Twisting the torsion bars for lift......

mommucked

mommucked

Endeavoring to persevere
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Sep 26, 2011
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Rural Apex n.c.
Might want to level my new used 98/99 k1500 w a cheap key kit.No more than 2" and maybe 1 1/2". I'm going to keep the stock tire size on the truck, not going taller or wider. What would the good or bad of this kind of lift?
 
Just crank the bolts up if they have enough travel. Torsion keys are a rip-off. All they do is give a flatter surface for the bolt face to rest on. But the bolt doesn't care if it's a 10 degree angle or 15 degree angle or whatever.
 
And the torsion bar doesn't care what the angle is. All it does is prevents twist. It's literally a torsion spring so it will work at any point 360 degrees around a circle. The issues arise from a-arm angles being too high.
 
I was concerned that the camber might be affected and eat the tires.I also assume that leveling the truck might take some load off the T-bars/front suspension and put more load on the rear? . It will be a beach buggy,boat dragger,firewood hauler, hunting truck etc. Or should I leave it alone?.....it might be towing a 20/23 center console to the coast.....w the factory susp. I imagine w the stock suspension the truck might be level when towing the boats w their tongue weights, and it might squat w the the heavy boats hitched to it if it was leveled?
 
mommucked said:
I was concerned that the camber might be affected and eat the tires.I also assume that leveling the truck might take some load off the T-bars/front suspension and put more load on the rear? . It will be a beach buggy,boat dragger,firewood hauler, hunting truck etc. Or should I leave it alone?.....it might be towing a 20/23 center console to the coast.....w the factory susp. I imagine w the stock suspension the truck might be level when towing the boats w their tongue weights, and it might squat w the the heavy boats hitched to it if it was leveled?
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I'm not familiar with the exact geometry, but if the upper and lower A arms are the same length and the frame mounting points are in line vertically, there should be no change in camber.

The amount of lift you're talking about will have no effect on weight distribution. You're correct on it squatting down a bit in the back with a trailer once it's leveled, but I hear that's the cool thing to do these days anyway.
 
I did it on my s-10 years ago, everyone warned about ball joints wearing out faster. I never had issues with that or uneven tire wear.
 
We leveled my buddy’s Dodge that way years ago. Just cranked the bolts all the way then backed them off about 2 turns. Had it aligned afterwards and it needed it, but it may have needed it before hand. Cheap insurance to save tires!

My opinion is that his truck ride crappy after that. Seemed stiffer in the front end.

I think a leveled truck looks great, but a truck that get used like a truck will get leveled when it’s put to work so I wouldn’t bother, myself. But it won’t hurt anything and you’ll fit right in at the coast when it squats with a boat behind it lol.
 
The bad, relatively speaking:

There will be a change in camber, because upper and lower A arms are never the same length by design. That's the benefit of IFS over a solid axle; camber that can be changed with suspension travel for better handling.
The amount of camber change will depend on the amount of lift. It may or may not be enough to matter depending on the camber curve for that truck and how sensitive those specific tires are to camber wear, but it is going to change. It will likely go more positive on that truck if I remember correctly, which is the normal direction. You can test this by jacking up the front of the truck and seeing what direction the camber changes when the wheel droops out. You'll be moving in that same direction when you lift it.

Just plan on getting it aligned.

Caster will change slightly as well, because there is generally a caster curve with suspension travel as well. Probably not enough change to worry about with 2inches of lift, and you'll likely never notice except for a minor difference in steering self-centering or something like that..

Wear of ball joints, tie rod end, CV joints, etc., can be affected as well, if they start to get into a bad area of their range of motion. Again, depends on amount of lift. Too much and the boots will get torn, run out of joint travel, etc.

Generally the ride will get stiffer, because you're changing the lower A-arm angle to be less horizontal and the direction of force will change. I'm ignoring the other effects (bump stops, shock length, etc) because they aren't going to be an issue with the relatively minor amount of lift. Anyway, the ride will be stiffer.

The good:

The truck will be higher in the front.
 
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I think ill just keep it stock,its not far from level maybe 1 1/2"and rides well w 20yr bilstiens.i will replace them soon.
 
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