# Torsion Bar question



## MxRob (Aug 3, 2004)

I want to adjust my torsion bars to get some extra height before I can swing buying some timberens. 

Do you have to jack up the front end or can you do it with the truck flat on its wheels and just wrench on the bolt?

I know you can only gain 1-1/2" or so in height and go about 4-5 turns max on the bolt but I am not sure. 

My local suspension shop didn't want to mess with the project. They sent me to a 4X4 fab shop which told me $500. It looks like an easy project that I should be able to manage myself. 

This is my first post and look forward to spending some time here.  

03' 2003 1500HD 4X4

8' Fisher


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## Bchlawns (May 14, 2004)

If the shop told you $500 dollars i think that is expensive. I am getting a new 2005 2500HD cheve. Where i am buying my Western Plow at the guy told me he could crank up the torsion bars for nuttin included in the price. He said it is not a big deal at all to crank then a few times. I dont know, that is just what he told me. So i would check around first i get a better price or wait for someone to respond that know how to do it. Good luck
Bchlawns


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## sonjaab (Jul 29, 2001)

MX..........Easy to do.............

1. Punch mark/mark the bolt head and the frame rail for reference.
2. Jack up the front end some to take the weight off. Makes it easier to turn bolts.
3. Turn bolt heads clockwise to raise...Counterclockwise to lower.

Turn each bolt head equally ! Note one bolt head may be turned in/out more than the other before you start. Do not be alarmed.

Thats where the reference marks come in handy ! I used to turn mine up 5-6 turns during winter and back down in summer.
Never had a alignment or tire wear problem............geo


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## ratlover (May 5, 2003)

OMG!  500$  You could go buy all the tools including a jack and be 350$ under that That is flat out RAPE! Its a 30 minute job max and that is with you hunting for the tools. One beer max! 

Yes jack up the front of your truck to take the weight off the front end! If you plan to adjust em down in the summer when the plow is off marking makes it easier, otherwise its not needed.

Here is how I do it

1. Measure the left and right side of the truck to an easy to measure and duplicate reference point. Bottome of bumper, top of fender opening, what ever, dont really matter.

2. Jack up truck

3. With weight off the trucks front turn the adjusting bolts in a few turns(I would also put some anti sieze on the threads before hand but I am anal). These are on the cross member about mid way on the truck, ite were the t bars end, there shopuld even be some stickers by em talking about adjusting the dudes.

4 Let the truck down and try to bounce the front end a few times to make sure everything is settled. measure at your reference point. repeat crank if neciasary.

Some aditional notes: i wouldnt adjust over 1.5" over stock hight. Also try to keep the bump stops resting on the a arms still or just a hair of a gap. Also your truck may sit uneven, it is fine to crank em un evenly to get your truck to sit level side to side. I would also get my alignment checked afterwards if this is going to be a permanent thing not just a winter for the plow thing. Also having timbrens wont alter the ride hight and I have the same crank with the timbrens as without em. You bars may sag over time and may sag more side to side, its fine to keep cranking away or adjusting em, the amount of the crank is not big deal and dosnt matter at all, its how much hight you gain. If you do a 1/2 turn and gain 2" thats bad but if you crank till the adjusters bottom out and gain .5" then you are fine. 

EDIT: it still amazes me that they would charge you 500$ Give me thier # so I can call em up and call em a bunch of douchebags. That is freaking UNREAL. A 1/2 hour chrged shop time and if they want to check your alignment for 30$(and align if necisarry) or so is reasonable IMO


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## ratlover (May 5, 2003)

Sorry, I was so amazed by the 500$ charge that I forgot my manners.  Welcome


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## MxRob (Aug 3, 2004)

Thanks for the tips folks, I found a shop that did it for me for $65 including the alignment. 
I called back the place that had originally quoted me $500 and had them quote me again for the same work. They told me the same thing again, that it would cost $500. I then told them where to put that quote and hung up......


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## nsmilligan (Dec 21, 1999)

MxRob
You're wise to have the alignment done especially if your going to use the truck that way, this being summer, year around, I'm like Sonjaab, when I mount my plow tires in the fall I crank up the torsion bar bolts, which I marked with a punch, 5 turns, and back down with the summer tires and rims, in the the spring.

Bill


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## Young Pup (Aug 13, 2004)

sonjaab,

I have an 04 Chevy 2500 ext cab sb. Do you know the max we can raise the torsion bars? Will this do anything to the warranty on the vehicle as well. I see you raise yours 5-6 turns. Do you get front end alignments after doing this or you just have never had to get them while doing this. 

Thanks for the help in advance. 

JP


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## sonjaab (Jul 29, 2001)

JP..............Mine went up about a 1 1/2 inches. 
I never had a alignment or any front drive problems.

OEM junk Deathstones.... even wear pattern and looked
great when I traded it with 29k miles, 3 hard NY winters
pushin' "white gold" !

Just cranked it up and back down with the seasons !

My 04 HD sits about a foot higher than my o1 2500 ld.
So I many not have to crank it up.
But haven't put the plow gear on yet to tell.


This is why ballast is so important. Also Lifts up the nose
with the blade on!.............geo


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## Young Pup (Aug 13, 2004)

sonjaab,

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately I don't have the hd so after last year using it I do know that I need to crank it up some. I was thinking of going up 5 turns and with the ballast in the back I am hoping that will work. I was going to put about 500 lbs in the back. I believe that is what I had last year. To much on not enough. 

Thanks,

JP


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## sonjaab (Jul 29, 2001)

JP...That will work for ya ! HD or not. I used to crank up my 1/2
tons also. Up in the winter down in the summer.
Just punchmark those bolt heads and frame rail for reference.
......geo


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## ratlover (May 5, 2003)

on all gm tb equiped vehicals I wouldnt go more than 1.5" above stock ride hight. 1.5 is the max. number of turns dosnt matter, all that matters is what angle the suspention sits at. 

Better to have too much ballast. I run 900-1000k behind the rears but I have a 2500hd.

Do your measurment/cranking with the weight in the back because weight behind the rear wheels will raise the nose of your truck. I would aslo go by measurments instead of punch marks since the tbars can "sag" a bit over time. JMO


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## Young Pup (Aug 13, 2004)

Thank you for all the information guys. This helps extremely to a new guy trying to get it right and make sure that I don't screw it up. 

Thanks,

JP


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## sonjaab (Jul 29, 2001)

JP.....5-6 turns worked for me. I got about 1 inch or so lift.
Not enough IMO on these low riding GMs. But it costs nada
and was easy to do !


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## SIPLOWGUY (Mar 21, 2002)

I had a shop teacher who hated Chryslers because they used torsion bars. Funny thing he loved Chevys! I wonder what he drives now?


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## 66Construction (Jan 26, 2001)

I've had the bars on my 02 2500hd up as far as 12 or 13 turns. This truck gets a 9' fisher in mid November and wears it untill April, Havent had a problem yet or with any other chevy we've cranked up. I know a few guys that put 2" blocks in the back and run the bars all the way up to clear bigger tires, a couple of them have broken the bars though. 
Casey


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## Young Pup (Aug 13, 2004)

Thanks for all the input on this thread. It sure is helping.

66 construction, 

Are you kidding me? 12 or 13 turns. Was it still sitting lower than the back? Was your ballast in the back when you did this?


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## itchyfishnv (Sep 7, 2004)

hey does anyone have a picture of where these bolts are? i tried finding them, cant seem to find them maybe i did, i dont want to starting loosening/tightening parts of my suspension if ya know what i mean.. thanx


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## itchyfishnv (Sep 7, 2004)

actually nevermind i answered my own question with a little search in google.com images.


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## itchyfishnv (Sep 7, 2004)

Just to make sure this is where you adjust it from... this is it right?









please let me know

itchyfish


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## Bolts Indus. (Dec 22, 2003)

Picture is blurry but I don't think so.

Underneath just about in line with the rear of the cab you will see a cross member on the frame. You will see the torsion bars run back to it from the front. One on each side.

On the cross member you will see a recessed bolt ( think 5/8") Those are the adjusting bolts. Jack front end before turning.


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## itchyfishnv (Sep 7, 2004)




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## Bolts Indus. (Dec 22, 2003)

The bolt is under the cross member at the other end of the bar. It is recessed into the cross member.


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## itchyfishnv (Sep 7, 2004)

Got it, thanx.


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## fga (Dec 2, 2003)

great info guys, does this procedure different with older models? i'm buying a 1990 1500 4x4, or is it exactly the same?


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## Bolts Indus. (Dec 22, 2003)

If it has torsion bars,yes.


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## jebx (Aug 12, 2004)

Here is what you should see. You should also have an alignment after this procedure.


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## eng50 (Jan 30, 2004)

Someone already beat me to it sorry for the double info!!...They are about 2 feet behind the front tires (center) and inboard a little. They require a large socket if I recall correctly. If you can't locate them I will be glad to take a picture of the bolts and the location. 

Bill


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## JRKRACE (Feb 5, 2004)

Nope...Go back to about halfway under the drivers door and look at the crossmember. You will see A bolt that is perpendicular to the ground, one on each side. IIRC, the bolts will be located in the channel of the crossmember. Squirt a little WD-40 on them and jack up the side that you want to adjust and crank a full turn at a time....Ill try to dig up a picture....


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## JRKRACE (Feb 5, 2004)

whoops...eng beat me to it....


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## sonjaab (Jul 29, 2001)

Those pics are NOT of the adjusting bolt for the t-bars.

Lay flat on your back under the drivers door. The bolts are staring you in the face in the center of the crossmember. They are slightly off center and look crooked. ...............geo


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## Five Star Lawn Care LLC (Dec 13, 2002)

i had the shop that ussually does my plow instsalls do it to my 2004 2500 and it took him all of about 5 min(with me pulling my truck in and out of the bay)
i cant belive they were going to charge you 500 buck.....the whole GM front suspension and drivetrain is totally new to me....i used to run dodges but since have begun trading them in for GMC and love them allready


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## George C (Aug 24, 2004)

I did my own bars in 30 seconds right in my own driveway.
No need for a lift, they turn easy while the truck is still on the ground.


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## ratlover (May 5, 2003)

The 100% proper way is to used the tool to take all pressure off the bolts. An acceptable way although there is still alot of stress is to jack up the front of the truck and take a majority of the stress off the bolt. Most people never have a problem just cranking away but there have been people that have the bolt/key strip out or spilt and that is dnagerous! its like jackstands, how many times have you had your hydralic jack let down on you? me niether but I still use jack stands. JMO

Edit: I believe those pics are right but I think thats a 1/2 ton maybe? The newer 2500hd's and 3500 have a boxed looking cross member with holes the adjusting bolts peek through.

Furthur edit: See the little yellow sticker in the one pic, thats close to em except they point at the ground. And the little sticker that should be buy the bolts has a warning about taking the pressure off IIRC


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## dzd9fy (Sep 25, 2004)

Wow, I would never want to use the torsion bar to increase ride height. While it will work, you are putting continual stress on a device that is desinged to add to the stability of the chassis system.

It is similar to those that want to increase height or load capacity with shocks.

Good luck.


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## ratlover (May 5, 2003)

cranking the torsion bars for hight is completely acceptable IMO and is actually what chevy designed em for. You are not making the spring any stiffer. A torsion bar dosnt really have much if any progressiveness to it. meaning the more you turn it it dosnt get stiffer. The factory bump stops(or timbrens if you have em) are what gives the factory suspention a progressive nature. Cranking the torsion bars just increase thier indexing. You dont want to crank em to the moon and get lotsa lift out them becasue it will through your suspention and front end parts into all kindsa funky geometerys. But if you were place a plow on your truck and crank the t bras all the way up and put you right back at factory hight you arnt putting any more stress up front(other than weight of the plow of course) Thats why timbrens work so well on a chevy IFS front end IMO. They are just more progressive than the factory bumpstops. Air bags are the same deal, a good thing IMO.

Your right on on the air shocks. They are the devil. 

No flames, just trying to inform with JMO


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## dzd9fy (Sep 25, 2004)

I hear what you are saying, and I know it is done. 

You bring up some very good point on front geometry and such, it is just that
I would opt for increased spring rates to keep the nose up. Also not too keen on the airbags though again I know a lot of guys run them.

Nice looking truck from what the small picture shows... what are the entire specs????!


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## ratlover (May 5, 2003)

Problem is if you have the biggest bars avalible. Chevy also specs out for using em to adjust your hight with added components.

Thanks.  
265 75 r 16 dunlop radialrover rt's
Weathergaurd box and spray liner
Dipricol boost and pyro gauges
GM steps
Steel cowl hood
Elscalade door handles
Headache rack built by me
Suncoast level 3 shift kit with 3 disk converter done by me
4" from turbo back to back of cab with a 5" from there back with no muffler
I have a edge Hot juice/attitude but have it sitting since I went with a TTS extreme tune.
Soon to add a lift, also have traction bars sitting in my living room with the pump waiting for the time.....

I went to the track and ran a string of 13.9's with the juice . 60's were horrible, spinning all 4  or I had to launch softer than I wanted. best around mid 1.8's Going back to the track and going to air down the tires, remove the timbrens, run with the traction bars, and try to shave some weight(6730#'s) and want to hit the 12's on #2 with the new programing/traction/weight reduction Should be doeable. 

http://www.plowsite.com/showthread.php?t=16823

Thanks again


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