed in, as for the alignment Im not to worried about these tires cause there gettin pretty slick, figure ill just have it done when i get new ones, heres a few pics

I would always re-align it when cranking it. No need to wear on new tires. It's more the bigger tires than the cranking that makes front end parts wear more. Both help it along though. The cranking affects stuff like the ball joints, and big tires affect stuff like the steering and the hub bearing. It will all wear a bit faster. Not a big deal though...

Another thing, yes it will feel fine without aligning it. Once you do it will feel better. Mine and others I have been around always did anyway.

9465, did you remeasure your front after driving it? I seemed to have 2" after 6 or 7 turns too until I drove it and resettled the front end then it was back to the wrench for a couple of more turns.

Your right, I checked it today after driving it a lot and instead of 2" I now have about 1 1/2"

could somebody send me a pic of the torsion bars cuz i don't know know wat they look like so any pics would be really helpful.

Here's my angles.... 9.5-10 turns on the bars, levelled the truck nicely.
Went to 285/75-16 and the fender lip is at about 41" high.
These angles are not very far off from stock.

You have three issues to be concerned about. In all three cases, less angle = better, more angle = worse.
1 - CV joints on the half-shafts. This is why big lifts include a front diff drop.
2 - Ball joints. This is why big lifts also drop the lower arm and lengthen the spindle.
3 - Tie rods. Again, big lifts offset the pittman arm and idler arm to lower the link.

could somebody send me a pic of the torsion bars cuz i don't know know wat they look like so any pics would be really helpful.
The yellow arrows denote the bar itself. One end fits into the LCA, the other into the key inside the crossmember.
The red arrow points to where you insert your socket wrench to crank.
The red circle reveals the threads on the bolt that you will be turning.

This is the crossmember right behind the cat.

You Guys Should Go And Buy A Set Of Green Torsion Bar Keys From Gm I Switched My Out From The Purple Ones And It Lifted It 2" And I Got Plenty Of Room For Adjustment.

How come everyone seems to be cranking their t-bars different amounts of turns. RichLockyer needed 9.5-10 turns while azfabshop only needed 6-7 turns hmm... I am replacing my tires with 285's and was thinking of just a couple turns to level the truck a bit...

----ben

Its because every truck is a little different. And some people measure before letting it settle and some after. I cranked mine 5 turns and got proabably around 1.5 after driving around. It was almost level and looked good....until....i put 2 inch blocks in the rear. Now it looks like stock again (the difference between front and rear)...as a matter of fact it looks worse than stock because the difference is even greater now. I will probably turn them a few more turns but will stop at 10 for sure.

In your case since your not lifting the back you might only want to turn the bars about 5 turns. Its a good compromise between being level and putting more stress on your front end. Oh and add spacers to the front shocks (you can use a nut or whatever you want as well).

If you get the green keys do you still have to crank up the bars or can you maintain the smoother ride.

I ordered a set of chrome H2's on Ebay and when they showed up today they were silver ones! That sucks!

Make SURE you get your money back, there is a double price difference from alloy to chrome H2's, if you paid anything over $200 you got seriously hosed. Alloys go for 125-200, chrome from 375-475.

If you get the green keys do you still have to crank up the bars or can you maintain the smoother ride.

All green keys are is a longer bolt to crank your torsion bars up MORE than the stock ones will you allow to. I wouldnt recommend doing it. Just crank the stocks ones up.

If you get the green keys do you still have to crank up the bars or can you maintain the smoother ride.
Green keys and cranking the bars do exactly the same thing... green keys just give you more available adjustment if you can't crank the stockers far enough.

This means that using green keys will allow you to get an even WORSE ride with MORE wear on your balljoints and CVs.

All green keys are is a longer bolt to crank your torsion bars up MORE than the stock ones will you allow to. I wouldnt recommend doing it. Just crank the stocks ones up.

Not a longer bolt, a torsion bar cam (key) with the hex part indexed different so it starts at a different place when the bolt is run into it. A green key is the one off a 1500 truck, it will allow an HD truck that has a purple key originally to be set higher.

w/e nar :blahblah:

:lol:

Just trying to keep you from confusing everyone else... We'd have new guys out buying new bolts and running them in with the air wrench until they snapped off otherwise. :muahaha:

haha...true true. or we can just tell them to just not even get green keys. I guess its good that you made my post 100% correct. Good 'ol torsion bars. It seems like the tbs have been beat to death here.

That they have...

I went out and cranked up the torsions bars yesterday and I got about 1and 1/2 inches out of 7 turns measured after driving and I like the ride better. Just want to say thanks to everyone here. Without you guys I would never be able to do this as I am not to bright when it comes to anything mechanical. Now I just need to go and get those 285's. Will be in bankruptcy court after I get my truck finished like I want it.

azfabshop, where did you get the Duramax Firefighter Emblems?

Thanks

I had them custom made by Billet Badges in California.