Bought Tahoe with TBs Cranked, How bad?

[Moresnowdays]

I bought this 98 2 door Tahoe earlier this summer, and have been getting it mechanically up to speed. My goal at them moment is to get the suspension heights set, then get shocks and an alignment done.

The previous owner did some torsion bar cranking I believe. The adjustment bolts are almost 3/4 of the way. I've read a bunch on the wear and tear of the front end from cranking to much, but I can't seem to determine what to much is. I also don't really know what it supposed to be like from the factory anyway. From these pics, can some one tell me if these angles on my front suspension are bad?

Here's my passenger side front;


Here's my driver side bump stops from behind;

 

[Moresnowdays]

I think I will lower the rear blocks from 2.5 inch to 1.5 inch, and then lower the front until I have a 2 inch rake. Currently have a 2.44 inch rake. Lower is not really the direction I want to go, but I'm worried about the front coming apart the one time I try offloading with my kids. Any thoughts???

 

[east302]

In case you’re looking for where “stock” is, here are the factory specs for the ‘z’ height as adjusted by the torison bars. Use the 5.9-6.4” values.

On my 98, it’s about 36” from bottom of front fender flare lip to ground with 285/75/16 tires. I want to say the back bottom fender flare lip is maybe an inch higher.













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[Moresnowdays]

Thanks for the info. Went and measured. My Z height is about 7.75 inch. Quiet a bit more than the optimal 6.2 inch. If I drop the rear blocks down from 2.5 to 1.5, and keep around 2 inch of Rake, I'll be lowering the front about .75 at the fender. It will bring the front closer were it should be, but I'm guessing not by that much...? Question is will it make that much difference in the longevity of the front end?

 

[Tonyrodz]

Fon't really have an answer for you, but she looks really clean. Nice ride.

 

[Moresnowdays]

Thank you! Wasn't sure when I bought it, and I've already put a bunch of work into it already but it's shaping up nicely.

 

[east302]

A lot of people just level by cranking the front up around an inch, inch and a half. I couldn’t see that making a huge difference in longevity of parts. Your setup doesn’t look too extreme, either.

I cranked mine about an inch to level (no rear blocks) but lowered it back down so that the top wheel gaps were even versus the fender lip to ground. I didn’t notice any real ride difference; the short wheelbase transmits every road defect and it wallows in the curves. My 98 ex-cab Z71 is worlds smoother, and it rides like crap by modern standards.




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[Moresnowdays]

Sounds like the ride quality is the nature of the beast. Curious, what shocks did you run on yours? Gonna have to order mine soon.

Just have to decide to keep the rake or tone it down, then time to align it.

 

[east302]

Swapped out the original Bilsteins for new ones a few months ago, model 4600.

I’ve been thinking of an aftermarket/larger diameter stabilizer bar but am not sure if there would be any better control. The stabilizer bar bushings are original (end links are new) so I’ll probably swap those out first to see if it improves things.

Nice color choice, by the way. I wanted a black or blue one but couldn’t find one in good shape. I drove four hours for this one and probably paid too much, lol.




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[Moresnowdays]

Thanks east302, I just need your 285's. Funny, I see your location is Mississippi. My truck originally came from Mississippi, lol.