I have a 2wd 01 edge its stock as of now. I want to put some 33s on my truck and want to heighten the ride hight.

Heres my problem----------

I dont want to spend too much money due to the fact that its going to be a mall crawler since its 2wd its all gonna be for the look of it and to clear the 33s.

Everyone I ask seems to have a quick simple answer buy a body lift its cheap and youll fit your 33s you soooo desire. Im not a fan of body lifts due to the fact of all the gaps it causes between your bumpers,frame,wheel wells so on and my buddy and I did a body lift on his dakota a few years back and his ride was sketchy.

My plan so I wouldnt spend hundreds on a suspension lift since I dont need the travel and functionality of it was to get a spindle lift when I came across a tortion key. I thought I have no idea what a tortion bar or tortion key does or how it works but this key will lift my ranger 3'' and the block, shackle, or add a leaf will lift it 2'' in the rear then ill fit my tires not spending a boatload of money and then get another inch or two when I add the 33s.

NOTE this whole time I had the idea in the back of my mind after learning what the bars do I could just tighten the tortion bars abit get probably two inches of lift level the truck out and get another inch or so with the 33s. But I told myself no I want alittle more then two inches and Im not just looking to level the truck I want atleast another two inches in the rear due to the fact Im doing this becasue I miss my cherokee that had a 6 1/2'' lift with on 33s so I was I was figuring Id spend alittle money and get atleast 3 inches.

Dont make fun of the noob but my idea when apparently I was still in the dark about how this whole tortion set up works. I was going to order a kit that included 3'' tortion keys for the front add a leafs for the rear and 4 new shocks.Then I was going to add a 1'' shackle in the rear and tighten the tortion bars alittle for a inch so when I was done Id have 4 inches of lift in the front and 3 inches in the rear.

PROBLEM........... I start reading about tortion bars tortion keys and so on and feel now that I shouldnt do that any of that not even if I didnt add the 1 inch shackle in the rear and tighten the tortion bar alittle after the tortion key. I dont understand everything and still havent gottten a clear picture. Im seeing that you shouldnt install a tortion key on your vehicle even if I wanted to put it on and just leave it as is with the 3 inches (question: does the tortion key lift the truck 3 inches or allow you to lift it 3 inches and why would a company make something that wouldnt work for your car normally they dont sell you something that is going to wear things out they would recommend doing other things to fix the issues) Im also reading that add a leafs arent great they stiffen your ride you should go with blocks or shackles. according to my buddy with the dakota you tighten your tortion bars you stiffen your ride but get some lift for free he then said if you buy the tortion key you get your lift but keep your ride quality.

so with everything said can I buy a tortion key lift set up with the key in front to get a 3'' lift in the front and get a 2'' shackle or block in the rear put my 33s on and new shocks and be done or am I gonna have nothing but problems like everyones saying.

I just want something alittle more unique and beafy without breaking my bank


If you read all of that thank you for your time it is really appreciated!

 

i cant believe i just read that whole thing.

your friend is wrong, dont get torsion keys. and im sure others will pipe in and they will all ssay the same thing/

 

as much as you cant beleive you read it I can beleive I typed that. so they arent ok to put on if I dont tighten my tortion bars ontop of adding the tortion keys. what can I do?

 

nah just tighten the bars up. and you know you can clear 33x10.5s with just a t-bar crank. iirc the fabtech kit for us torsion bar 2 wheel drives was about $700.

 

thats way more then I wanna spend and I want to get 33-12.50 so they stick out some I feel like if you go narrower then 12.5 on a 33 its too skinny for the height. if I cranked the tortion bars wouldnt that put as much straign on the front as the tortion key would. And then I was reading if you crank the bars you have to buy after market ones to do so or something.

 

do a spindle lift in the front along with a t-bar crank and a larger block in the rear and a 2" Belltech shackle..

 

fitting 33x12.5s is gonna cost you at minimum a few hundred dollars. the cheapest way to do it is the 3" body lift and i agree with you about BL's not being good but if your not gonna wheel and your tight on money it could be a good route because you can hide all of the gaps fairly easy and make it look nice.
T-Bar crank will get you 285/70 at the most. Thats what i have and there big tires but i think there a 33x11.5 or a little smaller than that.
Don't get torsion keys either - there worthless

 

The spindles alone are only $450 bucks if you are mechanically inclined and are bored you can put them on yourself. Thats 3 inches, t-bar crank is another 2.


and no keys. keys are bad. very bad. bad bad bad.

 

Why are Bodylifts not good?

The gap isnt that bad if you just raise the bumper up (like your supposed to), and the only gap you can see is the on ebetween the rear body and frame - which is EASILY covered over by using gap guards, or making your own out of some Home Depot style rubber stair tread.

Ride quality isnt influenced in teh least by a bodylift - the COG is barely touched, the only difference in ride quality will be the heavier wheel/tires causing unsprung weight - which is the big ride quality issue.


IMHO - You need a bodylift if you want to do it cheap - its either a bodylift, or some blocks on the rear and spindle in front - and that will cost the same either way.

 

Mike post some new pictures of your truck so you can prove yourself LOL

 

i say t-bar crank and maybe some 3 inch rise fiberglass fenders, that way you can get the lifted "look" for maybe 300$, and be able to clear 33's without a problem, and you would still have room for a little bit of travel, But what do i know im only running some 29's on stock steel. :( no job= no money to buy 33's

 

Why not get a smaller tire? lol

 

if its gonna be a mall crawler why not just keep to 32's?

FIRST a dakota isnt a ranger. I have done over 12+ body lifts on rangers no issues with some tips and tricks that we have listed on this forum you can get rid of the minimum gap problems with rangers. the bumpers go UP and look stock with our kits. no issues there. when you go up go out with 33x12.5 on some atleast 15x8 wheels ride and cornering quality with the Ranger will NOT be effected my truck is NOT sketchy driving at all.


-ok you just said you wouldnt want to spend alot of money on suspension lift. so that leaves you with keeping it STOCK or body lifting.

-unless its a Long Travel suspension kit spindles will not give you more travel anyways its still stock geometry of the suspension.

-Torsion keys are fine IF you keep the bars at stock cranked height its when people crank keys that is the problem you are actually binding the suspension and pushing it past what it will never want to do. ball joints will be wasted quickly. I recommend just cranking your stock keys which is the 100% of putting in lift keys at stock crank and there COST saving. you have the adjustability of stock use it.

-You already have a block in the rear now as it is.



-You can run 33x12.50x15 on MAXED T-bars with some stock wheels or 15x8 with no more then 3.75back spacing. You WILL need to do alot of cutting on any fender flares and or the front valance some. you WILL rub in some situations front/rear. but it is doable guys used to do it alot back in the day.

-You cant not properly do lifting with out shelling out the greens dont cheap out do it right the first time. if you cant afford it now START SAVING... and do it right.


you can not get 4" of lift from the front of a torsion truck with out dropping something with out ALOT of binding to the front suspension it just doesnt work you will have NO up travel AT ALL.

see when you crank the T-bars what happens say stock this is an example, you have 3" up travel and 3" down travel. when you crank up you slowly shift that to like 2" up travel and 4" down travel you restrict what it can move up. if you put keys and crank you will make it so there is hardly and up travel and your ride quality will be crap and to quote YOU sketchy....


you really need to stop listening to this Dakota friend lol. maxed bars you will have some up travel my truck is very very close to being maxed and still rides well plus with larger tires my Body Lift allowed that helps dampen my ride.





you already have a block in the rear and you can buy a Belltech 6400 Shackle and that will yield 1.75 of lift total. but remember that shackle is $50ish then USUALLY the bolt holding the shackle to the hanger and/or the bolt to the leaf will be rusted to the sleeve in the bushing and you *might* have the cost of replacing the bushing/sleeve and bolt/nut if needed allow when doing it that, that cost might arise. you have to allow for the "oh crap" parts..

 

Im actually quite a bit overdue for some pictures eh?

I think I'll get out tomorrow and snap a few.. take it up into the woods for a spin!