I don't see the harm in the torsion bars I guess cause every thing I do can be reversed. Well the second The snow is gone ill crawl under for a body lift do I have to buy a special kit ? Or can't other stuff work?

 

For the torsion bars to crank them up I just tighten the rather long bolt? 15/16th I think is the size of it

 

on 31s, most people only do suspension or body lift. Doing both would allow you to run 33s or even 35s with some fender cutting.

for a body lift, Performance accessories sells a 2" lift kit or just go buy whatever height blocks you want and new bolts. For the 2" body lift, you can just cut the fan shroud at the bottom and weld in a 2" spacer for the shifter linkage if you have an auto trans. If you have a manual trans, you won't have to worry about extending the shifter.

3" body lift needs an electric fan since the stock fan would hit your trans cooler lines and you would need a 3" extension for the shifter linkage. manual trans shifter should still be ok, but 4x4 shifter will be too short. When i did my body lift, I just got 2 nuts that threaded onto the 4x4 shifter and welded them to the head of a bolt that threaded into the shifter ****.

You are correct on the torsion bars. 15/16s socket, 3" extension (not needed, but it helps) , and a breaker bar is all you need. Lift the front tires off the ground and the bolts will turn much easier. drive around for 100 or so miles to let the suspension settle and then park on some level ground and if the truck is higher on one side than the other, back off the bolt on the high side a little bit and repeat the process till its level.
The ride will get a little bumpier, but it won't be too bad. My truck is sitting on the bump stops up front and I added 2 leaves from my parts truck on each side in the rear. Front is fine, but the rear is way too stiff. I have about 2000 lbs of dirt in my bed right now and the rear is still higher than the front.

 

IMO, you're better off buying a body lift kit than trying to piece something together on your own. There are a bunch of little brackets and other parts included in the kit that you'd have to chase down on your own to do it right. I know my time is worth a lot to me and I would assume yours is to you.

 

I'm saving your message inuchan it was very helpful .what does exactly does this spacer look like that you have to weld? This is new territory for me. For the bumpers now that they will be lower than normal will I have to weld a spacer there as well? For the fan all I have to do is cut the shroud? What does the shroud hit? Ill probably buy a full body lift kit thanks for the input haha

 

You can download the instructions for the 2" kit here.

I couldn't find a 3" kit on that site, so I'm not sure they make one.

 

the shroud can be relocated 2" down on the radiator, but the easiest way is to just cut the bottom off where the fan would hit. Everything should be included in the kit, but if you do decide to piece a kit together yourself, any spare piece of metal the length of the body lift would work for the spacer. I used one of the old bed bolts. I believe that spacer is the only thing in the kit other than blocks and bolts. Either way, you would have to drill new holes for the bumpers. I never bothered to move the bumpers and put 3x5" fog lights in the gap between the bumper and grille.Loosening the bumper and having someone lift it up as far as possible while you tighten the bolts back up will at least raise it 1- 1.5" if you don't want to drill the holes. I try to avoid drilling 1/2" holes through thick steel whenever possible since it takes a good 10 minutes per hole without a drill press and don't even bother unless you have a good quality set of drill bits. If you break a bit in the metal and can't get it back out, you will have to relocate the hole elsewhere and start all over again.

 

Thanks that is actually really helpful