Torsion Bars

mike_k28 · September 6, 2010

my truck has the torsion bars cranked up. and I notice my front tires have wear on the outsides, the truck is pigien towed. The keys are after market and they are turned back down. How can i fix this problem do i have to get the original stock keys?

the hammer · September 6, 2010

my truck has the torsion bars cranked up. and I notice my front tires have wear on the outsides, the truck is pigien towed. The keys are after market and they are turned back down. How can i fix this problem do i have to get the original stock keys?

Well, which is it? are your keys cranked or are you stock height?

Either way, you need an alignment. make sure your front sits ~2" lower than the rear (that is about stock height), check your ball joints out for wear, and get it aligned.

jimlem · September 8, 2010

my truck has the torsion bars cranked up. and I notice my front tires have wear on the outsides, the truck is pigien towed. The keys are after market and they are turned back down. How can i fix this problem do i have to get the original stock keys?

Hey. I can give you a little help. I just spent all day Mon. removing the ReadyLift TB keys that went with my leveling kit. (I'm going to a 3" spindle lift and the harsh ride from the cranked up TBs was killing me. With the 3" lift I can enjoy the the softer OEM ride now) When I was re-installing the factory keys, I placed both types on the bench together. I guess a little offset goes a long way. The 2 parts are ALMOST identical but the Readylifts are canted down just a quarter inch or so more than stock. Meaning you need about 1/4" less tightening on them to invoke the same lift and stiffness of the OEM ones. I tried just backing off the bolts to bring it down to stock height but Readylift supplied shorter bolts and the keys were resting on the adjuster nuts before I reached the stock ride height so I just re-installed ALL the OEM parts. (Glad I saved them)

If your adjuster bolts are long enough and the offset of the keys you have now are not too far from stock you might come close. Do you know what your "Z" angle measurement (or whatever they call it) is? According to my manual, your Z value should be 4.7" unless you have the SS truck & then it's 3.5 to 4". To check this, back off the TB bolts as much as you can or want. Then with both wheels on the ground, bounce both front corners a bit to settle the suspension. Now you need about a 18" to 24" level with the bubble vial in the center. Place top edge of level up against the bottom of the steering knuckle on one wheel (this is tough. there's only a tiny bit of metal to work with. I made a temp platform from wood scraps so the level rested on them and was just touching the knuckle next to the lower ball joint nut) With the level's bubble reading level, the top edge of the level touching bottom of knuckle, and opposite end of level slanted back a little so it is under the part of the lower control arm where the TB end is fitted into the control arm, look inward about 3" from the TB end and you'll see a small bolt head for the rear pivot point of that lower control arm. Take a small ruler ( a 6" steel ruler fits well) and set the end gently on the TOP edge of the level straight up to the head of that pivot bolt. When all is correct, you should measure 4.7" (about 118mm) from the top of the level to the center of that bolt head. If and when you achieve this, you are back to a stock ride height and TB preload on your front end. If you can do it w/o changing back to OEM keys etc. that's fine. You may find the OEM parts necessary though depending on what you have on there now. Just for perspective: After I re-installed all my OEM parts and set the TB settings by eye (I really felt I was close to the correct Z setting etc.) I found my 6" ruler way too short to even reach that bolt. That meant I needed to loosen up the TB adjusters some more. As in almost 6 complete turns MORE I had to back them off. I could not believe I was that far off. Then you need to check the other wheel and adjust it too. Measuring carefully the number of threads showing on the TB adjuster bolts on each side and keeping them exactly the same helps but you need to check that Z level number for each wheel. Kind of a pain honestly, so you might want to just buy and install all your OEM parts first so you don't have to do it all twice.

Anyway I ended up setting that Z height on mine to 5.125" (5 & an eighth inches instead of 4.7") I believe if I had kept going my TB keys would've hit the adjuster nuts BEFORE I hit 4.7". That actually seems about right as the truck is 8 years old and the TBs were cranked up +2" for about the last 2-3 years. I chalked it up to the above causing some sag in my TBs over time. I hope this helps. I was trying to fit a day's work + 2 pages of directions and 4 photos + a sketch of the whole "Z" Height measurement process, all into a short note for you to read. I hope I did not make it harder for you. It's not that bad but after dropping the front it's hard to get in there with a level and ruler because it's so confined.

I almost forgot, you definitely need to get the front end aligned ASAP. You'll make it easier for the tech to get the correct settings if you bring the front down closer to stock height. I've had mine aligned both ways and they did much better before the front level kit was installed. Since dropping my front, the steering is 100% better. Now the steering wheel turns back to center after making a turn, in a much faster & stronger way (that's due to caster angle I believe) Also, I just had my front end aligned in July and I too noticed the pigeon toe look to the front wheels. I called my mechanic and they assured me that these trucks are set with a positive toe setting (aka toe-out setting). I put two new front tires on at the same time and I have about 3K miles of trailer towing on them and there has been no bad wear patterns etc. and the truck still has that pigeon-toe look when parked so it must be correct. If your tires are wearing along the outside edge then it would be likely due to the wheels set to a toe in setting. I know there are many, many reasons they could wear funny but I'm just talking about if they look toed-in or toed-out. I know if wheels are set with too much toe-OUT that they will wear funny on the INSIDE edges. OK, I hope something here was of some help for you. Take care and good luck.

Jim