I am planning on doing a Quigley type conversion. Quigley adds torsion bars to their conversion. My question is; Are the torsion bars necessary on a chevy xpress 4wd conversion? The vans stock suspension stays in place on the Quigley type conversions, what would be the need of the torsion bars if i don't plan on lifting the van?
Do i need torsion bars on a Chevy Express 4x4 conversion?
- Thread starter jknight
- Start date
Weldtec Designs
Active member
No you could run coilovers.... The torsion bars hold up the van and act as a spring allowing your vans suspension to move. Without them your van would sit on the bump stops. So they are kind of needed?
wjeeper
Active member
I think Quigley tries their hardest to use OE parts from Chevy in their conversion to keep factory warrenties intact and have nationwide parts availability. I am sure it matters lots to fleet managers but much to an enthusiast.
Torsion bars are fine, they get the job done. Coilovers have a bunch of adjustibility and its pretty cheap to change spring rates if you need to. I think it might be easier to convert a van using coilovers as it would be to figure out torsion bars. Plus if your lifting the van you have to drop the torsion bars or run a relocation bracket..............coilovers ****** in my mind
Torsion bars are fine, they get the job done. Coilovers have a bunch of adjustibility and its pretty cheap to change spring rates if you need to. I think it might be easier to convert a van using coilovers as it would be to figure out torsion bars. Plus if your lifting the van you have to drop the torsion bars or run a relocation bracket..............coilovers ****** in my mind
SirMrManGuy
Observer
By quigley type conversion, you mean using Chevy IFS parts?
If you wish to use stock (or commercially available aftermarket lift) A-arms you'll probably need to stick to torsion bars. The reason I say this is you'll have trouble sticking a coilover through the stock a-arms and clearing the half shafts/sides of the a-arm etc though the whole range of suspension travel. If you are building custom A-arms you can probably do coils.
Not saying it won't work with stock a-arms but it wouldn't surprise me if you had trouble with this. I haven't done a chevy conversion but have done a few SAS's on other brands and built a few long travel IFS setups. Getting the coilover in the right place to clear the arms and still have good steering angles is always a bit of a juggling act.
If you are going solid axle, ignore all this and do coils or coilovers.
If you wish to use stock (or commercially available aftermarket lift) A-arms you'll probably need to stick to torsion bars. The reason I say this is you'll have trouble sticking a coilover through the stock a-arms and clearing the half shafts/sides of the a-arm etc though the whole range of suspension travel. If you are building custom A-arms you can probably do coils.
Not saying it won't work with stock a-arms but it wouldn't surprise me if you had trouble with this. I haven't done a chevy conversion but have done a few SAS's on other brands and built a few long travel IFS setups. Getting the coilover in the right place to clear the arms and still have good steering angles is always a bit of a juggling act.
If you are going solid axle, ignore all this and do coils or coilovers.
wjeeper
Active member
There is really not a whole lot of "kits" out there for Chebby vans. But the good news is that they share nearly all the front end parts as a Silverado truck!
Weldtech Designs just started building a ton of different parts for our vans:
https://weldtecdesigns.com/product-category/chevrolet/
If your looking at going solid axle expo member Johny5 has a really slick looking set-up that uses Super Duty axles. I think he does conversions/ sells parts
Converting the transmission are stupid easy and cheap to convert to 4x4. The video below is 5 minute video that explains how to do it. I have done it once before and it took me less than an hour to convert with the trans still in the vehicle! Plus you dont have to shorten the fuel tank
Weldtec Designs
Active member
coilovers
Here is a pic of our chevrolet 4x4 kit with coilovers.
the suspenson:
Here is a pic of our chevrolet 4x4 kit with coilovers.
the suspenson:
Any plans on lowering the price to make it more affordable for the average joe?