Long Term Effects?

knipper_03 · April 29, 2003

Does anyone know the long term effects of torsion bar leveling with ford keys?

I know the truck needs realined, but if the truck is lifted level in the front would the room to adjust camber, toe, etc be inaccurate because the truck wasn't meant to be alined in that position.

And also what is the long term effects with doing this mod with cv joints, ball joints, shocks, bearinds, etc.

Many dealships and repair shops are discouraging me from doing this mod I am just looking for answers because I wan't to get rid of the sissy look of the non leveled chevy, am afraid of taking a risk and having to fork over hundreds to replace my cv joints prematurely

Thanks!

chevy4x4trucks · April 30, 2003

And also what is the long term effects with doing this mod with cv joints, ball joints, shocks, bearinds, etc.

You'll definetly see some early wear and tear on those and in time the front end will sag back down. The torsion bars and like springs and over time they will loose their strength.

Another option is to replace your t-bars with some higher rated ones, but then you'll still experience the same type of wear and tear on your front end suspension components.

Another option is to put some lowering shackles on the rear. Not my preferred way either, but it's definetly another option that won't cause any problems later on.

Either way if you level it out and you carry a lot of weight in the bed your front end will be pointing upwards.

mdub · April 30, 2003

If you look at the front stub axles on a factory-new truck, you'll see the axle shafts make a relatively straight shot from the differential housing to the wheel hub (through the CV joint). This is by design for reliability purposes. If you raise the torsion bars only, you raise the frame and front differential housing relative to the front wheel hub. This significantly increases the stub axle angle between the differential and the wheel hub, placing more continual stress and thus more wear on the CV joint. This is why good quality lift kits drop the differential housing to keep the front axle shafts relatively straight into the wheel hub. There is a reason for this -- it reduces the extra wear by NOT having the CV joint working all of its operational life at a sharp angle. Of course you can argue that CV joints operate at sharp angles when the front wheels are turned, but this isn't a continuous mode of operation, unless you constantly drive in circles.

I personally lifted my truck over two inches WITHOUT using the Ford keys, and I still had more adjustment remaining. IMO, this made the front too high relative to the back. Additionally, after looking at the surprisingly increased angle of the axle shafts -- I couldn't imagine that being a good thing for the CV joints, since they would be in a constant bind. This is similar to a driveshaft that has a U-joint operating at a constant sharp angle. The U-joint reliability is inversely proportional to the operating angle of the U-joint.

I ended up dropping mine so the lift is about 1 1/8 inches over factory height. I'm still NOT comfortable with the slightly increased angles, but I'll take a chance because I think the ~1 inch lift is a good compromise for reliability, and is perfect for the looks (still keeps the back slightly higher for hauling).

With my experience, I honestly don't understand why the Ford keys are necessary (on a 1500). The Ford keys only make the situation worse. Using that much lift without dropping the front differential is just asking for reliability problems down the road. The dealers and front-end shops discourage this because of experience and common-sense. Just look at the angles of the front stub axles on a torsion bar lifted truck, and you'll see the reasoning. On the other hand, I guess it may not matter if you trade your truck every couple years.

Of course, none of this would be an issue if GM would do the right thing and build trucks with an aggressive stance from the start.