Adjusting ride height after torsion bar swap

[ghunt81]

Alright guys, last night I yanked out my F bars and stock keys and installed #1 bars with pre-keys.

Now, I'm new to this whole torsion bar thing so I just want to make sure I know how to do this correctly.

I have the truck on jackstands with no front shocks at the moment (with Rancho RS5000's waiting to go on it all round).

How do I get to where I can adjust the ride height? Do I need to reinstall shocks and put it back on the ground?

 

[1996xlt]

This should point you in the right direction:
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/TorsionBar.shtml

Regardless of weather the truck is on stands or with full weight on the suspension each time you adjust it you'll need to take it for a spin to let the suspension cycle a bit. Oh and of course, get an alignment.

 

[ghunt81]

I read that, but still a little unclear on how this all works. Like I said as the truck sits now, there are no shocks on it and the suspension is at full droop, I put the bolts back in exactly where they were on the old torsion keys, but I'm thinking- if the suspension is hanging at full droop now, then if I have it off the ground , won't the travel only be limited by the shock? That's how it was before I took the shocks off, it went down another good couple of inches after the shock was out.

 

[gw33gp]

You will need to get everything back together including shocks and get it on the ground. Drive it around a little to get the suspension to settle in. You may have to do some preliminary adjustment before taking it for a ride to get it reasonably close to the correct ride height.

Don't jack it back up again before measuring for ride height. Below is the information out of the Ford Shop Manual for measuring ride height and suspension specifications.

Shocks can have an effect on ride height if they are pressurized shocks.