3/4 ton torsion bars in a 1/2 ton

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Kyle97GMC

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Ok guys I bought some 3/4 ton torsion bars from a buddy yesterday for 50 bucks and I kept the pork chop looking thing and the bolts as well. My question is are they direct swap? Has any one done this with experience?Should I use my stock pork chop and boly or the 3/4 ton ones? I will be putting them on this week and just wanted to clear some stuff up! Thanks!
 

TylerZ281500

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pork chop+ torsion key i assume? 3/4 ton bars will require less cranking to have the same amount of lift essentially. kinda a poor way to explain it but yes they will work and yes they will work with your stock 1/2 ton keys. first though id find the numbers on your bars to tell you how much wieght they are rated at. my friends heavy half has 3/4 ton bars in it already.
 

Kyle97GMC

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Mine are way thinner than the new ones so I am pretty sure that the rating is a lot higher! So I would just swap the new bars in and use my half ton pork chop and key?
 

TylerZ281500

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im not sure if 1/2 keys and 3/4 keys are any different. sorry i cant give a definitive answer on that, maybe someoen else will chime in but ill do some searching. what year is the donor truck?
 

Darkrider

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The 1/2 ton keys will most likely be indexed differently compared to the 3/4 ton keys. So as tyler stated depending on what the difference is in clocking the 1/2 ton key will require less cranking to return to the same height that you are now..however its also a lot easier to over crank it and have a $hitty ride and rapidly wearing out front end parts.
 

great white

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Higher spring rate is about all the difference.

Keys should be the same but I'd use the 2500 preloaders (IE: keys, porkchops or whatever) in order to make it easier/more likely to get the proper Z height.

You will need an alignment after swapping the bars out.

You will need to reset the Z height to the proper spec before an alignment.

I can't remember if the Z height is different for a 2500 and a 1500, but I'd set yours to the 2500 if you can do the work yourself.

It's not hard; all you really need is a square and a tape measure to get acceptably close. The Z height changes the camber and the toe when you change it. Both will lead to abnormal tire wear and early replacement.

The alignment shop can do all of this for you if you request it, but it's gonna cost you more.....
 
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Kyle97GMC

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The guy that does our alignments does it all for 70 bucks because him and my dad grew up together. So if I use the 1/2 ton pork chops and bolts with the 3/4 ton torsion bars I would have to crank less to get the height I have now? I am almost cranked all the way now and my angles arent terrible but I just dont want to crank more than I have to
 

great white

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Very likely, the 2500 preloaders are the same as the 1500's.

If you're almost on the upper arm stop now, you will be with 2500 bars.

The difference between the 2500 torsion bars and the 1500 bars is spring rate, not how high they are....
 

TylerZ281500

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^ what great white said, you have the option of having more lift with stock 3/4 bars to say. thats because they have more spring rate which will lift your front end higher. your angles will be the same wether you use 3/4 or 1/4 ton bars but the 3/4 bars will allow less of that bolt to be buried and if you bury it the same amount as your 1.2 ton bars youll have more lift than the 1/2s can give you

so in short 3/4 bars equal same angles with less cranking involved to acheive the same ride height but you do have the option of going overkill and overcranking.
 
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