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Can I get by with tightening the torsion bars a little and adding a block to the rear springs to get another 1-1.5 inches of lift on my 97 Suburban? I put 285/75x16's and offroad they will scrape the fender slightly when I hit a big dip. I don't think I need much lift, another inch could make all the difference.
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Yeah you could do that but don't adjust those torsion bars too much, it causes premature wear on your frontend. I would just check ebay for some torsion bar keys and go with those and a block for the rear. should be good for about 2".
Okay, I have spent a little time this morning looking around about these torsion bar keys. Half of the sites I have visited say they are better than just cranking on the torsion bars. The other half says they result in the same thing as cranking on the torsion bars (i.e., worn out front end components).
Can anyone shed some light? Do the keys allow you to lift the truck 1-1.5 inches without accelerating wear on the front end?
An inch wouldn't hurt too bad I wouldn't think. Keys will not help at all in keeping the CV joints and boots healthy.
When you lift it, just keep a close watch on the CV boots as you drive. If you ever notice a tear in the CV boot, replace the boot immediately. Most of the cases you see of CV damage on t-bar lifted trucks is a small tear that leakes the grease out of the boot and lets dirt in. You WILL need to get it aligned. An unaligned t-bar lift is a sure way to eat up the outsides of your tires.
My 96 Silverado is t-bar lifted a little more than an inch and a half. I keep a regular check on the CVs to make sure they are not loose.
You are very welcome. I was glad to help.
To further explain why the keys will not help:
The reason the keys will not help you is because when you lift with the t-bar, its the angle of the CV joint that causes the extra wear. The keys function to allow a higher lift. So if you lifted it one inch with keys, the CV's are still going to be at the same angle as with the stock keys.
Yep, that is what I figured out. All I did was lift it up even with the back (ended up being about 1.25") Rides great and since it is just back to where it was before I added the winch, I don't see why anything should wear out any faster than normal. Of course, the truck has 230,000 so who knows what normal is?
if you want to have a short lift, adjustment of torsion bar should not exceed 1.5 " or so anything much more and the geometry changes for drivetrain, castor and camber and cam adjustment becomes limited. the ride becomes to stiff resulting in poor handleing through turns wheel hop when drivig on rough surfaces and a back ache for you driving lond distance.
For a 2" lift,better handling and softer more flexible ride a new set of keys with different angle values have to be used to maintain adjustment range of Z height ,suspension load comfort and drivability
To maintain adjustment values for castor and camber and return correct geometry to drivetrain and suspension ,a longer upper control arm is used, it will correct the centerline angle referance point and return full cam adjustment range.for caster and camber angles.
longer shocks are recomended to maintain full dampering and travel.
its a pretty cheap lift, maintains all your your original load and alignment ranges of adjustment and installation is a snap.
To stay away from the more invasive, Labor intensive and expensive lifts for any height above two inches an alternitive choice would be the body lift . you can get 2" inches more lift with out any real drastic modification or harm to components other than lengthening the steering shaft an brake hoses
thats 4" inches of lift for about 500. bucks with quality parts that aint to shabby concidering a 1200. or so price tag on the others This is the combination of components i chose including a heavier spring stack for the rear (already installed) that i have yet to still install on my S-10 PICK-UP along with all new suspension components bushings ball joints all of it The truck weighs less and is not used for heavy duty or extreem purposes so this should work well enough still deciding i kinda like the low wide bulldog look it has mght stick with that and just go through the front end
Short Lift for 97 Suburban
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