Frustrated with 2005 Tahoe suspension!

[TheAutumnWind]

Oh my god are you serious? This is the stupid shit thst pisses me off on Forms. Do you have no idea what you’re talking about obviously so why posted and give somebody else miss lead information and then he passes it on to somebody else and somebody else does that to, next thing you know a whole bunch of mothe$&+) posting about lowering keys not doing any different then de cranking the stock ones and don’t really have a clue or know what’s going on. Yes they do make a difference Just like lift keys do. Set them on top of each other and you see the difference where the end of the key is compared to the hex hole the bar sits in. If you back the bolt out far on the stock one you can get a few inches drop. But the ride is going to be dogshot and way to soft. The stock key can actually fall out.. trust me mine popped out as I was sitting at sonic for lunch. It was so soft that each bump I hit the truck bottomed out and when doing so it took the tension completely off the key and that let the torsion bar eventually rattled backwards until it fell out.the lowering keys will give you the drop your want while maintaining the stock spring tension. If you do lower it, depending how low you go I would take the air chisel and remove the bump stops So it’s not bottoming out all the time.the Little red hex ones they sell work well.

You sure seem to know it all buddy.

Aftermarket keys allow you to go further out of spec than factory keys. Thats it. If you are raising or lowering a reasonable amount like an inch or 2 then stock keys can accomplish that, unless you have worn out tbars, or more weight in the front than stock. (i.e. heavy bumper/winch)

If you want to go further than that with keys only ride *will suffer* relative to stock. There is no getting around it. Now, you may be of the opinion that the ride is still "good enough," but that is just an opinion.

The "bump stops" in the front are integral to the ride. We have beaten this subject to death on these forums over the years.

Torsion bars are linear spring rate only.

The *jounce stops* give the front suspension a progressive rate feel. You cannot simply remove the front bump stops and expect a better ride. The torsion bar spring rate is NOT adjustable. The reason why the ride feels different is due to the control arm relationship with the Jounce stops, and the angles of the arms, and the amount of available droop and uptravel.

Lowering with keys reduces available suspension uptravel relative to the resting position. You can run smaller jounce stops which allows the arms to move up slightly more to gain some of this back... this can make the ride a bit more "stiff." Lifting with keys reduces available droop relative to resting position. There is no getting around that without changing your arms, or spindles.

 

[wjburken]

is that right? how do you figure? i had them on my 02 cadillac escalade along with lower control arms. sitting way low and i had them on my tahoe just the keys and it was completely fine, i couldn’t even tell a difference.im going to go out on a limb here and say there’s a few of you on here that are not very bright and don’t understand geometry.probaly were told you needed to buy the lower control arms to do it the “right way” or “ride quality will suffer” well that would be falsel incorrect. now if your trying to get real low, more then 3 inches yes you will need the control arms, but guess what guysAsk whoever told you to get those control arms or go back to the shop and tell them you want to go inches I want to know what the options are. guess what they’re going to say: lowering keys! You betcha! So if you have dropped control arms and only sitting a few inches lower then stock ,well good job buddy lol

Just so I understand, you felt it necessary to comment on a 3 month old post made by @TheAutumnWind that was part of a conversation that actually solved the OP's issues? And the thing that set you off was that decranking the stock keys was bad advice? Let me get this straight. Decranking the stock key rotates the resting state of the torsion bar such that it allows the vehicle to drop. Drop keys also rotate the resting state of the torsion bar allowing the vehicle to drop. The only difference is, a drop key allows the jack bolt to be closer to the mid point of its thread length because they have rotated the hex in the drop key from stock orientation. Past that, rotating the torsion bar is rotating the torsion bar whether you back a bolt off or rotate the hex that it engages. If that is not the case, please explain it to me as evidently you may know more about geometry than I do even with a degree in engineering and over 20 years of experience in designing off road equipment and high speed automated production equipment.

Do I have a preference between decranking stock keys or using dropped keys or going the path of spindles? Absolutely not. I am not a guy that likes to make major changes to the ride height of my vehicle. I do, however, have a pretty good understanding of how the stuff all works together and when modified keys may be the best answer and when spindles and different lower control arms are necessary. If you want to have a civil debate over the merits of the various options, that is fine, and that is what this forum is about. If you want to come in here and start calling folks names and discounting the knowledge that the folks by saying things like, "That sure as **** seem like that’s the way it goes when you ask something technical like that on here. If it’s not something joe blow can buy at Autozone or O’Reilly’s auto parts and swap out at home then nobody knows what to do LOL." then I would kindly request that you find somewhere else. If you were to actually read some of the stuff that folks on here have shared and problems they have solved and some of the cool things they have done with their vehicles, I think you might realize that the folks here do know how to do more with these vehicles than just go to Autozone and buy parts.

 

[rgosart]

here ya go

View attachment 238591

You clearly don't fully understand how torsion suspension works. I also do not have a single clue why anyone would spend $100 on a set of keys. Just because they cost more does not mean that they make the truck ride better. They all work the same way, they change the index of the hex so that you can either go higher or lower than stock keys. Those "bump stops" in the front are not just stops. They make a big difference as others have said.

I will admit I did not understand it either, but thanks to people on this forum I understand now. Like @wjburken said, there are plenty of people who have come up with interesting solutions to their problems and shared them to help others. This is not a group of "parts changers".

 

[Rocket Man]

Oh my god are you serious? This is the stupid shit thst pisses me off on Forms. Do you have no idea what you’re talking about obviously so why posted and give somebody else miss lead information and then he passes it on to somebody else and somebody else does that to, next thing you know a whole bunch of mothe$&+) posting about lowering keys not doing any different then de cranking the stock ones and don’t really have a clue or know what’s going on. Yes they do make a difference Just like lift keys do. Set them on top of each other and you see the difference where the end of the key is compared to the hex hole the bar sits in. If you back the bolt out far on the stock one you can get a few inches drop. But the ride is going to be dogshot and way to soft. The stock key can actually fall out.. trust me mine popped out as I was sitting at sonic for lunch. It was so soft that each bump I hit the truck bottomed out and when doing so it took the tension completely off the key and that let the torsion bar eventually rattled backwards until it fell out.the lowering keys will give you the drop your want while maintaining the stock spring tension. If you do lower it, depending how low you go I would take the air chisel and remove the bump stops So it’s not bottoming out all the time.the Little red hex ones they sell work well.

I would say that anybody that decranked their stock keys so far that one fell out while parked probably shouldn’t be giving advice on a torsion bar system. Period.

 

[Rocket Man]

I especially loved how @Ryan Buck stated there’s a bunch of us on here who are “not very bright and don’t understand geometry” and then goes on to prove he is indeed the one who doesn’t understand.

 

[Sam Harris]

I would say that anybody that decranked their stock keys so far that one fell out while parked probably shouldn’t be giving advice on a torsion bar system. Period.

Mic drop

 

[iamdub]

I especially loved how @Ryan Buck stated there’s a bunch of us on here who are “not very bright...".

Never mind the apparent maximum of 2nd grade education: "then" instead of "than", "your" instead of "you're", random words tossed in and combined with other words, starting off a sentence asking a question then abruptly making it a statement, making up words, etc.

 

[Ryan Buck]

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[Ryan Buck]

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[iamdub]

Get the f*** out of here with your grammar bulshit you. do you know how big of a douchebag people that correct others about stupid s*** like that look? It's so f****** lame it's not even funny man! And just so your dumb ass knows I didn't type a single word out on any of that genius. So if you're that upset about it take it up with Google cuz I used to push to talk.

Oooh, 40-watt's mad.