Great video. I've done this on my 2001 and 2007 classic 1/2 ton. Didn’t crank too much, just enough to basically level it out. No issues with either. The other thing to be aware of other than shock travel is the length of your brake lines. Make sure they aren't too short once you lift the front up.
GM advertises the torsion bars can be adjusted for plow work to prevent front end drop. Makes sense, but I've never been able to find in the manual where GM tells you HOW to adjust. I've never put a plow on a truck, but it could be helpful for anyone who does.
I checked the manual. It doesn't say. Probably because some may not do it evenly and check alignment afterwards. My truck has plow prep so it's "rated for an extra 1000lbs at the front axle". But this is how it's done, hope it helps
@@adventureandrepeatmy truck also has the plow prep, but I’m not using a plow. Plus I’m hoping to sell my house and move south soon. Are you going to be doing a how to on the torsion lift? I always see people talking about it but I’ve never tried it. First Chevy.
@@robertboyer5498 I planned on making a video when I got to doing it. I want to get some measurements on how much it squats with trailers and plow so I only adjust it once. Otherwise, most times the adjustment bolt only needs to be cranked in 1 or 2 turns and the truck will be leveled out
A half ton I bought new in the 90's, it had a pronounced lean towards the drivers side and measuring the fender height and frame told the same story, I thought it has to be the rear because "of course" the factory would get the adjustable front set properly LOL. No, I even swapped the leaf packs from side to side and that made zero difference so turned to the front and it was rather amazing how relatively little I needed to adjust the one front torsion bar to level out the front/rear of the truck. Later on I did the cheap lift by cranking up the factory keys and put the proper tapered cast wedges in the rear knowing that there would be more ball joint wear. That is the downside of cranking up keys very much and same end result with aftermarket keys, it puts angles into the ball joints and tie rods which cause more wear as well as the CV joints. Knowing there are negative effects and willing to pay for shorter parts service life is fine ... just that I doubt most aftermarket lift companies with their "levelling kits" want to say too much as that would not help sales !. Of course I realized I for sure needed an alignment after doing the changes that aggressively although I only gained about an inch in height but any more than that and the suspension would have lost all droop so no point in buying keys and fighting with that install for nothing with that particular suspension.
I think GM does try to get them set from the factory. But even with this 2024 the front end settled lower after a few hundred miles when it finally broke in. And yes I agree, the aftermarket can't make any money if they tell you how bad it can be if it's overdone
@@adventureandrepeat I'm sure GM does, my brother had bought a pickup of the same model in a similar time frame and it sat level, it would come down to the assembly line and who was on the end of the tools adjusting, no doubt that simple. I was wondering if the heavy torsion bars you went with would settle in just because of their capacity, apparently they do and goes to show its probably not a bad idea to have an alignment done fairly soon on in the trucks life ( or tune in the keys first until satisfied, then get it checked ). Aftermarket, first step is sell a guy new timed keys ... then when things wear from being jacked up too far, they just magically have those solutions too ... the upper A arm with special angles and better joints, stronger tie rods and so on. They know how the game is played 😂
If it's just getting leveled off it's not really necessary. Factory ball joints have plenty of room. However if they are cranked all the way up, then yes, it may cause unnecessary stress on the joint. But the failure is usually caused by a bad joint more often than the angle of it itself
I have a question I just thought of and you would be a good person to ask, does the 2024 gas HD have active shutters ?, I believe the Duramax version does but I've never heard mention one way or the other about the gasoline version ?
@@adventureandrepeat Ok that answers that, one would assume all the HD Chev/GM trucks with the gas would have the same theme for 2024. While it would be nice to have for our cold winters up here, it is one less thing to go wrong though !.
@@charlesb4267 yea they are all probably the same. They do help with fuel economy but I'm guessing the engineers had a good reason why not to have them
@@adventureandrepeat They can't fail and stay closed if they are not there ( I've had that happen with an older diesel highway tractor and that is bad news ). Interestingly a friend that had a 2017 chev half ton with the 5.3 had the shutters, then lately bought a 2023 chev half ton with the 6.2 and it does not have shutters. Again must be a reason why a model of truck went away from using them.
@@charlesb4267 I'm not upset at all that they moved away from them. Our 2015 Tahoe has them. I think the last time I've ran a code scan on it there was some fault with them. Never threw a CEL so I've never worried. They are always in the open position when I see them
Great video. I've done this on my 2001 and 2007 classic 1/2 ton. Didn’t crank too much, just enough to basically level it out. No issues with either. The other thing to be aware of other than shock travel is the length of your brake lines. Make sure they aren't too short once you lift the front up.
Thanks! You are right brake lines should be checked. On these T1 trucks it doesn't appear that it will be a problem for just leveling it out
GM advertises the torsion bars can be adjusted for plow work to prevent front end drop. Makes sense, but I've never been able to find in the manual where GM tells you HOW to adjust. I've never put a plow on a truck, but it could be helpful for anyone who does.
I checked the manual. It doesn't say. Probably because some may not do it evenly and check alignment afterwards. My truck has plow prep so it's "rated for an extra 1000lbs at the front axle". But this is how it's done, hope it helps
@@adventureandrepeatmy truck also has the plow prep, but I’m not using a plow. Plus I’m hoping to sell my house and move south soon. Are you going to be doing a how to on the torsion lift? I always see people talking about it but I’ve never tried it. First Chevy.
@@robertboyer5498 I planned on making a video when I got to doing it. I want to get some measurements on how much it squats with trailers and plow so I only adjust it once. Otherwise, most times the adjustment bolt only needs to be cranked in 1 or 2 turns and the truck will be leveled out
That's helpful!
Thanks!
A half ton I bought new in the 90's, it had a pronounced lean towards the drivers side and measuring the fender height and frame told the same story, I thought it has to be the rear because "of course" the factory would get the adjustable front set properly LOL. No, I even swapped the leaf packs from side to side and that made zero difference so turned to the front and it was rather amazing how relatively little I needed to adjust the one front torsion bar to level out the front/rear of the truck. Later on I did the cheap lift by cranking up the factory keys and put the proper tapered cast wedges in the rear knowing that there would be more ball joint wear. That is the downside of cranking up keys very much and same end result with aftermarket keys, it puts angles into the ball joints and tie rods which cause more wear as well as the CV joints. Knowing there are negative effects and willing to pay for shorter parts service life is fine ... just that I doubt most aftermarket lift companies with their "levelling kits" want to say too much as that would not help sales !. Of course I realized I for sure needed an alignment after doing the changes that aggressively although I only gained about an inch in height but any more than that and the suspension would have lost all droop so no point in buying keys and fighting with that install for nothing with that particular suspension.
I think GM does try to get them set from the factory. But even with this 2024 the front end settled lower after a few hundred miles when it finally broke in. And yes I agree, the aftermarket can't make any money if they tell you how bad it can be if it's overdone
@@adventureandrepeat I'm sure GM does, my brother had bought a pickup of the same model in a similar time frame and it sat level, it would come down to the assembly line and who was on the end of the tools adjusting, no doubt that simple. I was wondering if the heavy torsion bars you went with would settle in just because of their capacity, apparently they do and goes to show its probably not a bad idea to have an alignment done fairly soon on in the trucks life ( or tune in the keys first until satisfied, then get it checked ). Aftermarket, first step is sell a guy new timed keys ... then when things wear from being jacked up too far, they just magically have those solutions too ... the upper A arm with special angles and better joints, stronger tie rods and so on. They know how the game is played 😂
@@charlesb4267 they play the game and do a good job at it raking in all the money!
that looks easy
It's super easy!
How much lift can you get with the factory keys?
3 inches is the most you can safely get with suspension geometry. Highly suggest shock replacement at that point
@@adventureandrepeat So 1 inch would not be a problem…😉
@@mdp66403 zr2 package has the front end lifted 1.5 inches with a half inch block in the rear
Actually, the HD ZR2 has a 1 1/2” block in the rear. I just measured the one on my truck…😉
@@mdp66403 interesting! I had found some GM documents before that called out a parts list and it was only a half inch. But that's good to know!
If you do this, change your upper control arms. Otherwise you put too much stress on your ball joint and it will break when you offroad.
If it's just getting leveled off it's not really necessary. Factory ball joints have plenty of room. However if they are cranked all the way up, then yes, it may cause unnecessary stress on the joint. But the failure is usually caused by a bad joint more often than the angle of it itself
I have a question I just thought of and you would be a good person to ask, does the 2024 gas HD have active shutters ?, I believe the Duramax version does but I've never heard mention one way or the other about the gasoline version ?
My truck does not have shutters. Gas LTZ
@@adventureandrepeat Ok that answers that, one would assume all the HD Chev/GM trucks with the gas would have the same theme for 2024. While it would be nice to have for our cold winters up here, it is one less thing to go wrong though !.
@@charlesb4267 yea they are all probably the same. They do help with fuel economy but I'm guessing the engineers had a good reason why not to have them
@@adventureandrepeat They can't fail and stay closed if they are not there ( I've had that happen with an older diesel highway tractor and that is bad news ). Interestingly a friend that had a 2017 chev half ton with the 5.3 had the shutters, then lately bought a 2023 chev half ton with the 6.2 and it does not have shutters. Again must be a reason why a model of truck went away from using them.
@@charlesb4267 I'm not upset at all that they moved away from them. Our 2015 Tahoe has them. I think the last time I've ran a code scan on it there was some fault with them. Never threw a CEL so I've never worried. They are always in the open position when I see them