i was thinkin about putting 2 in blocks in the back and cranking up my torsion bars all the way in the front and i was wondering if it was a good idea and it the bars were more likley to snap with the extra tension put on them i dont wanna go do this then have problems with it any help youd be appriceated thanks in advance

 

come on someone has to know the answer to this help me out here

 

my buddy put air bags in the back. and cranked the bars. but not all the way. he got about 1 to 1 1/2 inches. in the front. rides ok. he runs 33's. on 10 inch rims. no prob. and has had the bars that way from when he got the truck new in 97. has about 100k now. so i would say no prob. go for it. you my need to align front end not sure on that. good luck.

 

I did just what you are describing about 3-4 weeks ago. I put two inch blocks in the back, and then cranked the torsion bars in the front. I didn't quite go all the way with the torsion bars, just because I didn't want to put too much stress on anything. I had about 1 1/2 inches from the tortion bars, but then drove around for about 20 mins. and it settled to about 1 1/4 inch of lift. I had the same concerns as you so I had the front end checked out and realigned, so that I knew nothing was wrong. I am very happy with mine. Here a pic of it after I was done.

Good Luck.

 

I claim to be no expert on IFS, however I've read that cranking up the bars for lift will damage the axles shafts and burn out the constant velocity joints. But I have no proof of that. In fact I lifted my 97 that way and it held up for 50,000 miles. If you do lift it with the bars, have it aligned and just watch for torn CV boots and any clicking in the frontend.

 

Kory, That's a great looking truck. I have a 99 like it.

I especially like that topper. Who makes it? What do they cost? Where can I get one?

I've about worn out my tonneau cover and after seeing your truck I like to maybe redo the bed for ATV riding and Hunting by building a sleeping/storage area in the bed and covering it with topper like yours.

Have the best of both worlds.

 

Thanks Parmetta, for the comments about my truck. From the looks of your signiture your truck sounds pretty sweet too.

Anyway, The topper is a Snugtop, Topgun model. I found it on their website www.snugtop.com (?) but they didn't have any good pictures on F150's. So I found a dealer that had one and talked him into setting it on my truck, which was a lot of work to talk him into doing before buying, some sort of liability issue or something. Anyway, I liked it.

BUT!!!! The top is in the $2,500 range! So I shopped around and found a dealer that had one in dealer stock that happened to match my paint, just by chance. Somebody ordered it, then didn't like it on their truck and blew off their deposit and gave it back to the dealer. So I got mine for less than half the original price. It two somewhat minor paint problems, but I had a friend who does body work, and walla!

Anyway, don't let the price discourage you, this is by far the best top I have had on any truck. (I've had four other tops) It has a carpeted interior, for noise I guess? All the windows are flush mounted including the rear one. It locks by just closing the lid, no re-twisting the handle or getting the keys back out. And the back windows open, you probably cant even tell it has two side windows on each side?

Anyway, if you have questions or want some specific pictures, I would be happy to help. You can email me. Or check out my gallery link in my sig.

 

just out of curiousity, how do you know how many inches you've cranked up your torsion bars??

 

I had a 4wd s10 and leveled it out by cranking the torsion bars. No problems resulted from doing so. I think you just have to be a little conservative with how much you crank them. I have a couple of buddies with pre-tacoma toyotas that lifted theres approx 2 inches buy installing a lift that consisted of aftermarket t.bars and add a leaves. I believe rancho makes t.bars for chevy's but haven't looked into fords. Secondly it's my opinion that as long as you don't change the cv angle to drastically it will be fine. The coil over kits for tacoma's recommends 2" for auto hubs and up to 3" with manual so it can't be that bad. Plenty of toys with fabtech's.

 

Offroadmaniac-

I measured from the top of the rim to the bottom of the fender, on both sides. Then after you crank the bars, measure again untill you have the same lift on both sides. Then drive the truck around for 10-20 minutes to settle anything a little. My truck went up about 1 3/4 inches, and then after I drove around a little it settled to about 1 1/2 inches on both sides.

 

You loose wheel travel when you crank the torsion bars so I wouldnt advise doing it more than a little.