Alright so i'm a tad bit more familiar with my buddies duramax as far as a leveling kit goes and i'm wondering if the same is needed for my blazer. His leveling kit consisted of 2 keys and a shock bracket. He origionally had the torsion bars cranked and it made his truck ride like a straight leafed derby car going through rumble strips. Once he put the shock brackets on it returned the shocks to the factory length and brought back the good ride along with lifting the fron 2 inches. Is this something i can buy to help return my ride or will adding the keys make the ride better than tightening the t-bars? Oh and i've also got some shackles coming in too.

thanks

Nick

 

I cant see how the ride can feel any different, its the same amount of twist being applied to the Tbar, the keys just allow them to be cranked past the stock maximum.

And yes, you can get them for your blazer too. Im currently putting new keys in the front, and I put 3" shackles on the back. I got the kit with both pairs of parts on ebay for about 120 bucks. There is no shock brakets, I will be stepping up the shock legnth, Im guessing full size shocks will do the trick.

 

right i know the keys allow the bars to be cranked past the stock position but his were already off set so the bolts being in the stock position made it have 2 inches of lift in the front then along with the shock brackets it made the shock be in the stock length therefore giving back the good ride again.

I'll have to look into the shocks and see what i can find.

 

Keys are not needed on a s-series unless the bars are badly worn. All we can safely crank them is 1.5 inches before you put extra stress on the cv joints and ball joints. You can crank the factory stuff that small amount. Now if the bars are worn keys will lift it back up but personally I would fix what's wrong before adding more parts.

 

there is nothing wrong with my suspension i just liked the fact that my buddies truck with the keys installed and the shock brackets it rode like it did from factory.

 

Didn't say there was anything wrong with yours just trying to save you some money. Lifting keys do the exact same thing as cranking the bars. With a s10 you can only lift it 1.5 inches as I explained. With fullsizes you can use the keys to get more lift cause they won't bind up as soon.

All the keys do is reindex on the bar so when you start out its just like starting from a cranked position on the factory key. So if your bars are fine save some cash and just crank them and buy the shackles.

 

ok thanks for clearing this up. now that i think about it though.. all those shock brackets do is put the shock back to its stock legnth. its not a strut so it actually wont matter as far as how it rides. if i've got the t bars cranked its gonna ride rough weather i like it or not.

 

Bingo, I think ya got it

 

I'll be honest, after a lot of research there is no difference between lift and stock torsion bar keys for the S series.
I bought a 2" lift kit for my 1999 blazer, and they sent me the same exact keys that were already on my truck. When I called the company they said they were off a ZR2. Then I found that GM used the same keys for both the stock and ZR2 blazers.

As everyone else says, as long as your suspension is in good shape, cranking the bars will do fine. Although your alignment will be off badly, and without aftermarket upper control arms it wont be back to factory.

Also with my t bars cranked I actually don't notice any major difference in my ride. In some ways I think it actually rides better.

 

so getting an alignment won't work? I'll have to get aftermarket upper control arms or my tires will be out of alignment