... This topic is getting beat to death beyond belief holy man !
... The bottom line is that this cranking torsions scares people because of the old body style chevy's front suspension geometry ... Turning the older trucks up put the front control arms into a steep angle ... Which put the half shafts under stress along with mainly the lower ball joints which would wear out twice as fast if you cranked them up all the way ... The older trucks also would get twice the lift by doing this as compared to the new trucks ...
... The new trucks (1999-UP) have gone to a shallower front geometry and cranking them all the way gets you about an inch... These new angles are shallower stock and shallower with them cranked even more than the old body stock set ... The new truck have bigger lower balls and have new upper and lower arms that are forged aluminum tubular type in which the half shaft can achieve a near straight shot to the hub ....
... My opinion is this ... And also the opinion of my friend, a GM shop foreman for 15 years who now runs a Cadillac shop ... As a matter of fact I also ran this by our area Rep who used to teach technicians for GM and he has the same comments I do (that's where I got a lot of my info from) ... He owns a 1997 Old body Tahoe and a new body 2001 Z71 Silverado ... He said cranking the torsions on the new trucks won't hurt anything measureable... Just leave 2 threads exposed as this allows the keys to have a solid hold ...
... Now to address motion ... Ya, turning your torsions on the av should give you about an inch ... AT BEST ... If you think an inch adds that much more pre-load then so be it ... These are trucks built to be abused and this suspension has been abused... Believe me, I work behing the GM proving Grounds and have friends that work there ... What this suspension has been subjected to in testing is horrendous... If you use stock components and turn your torsions up, I would say it's equivalent to instead of driving 45 MPH on bumpy roads, that you are driving 50 now ... More rebound, more compression, but well within the limits of the torsion bar and suspension ... Unless you plan on jumping your avalanche, I see no big thing... Now if you are doing things to cause near load-less de-compression, you have bigger worries to address like driveline angles ...
... If you're the casual to moderate offroader all the way down to the daily streeter who wants a more level truck, quit quabbling over this torsion bar cranking ... Just do it, and get it re-aligned ... If you're worried about ride, then run the recommended door sill pressure of 30#'s ...
... It may scientifically cause more stress, but more wear ? ... There are other larger variables that will impact your vehicles life that are more important like how you maintain your vehicle and how you drive it... Those are the type of things that you will see as directly proportional to longevity in your avalanche ... Not turning up your torsion bars a few turns ... If it were a concern, then GM would make them require a special tool for adjustment ... I am at the service drive at least once a month talking to a good friend of mine and in about an hour, half the trucks that come in have their torsions cranked ... My friend says that the ball joints in these trucks don't suffer failures as such ... Believe me A-LOT of peole are cranking their torsions ... IMO as always ...
11H
I'm assuming that the adjustment can also be made to lower the av right? I'd like to bring mine down an inch in front and 1.5 in the back just to fill in the wheel wells a bit but still enjoy the ride. I also agree that any changes should be accompanied with a wheel alignment, better to be safe.
