I have a 98 zr2 and im trying to gain a couple more inches without spending a lot of money. I came across leveling kits and was wondering if anyone could give thier honest opinion on them. I also was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to a good way to gain a couple inches in height for a cheap price. Thank you

 

Can you post a link to the 'leveling kit' you found? The only cheap way to lift the front is by adjusting the torsion bars. You can use aftermarket 'lift keys' that will help reduce wear on the bars themselves but there's no fix for the increased CV and balljoint angle.

 

The keys do not reduce the wear on anything. All they do is reindex the bars, doing the same thing as cranking the bars but the adjusting bolt doesn't have to be threaded in as much. Don't waste your money on them.

Search the t-bar and shackle lift. Make your own shackles and its $10. Buy shackles and its $25 top for a 1.5 inch lift int he front and 2 in the rear. About as cheap as you can get. You do not want to go over 1.5 in the front without a real lift kit or you will be replacing ball joints and cv joints every few months. Anything higher you have to step up to the 5/6 inch (depends on the brand but they all about the same lift) kits that are a couple of hundred and up dollars.

 

I think for the most part, you're right. There are some uses for them though. Torsion bars are a linear spring so adding preload doesn't increase the springrate as long as the springs are inside their intended operating range.

Aftermarket torsion keys would allow one to adjust the ride height while keeping the spring preload closer to the middle of their intended range. Using the stock keys would push them closer to the edge of their intended range. Considering that the stock keys allow for quite a bit of adjustment, I doubt that one could push the springs outside their elastic limit with the stock parts.

If someone wanted even more height though, the aftermarket keys would allow you to push the control arms down even further without going outside the springs limits. Like you said though, new keys are, for the most part, a waste of money if one is only lifting an inch or two.

 

I have a 1998 ZR2 with the "leveling kit" installed. And it does give you about 1.5-2 inches of lift. However, after doing it you have to realign it and that will add about a $100 to your bill. And in honesty it would be a good idea to put abit longer shocks on as well. If you don't you get a insanely rough ride, or a least I did. So then your another $300-$400 into it because of the ZR's suspension. My advice, money vs. money just do a 2-3" body lift. Gets you the same lift to clear larger tires and you don't risk any of the problems you may get with the torsion bar adjustment. And your into it about the same money. I did both to mine and the body lift was, and is, alot less of a headache.

 

Torsion is more functional than a Body lift IMO. It all depends on what you want to do with your lift.

If it's a street queen then do the body lift. I hate the over-exposed frame look though.

If you plan on doing some wheeling, a Torsion and shackle lift will give you extra clearance from frame to ground that just a body lift and bigger tires would.

 

This is probably a stupid question, but how does a torsion bar lift work?

 

The torsion bars are designed with adjusters (keys) in the back in order to change ride height or to account for sagging springs. By tightening the adjustments, you can raise the front end about 2 inches.

 

Thanks.

 

Search "T bar crank" and you'll get pages of results with good info.