marc_w Posted January 12, 2004 Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 I've been messing with my torsion bars a lot, and I may have got pretty well lost in all of the adjustments. Does anyone have a procedure on setting the stock pre-load or Z-height? (how many turns, what measurements, where, etc) The side note here... From the factory, my drivers side adjuster bolt was a good 1/2" further out than the passenger side. When investigating why the drivers side was dipping on me, I found that the drivers bump-stop was kinked in the cup, and was sort of sliding to the side when it contacts the lower control arm. I fixed the bump stop, got the bars adjusted to 'about' where they were stock, and it feels like the drivers front is a lot stiffer than the passenger side. The passenger side dips pretty bad when the camber of the road leans to that side. Its like I have to pull even MORE of the drivers-side bolt out. The passenger side bolt kind of creeps me out. It's only got about another 1/2" before the head is bottomed out. Does this sound right? Should there be that much of a difference? Should I just drop it so it's sitting heavily and evenly on both front bump stops? I'm gonna have to get it realigned anyway... ;) Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctrow Posted January 12, 2004 Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 It's hard to remember but I think I did 7 turns before bottoming out the bolt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_w Posted January 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 Thanks. Do you remember if the bolts were even? I'm vaguely remembering hearing that they are not always even from the factory (in GM trucks in general). That would imply that GM sets them up by fender or Z-height, not by a certain number of turns in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deezel Posted January 12, 2004 Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 marc_w My torsion bar adjuster bolts were also very uneven from the factory. I also noticed that my torsion bar keys have different colors on them... I wonder if this indicates left and right, or if it means they are indexed differently... (that might explain the uneven bolts) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rico750sxi Posted January 13, 2004 Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 If you remember what the fender to ground measurement was before lowering just raise the bars until you get back to that. It will be close to factory settings that way. My driver's side bolt was also quite a bit further out than the passenger side too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustBBrent Posted January 13, 2004 Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 If you remember what the fender to ground measurement was before lowering just raise the bars until you get back to that. It will be close to factory settings that way. My driver's side was also quite a bit firther out than the passenger side too. My left side, when I dropped it went all the way to the bottom holder in 6.5 turns so I left the 1/2" on the right side to keep it as close to even as possible. Edited: BTW, I used the height of the fender to the ground as my measurement for setting it evenly. When I turned the bolts, I took it and drove it down the driveway and turned both ways onto the street then back up onto the driveway and into the garage. I noticed that the ride height changed by moving and turning the truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_w Posted January 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 Thanks everyone! The different bolt height thing will let me sleep better at night. I'm thinking I'm driving around with a ton of extra preload on the passenger side. At least it seems normal. I wasn't smart enough to write down any initial numbers for the fender to ground height. It started off with my drivers front dipping, and me turning the bar in half a turn... From there it snowballed and I lost count of what I did. From what I was told on here, the average height is about 35.25" for the front... I've been shooting for 35" to 35.25". It seems to handle better set a bit lower. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustBBrent Posted January 13, 2004 Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 Thanks everyone! The different bolt height thing will let me sleep better at night. I'm thinking I'm driving around with a ton of extra preload on the passenger side. At least it seems normal. I wasn't smart enough to write down any initial numbers for the fender to ground height. It started off with my drivers front dipping, and me turning the bar in half a turn... From there it snowballed and I lost count of what I did. From what I was told on here, the average height is about 35.25" for the front... I've been shooting for 35" to 35.25". It seems to handle better set a bit lower. Thanks again. When you get done, make sure you get it aligned. When I finished lowering mine, everything was RED and out of spec on the truck. The alignment shop asked me if I hit something huge, hard? or if I dropped the truck off a lift? I told them, almost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rico750sxi Posted January 13, 2004 Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 I have it written down on my garage wall how many turns it takes to get the bolt out on the driver's side but I didn't do this for the passenger's side. I did this the first time I was trying to install the keys. I didn't do the passenger's side because I never got the driver's side key in!! I figure when I before I do the spindles I just tighten them so I raise the front 2 ". That way after the 2" drop spindles I'll be at the same height. I'll have to replace my stock bumpstops then too. I cut mine in front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blutank Posted January 15, 2004 Report Share Posted January 15, 2004 I just did a Ground Force Kit on my truck, and it looks good . I noticed the torsion bolts were uneven on my truck also before I started. When I put the new keys , the driver side bolt was out more than the passenger side. But the truck is level. I have a 1 3/4" drop in the front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperDave Posted January 15, 2004 Report Share Posted January 15, 2004 I can't back this up with proof, but an old front end man told me that the torsion bar suspensions are set up at the factory with a device to measure the sprung tension or resistance to delfection of the torsion bar initially. If this is true, the spring rate would be close to the same on each side, but the bolt position could be different. Turns out that is. Does this make sense to anyone? Before changing I know you are supposed to take measurements at each wheel well center, front bumper and rear bumper, then compress the suspension several times and remeasure. I also had another alignment man tell me that anytime you move the torsion bar keys you should lift the wheel off of the ground and allow the suspension to sag then measure the results before proceeding with further adjustments. I'm sure these techniques are just old "tricks of the trade" or something, but it makes sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustBBrent Posted January 15, 2004 Report Share Posted January 15, 2004 I can't back this up with proof, but an old front end man told me that the torsion bar suspensions are set up at the factory with a device to measure the sprung tension or resistance to delfection of the torsion bar initially. If this is true, the spring rate would be close to the same on each side, but the bolt position could be different. Turns out that is. Does this make sense to anyone? Before changing I know you are supposed to take measurements at each wheel well center, front bumper and rear bumper, then compress the suspension several times and remeasure. I also had another alignment man tell me that anytime you move the torsion bar keys you should lift the wheel off of the ground and allow the suspension to sag then measure the results before proceeding with further adjustments. I'm sure these techniques are just old "tricks of the trade" or something, but it makes sense to me. I may be showing my ignorance here, but if the ride height is set by how flexible a piece of high grade steel is, then allowing that piece of steel to twist to lower the initial ride height should not change the stiffness of that piece of steel. The ride quality should be the same, assuming there is the same amount of suspension travel and the shock can go that distance. mine is just touching the bump stops and if you press on the front of the truck, it will come off of them, so I know my truck has less travel than it did. I kinda like it that way so the nose doesn't dip so much when I go over some of those hills in the famous Texas hill country. But this is my humble .02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_w Posted January 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2004 I went and got everything set back up at the dealer. Under waranty, too. My truck has always been on the bump-stops. Even when I gave the bars a few extra turns, they were still in slight contact -- that's weird. It rides great again. Still a little weak on the drivers side if you ask me, but I ain't touching NOTHING! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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