I have a 99 F-150 XL 4.2l with the sport package. I am wondering how to adjust my front suspension to be even with the rear because my truck has that slight nose dive look if ya know what I mean. My friends have said to adjust my torsion bars, but it didn't seem to work, and if it does how much should I turn them? If anyone has any info it would be greatly appreciated.

 

It worked for my '01 4X4. I took about 4 - 5 turns on each side. The main thing is to be sure you turn them equal. Also take the weight off the front wheels first. Measure the bumper before and after, drive, then measure. It will tighten the bounce in the front end. There are leveling kits out there if you want to maintain the proper spring bounce also.

 

If I were you, DO NOT adjust the torsion bars. It will wind up really messing up your suspension and it makes the overall ride crappy. Read this whole thing in some off-road magazine (can't remember which one). But anyways, the best way to adjust your front end height would be to get some spring spacers. You can just get some generic polyurethene or even alluminum spacers to go under your springs. Usually any off road store will sell this kind of thing.

But that's just my opinion and that's what you're looking for right?

 

Whatever you do, make sure it's safe and doesn't throw your tire angles off. Make sure the tires stay flat on the ground where they belong, I've seen homeade kits and torsion bar adjustments where the front tires are riding on the inside edges. NOT GOOD!

I think it was on Dateline NBC once they ran an article about the dangers of lifted trucks, one truck they showed in an inspection station had use a block setup on the front axle, which you shouldn't do to begin with for traction reasons, but the driver of this particular truck had used, of all things, rubber -hockey pucks- to give the desired lift. One had already even started cracking. Can you imagine?

 

Spring spacers do the same thing adjusting the torsion bars will do, it changes the static ride height. That throws the angle of the cv axles, control arms and joints off. It also limits the down travel of the wheel. If you adjust the torsion bars within moderation its ok, but if you go too far it will be bad.

The spacers that go in between coils shouldn't be used, as the can cause the coil to bind and stiffen the ride. Spacers that go in the spring seat are ok, but again within moderation. Also, 2wd uses coils and 4wd uses torsion bars.

Chris

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but if he's got torsion bars then he won't have coil springs to put spacers in? Before I got my Ford I had a 97 Chev I Cranked the bars up to match my 3" lift in the back. I had it like this for 3 years without a single prob.

 

If you crank up the torsion bars a few turns (maybe 4 or 5) you wont hurt anything but you should probably get your alignment checked afterwards.
Dont crank up the bars so much though that the shocks are fully extended. I'm not sure that would even be possible but......
And there is nowhere to put spacers of any type unless you install a lift kit.

 

You'll hit the upper control arm on the down travel stop before the shocks are extened all the way. This is where the problem area is because the more you jack the truck up the closer the upper control arm will be to the stop, and it can hit it alot if you go to far. I agree 4 turns is about the max I would go. Thats good for an 1.5 to 2 inches of leveling.

Chris

 

Just to add a bit on this again. On my '01 4X4, I got a full 2" of lift from the torsion bars out of 4-5 turns. The truck does ride a bit harder but not much as I have compared it to a stock one back to back. I had the alignment checked and it was fine. Handling has not changed either. After 22,000 miles, I have very even tire wear and off roading is fine but I am not into tearing up the truck for fun, and the overall look is real nice. The main thing to do is lift the truck using common sense. If you spend a lot or a little, do it safe.

 

Thanks alot for all your info guys. I think I am going to leave the truck alone for know because I did turn the bars up a bit and I didn't get the desired height so I put it back to stock. I can live with it that way until I get a lift kit maybe .