my tire/suspension shop my family and i use, the manager in which we know told me he will crank the torsion bars and align it for $60. at first i told him i would crank 'em and then bring it down but then he offered to do it for me. he told me it will just stiffen up the front end, thats all. i cant wait to have my truck sittin level, even though my 265s are currently on for the winter! should look good. whats everyone think of this?

also, if i want to eventually do a small 1" or so add a leaf (or will a block be better? if so what size) in the rear, will that put me back to wear i was to start with basically with the front end rake?

 

thats is pretty much the alignment your paying for, i would wait on the rear to see how it looks

 

I agree. I'd just tell him to crank them up enough to level the truck or do it myself.

 

yeah thats all i said was i wanted the truck level. does it settle down much? will i notice a difference?

 

It will settle after you drive it a bit. I cranked mine before i got my alignment, and I thought it sat level, maybe even a little higher up front. But now it seems like the front of the truck sits lower again. If anything try to get a lifetime alignment deal, i know big10 offers one and thats what I did, then you could always crank them again if they settle too much and go get an alignment again for free.

 

When you crank the torsion bars you increase the pre-load. When the suspension does bottom out more (or close to it), the torsion bar is twisted more than intended and wears out the torsion bars more, eventually causing more sag.
So yes they will eventually sag as they wear more, though not usually too much if they aren't adjusted too high.

 

how long has everyone on here been running cranked torsion bars with no problems? im excited to get it done tomorrow

 

not sure how long they'll last but my friend has a 2000 z71 he got about 2 years ago, torsion bars were already cranked to the max and hes needing to replace them. he offroads and rides his truck hard to.

 

im not maxing mine out. just getting it level and i measured today and it looks like an inch to 1.5" will do it

 

1.5" isn't bad, I wouldn't go any higher.

 

is this something i will regret doing? i see alot of members on here with it on their 97-03s. my truck doesnt sag in the front too bad so i think about an inch or so will do it

 

An inch or so should be fine... If you crank them up high you would regret it, because it stiffens the ride quite a bit, and leaves you with almost no downtravel. So if you hit a pothole the suspension would top out hard just trying to drop into the hole, going over a speedbump, or turning out of a driveway. But only an inch or 1.5" should still leave you with a little bit of down travel.

 

You won't regret it, an inch or so should only be about 2-3 turns tighter than stock, which is far from maxed out. From what I understand, there is much more stress on a maxed out torsion bar than there is on one that isn't, so that stress of course will lead to them needing to be replaced, sagging, etc. But don't let that shy you away from cranking them just a small amount, they will "settle" a little, but this isn't the same as them sagging when they are worn out. On the same note, many guys here run their torsion bars maxed out, and although I wouldn't recommend it, most of them have no problems whatsoever. And even if it turns out you really don't like it or feel comfortable with it, it's very easily reversable.

 

thanks cote. so say i f i get about an inch and a half out of them will they drop back down to nearly where they were just from settling? i saw under there today each side is at a different amount as it is.

and tomorrow i may order some pro comp es9000 shocks you have,cote. i have money to adance and they can order them for me. hopefully ill like em!

 

I wouldn't say it would settle that much, MAYBE a .5". And yeah one side has more thread than the other if I remember correctly, I think minimonster said something about that when he cranked his all the way down one side sat a little higher than the other. You should be pleased with es9000s, they ride better than stock IMHO and don't break the bank at the same time.

BrianJ may be able to fill you in a bit more how much it might "settle" and what not, i know he knows quite a bit when it comes to IFS.

Brian - i have to say i miss your old ranger, used to linger around on ORR from time to time and that thing was a nice rig.