Getting Ready To Crank 'em.

[centex]

Getting ready to crank my stock torsion bars for a few turns but needhelp with few questions.

 

1. After jacking up the front wheels do I need the tool or can I turn it w/o it?

 

2. Is The alignment everyone refers to a front end alignment ?

 

 

After getting the cold shoulder from the boss of a local lift shop and not wanting to turn my stock ones but rather try and sell me new keys this is the route I'm taking.

 

 

Thanks,

God Bless

[centex]

Sorry about the pics but unable to load them. Both bolts are showing more than one inch of thread.

[Stevens03]

Make sure you turn each one the same amount of turns unless your gonna try and adjust the height left/right as well. I believe it's an 18mm bolt. And yes.. .front end alignment

 

And unless your bars have "settled", you should be fine to get 2" of lift out of the front. If there's not enough bolt, then the re-indexed keys will help you. But... you really shouldn't go over 2" or you start to have other front end issues as in pre-mature wear.

 

Measure each side before starting.

[rgv]

Getting ready to crank my stock torsion bars for a few turns but needhelp with few questions.

 

1. After jacking up the front wheels do I need the tool or can I turn it w/o it?

 

2. Is The alignment everyone refers to a front end alignment ?

 

 

After getting the cold shoulder from the boss of a local lift shop and not wanting to turn my stock ones but rather try and sell me new keys this is the route I'm taking.

 

 

Thanks,

God Bless

 

you don;t need to jack the front up unless you have cigarette sized forearms.

 

really roughly you get 1/8" per full turn.

 

Get it close, then drive the truck back and forth a few times, because the wheels want to scrub inward as you lift.

 

Drive it around a bit, then fine tune the level and let everything sort of settle before getting an alignment done.

[centex]

Ah Stevens: thanks I believe I can get 1.5 to 2", my last set of highway tires all bald on the inside so I think the front end was sagging more than usual.

 

Rgv: no thanks I do not smoke. Lol

 

Wish I could upload pics from phone, but unable to right now.

[Silverado4x4]

Yes you should jack the front wheels off the ground as it makes it alot easier to turn the bolts and it takes some of the stress off the threads while turning, 4 complete turns in on both will give you about 2" anything more will give you no more lift just a harder ride.

[scottmoyer]

Don't jack the front before adjusting? That's a ridiculously stupid statement!!!

 

By lifting the front end, you are releasing all the weight, allowing the bolt to turn much easier. I've heard of people breaking the bolt by trying to turn it with full weight on 'em.

[jtstacy77]

Don't jack the front before adjusting? That's a ridiculously stupid statement!!!

 

By lifting the front end, you are releasing all the weight, allowing the bolt to turn much easier. I've heard of people breaking the bolt by trying to turn it with full weight on 'em.

 

Scott how does your truck ride after cranking the keys? My 04 silverado was stiff afterwards, now I am thinking about leveling my avalanche but I hate to lose the smooth ride. Just wondering if maybe I cranked the ones on my 04 a little to much. Thanks!

[rgv]

Don't jack the front before adjusting? That's a ridiculously stupid statement!!!

 

By lifting the front end, you are releasing all the weight, allowing the bolt to turn much easier. I've heard of people breaking the bolt by trying to turn it with full weight on 'em.

 

 

thats sort of funny timing on posting that.

 

A buddys 16 year old son bought a 98 1500 and wanted to crank the bars. I handed him a Harbor Freight 18mm open end / box end wrench and told him what to do.

 

He didn;t jack anything up and didn;t seem to have any trouble.

 

Of course I've known for a while that peoples' definition of 'easy' and 'hard' varies.