Im really interested in leveling my 1500
My friend mentioned something about adjusting torsion bars for an extra 1-3 inches on the front. Can anybody shed some light on this for me. If the torsion bars are unsuitable is there any oter cheap ways of going about it? Thanks.

JCarr

Turning the torsion bars on a 4x4 gm is the only cheap way to lift one. That is only going to give you up to 3" of lift. If you want more you had better open your wallet, because then you will have to get a complete lift kit.

can you (or anyone elses) go more in detail abotu how i go about adjsutign the torsion bars?

If you put jack the front end of the truck and put jackstands under the frame ( you do not want to use ramps because you do not want weight on the suspension) just turn the bolt at the rear of the torsion bars. You might have to loosen the bolts with some pb blaster because the tend to get some rust on them.

just turn the boltss? thats it???hmm
Thanks gusy i appreciate it, im gonna put some rancho shocks on there and do it up.

JCarr

what year is your truck, I assume it is a 4 wheel drive. if you have trouble tightening the bolt to put more load on the torsion bars you may have to unload the torsion bars with a strong 2 jaw puller and then tighten the bolt

Make sure that you go and get a re-alignment done after you raise them. Try to raise each bolt the same amount of turns and measure height before and after on each side.

its a 97 k1500 4wd 5.7l v8...

about alignment...
last winter I slid on a patch of ice and hit a curb around a turn, I was only going about 10 mph but the front passenger tire got real messed up and was bent at almost 45 degrees.... i got it fixed but they said there was frame damage and my tire onthat side is still a little off. Shouldn't there be a way to compensate for the "frame damage" so that I dont have uneven tire wear? As you can tell im very skeptical of any mechanic that touches my truck, too many bad experiences. thanks again you guys.

JCarr

ps. Ill probobly be doing this wednesday, so any help before then would be fantastic.

Depending on what measurement was out of specifications there may not be an adjustment for particular measurement. Toe is adjusted by tie rods, camber is adjuster by accentric bolts, and as far as I remember a K1500 does not have a caster adjustment, or if it was setback that was off you wouldn't be able to adjust that either

If you tighten the bars will it cock the tires in? Also, will it make the ride any stiffer? Im thinking of doing this and adding an add a leaf set in the back for a cheap 2"-3" lift.

Thanks

I know it stiffens the ride because the stock shocks bottom out quicker, im getting a set of billstiens for 2-4" lift