Torsion turns, keys and Rough Country 2-3" lift

[Half Assed]

The shock re-location bracket in this picture is mounted wrong, it should be mounted with the shock bolt up, not towards the tire and the thickest part of the axle boot.

Ha, you keep thinking that. Just wait till you hit a good pothole and the stupid bracket bends at the bottom and folds over like his.

So I paid $150 more than you for better CV and upper balljoint angles and maybe less tire wear plus I don't max out the suspension on every big bump and my frame isn't hanging down really far under my truck. The shock re-locators aren't to make up for shock length, they are to keep them from hitting the bump stops. It drives a lot better than a t-bar crank. I wouldn't have gone with blocks in the rear anyways, like I said I was going to be adding leaves to my packs because I haul and tow.

I've cranked the bars on 3 of my GMT400s so far and didn't like the ride or the way the trucks drove after. I've done it your way in the past and I'm glad I went with the lift I did this time. It saved me hundreds over a bigger kit when all I wanted was 3". I know this kit isn't for everyone or even most but it did what I wanted it to.

Hmm, seems you don't know how the suspension works. The ride is better because you have increased the down travel of the suspension (not really a good idea in this case). When you crank the torsion bars you are increasing the tension in the bars and in effect raising the truck. Two side effects: stiffer suspension (more tension in the bars) and less down travel of the suspension. When you hit a pothole, instead of the tire going down it bottoms out on the bump stops and the entire truck drops into the hole. That makes the truck ride like ****. You might notice the truck feels a little bouncy at high speeds, same reason-no down travel.

The shock relocators are spacing the shock out because of the 2-3" lift. A shock compresses and stretches and in the middle is ride height. When you crank the bars you are stretching the shock, but it wants to pull back to ride height. The spacer puts the shock back to ride height after the lift. BUT! With the spacer on the stock and factory up and down travel the stock is going to bottom out under heavy up travel. You can see that under heavy up travel the shock has bottomed out and pushed the bracket out. Bad design.

Right I agree with what you said about the stiffness of the ride. I still disagree about the shock brackets though because it looks to me like they wouldn't bolt into the original holes now. Here is a pic of what I'm talking about. Plus why would I need longer shocks on an IFS if all I did was crank the bars using up some of the factory suspension travel? I'm sure they come with long enough shocks from GM to allow for full suspension droop.

It looks like with the kit I don't have this \ / problem with my front tires that you get with cranking your bars. That alone is worth it to me.

That's because the way the suspension was designed. GM designed the suspension to create positive camber in the down travel and negative camber in up travel.

Say for example you are going around a turn fast. The weight shifts over to the outside and you feel a bunch of body roll. The front tire on the inside is going to have less weight, more down travel, and positive camber. The opposite goes for the tire on the outside of the turn. Much more weight, a lot of up travel, and negative camber. Because of the roll of the truck and the camber the tires are able to stay a flat as possible to the road and retain maximum grip.


Sorry for the lesson, but I'm in a bad mood. I really hate torsion bar cranking and this stupid lift.

 

[Rusty Silence]

I too got this kit. And got flamed for posting about it. I cranked first and drove a week while I waited for the kit to come in. It rode like ****. With this kit It made my ride quality greatly improve. I also cranked just a little and with my 2" body lift I'm sitting at 42 1/2" in the front on 325/60 tires. I have ZERO complaints about the kit, my cvs did great when I used them and my angles are great. Steering is fine, the angle isn't great but I ordered heim steering kits for mine. Also ordered cognito steering supports.

I love this kit and have no need to buy anything bigger. Maybe I will get longer shocks to get rid of the shock extenders. I hate those extenders. They make a ton of noise and I think it's a stupid design. Only thing I don't know is if they keep the shock if fully extended to LCA from hitting the UCAs when the suspension cycles.

I'd do this kit in a second over just cranking and riding that out.

Yeah I'm happy with my kit too. I got the lift height I wanted without having to do a bodylift, it drives better than a crank and my front tires aren't going to be wearing on the outsides like just a crank would do. I haven't noticed any noises from the shock extenders yet. It's funny, most of the people who complain the most about them not only haven't run them but a lot of their arguments just aren't true.

 

[Rusty Silence]

Ha, you keep thinking that. Just wait till you hit a good pothole and the stupid bracket bends at the bottom and folds over like his.

I'm not sure if you're blind or just being argumentative but his aren't folded over, he put them on wrong.

 

[Studio54]

Yeah I'm happy with my kit too. I got the lift height I wanted without having to do a bodylift, it drives better than a crank and my front tires aren't going to be wearing on the outsides like just a crank would do. I haven't noticed any noises from the shock extenders yet. It's funny, most of the people who complain the most about them not only haven't run them but a lot of their arguments just aren't true.

So far ive put about 2k miles on the kit. I have to re-torque and loctite the nuts on the extensions, thats mostly my problem. Also its the shock bolt moving in the metal bushing/sleeve and making noise. its irritating clunking as i drive. At least its not a safety issue.

Once i get my Heim steering i literally see nothing wrong with this kit. I also replaced all my BJs while it was apart. Aligned perfectly and rides really nice.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

Yeah I'm happy with my kit too. I got the lift height I wanted without having to do a bodylift, it drives better than a crank and my front tires aren't going to be wearing on the outsides like just a crank would do. I haven't noticed any noises from the shock extenders yet. It's funny, most of the people who complain the most about them not only haven't run them but a lot of their arguments just aren't true.

An alignment will resolve any camber issues from a crank... so they're not the only one making arguments that aren't true.

 

[Rusty Silence]

Well I'm sorry it bothers some of you so much that I'm happy with my lift. I said up front I would let you know if I didn't like it but so far I do.