IFS Heavy Duty Upgrades!

[gavin]

I understand that also and I've done that before. I saying the torsion bars hadn't "twisted/ slipped" until after I hit a few bumps. I checked it before and after the drive. If you want, I can take a picture of how it looks now with the little shims in it and how far it is twisted. (driver side is worse than the passenger)

ah, gotcha.
honestly though, I don't know if I would blame the ride height on the arms.

I doubt they would be F150 LCAs, because I imagine those would be larger than Explorer arms and the knuckle couldn't line up properly. Although I could, of course, be wrong as I haven't actually seen an F150 LCA up close or been able to compare.

Unforunately for me, I believe I tossed the old LCAs, so I don't have any way of comparing with the Raybestos ones.

 

[ahodges]

I still have mine and the alignment of the hex looks right but the opening dimension is larger. Stock ones are 1.480" and the Raybestos ones are 1.535". The bar dimension across the center (flat to flat) is 1.460". Once I fix it, I'll post back with the ride hieght difference in inches.

 

[gavin]

Pass side

less blurry dri side

I, personally, would be comfortable saying that's about what it looked like with the original bars and OEM LCAs.
But these are the Raybestos LCAs.

And I cannot see that tiny amount causing a ride height drop of over an inch.

 

[ahodges]

Mine is wayyy worse than that. The points on my bars are almost exactly in the center of the flat spots of the hex on the LCA's. I drove about another 100 miles last night and by the end of the night my driver side wheel was rubbing the wheel well in the front and back. I can just barely get my thumb between the top of the tire and the fender. I've parked it until I get this fixed.

 

[ahodges]

I called Rockauto and they will not take them back for a refund because it is outside the 30 day return period. They said the only thing I could do is return them (paying for the shipping) and warranty them through Raybestos under their 2 year warranty and they would send me another new set (rockauto would pay that shipping)... In other words I'm screwed and now have nice pretty chucks of steel with spare ball joints..

 

[gavin]

Mine is wayyy worse than that. The points on my bars are almost exactly in the center of the flat spots of the hex on the LCA's. I drove about another 100 miles last night and by the end of the night my driver side wheel was rubbing the wheel well in the front and back. I can just barely get my thumb between the top of the tire and the fender. I've parked it until I get this fixed.

definitely sounds more like a wrong or defective part then.
sucks about the warranty through rockauto.
can't warranty them directly through Raybestos?
maybe find a local shop that sells Raybestos and see what they can do?

 

[ahodges]

I can warranty them through Raybestos but how is it that I got the only 2 LCA's with the odd sized hex!? I dont' want to risk it on them again at the cost of shipping the old ones back. I've dealt with these kinds of warranty's before too and they seem to never refund money, just replace parts.

 

[gmanpaint]

ahodges...
Share some pics of the new arms and t-bars installed please.

Link this thread to Ashley at Rock Auto & maybe he can chime in here.

I was thinking your t-bar hex might be the issue since you couldn't remove them from the stock arms, but now I'm just as lost as you are on this. :scratch:

 

[slickemhoundd]

Im curious as to how the inner tie rods hold up, ive bent my 4th set in a year and im getting fed up and need something beafier. please let me know,

 

[ahodges]

Pictures

Here we go. The shims being in there kind of make it harder to see how bad it is.

Right Side:

Left Side (worst of the 2):

Left side wheel clearance:

I realize these are slightly over sized tires but you can still see that there is a problem.

 

[gavin]

wow yeah, that's definitely off.
can definitely see it on the driver's side photo of the arm.
are there any numbers or stampings on the arm?
I can take a look at mine when I get home from work and post those up; I don't know the dimensions of the F150 arms, but gmanpaint could be correct with the guess that those might be F150 arms. Or wrong part, at least.

edit: ok, doesn't look like they can be F150 arms. Those are a much different design.

 

[ahodges]

The part numbers on the arms are RAYBESTOS 5071144 and RAYBESTOS 5071143.. I just came in from pulling them back off and don't want to go back and check for stamping numbers right now. The stock ones should be in tomorrow.

 

[gavin]

The part numbers on the arms are RAYBESTOS 5071144 and RAYBESTOS 5071143.. I just came in from pulling them back off and don't want to go back and check for stamping numbers right now. The stock ones should be in tomorrow.

I didn't see any stampings on mine, anyway.
doesn't look like there are any. at least as far as I can tell.

 

[ahodges]

As a side note, I sent Ashley a private message like gman suggested and got no results. I was told all returns have to be done through customer service even after I explained I've already done that..

 

[gmanpaint]

Sorry about the F-150 guess. There are plenty of other makes that use T-bar LCA set ups. My thinking was along the lines of them being to big and used for a heavier vehicle such as an F-150 or an Expedition/Excursion is all.

That being said...Maybe the T-bars are worn? Wrong size?

Rockauto deals with many many diff forums and makes of vehicles. I wouldn't be surprised if they just haven't had a chance to read the PM's sent as of yet. A phone call would be the way to go for a faster response.

 

[ahodges]

Sorry about the F-150 guess. There are plenty of other makes that use T-bar LCA set ups. My thinking was along the lines of them being to big and used for a heavier vehicle such as an F-150 or an Expedition/Excursion is all.

That being said...Maybe the T-bars are worn? Wrong size?

Rockauto deals with many many diff forums and makes of vehicles. I wouldn't be surprised if they just haven't had a chance to read the PM's sent as of yet. A phone call would be the way to go for a faster response.

That's ok. I appreciate the help. I gave customer service a call about it and the only thing they would do for me is send me a new set if I returned the old ones - not the route I wanted to go. I'm sure the shipping is quite a bit to ship those things around and I don't want to eat the cost of the return shipping when I have no reason to believe that the second set would be any better. I PMed Ashely and he did reply with the response that I had to go through customer service.

The T-bars are brand new #1 factory Ford explorer bars (the stiffest they make which were used on the FX4 rangers), I double checked the numbers on those as well.

I'll be installing the new Ford LCA's tonight and I'll take pictures of them installed.

 

[ahodges]

Stock Motorcraft LCA's

I installed the new ones last night and rolled the truck forward and backward. In these pictures I still have about 1/4" of threads left showing on the adjustment bolts...

Left Side

Right Side

Left Side Ride hieght

The hex that the torsion bars go through is smaller and thicker walled then the Raybestos ones..

 

[4rd4life]

I installed the new ones last night and rolled the truck forward and backward. In these pictures I still have about 1/4" of threads left showing on the adjustment bolts...

cool im glad something worked out for you

 

[gmanpaint]

Need to show Raybesto what you found out. Surely they will investigate it and return your $$ to you.

This is the first negative issue I have heard about with them, and hope it is the last.

 

[Traillover]

Wow, great write-up.... Guys like you make owning a Ford a blessing....