Keys and Front shocks - Chevy 2500 HD

Well if you had the special Tool, it's pretty simple, if you don't, it a lot more pain in the butt. The Torsion bar is a long Spring. You have to release the tension it's under to be able to remove the old key and install the new key. Without the Tool, you may be able to get away with unbolting the shock and undoing a ball joint to get the lower control arm to drop far enough down to un-tension the torsion bar. You may have problems getting the new key in though if you were even able to get the old one out. I've done it this way in the past but lowered the vehicle, so putting in the new key wasn't hard. I now have the tool and I can replace them in no time flat. 15 minutes maybe to do both sides, plus extra time to do the shocks. Without the tool. A Hour or more maybe for me, for someone never having done it, and doing it at home, could take all day and lots of cussing.

You would be better off to find a shop that can do the work. If they have the tools to do it, it won't take very long. A Hour Labor for the keys, if you want them to also do the shocks then another hour. A couple hours labor for someone else to do it. Is it worth to you paying that, or trying to do something that can be dangerous to do yourself and spend all day on? Up to you.

I have heard of some people using a jack to unload the torsion bar keys, but they are under extreme tension as they are effectively holding the entire weight of the front end and a jack is too precarious for me to try that method. You can get a Torsion Bar Unloading tool for around $100. Here is the first link I found

while doing a google search. It's basically a c-clamp on steriods. While you can get some lift out of new keys or, even tightening the keys you have, you may find that the front end reaches the bottom of it's travel quickly and you end up with a rough ride. I fit 285/70R17 tires on my 2006

2500HD 4x4 by trimming about 1/2 inch of the front plastic valance, wire tying the e-brake cable back a little and wire tying the the front and rear of the fenders a little. I didn't have to adjust my suspension at all. My tires are about the same size as a 285/75R16 tire.

The stock rims are only 6.5 inches wide and the 245/75R16 tire is the largest size recommended for that narrow of a rim. If you put that large a tire on such a narrow rim, it will "balloon" a bit and you have a slightly higher chance of knocking the bead off if the tire takes a sideways impact (i.e. offroading). Although you can put wider tires on that rim, some shops won't mount them because of liability.

You may want to check out

because there is a tremendous amount of information on all kinds of Chevy trucks, not just diesels and your question has been discussed many times in the "suspension and steering" and "wheels and tires" forums.