Contomplating Torsion keys or torsion lift?

I am very new to the forum but i have been wheelin for a little over a year now. i have a 98 explorer awd and i have a couple questions about lift? ive done the research on here before creating this

1. ive found torsion keys that lift the front of your truck instead of putting a load on it by doing the torsion twist, but which is better?

2. Found torsion keys on the web that give 1.75 in of lift but they say that their for 4wd, now could they be used for AWD?

3. last one. i was reading that adding a leaf is better than extended shackles. Why is this?

Nothing? Really?

Keys, in my opinion are a waste of money. Just turn those bolts in, thats what most of us of who have done it did.

The shackle puts extra stress on the leaf, therefore flattens it out faster. AAL just provides firmness and lift. I run both.

BTW, Welcome!

Well the way I see it you'd be spending an extra 100 bucks for just about the same amount of lift. Both will still make parts wear prematurely (ball joints and etc). Plus rather than having to pull the torsion bars out to install the new keys you can just get more height by turning a bolt on the stock keys. Honestly just do the TT. You'll save money. And the reason why they say AAL is better than shackles is because shackles cause what i believe they call "inclination". It's where they basically dearch the leafs downwards. That's what I think it is.

Thanks man the TT seems like it has plenty of benifits. Do you use your truck pretty well out on the trail and hows the TT holding up? and thank you man

sport97 said:

Keys, in my opinion are a waste of money. Just turn those bolts in, thats what most of us of who have done it did.

The shackle puts extra stress on the leaf, therefore flattens it out faster. AAL just provides firmness and lift. I run both.

BTW, Welcome!

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Thanks man. appreciate it. the leaf part is true not only did "sport97" speak of it but i read about it one rustys offroad.com

shooterdude199 said:

Well the way I see it you'd be spending an extra 100 bucks for just about the same amount of lift. Both will still make parts wear prematurely (ball joints and etc). Plus rather than having to pull the torsion bars out to install the new keys you can just get more height by turning a bolt on the stock keys. Honestly just do the TT. You'll save money. And the reason why they say AAL is better than shackles is because shackles cause what i believe they call "inclination". It's where they basically dearch the leafs downwards. That's what I think it is.

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XBuiltNotBoughtX said:

Thanks man the TT seems like it has plenty of benifits. Do you use your truck pretty well out on the trail and hows the TT holding up? and thank you man

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It does good for what it is. Flex isn't great up front with IFS and the sway bar. TT or keys will limit the flex of the front, but it also allows for a larger tire and ground clearance, so I think its well worth it. I only did an inch or so of TT so my parts are all fine, but its only been 5 or 6k miles since I did it. My drivers side bolt was too short and bottomed out, I may buy a longer bolt to get the extra .5-1" lift, but I don't really need it right now.

No problem man. I didn't take mine on the trails much but many of the guys on here beat the living crap out of there rigs and the whole truck will fall apart around the torsion bars. So we know they're stout. Cranked torsion bars also have pretty good road manners. They stiffen the ride up a lot but with them cranked and a good shock will definitely aid that. Go read thru some of the threads on here you'll find hundreds of threads on the Tt. As for the leads I can't remember for the life of me where I heard that. I think it was a guy on here but yeah I'm definitely changing to deaver springs soon.

Sport - u got any pics of your skid plate?

shooterdude199 said:

Sport - u got any pics of your skid plate?

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yeah here is a few from my registry:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2871567&postcount=218

Cant tell from the pics but it goes under the front cross member, but I do not have it bolted it down there.

I like that! It's got a clean almost "whAt it shoulda been out of factory" look. Hats off to ya!

shooterdude199 said:

I like that! It's got a clean almost "whAt it shoulda been out of factory" look. Hats off to ya!

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Thanks, I like it. I didn't make it though, I only painted it and put it on.

who made it?

Welcome to the site.