Torsion Bar Crank Tutorial
 

Moved to the Tech Article (DIY) section:
How-To: T-bar Crank

Merged Discussion from this thread into:
How-To: T-bar Crank - DISCUSSION

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The link to the Article was in fact dead, but the lower one worked. It is now fixed.

when you crank the tortion bar how much wear dose it put on the u joints and how is the ride

I doubt you will ever find a number associated with how much more wear occurs after a t-bar lift. There are just too many contributing factors to actually quantify it.

As far as how it will ride, it will definitely be more truck like.

i talked to a master tech about this and he said as long as a front end alignment is done after the t-bar crank you should not have any problems. i imagine wear is still gonna increase.

It will most definitely be harder on your ball joints and CV shafts.

a front end alignment would help out a little though right?

It would help keep your tires from wearing out faster, yes. It will not correct for the angle change though and the angle change is what will accelerate the wear on the ball joints and CV shafts.

alright.

Thanks for the information! I'm picking mine up tomorrow and I want to get underneath it and see if that's how it's lifted. It's on 31's right now, and I can't tell if it's some sort of ghetto suspension lift, body lift, or maybe if it's just a t-bar crank job. We'll see. :p

i was thinking about doing this to my blazer... now would it be even better to just get the t bar keys?

ok, i know that when you get a alignment done, the factory alignment specs are already stored in the machine. now i cranked my t-bars to give my front 1.25 inches of lift and added 3 inch rear shackles to level out my truck and give it a little height. i know that factory alignment specs go off of factory ride height, so after my truck is lifted, wont my tires still wear unevenly because my lifted truck is aligned to factory specs? or are the alignment machines "smart" and adjust my truck so that the tires wont wear even with the added height?

To do an alignment you attach a sensor to each wheel. when doing this, the back sensors send a laser to the front sensors and the front to each other. This reads what the angles are assuming that it is on level ground. So when adjusted it will put caster and camber into factory specs. I used to work in a shop that did a lot of alignments although I do not know how to do one on a vehicle with T-bars.

From my experiences the alignment doesn't go off of the ride height, it jsut goes off of how the tires are sitting.

is this the way to go on a blazer? i want to crank the bars to 1.5 or 2 in. then get rear 2 in. shackles for my blazer and throw on some 31's.. is this a good idea?

A lot of people get worked up about the wear on the ball joint and cv shafts, but Rough Country makes a kit that'll help prevent it. It includes a new upper control arm with a "set of front differential brackets to maintain optimum CV angles after lifting". That's quoted right off their site. If anyone's interested, here's their site:

Chevy / GMC Suspension Lift

I just got my 97 blazer off of the alignment rack. Found out that ride height will not affect the alignment machine, but will make it harder to set caster and camber. Longer control arms are needed if u crank up the t-bars. As for the ball joint issue, there is a company called Howe. They make ball joints for stock cars. That will go as far as 7 degrees of camber. And alot stronger then stock.

Is this a constant problem of wear? How often is the routine maintenance of the lift?

i have mine lifted with rough country 2.5 inch lift. i replaced the pitman arm,idler arm,lower ball joints,inner and outer tie rods with moog components so if they wear its under warrenty and the the uppercontrol arms from rough country has the pressed in style moogs as well. both axles have been replaced. u wont have much wear on the front if u keep ur balljoints and suspension conponents constsantly greased with good grease. i also use a needle grease fitting and punp my cv shafts full of fresh grease every now and then to keep up with the extra strain of offroading and cv angle and everyday abuse.

Not sure of the 2nd generations but the 1st generations front axle/chunk can be lowered a little. If I remember correctly about 1 inch to help with angles on drive line (We used square tubing on the driver side and had to cut and re-weld the right side anchor points lower). We had to lower it a bit to do the V-8 swap on my 85. I then was able to crank the t-bars and get it back to the stock angles and achieve lift at the same time. Basically the same thing that lift companys do to lower the chuck but they do it with fancy brackets.

Superlift ballpoint relocation
 

Hi I'm new on here. I have a '99 blazer zr2. I turned the torsion bars up. Now people say only go 1-1.5 inches because bj and cv angles...what if I buy the 1.5" superlift upper control arms from summit...? They are designed to take the angles out of the ball joints. Is doing that a good idea since I've cranked up torsion bars??? Also doing the rest of front end for alignment with new cv shafts

The new upper control arms would help for the ball joints, although I personally don't have any experience with them. That won't help at all with CV axle angles though. You might be better off going with something like the Rough Country 2.5" lift which includes new upper control arms as well as a drop bracket for the front diff to address the CV axle angles.

Diff drop
 

Now I want to stick with the upper control arms from summit because ball joints bolt in. Should I just order the diff drop separate from the kit so the cv angles are better

Cant get the kit separately

Diff drop
 

Just called rough country and the diff drop kit is $55 with $6 shipping. So the trucks getting rough country diff drop, napa premium half shafts, superlift upper control arms, moog heavy duty upper ballpoints as long with lowers, and urethane lower control arm bushings...any thing I missed? All steering related components are great. Do I get a sway bar drop kit?

Should I order the add a leaf kit separate and then get some lift shackles?

Hmmm this is new

He sounded kind of hesitant to tell me over the phone.

Anyone know the max ride height (distance from center of wheel to fender lip) when doing a torsion bar crank with the RC kit?