[psyko]

i was just reading about the fellow who wanted to lift his 05, someone made the comment about the 05's not having the torion bars so he could not just crank the adjusters up.

I've lowered every truck i've ever had... I don't think the 03 nissan looks right lowered with the fender flairs and the over sized front bumper, I wanna lift it! I know I have the torion bar front suspention, but i've never raise a truck before, only lowered. How much lift can i safely and comfortably get by cranking up my bars? and after how much lift should I consider getting longer front shocks to compensate?

My truck is a 2x4, i'm probably hardly ever gonna go off road, this lift is for cosmetic purpose only, and thus i don't wanna spend alot of money, I would just basicly like to get a way doing a 2/1 or a 3/2 lift.

Any bit of advise would be helpfull,

 

[TwoBills]

I havn't done it, but from what I've read you'll get about an inch or inch and a half from cranking the torsion bars. You'll have to get an alignment afterwards.

Speaking of lowering, I've been thinking of lowering the front of my cc, by backing off the torsion bars. Have you ever done this?

 

[psyko]

I've done it to a 98 standard cab, a 88 toy, anda 86 mazda... works just fine to crack them down, it will make your front ride a tad bit softer, some shortened and stiffer shocks will work wonders, esp if you go past 2 inches, and don't forget to trim those bump stops some or you will not like the ride quality much...

another way you might be able to get another inch drop is to flip the lower balljoint to on top of the lower a-arm, i've never tried it on a nissan, but i did it to my old mazda, had to do a bit of trimming to get it work, but its a free inch of drop w/o comressing your shock further or adding to the bad alignment.

 

[psyko]

i just noticed where you live! my sister is in front royal LOL

 

[TwoBills]

I'm not looking for much of a drop, maybe an inch and a half. Enough to even it up w/the rear. I'm running about a 4 or 500 lb.load back there and the rear has a slight squat. Thought lowering the front an inch or so would give me a better profile, not to mention handling.

The softer ride would be ok. I'm going to be putting a set of Bilsteins on it, so it seems that a pair that's 20% stiffer, in the front, would be just the ticket. Would I have any problem w/stock length shocks?

 

[psyko]

stock length should be ok for 1.5 inches, esp if its a stiffer shock, or else when you hit a dip in the road you might feel the shock max out, what i would do is go ahead and lower it on your stock shock and see how much length is left, if its less than an inch of compression on your shock then you might wanna get into a shorter one. but i think you should be fine withe the current sized ones

 

[TwoBills]

I'm gonna give that a try w/the KYB's I have on there now. These stock shocks are pretty short now, but we'll see. I'll start w/an inch and see where I'm at. A little softer w/stiff shocks might just do the trick.

 

[WylerFronty]

For what it's worth......I have 2 inches of lift from my torsion bars with AAL's in back on my 2001 XE (same as the 2003). I replaced the rear shocks with the longer 4WD gas charged after both of mine broke from the extra travel (about 10,000 miles into the lift) and put on stock front replacements. So far, I am at about 50,000 miles on the replacements and while they are getting a little squeshy, they aren't too bad. Be sure to have your alignment corrected once you lift. I had major camber issues but it was almost completely correctable. Good luck and let us know how it goes..

 

[JOHNNYXB9]

I got a inch and a half out of my T-bars. I just wanted to level my 2000 Crew out. It looked like the nose was too low. Now it sits about flat. Besides I put 265/70/16 Toyo's on it and they still rub a little now and then. :roll:

 

[psyko]

well i did it today, only leveled the front, next paycheck i'll get the rear lift shackles and re adjust the front to match.. so far i love it!! it acually rides smoother, the front end was smaking the bump stop to much when driving on a ruff road and it dont do it anymore.

took a pic of it with the front 1" lift and i'll post others when i get the full 2" lift done.

without lift

with lift

 

[WylerFronty]

I don't want to start up the AAL vs. Shackle debate that has been on every other forum, but here goes: I had shackles on my truck for around 45,000 miles and aside from the bouncy ride, they weren't bad. However, as I has hitting the 40,000 mile mark, they began to sag my spring pack a lot and my lift dropped to only 3/4 inch within several thousand miles. I replaced with AAL's about 35,000 miles ago and so far there is no sagging and the ride is MUCH smoother. The AAL's were also only $35 compared to the $60 I paid for my Daystar shackles. To each his own, just wanted to share my experience. Let us know how it goes!

 

[TwoBills]

Lookin' good, psyko.

 

[JOHNNYXB9]

Looks like it leveled out pretty good.

 

[psyko]

AAL's? add-a-leaf? i'm new to the lift sean, is that what that is? where did you get yours from?? i've seen those at autozone, pepboys, would those work ok?

 

[WylerFronty]

AAL's (add-a-leaf) take the place of the short helper spring in the bottom of your leaf pack and increase the arc of the entire pack. I bought mine from JCWhitney for about $40. I just used a generic 2 1/2" wide spring that was spec'd for the Hardbody's. The ride is much less bouncy compared to the shackles. As long as you get one that is the same width as the spring pack (~2 1/2") then you should be okay. Most manufacturers specify either a long or short leaf . The Frontier takes a short leaf, which is about 2 feet long. Just swap the helper spring for the AAL or if you wanted to leave the helper in, get longer u-bolts, but there isn't much advantage to this unless you have a spring-over mount, which would give you maybe an extra 3/4" of lift (the width of the spring). Hope this helps!

 

[psyko]

funny you mentioned jcwhitney, i just got one of their mags. in the mail, saw the AAL you were talking about, just put an order in for it today...

i'll take more pics when i get it in...

 

[WylerFronty]

sweet, its an easy install. When I reassembled my spring pack, I used 2"X2" pieces of milk carton between the leafs at the center bolt. Not a squeek from them so far.

 

[rtknapp]

Thanks

My wife and I just bought a 03 4x2 king cab and I would like to level it out thanks for the info on this post. :lol: