I installed a 1.5 inch add a leaf in the rear of my K1500 1990 and was planning on cranking the t bars to level it out. I lifted the front end with a jack and started cranking, about 2 whole turns, and had no lift(leveling). Should I get some after market t bars, will it help any?

well first off, i dont think you ned to worry about jacking it up to do it. i certainly didn't. and it'll take more that two measely little turns to get any lift out of them. assuming you have stock settingo nthem right now. you can safely go 1"...maybe 1.5". mine are tweaked 1.25incheson both sides. all you do is get under there with your 18MM socket and crank it a few times...then measure from the ground to the fender lip. that will give you an accutrate reading of how much height you gained. OHH make sure you get a emasurement before starting so you can compare. New T-bars MAY make it easier to crank the truck to get heaight out of them (actually i know it is) but then you might want to crank it a bit more...and that will seriously !ss off the gremlins that live i nthe IFS

---Peacock posted this
<font color=red>'96, richmond 3.73, detroit rear, cold air, dual flowmasters, new drive-train,</font color=red>

Seeing that I am new to all this stuff, I find myself sitting here asking, "what are tbars?". Can anyone shed some light on my ignorant world please? Grazi.

Tbar=Torsion Bars. Right now I can't think of a good layman's explanation other than it's another style of spring (extremely simplified explanation)...

'78 Chevy Blazer, not so beaten anymore[img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/cool.gif[/img].
'61 Willys Utility Wagon, on the comeback trail[img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/shocked.gif[/img].

"Torsion Bars" They are the bars that run from under the cab to each lower control arm. They are the "springs" of the front suspension. Except instead of compression they are twisting, or tortional.

Jason
Big Willy Style
http://www.industrialoffroad.com


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it's the round bars (like big rebar) runnin just below the cab to your lower a-arms, parallel to the frame. "racing" springs, basicly.

yeah man, i had to turn it quite a few times to get 1.25" of lift. measuring helps.


Marriage is like a skin graft, it may or may not take.

<font face="Comic Sans MS">Rather than use a coil spring or leaf spring to suspend the vehicle's weight, these four wheel drive Independant Front Suspension trucks use bars upon which a torsional load is placed and is held by a hexagonal end which sides into a hexagonal detail on the lower A-Arm (lower control arm) and the other end is splined and fits into an adjuster.

Basically instead of compressing a spring to suspend the vehicle it uses twisting of the bar. Needless to say these things are under a *ridiculous* amount of tension. So don't remove or try to remove the bars using a C clamp or any such thing (not that anybody mentioned doing it, just don't). They make a high strength clamp to use instead. May have to buy one but it's better than gettin' hurt or risking it. Talk to Troy on the S truck forum if you'd like to know about what the torsion bars can do when using the wrong tools to remove or replace. (He saw some clamps break/slip and a piece go into a guy's leg or some thing like that...)

Make sure when or if you crank up your torsion bars you do not allow the angle the cv makes with the horizontal plane to exceed or approach 25º. Is bad for the joints.
</font>

Tim "Sandman"


The one and only 'Sandturnip'

NEO, hes right on. it stands for Torsion Bar. as the name suggests its a bar that is under a torsional load. The way it works is that as the wheel travels up...the bar is twisted more. it doesnt like being twisted so it pushes back. just like leave springs don't like being flatened and coils dont like being compresed.
you've obviously turned a bolt with a wrench before so thatsa good example. now imagine that the wrench represents the IFS components(A-arms and waht not), youtr hand will be wheel, and your bolt is the torsion bar. as your hand applies pressure to the wrench it createsa torque/moment(defined as a force multiplied by a distance...thats why long wrenches give better torque) that twists the bolt and turns it. well in the torsion bar it cant twist since its secured to the cross-member of teh frame. so it has to do soemthign with that force...it simply twists. now as you'l see when you go check yours out sometime....its a bigazz piece of metal. takes quite a bit to make it flex...thats the primary reason our trucks dont flex very well. its also the reason they make a special tool to remove the torsion bars. they are under a not of pre-load to hold the weight of the truck up. i think that was an ok explaination. if not just let em know and I'll try to do better



EDITED: dang, looks like lots of folks beat me to this one. oh well. with all that info you should be able to figure it out eh? I PMed you back too BTW

---Peacock posted this
<font color=red>'96, richmond 3.73, detroit rear, cold air, dual flowmasters, new drive-train,</font color=red>

Thanks everyone! I'll try to crawl under my truck this weekend and take a look see. I've seen everything there is to see under there just don't know what it all is or does.

4x4mike, "2 whole turns" wont do much[img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] 6 - 10 is more like it.
But like the others said, Measure first!!! and stay around 1-1.5" increase (These are an adjustment, NOT a LIFTKIT).

BUT didnt your truck already sit higher in the rear, before you put on the 1.5 inch add-a-leaf?
Every truck I have ever seen started out about 1.5" taller in the rear.
The reason I ask is it being a 1990 I assume your not the original owner, and if it was sitting level when you bought it,
then someone has already turned up the t-bars, meaning you should NOT do it any more.

Scooby Dooby Doo !!!