Well I took the plunge on Friday and decided to turn the bars to level up my 05 QC 4x4. Here are the quick and dirty steps.

1) Park truck on flat surface and measure fender height on both front fenders, mine was 37.5 inches on both sides.
2) Chock rear tires and set E brake.
3) Jack front tires off of the ground.
4) Turn torsion bars desired number of times (I chose 5)
5) Lower truck, compress suspension, measure fender height (My passenger side was .5 inch higher than drives side so I jacked it up and backed off passenger side 1/4 turn)
6) Measure fender height. Mine was at 39" this was 5 turns on drivers side and 4.75 on passenger side
7) Have truck aligned

I took mine to a shop that a friend of mines body shop uses, $35.00, and he aligned the truck and said that everything was still well withing factory specs, he also commented on how he was happy the truck was level when it came in. Apparently a lot of people crank the $hit out of them with no care of angles and or ride height. The pics of the CV joint are before and after.



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Did the 5 turns get you perfectly level? Did you replace the shocks? What made you go with turning the bars instead of installing the keys? I'd like to level mine also, but I can't decide between turning the bars or installing keys. Any help/ adivice would be appreciated.

 

The main consideration was 'what do the keys give me extra?' and it really wasnt anything, all the keys do apparently is pre-load the bars so it has the 'lift' effect without turning the bars. You can still turn the bars after you install the keys, however the angles are just as bad as if you turned the bars all the way up. I did not swap shocks out. The 1.5" of lift I got has it sitting pretty level. I guy I work with has an 05 2500 4x4 and mine sits nearly as high as his. The ride quality is still there and there is no 'stiffness' that I was warned about. It actually handles turns better now, because the front end doesnt drop like it did with the bars not tightened up.

I am very satisfied with this.

 

Thanks for the help. It looks like everything worked out pretty well for you. The CV angles don't look like they changed much at all. I'll probably just turn the bars. I wanted to get it aligned anyway, so I may as well turn 'em before I take it in.

 

Goodlookin' truck Phatboy! R.V.

 

I own a 03 Reg cab 2wd 1500 and I was told that because it is a Reg cab I don't have torsion bars...? Is this correct??

 

Whether you go with the keys or just adjust the bars it's just personal preference. I was told like everyone else that just turning the bars up would give you alot stiffer ride. It doesn't seem that this is the case. The keys gave me 1.5" without adjusting the bars past the stock setting. I still had to adjust mine another .5" to level the front. I also replaced my shocks because they topped out. Obviously I spent a little money doing this. Just adjusting the bars is free. I'm very happy with my setup though.

 

03Ram, you dont have torsion bars because your truck is 2wd. The torsion bar/IFS setup basically replaced the coil spring/live axel set up on the 94-01 1500 Ram 4x4s. I wish they would have stayed with the live axel, however to compete with the ride quality of other full-size four wheel drives Dodge opted with the IFS front end.

I am very happy with the ride of my Ram. With the bars up there has been no stiffness of the ride. I could see if someone went up 7/8 turns where it could really stiffen.

MPD, do you have pics of your CV joints/Steering rods? I will admit that I was suprised when I rolled under my truck for the first time and saw that weird steering setup. LOL.

 

No I don't, I finally gave up on getting my digital camera working again. I'm shopping around for a new one now. Eventually I'll get some pics on here.

 

I have shown my ignorance on this topic before so please excuse me again. Can someone point out the torsion bar in one of those pics please?