Torsion bar cranking or new keys

BigClay

BigClay

Knower of useless ZJ things
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Location
Winston-Salem
I am a little confused, so I need some advice from the experts, but they are all busy, so I will ask you guys :flipoff2: :lol: just kidding.

Anyway, my 99 Tahoe has the inevitable front end sag, so I want to level it out. It does not see more than a dirt road, so offroad performance is not a factor; however, it sees a lot of highway travel so on road ride quality is paramount. I have heard cranking the torsion bars gives a very stiff ride. I have also been told that new torsion keys are the same thing as cranking the torsion bars. Is this true? If so, what is an option to level out the front end and still maintain a good ride quality?
 
On my 2001 Chevy I cranked 5 rounds into the bars and lifted it about 1.25" and within 1/2" of level (back still a little higher). I too heard stories of harsh ride but I do not even notice a change. You can always turn them up test drive it and if it is too stiff take the turns back out, it is about a 10 min. job total. Be sure to count the number of turns to keep it level and in case you want to return to stock.

Biggest thing for me was to get it aligned as steering was a bit touchy after the crank.
 
If you crank the torsion bars too far then the ride will be EXTREMELY rough. With no flex no travel at all. Torsion keys are a way of lifting the front higher than you can get out of cranking up your torsion bars. I would definitely go with the torsion keys. They are the way to go if they make them for your vehicle.

Another thing you can do is take off your sway bar after you crank up your torsion bars to try and keep the ride. Like JeepTruck said you kind of just have to do it and see what works for you....All vehicles are different!
 
An engineer budy and I were talking about this just last night, I happen to have some quick reading afterwards.
Tosions are springs, and aparently a linear rate, meaining that each crank tightens by the same amount, as opposed to the cranks towards "the end" having more effect that those at the beginning etc. What is most important is not over-tightening it, as this ruins the spring and then affects the spring rate throughout the whole "flex.
Soin theory, it will get moreharsh "stiff" as you tighten, however the exact real-world effects will depend on the weight of vehicle etc, and may (prob) won't be noticed until close to themax tension of the spring.
all that said, IMO the manufacturer spends time and $$ figuring the right center point for that spring to deliver a ride that people enjoy/works best all around, thus I'd expect some kind of drawback as it is changed.
If by re-keying, you mean simply changing the rotational relationship between the arm and the mount in a completely relaxed position, then this will NOT affect the springrate,it changes only the rotation of the arm/wheel to the body, lifting it up. *However*, changing thsi rotation WILL change the physics of stress betweenthe arm and bar, and body etc, thus thie canaffect ride quality. It will also affect the distance of up/down travel before hitting the bumpstops too.

You can get upgraded T-bars that are thicker, so they withstand more "crank" before getting stiff, they also handle more weight.
 
Crank it...it is a 10 year old vehicle and the torsion bars are tried and lost thier "lift". I am 34 years old and about as picky as they come as far as ride for my daily driver. I did not notice a difference in my ride quality. Turn the bars,drive it for a week and laugh how easy it is and how the ride never changed.
 
Awesome guys, thanks for the info. :beer:
 
It will eat your tires up....just get a lift kit
 
RatLabGuy said:
??? if you get them realigned it shouldn't affect the tires at all
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It has been my experience that you will get uneven tire wear like you would with bad or misapplied shocks.

You lose some of your travel when you crank the torsion bars.

If you crank them to the max...it will be hella bad.

But when you take it back in for an alignment, how are you going to make sure they dont crank your lift back out of it?
 
SkyHiK5 said:
It has been my experience that you will get uneven tire wear like you would with bad or misapplied shocks.
You lose some of your travel when you crank the torsion bars.
If you crank them to the max...it will be hella bad.
But when you take it back in for an alignment, how are you going to make sure they dont crank your lift back out of it?
Click to expand...

??Why would they ever do that?? I guess it depends on how different models deal with camber, but I don't see why a tech should ever even think to touch the t-bar adjustment when doing an alignment.

I had my 4Runner aligned several times over the years, and when I went to untighten my t-bars to replace them, I can guearantee you those bolts had not been touched in a very long time, I had to snap them off and replace the adjusting bolts to get them moved at all.

Oh and btw if you break the head (or backing nut) off of one of those bolts - LOOK OUT! Sucker has a shitpile of force behind it, it left a crater in the cement floor lol.
 
Alignment specs go off of the factory ride hide, which most alignment machines tell you what that should be and where to measure.
 
The alignment machines have you measure ride height on some trucks with torsion bars. Which is why a alignment tech who is not into trucks would think it is out of spec and adjust them accordingly.

My Ram I turn my bars up about 5 turns to level it and it rides harder more like a 2500 when the front end goes over bumps but it doesn't bother me at all. I had to re-align it when I was finished and really do hate to align my truck since it is a PITA, there is probably a tool to make camber caster adjustments easier but I haven't found it yet.
 
Getting it aligned shouldn't be a big deal. Chevy IFS has camber adjusters on the upper control arms and should be easy enough to have lined back up :D
 
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