I did a little bit of searching but nothing really answered my question. On my Dakota the torsion bars are cranked as high as they go, is that good for them? If I lower then my tires will rub, should I look into getting torsion keys? Will the take some of the strain off of the truck?

 

It is okay for them, not the best situation but safe. Not really GOOD. GOOD is if there is no load at all and it is sitting on the floor. There is even stress on them when it is stock height ect.

If you want more height then yes get re-indexed keys (lift keys). Your adding more stress as you crank them up, lift it up. So NO you will not take off the strain off of them, you will be adding more. But like I said even with lift keys the stress on them is not over the limit. It is safe.

But there is a limit you can go due to the control arms and the rest of the suspension.

 

Thanks, I don't want higher right now, I was just wondering if Lift keys would help with not breaking things. My tires will last me another year or 2, so I may buy a B/L then. Thanks for the help!

 

not to undermine your expertise crazy but from what I understand it wont work, you cant crank them and do keys its the same thing and the same stress either way on our style, you cant stack them together the keys max it out or if its already cranked I guess it would be just like replacing them...do a search on this seems like its been asked a lot lately...

 

I was mainly wondering if there is a way to lower my Torsion bars, but keep the lift it gives me. My tires are 2 years old so I'd like to keep 'em, if the front end is any lower they would rub. If not then I guess the truck will last for a few more years, its lasted 5 like this already.

 

I would say don't worry about it. The stress of the torsion bars turned vs. keys is the same and if its been fine that long then I would say don't worry about it just make sure you have those bump stops in the front. If you need to know what I'm talking about let me know and I'll snap a pic tomorrow.

 

Yes, I do have them. I'm more of a SA guy, so I don't know much about Torison bars and IFS. Thanks for the help!

 

Yeah, IFS is for the around town driving and most likely why the dakota got an IFS setup. I too, rather have a SA for different purposes.

 

Well the stock keys can only be tightened up so much before it tops out. Once it is toped out then that is where the Indexed Keys come in. It indexes the bar so you can turn the torsion bar MORE than the stock key would allow.

I don't know the true numbers/rates but say under stock the bar is under 1,000lbs of weight/pressure which is also stress. When you crank it up 2 inches the pressure goes up to 2,000lbs. 4in 3,000lbs of pressure. The more pressure you give it the more lift you get. So stock stress is not the same as lifted stress. It is completely safe as long as the control arms are not maxed out and as long as the torsion bar is not bending.

Now I don't know for sure if you can top out the stock keys on a 2nd Gen. On 1st Gen you can very easy.

A body lift will lift the body and allow you to lower the torsion bar some. If that is your goal.

Stock truck IFS sucks for anything serious like rock crawling or racing. Stock can do anything with light throttle. When you need more strength then stock IFS then you would go with a SAS.

But IFS in the right conditions are stronger and better then SA. For one IFS has 6 joints in a Constant motion That is where the CV comes from. Vs 4 joints with SA. The individual articulation doesn't disturb the other side.

What makes stock IFS weak is the CV joints can come out of the housing under high articulation. The joints are smaller than SA joints due to space. The IFS ring and pinion are smaller then the good SA's.

Remember the Humvee use IFS. And we know those go threw the hardest stuff we have on this planet.

 

from what I understand and have read before on here and other forums there is only 2" max you can get out of them and you can do it by turning them the whole way or getting the new keys. I understand what your saying but from others experience that I have read on here thats not the case.