Alignment on Lifted Truck

[jdpber]

I'm 90% talking with mech buddy that its the box giving you the issues.

 

[Screwd up 6]

Thanks. Again I appreciate all the info yall have given. Ill look into it

 

[jdpber]

The solution is 10" suspension, solid axle swap, and a 572 crate motor will fix all your issues

 

[Screwd up 6]

Haha trust me I'd Love to have all that.

 

[Screwd up 6]

Read a lot about toe online and tried something...which worked.

"When driving torque is applied to the wheels, they pull themselves forward and try to create toe-in. This is another reason why many front-drivers are set up with toe-out in the front. Likewise, when pushed down the road, a non-driven wheel will tend to toe itself out. This is most noticeable in rear-drive cars."

With this being said, I adjusted the toe on the drivers side to be almost 0" (used measuring tape method. NOT the best, but better works). Being that toe was previously out, as I drove, the natural force would cause them to want to toe out more. With the toe set as close to 0 as possible if not a hair in, the truck hands like normal again. Flinching the wheel does not erratically thro the truck into a hard turn.

Where I got my info

http://www.ozebiz.com.au/racetech/theory/align.html

 

[imi4tth3w]

Read a lot about toe online and tried something...which worked.

"When driving torque is applied to the wheels, they pull themselves forward and try to create toe-in. This is another reason why many front-drivers are set up with toe-out in the front. Likewise, when pushed down the road, a non-driven wheel will tend to toe itself out. This is most noticeable in rear-drive cars."

With this being said, I adjusted the toe on the drivers side to be almost 0" (used measuring tape method. NOT the best, but better works). Being that toe was previously out, as I drove, the natural force would cause them to want to toe out more. With the toe set as close to 0 as possible if not a hair in, the truck hands like normal again. Flinching the wheel does not erratically thro the truck into a hard turn.

Where I got my info

http://www.ozebiz.com.au/racetech/theory/align.html

i've thrown so many parts at my steering its almost stupid. pretty much diagnosed it down to very ****** alignment. take it somewhere that knows what they are doing (off road shop) and have them align it. let them know you've been having problems and want them to check everything out.

i just got the last parts i need, but my steering is VERY similar to yours, but probably 10x worse. sucks when i've got about $1000+ in front end parts and that all with me doing the labor and it still doesn't steer right.

replaced parts list includes moog pitman arm, idler arm, idler assembly, inner/outer tie rods, upper control arms with offset bushings, lower ball joints, timken hubs, reman steering gear and power steering pump, power steering filter, new sway bar links/bushings from RCD, and royal purple power steering fluid

just ordered were the upper control arm alignment cams that are just drilled out instead of one big adjustable cam to keep it from going out of alignment, new pins for the cams (mine are falling out) and the last possible thing i can think of is my drivers side torsion bar is sagging badly and causing uneven suspension cycle in the front. hopefully grab some newer ones with less miles out of a newer tahoe at the junk yard.

i know not all of this is the one thing causing my problems, but hopefully i can weed everything out. also midas can't align a truck worth a damn. will be taking mine to planet pickup and hopefully they can get it right.

the joys of lifting an old truck and wanting it to work like new.

 

[Screwd up 6]

How can u tell when a torsion bar is sagging? Is it visible to the naked eye?

 

[Wake]

...the last possible thing i can think of is my drivers side torsion bar is sagging badly and causing uneven suspension cycle in the front. hopefully grab some newer ones with less miles out of a newer tahoe at the junk yard.

Do those actually go bad?

I was thinking about that today driving the Escalade. She's all stock but has new shocks and rides horribly on bad roads, almost feels like I have no spring.

I'm going to be doing a front end level this fall when it cools off outside, all new suspension and steering parts and a proper set of leveling keys to make sure I don't over-stress the torsion bars. Still has me wondering if those bars get weak over time. I'm an 05 with 90K miles, I wouldn't think they were going bad.

 

[Jeff d]

... the last possible thing i can think of is my drivers side torsion bar is sagging badly and causing uneven suspension cycle in the front. hopefully grab some newer ones with less miles out of a newer tahoe at the junk yard.

My own vehicle and my research suggests that the driver's side torsion bars on a large number of NBS tahoes and yukons sag quite a bit lower vs. the passenger. Stock at 74,000 miles mine was 1/2" lower despite the adjuster bolt being cranked in an additional 1/2". Once I put my keys in it took every bit of adjuster bolt to get it up 3" over stock. On the passenger side I only cranked 2.5" but could easily get up to 3.5"+ with the amount of adjuster bolt remaining.

I've seen this mentioned on quite a few forum posts. The driver's side is always lower by 1/2-3/4" with less adjuster bolt showing. Based on my mileage and the fact that it was babied the entire time and never offroad I wouldn't be surprised if GM had a bad run of bars that either fatigued easily or the hex at one end or the other was indexed off by a couple of degrees.

That said I've noticed no odd handling due to this issue.

 

[Screwd up 6]

I did notice my drivers side sitting lower even tho the torsion key bolts were the same.

I also noticed my lower control arm bump stop (which is actually not a bump stop but a progressive stopper) was completely gone. I replaced this just last week. I wonder if with those being gone, the suspension took more of a beating since the bars were all I had. I say this because the lower stopper is suppose to be slightly touching the lower control arm. When you hit a bump, and the control compresses ( upward motion) the stopper adds pressure. This is suppose to simulate similar results of a progressive coils spring. With my stopper being completely rotted...all the force was applied directly to the torsion bars.

Opinions??

---------- Post added at 09:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 AM ----------

Do those actually go bad?

I was thinking about that today driving the Escalade. She's all stock but has new shocks and rides horribly on bad roads, almost feels like I have no spring.

I'm going to be doing a front end level this fall when it cools off outside, all new suspension and steering parts and a proper set of leveling keys to make sure I don't over-stress the torsion bars. Still has me wondering if those bars get weak over time. I'm an 05 with 90K miles, I wouldn't think they were going bad.

From what I gathered when I was researching torsion key level kits…Whether you buy aftermarket reindexed keys, ford keys, or crank your stock ones...all will apply more pressure to the torsion bars thus adding the stress. The reindexed keys will only allow you to crank more than the stock keys…and this will actually allow you to apply more tension on the bars. I have a 2wd so I went with 3” lift spindles to avoid any of these problems.