# How to tell if T-bars have been cranked



## mcwlandscaping (Sep 8, 2005)

I bought my truck used, and would like to crank the torsion bars, however i dont know if it has already been done, although i highly doubt it by the way the truck sits low with the plow on. Also, i don't know if there are heavier duty T-bars than what i have now. Is there a way to tell if they have been cranked? From what i know, the truck has always had 265/75/r16 tires on them. 

Why is it necessary to do an alignment when you crank the t-bars.....just something ive always wondered 

thanks all for any help, i really appreciate it!
-mike-


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## B&B (Nov 4, 2006)

mcwlandscaping;415298 said:


> I bought my truck used, and would like to crank the torsion bars, however i dont know if it has already been done, although i highly doubt it by the way the truck sits low with the plow on. Also, i don't know if there are heavier duty T-bars than what i have now. Is there a way to tell if they have been cranked?


 Look at the adjuster bolts and see how much thread is left on the bolt.This is really the only way to tell on a truck that you don't know the history on, it's not a "sure fire" way to tell but it can give you an idea. If they do have lots of thread left you can turn them up some to bring the front end up. As far as telling what bars your truck has..I doubt on a 10 year old truck the bar code tags are still on the bars but you can take a look. The bars are stamped on the ends with the code but they're very hard to read with the bars in the truck. Sometimes you can see the front of the bar enough to read the code if you look in the pocket in the control arm that the bar fits in to...



> Why is it necessary to do an alignment when you crank the t-bars.....just something ive always wondered


 When you adjust the bars, your raising the chassis away from the suspension, which changes the geometry and angles on the suspension and steering in relation to the chassis. When you raise the suspension on an IFS truck, the tires will lean in at the top, and in at the front, due to changing the camber and the toe from changing the geometry. The next time your lifting the front of your truck with a floor jack..look at the front tires, they'll be leaning in at the top and pointing together in the front due to raising the suspension. It's the same thing as lifting the truck with the torsion bars.


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## dlcs (Sep 2, 2004)

How low does the truck sit? If the front end drops a couple of inches I wouldn't worry about it. When you crank up the torsion bars you put stress on other front end componets. GM doesn't crank the bars the same on every truck they build. Some need to be cranked up and others are fine.


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## mcwlandscaping (Sep 8, 2005)

I will check on that today! I'm almost 100% sure they can be cranked since i noticed last time i had the plow on (first time with the cooper tires) that they actually rub a little....i wasn't exactly too happy about that since i figured my k2500 would be handling the weight of this plow A LOT better and that 265 tires were a factory option and have been used on this truck since day one!


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## B&B (Nov 4, 2006)

Give them 2 or 3 full turns and see how it takes the weight then Mike.


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## drumbo (Dec 8, 2006)

I'm in the same boat as this guy...I was told by a friend to look into getting some T-Bars off a 1-Ton from a junk yard or something to work with the weight better than timbrens. 

Well, when I called a truck part yard, their computers said that models from 92 (or so) to 2007 had the same T-Bars...from the 1500, 2500, & 3500 they used the same part but just adjusted it differently.

Anyone a Chevy/GMC person who knows whether this is the case or not?


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## B&B (Nov 4, 2006)

The bars will all interchange but they have different weight carrying capacities depending on the truck...


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