Ok guys. I've been looking into do some cheap lifting on the Ranger just to get 1 to 2 more inches to help up with my destroying of molded mudflaps. Haha...

Anyway, the rear there are plenty of options in which I discuss a lot in a couple other threads (I think 1 on here and 1 over on TRS). I think I've decided on using Exploder leafs for the rear. Should give me a good lift with a little more beef in the rear.

Anyway, the front. I could probably get away with just cranking the t-bars as I've never touched them. However, I've been looking around and happened upon these.

Torsion Bar Keys...

Now in my limited knowledge, I had never heard of these before. Seems to be a great little idea, just not sure how it works. So my questions to you guys is, (a) do these things work, (b) anyone ever use torsion bar keys before, and (c) are they going to hurt anything if do get them?

The way I see it its only 40 bucks to try them out. So let me know... thanks.

-Sx3

 

actually i want to also lol let me know lol ! but to answer your question i have heard of them too and i thought ppl said they were bad for the front end but many say no..i think it just allows u to crank them more wit the diff geometry of the key

 

Those have the same effect as cranking your torsion bars. Instead of tightening the adjustment bolt to change the position of the torsion key, you have a new key that has the arm in a different place versus the stock key. You'll get the same results from cranking your torsion bars, so crank them and you forget about those keys.

 

new keys just allow you to put too much preload on the torsion bars which will cause excessive wear on front end parts among other things, you can get all the lift you need from just cranking the torsion bars

 

If they are bad....why do silverado, sierra, yukon, tahoe, escalade, etc, the 2" lifts for these trucks made by major name manufacturers use torsion keys. Who knows.....blah. I would like to give them a try.

 

From what I've seen, the bottom of the Escalade/Avalanche you can never get the lift we get just by tightening the T-bars. They're pre-loaded WAY far down so Torsion keys won't put as much strain as they would on our trucks. The angle of all the components wouldn't be so severe on those.

 

I know this is an old thread! but would adding keys vs crackin the T bars avoid the weird tire angle you get when you crank them lots and the rougher ride?

 

No. It would still cause the camber to be off. The keys are bad for your ball joints anyway. Save money for a real lift.