Drifting after T-Bar crank.
 

Anyone have any problems with their truck drifting at highway speeds after you cranked your t-bars? Just seems like I don't have as much steering control much above 60 mph. I went over a grated bridge deck the other day and just about shat my pants it scared me so bad.

I put on 31's and had it aligned right afterwards, so alignment shouldn't be an issue.

Ever watch a NASCAR race where after a car looses a front body panel such as a front air dam , and just as he gets up to speed the car thinks it has become an airplane and takes off for the wild blue yonder ?
Well by lifting the front of your truck you have now increased the amount of air flowing underneath.
Now think back to the Mythbusters episode re: mileage in a pickup.Recall there is a bubble of air which forms in the bed at highway speeds which channels air over and around the bed.
Now crawl under your truck and look at all those hollow areas under there.Imagine all those bubbles forming and with higher speed , more air is crammed between those bubbles and the road.The air pressure is trying to lift the truck.
An opposite effect happens in the winter at highway overpasses.I have noticed that when the roads have been plowed on the interstateand mainly just wet , there tends to be a slick spot when you come out from under the overpass. My theory is that tractor trailers going under create a pressure wave of air that builds up between the bridge girders.This pushes the truck down against the roadway on the exit side of the overpass which compresses the snow to ice.Just like when you run over the snow in your driveway before you shovel it.Wherever the tires have been is quite solid to the ground.

John.....I am very comfortable driving at 70+ with my no bumper/torsion bar cranked, never aligned truck. I honestly don't thing that little bit of lift would make the front end light.

Yeah, I have no bumper and a RCD lift and have no problem at 70 mph. It sounds like to me that you may have cranked one side higher then the other?

when i put my 31's on and had my tbars cranked...i experienced the same thing. Driving on the freeway it felt like i didnt have the same control as before. Give it some time and you will get used to it and it will feel like it did stock i guess...lol

you drove over a grated (steel) bridge deck in washington. it was most likely a little icy and your truck just lost a little traction.

havent heard this one before.. how is your front end parts: ball joints, tie rods, wheel bearings?

It might just be the tires. I didn't see any change in control after cranking the T-bar with 31" tires. I do have to adjust my driving style when I put on my 32" Procomp MT tires. They seem have more flex in the sidewalls and are not as responsive as my 31" tires.

Now Ken most of the time I respect your inputs. But this one just is not correct. Lifting the front of a ranger 2" will not change the high pressure area under the truck much at all. Neither does it change the static axle weight distribution.

What cranking the T-Bars does do, is to change the camber. Most likely this is what is being felt here.

As you get the camber (and caster) more towards true verticle the drivers input & physical steering linkage components get to a near zero preload. That means it'll want to "hunt" or "wonder" with increased road speed.

Regards, Rich

I did around 80 a few weeks ago and didn't have any problem at all.

I had new lower ball joints put in at the same time I got the tires. I just dropped the t-bars about an inch and it seems like that did it, drives solid now.

Strange. I cranked mine and had no problems at all.

I get up to 90 on a regular basis and never have a problem (well besides shaking)

Makes me wonder if there isn't something else wrong here. Suspension maybe?

Whenever you adjust the front or back height it changes the weight bias. Lifting the front up transfers more weight to the rear and vehicles often lift the front further at higher speeds.

Also, alignment changes after a t-bar crank.

All probably already mentioned. I'm answering without reading the entire posting.

IMO it sounds like an alignment and bad upper balljoint problem. You're still running the front sway bar, correct?

LOL OK whatever....

2" if that is what he even got isnt enough to change that.

heck my 12" of lift didnt change it that much.

Balljoints or bad alignment would be my guess. Just because they "aligned" it does not mean it was done right.

Tons of places are just "set toe and go" places. Go back tell them to check, caster and camber and toe

Agreed. Most places pay no attention to camber and caster but you'd think they would especially on a modified vehicle.

hehe, we have 2 bridges like that right where I live.. Bridge of the Gods, right about 10 minutes from my house.. goes between Stevenson and Cascade Locks... the other is in Hood River, and seperates Hood River and White Salmon. No problems with my own truck, havent tweaked the torsion bar yet.. going to wait till I have teh extra cash to do that and go get an alignment done over at the les schwab in hood river.

Those bridges are a pain.. and I truly feel sorry for any big truck with dually tires in the back.. them bridges are NARROW! Well, the hood rive rone is.. bridge of the gods really isnt too bad, I cross them every other day usually/

I took it back the next day and watched them check the alignment. Everything was in the green. Maybe I just cranked them too high the first time. It's all good now, so I'm just gonna leave it unless there are any further problems.

I'd just leave it. You have plenty of room to clear 31's stock. I only cranked mine 1 1/4in and its been like that for atlest 2-3 years. I never got an alignment and still dont need one.

I had a 2wd Edge and I cranked my T-Bars about 2" and immediately afterwards had an alignment, everything was well within spec but I noticed it was a little lighter in the front end at highway speeds and it too tended to want to drift a bit but nothing scary or uncontrollable. I did notice the ride got allot rougher tho.

Maybe a few weeks later I put some 31" BFG AT's and put another 30K miles on the truck with no issues but it still felt light in the front. Now with a 4x4 1" at most if any at all, those cv's don't like being misaligned.