truxxx leveling kit

[99 Off-Road Ranger]

im looking into a truxxx leveling kit for a 99 ranger i was wondering good product bad product and if so any other good leveling kits out there

 

[c_note]

is it like a new torsion bar key? if so then id rather just crank the bars.

 

[99 Off-Road Ranger]

yeah thats what it looks like you would rather crank em instead of buying the truxxx part

 

[kennykenny]

cheaper and less work to crank them

 

[99stepside]

okay you could do both. but i recommend the leveling kit.
I posted something like this about a month ago for someone who had a similar question. when i put on my 3" PA body lift on my 99 4x4, it made my truck look higher in the rear, so i tightened the torsion bars. it worked but made my ride rock hard. felt every bump in the road. I then bought the TRUXXX leveling kit and put it in, i actually got more lift out of it and rode just like it was stock. well worth the $225 i paid. Jim Oaks was saying he could get it cheaper for like $159 i believe, youd have to PM him in order to get the exact price. all in all you could do it either way. and if you want a coulpe more inches of lift then i would get the chevy lowering shackels (which lift Fords) and pop them in the rear. i did that and love it. plus if you do go offroading the TRUXXX leveling kit would give you a little more flex to where if you just tightened the torsion bars it wouldnt.

 

[krugford]

Alright, I'm gonna have to call BS on that one. The TRUXXX leveling kit is nothing more than a re-indexed torsion bar key. There is no way you got more lift and a softer ride with those installed over cranking the factory key. All the key does is allow you to put more of a preload on the torsion bar, which raises the truck. Re-indexed keys gain you nothing more than being able to crank the torsion bar higher than the stock keys will allow. Unless you also got drop brackets to keep the driveline angles within spec and dropped the torsion bar crossmember, there is no way you got a softer ride and kept the lift. It isn't recommended to go above 1.5-2" with a torsion bar crank without drop brackets because of the driveline angles involved. The stock keys should be more than enough to handle that.

 

[blackbronc]

Lift spindles are getting real cheap for these . check ebay

 

[krugford]

I think you may be talking about 2wd lift spindles. They won't work for a 4wd. All you are concerned about is the height difference between the axle housing and the wheel. (assuming you haven't changed the track width). For a 4wd, you need to pay close attention to the axle shaft angles. This means dropping the axle housing when you drop the wheels.

Think about it in terms of a solid axle. You can't drop the wheels without dropping the rest of it right? The only difference to the SLA is the fact that you can drop the wheels slightly without dropping the axle housing. BUT, you still have a very finite range that you can do that in without having to drop the center. Or look at the TTB. You wouldn't put lift springs under it without getting axle and radius arm drop brackets would you? Take the same approach to the SLA. If you want to get more than 1.5-2" of lift, you're gonna to have to drop the a-arms and axle housing. If you only want to drop the lower a-arm, this means new spindles. Otherwise, you're dropping everything. It's a more complicated suspension set-up, which requires a more complicated lift. If you do it half-assed, you're just asking for trouble.

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

Alright, I'm gonna have to call BS on that one. The TRUXXX leveling kit is nothing more than a re-indexed torsion bar key. There is no way you got more lift and a softer ride with those installed over cranking the factory key. All the key does is allow you to put more of a preload on the torsion bar, which raises the truck. Re-indexed keys gain you nothing more than being able to crank the torsion bar higher than the stock keys will allow. Unless you also got drop brackets to keep the driveline angles within spec and dropped the torsion bar crossmember, there is no way you got a softer ride and kept the lift. It isn't recommended to go above 1.5-2" with a torsion bar crank without drop brackets because of the driveline angles involved. The stock keys should be more than enough to handle that.

THANK YOU! I replied in another thread and explained in great detail the same issue. These keys allow NOTHING more than for you to crank beyond the maximum amount allowed by the stock keys, something you shouldn't even be close to hitting when you're cranking your bars. It's impossible to get a softer ride while cranking the bars up because down travel is limited.

 

[Black'03LevelII]

sorry for thread jacking

but technically it is related to what is being discussed here.

I was wondering if there is a way to tell if the bars have been cranked already? Looking at the keys on my truck it looks like I only have about 1/4 of an inch before they are touching the barcket above them. Basically if I were to tighten them it would only move about 1/4 of inch before bottoming out. Are mine maxed out already? If so I need to look into something else because I would like to sit higher, but I really don't have the 3-4K to be spending on a S/L.

 

[Black'03LevelII]

anyone?

got an answer for my post above?

 

[krugford]

I was just under my truck, so I measured mine. I've already cranked mine to raise the front an inch, so keep that in mind. I have 1/2" on bolt length remaining on the driver's side and 3/4" remaining on the passenger side. Feeling above the key, I've got about 3/4" on the driver's side and an 1" on the passenger side. This means yours has already been cranked, or that's where it was set at the factory to get ride height. I've got my wheels off right now, but I could take some measurements on frame height in the front and maybe a-arm and axle shaft angles so you could compare when I get it back on the ground.

 

[Black'03LevelII]

Krugford, that would awesome if you could. I am thinking it has been cranked already. If so I don't get where people say the ride sucks, as mine seems to float over RR tracks and most pot holes.

 

[tanbuddy]

I was trying to figure out how much a truck was cranked up by measuring the available wheel travel. If u have 4 inches of down travel stock, and 2 iches now, you were lifted 2 inches. I have a post asking someone to measure it on a stock truck but no one did yet.

 

[krugford]

I just measured mine. I cranked my torsion bars about 1 inch over stock last year.

At the rear a-arm mount for the lower a-arm, I measured the "lowest" point on the frame bracket.

Left: 9 15/16"
Right: 10"

Axle shaft angles
Left and Right: ~6 degrees (wheel lower than diff)

Lower a-arm angle
Left and Right: ~6 degrees (I don't think there's a straight line on the lower a-arm...)

Hopefully this will help you determine where yours is at compared to mine, which is raised 1 inch in the front. I have heard of one case where the stock keys didn't have enough room left to raise it much, this would be where you would buy the re-indexed keys, but pay very close attention to ride heights and angles when you do so.