did the leveling thing ( 23 1/4 ) new shocks / 1/2 bump stops had a 1/4 in
from the A-arm drove it for three mounths now the bump stops are sitting on the A-arm i feel every bump on the road now what is my next step to fix this muck thanx

 

Your torsion lift has settled. (Normal) How to fix? Lift again, alignment.

 

probably so. if so ypu can start over and jack it some more,get it realigned and try to maintain the tiny gap these things come with. im amazed that they have almost zero clearance as opposed to every other vehicle i have seen. most have a few inches b4 it hits bottom on a bad/hard bump.
shocks are there to keep it stable on bumps and quik stops.
i dont mess with leveling but i read all posts here and never saw an explanation for h3 zero tolerance!

ive seen some baja trucks with 18 in+ travel
just my 2.5 cents

oh btw the back has apx 3 inch right?

tom

 

They are not actually just "bump stops" they are progressive dampeners used as part of the entire front suspension on a GM IFS system. They bend and flex to give you better control and a softer ride. The Non-GM "bump stops" do not have the same progressive rate of compression/deflection in them and will exhibit different ride qualities.

You may notice that the LCA on the GM IFS seems to be resting on its upper bump stop. This is not only a bump stop, but what is called a progressive dampner. It compresses at a progressive rate, simulating a progressive rate spring, and letting the torsion bars achieve close to a progressive feel. Another con is as you increase the ride height by adjusting your keys, the ride gets worse. Now it’s a common misconception that there is more of a load on the bar and this is the cause. That is impossible since the LCA moves as well, so there is no more torsion on the bar than before, the spring rate does not actually change like many belive. The twisting action does not change the pre-load on the bar directly, so cranking your bars is just like adding a block in the rear or a coil spacer. It is simply changing the position of the spring. Just to clear things up, pre-load is the amount by which the torsion bar can't return to its original (unloaded) position due to be installed in the truck. The reason for the bad ride quality is instead a combination of things. First of all, when you adjust the height up, the angle between your LCA and the ground is increased which effectively does reduce your pre-load by reducing the leverage your LCAs have on your torsion bars. This negativly effects the ride by taking the torsion bars out of the preload range they were designed to work in. In combination with that, if you crank too far your UCAs have very little room left between them and the lower bump stops, reducing downward travel. You also pull the LCA away from the progressive dampner, making it ineffective and putting yourself back into the position of having a linear spring. These are the reasons the ride gets worse!

I hope this helps out with some of your questions.

 

Great post Tainter

 

Tainter-
The best and most concise answer I've read.

 

Nice job tainter! Someones been taking notes!!!

 

I only typed the first part, the second paragraph was taken from a GM suspension engineer who works on the IFS rigs. I found it after I did a lot of research on the T-bar suspension modifications. I can only take credit for the cut and paste, but it does give GREAT information on why things work and others won't.

 

I have a 2003 H2. Dont know if previous owner cranked on bars or not. My ride is still pretty good but would like to replace shocks and bump stops due to fact that they are worn out and half gone. Any suggestions on both would be appreciated.Thanx

 

Lesson learned if you tweak the t bars get your alignment reset...