Rancho 2.5" Lift

yellowfronty · Oct 24th, 2004, 11:57 AM

I have a 2003 Frontier 4x4 Crew Cab and I bought it with a 2.5" Rancho Lift. The problem is that it does not look lifted at all in the front. The truck is still at stock ride hieght. So I took it to get the alignment checked and to maybe bump up the torsion bars. The tech told me that the truck can not be lifted any more than the stock specs allow, Otherwise the lower ball joint will be ripped from the lower conrol arm from the new angle. This does not sound right. Why would Rancho make a lift that does not acually lift the truck. I mean sure a gained 2.5" of downward travel but it is supposed to lift the truck. Isnt that what the lift is advertised to do. I have been told to tweak the torsion bars but the alignment shop says this will only put stress on the lower ball joint. WTF

jadcock · Oct 24th, 2004, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yellowfronty

I have been told to tweak the torsion bars but the alignment shop says this will only put stress on the lower ball joint. WTF

As I see it, the only way you'll damage the lower ball joint is through increased wheel travel. Adjusting the torsion bars themselves does not do the damage. After all, the suspension is designed from the factory to have a preset amount of upward and downward travel, and all the components are designed with that in mind. Cranking the torsion bars will not hurt the ball joints...not that action alone.

However, when you throw into the equation modified suspension pieces, then you're into the "trial and error" stage. The Rancho kit probably came with upper control arms that allow more downward travel? I imagine that increased downward travel has the potential to damage the CV joints and the ball joints, yes. But that extra travel we're talking about is at the extreme. You'll most likely not see that in everyday driving.

It's generally said that you can safely raise a truck .5" to 1" using the torsion bars alone. I've raised mine about 3/4" of an inch with this method. I wouldn't hesitate to do that in your situation, because during normal driving, you probably won't be dipping into the extended down travel that the Rancho arms afforded you anyway. And if you do get into that extreme region, it'd probably be while you were rock crawling or something, and it'd happen regardless of whether or not you adjusted the torsion bars. So I don't believe you'd be doing your truck any harm by adjusting the torsion bars.

As an aside, if you didn't put the kit on yourself, how much of the front kit pieces really got installed? I imagine Rancho shocks at least. But are there different control arms? Different torsion bars? Maybe the front of the kit didn't get put on in the first place?

yellowfronty · Oct 24th, 2004, 11:59 PM

This is what I thought. Thanks for the info. The lift is the same one that can be found at Automotive Customizers,4x4.com All of the hardware that it list is on the truck so I am pretty sure everything was installed. It should be noted that the alignment shop that told me this was Les Swab and he also mentioned some B.S. about Rancho and Insurance. So this leads me to believe that the shop will only work within the specified range of the stock specs.