How To: Lift the Truck Using Shackles and Torsion Bars A CFans Members Mod Project by gawillet

Transcription

1 How To: Lift the Truck Using Shackles and Torsion Bars A CFans Members Mod Project by gawillet Skill Level: Moderate Disclaimer: Please use caution and seek professional assistance when necessary. ColoradoFans.com, the author, and all associated members are not responsible for any damages, injuries or other harm which may occur with this modification. This post does not reflect the views of ColoradoFans.com and it's ownership. Before attempting this modification, it is advised to verify this will work on your Colorado or Canyon, as not all GMT 355's are same! PURPOSE: To lift your truck using shackles and the torsion bars. NOTE: Not all Colorados/Canyons are equipped with Torsion Bars, only the 2WD and 4WD Z71s and the 4WD Z85s have Torsion Bars suspensions, the others have coils. REQUIRED PARTS: Bricks/Pieces of wood as stops Floor Jack Jack Stands Ratchet/Sockets 1 1/16 Socket (for Torsion Bar adjustment) 3/16 Allen Wrench Impact Gun (not required, but immensely helpful) Vise grips or pliers WD40 Copper anti-seize (to re-grease shocks and shackles) INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Remove the Spare tire with the kit available under the passenger seat. Assemble the kit, crank the rear tire down and remove it. 2. Loosen the lugs on the front wheels, jack up the rear of the truck, and place a jack stands under the frame on each side of the truck and remove the wheels (See Figure 1 for jack point). Figure 1: Jack point to lift the rear Page 1 of 6

2 3. Loosen the rear shackle bolts with a 3/4 in wrench and socket. Figure 2: Stock shackles. 4. Use the Jack to raise the rear differential to take the tension off the springs. You ll know when you ve raised it enough because the shackle will become loose. Figure 3: Rear differential jacked up 5. You should now be able to remove 3 of the 4 bolts from the shackles. Use a hammer to knock the bolts out. I used my 10 socket extension to help remove the bolts from the holes. You will need to lower the rear differential some to allow for the bottom right shackle bolt to clear the exhaust pipe and allow you to remove the final shackle bolt. Page 2 of 6

3 6. Remove the bottom bolts from the rear shocks using a 3/4 wrench and socket (Save these bolts and nuts, you will need them to install the new shocks). 7. Remove the top bolts of the shocks (2 bolts per shock) using a 1/2 socket and the 10 socket extension. The shock will just fall off so watch yourself (Save the bolts to be reused when installing new shocks). 8. Now we are ready to install the new shackles. Grease the holes of the shackle with some anti-seize. Insert the top bolt and hand tighten the nut. After you ve got the top bolts in each shackle in, adjust the jack up or down so the springs line up with the bottom holes of the shackle. Insert the bottom bolts and hand tighten Figure 4: Installing New Shackle 9. Install the rear shocks using the bolts you used from the stock shocks with a 3/4 wrench and socket for the bottom bolt and 1/2 socket and 10 extension for the top bolts. I used Rancho 5190 shocks. Use anti-seize in the bottom shock bolt hole. Figure 5: New Shocks installed Page 3 of 6

4 10. Reinstall the spare tire. 11. Lower the jack holding the rear diff off the ground. 12. Tighten all the shackle bolts. 13. Jack up each side of the truck in front of the rear leaf springs one at a time and remove the jack stands. Now you re done with the rear end! 14. Raise the front of the truck until the front wheels are off the ground. Place jack stands under the frame and lower the jack. The Torsion Bar is located under the truck half way down the front doors (see Figure 6). Figure 6: Torsion Bar Location 15. Use a marker to draw a straight line running from the center of the bolt to the frame so you know when you ve made one complete rotation (see Figure 7). Figure 7: Bolt with line drawn to indicate original orientation Page 4 of 6

5 16. Use a 1-1/16 socket to turn the bolt clock wise (right) to raise the front end of the truck. I started by doing 5 complete turns on both sides. Lower the truck back down to see if the height is where you want it and measure to make sure each side is equal. After the original turns, I was easily able to turn the bolts with the truck on the ground. I proceeded to turn the passenger side 1 more turn and the driver side 1-1/4 more turn to get both sides equal and the height where I wanted. 17. Now, we ll install the new front shocks. You don t need to lift the truck up to replace the front shocks but it does make things much easier. Remove the bottom bolt from the shock using a 3/4 socket and wrench. Save this nut and bolt for when you install the new shock. Figure 8: Lower Shock Bolt and Nut 18. Remove the top nut using a 5/8 wrench and 3/16 Allen wrench. The Allen wrench fits into the top of the shock bolt. The shock will fall out onto the ground. You don t need to keep any parts from the top of the shock; you will NOT be reusing them. Figure 9: Top Shock Nut Page 5 of 6

6 19. Install the new shock. Grease the lower bolt hole, and install the lower end of the shock into the mounting location, reusing the stock bolt and nut. Install the top nut using a 1/2 wrench and the supplied hardware that came with your new shocks. Install the rubber bushings and metal plates the same way they came off. Use vise grips/pliers to hold the top of the bolt to keep it from spinning and tighten down the nut as much as you can. Figure 10: Top Shock Nut After Reinstallation 20. You re done, if you lifted the truck again lower it back to the ground and start taking picutres to show it off! Figure 11: Completed Modification Page 6 of 6