Replace Those Torsion Bar Adjusters!!!

[Robb]

I remember when my t-bar adjusters were removed from my '95, that they were just junk. But that really didn't surprise me, I had driven the piss out of that truck for about 7 years, and 80K miles. DRIVEN HARD!

Then I start to get a clunk on the driver's side of my '96 a couple of weeks ago. I finally get a chance to look at it today, and I am planning on a bad ball joint, bad sway bar link bushing, or something else obvious. Everything looks good and tight (except for the shocks are bad). Then I take a quick look back at the torsion bar adjuster, and the dam kevlar pad is sticking out of it! :fire: This truck only has 75K miles on it, and never been taken offroad or abused. This truck has 75K miles of normal onroad driving!!

IMO, this is flat crappy design by Ford. There is too much weight and tension in this area for simply installing kevlar pads. If you own a 2nd Gen Explorer, I would go ahead and plan on replacing these at 60K - 75K mile intervals. They just don't last any longer than that.

I have heard that the design changed on these somehow in '98, if someone could please post here on what changes were made, and if they are an improvement to the '95-'97 ones or not.

Robert has a nice thread here on what to look for, and how to replace them. Thank You Robert!

Pic of Robert's adjuster at 67K:

Pic of V8BoatBuilder's adjuster at 110K (I believe):

Pic of my adjusters from the '95, at about 100K, and the kevlar that I yanked out of the one on my '96, with about 75K:

 

[etc]

I *think* on the late years the kevlar was on the mount as opposed to the adjuster.

 

[Hartman]

I know mine need replacing. Maybe it will quiet my suspension a little bit. How much do these run from Ford?

 

[Robb]

FPN has them for $26/ each. Couldn't find them on rockauto. My dealer "employee" cost is $21, so I am thinking that normal dealer cost is around $30 or so.

 

[etc]

JGarret(GJarret?) paid 23.12 according to the other thread.

Robb:When did clunking happen? Like going over bumps/turning/etc?

 

[Mbrooks420]

So this may be my problem as well. (I have 73k) I have a very noticable clunking over bumps, mostly on the drivers side. I made an appointment for the ball joints, and the mechanic told me all ball joints, and my tie rod ends, and everything else up front looked to be in great shape. Was the handling effected? My steering is a little mushy lately, and if I hit smalll studder bumps on a curve the front end wanders a lot more than it should.

 

[Hartman]

I thought Kevlar was a little more durable than that.

 

[Fusion213]

Well, i'm pretty sure the design was changed in 98.
I've taken off my torsion bars and I do not have a kevlar patch, instead the adjuster has nothing on it and it goes into a hard plastic/rubbery light green pad that has an impression of the top of the adjuster.
That pad goes into it's own retainer.
I wish I took pictures, the thing that was a pain was keeping that pad into where it's retained and getting the torsion bar's adjuster to stay against the pad.

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

It's a really, really poor design on Ford's part. I think it might be worth investigating the 98+ switch. The torsion bars are the same, and the mounts are in the same place. I think the 98+ mounts bolt to frame while ours our welded. Might be as simple as grinding ours off, and bolting on a whole new rig. Similar to what Ray Loboto did for his lift kit.

 

[Hoppy]

I just bought a 2000 XLS 4X4 explorer and have the notorious torsion bar adjuster clunk. I do not think that the kevlar pads are a part of the torsion adjusters though. Looking at my adjusters underneath, the kevlar pad looks like a piece that is mounted to the torsion bar anchor bracket.

Anyone have any insight to this. My clunk is very bad. I am actually surprised because the truck only has 110,000 kilometres on it (~65,000 miles).

Thanks guys,

Hoppy

 

[frickea86]

wow, i wonder if this could be the answer to the popping noise i have had since about 60k on my passenger side, and it just got it on the driver side now at 100k...wow i'm looking into this, this weekend. Were would be a good place to buy new ones? If you go back to ford won't they just give you the same ones, i kinda want a little better quality. Thankx

 

[Hoppy]

After spending most of this evening under the truck doing this that and the other, mostly looking, I found nothing wrong. I did take the torsion adjusters off of the truck and cleaned the rubbing surfaces off, which there were no kevlar pads that I could see, or signs of them even being there. I did to cusion the area between the frame pad and the adjuster put in a piece of old serpentine belt on both adjusters and cranked the suckers back together. I still have a clunk. I also looked everywhere else on the front suspension to see if there were any other evident damage to any bushing or part, but didn't see anything.

Any Ideas?

Hoppy

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

95-97 Torsion bar adjusters had the kevlar patch on the "dogbone" adjuster. 98-01 Torsion bar "dogbones" do not have a kevlar patch, but instead the kevlar is on a removable torsion bar mount.

 

[etc]

I checked the price on the adjusters, and the 98+ are about $55, the 95-97 are $25.

 

[Hoppy]

Thanks for the help guys,

I still have the damned clunk though. I think I am going to try replacing the sway bar links to see if they are the culprit. A fellow in Toronto said that he had this problem and I am going to do what he did to see if that stops it.

If you guys have any other ideas, please let me know.

Hoppy

 

[Mbrooks420]

My guess is that it wouldn't be the endlinks, but the split bushing the bar goes through. I changed them on the Black Explorer and they lessened the clunking quite a bit. I changed the endlinks later, and it didn't seem to make much different.

 

[JDraper]

Front end sway bar end links fixed the clunk in my '01 Explorer. Had it to the dealer at least 3 times before for a front end clunk and they never found it. Finally told 'em "replace the end links!". They said, "we don't think that's the problem, but since we haven't been able to find it, we'll remove the swaybar and test drive it to see if it goes away." They test drove it, noise was gone!!! (Gee, an owner knowing more than the dealer...imagine that ). They then put new end links in, and the problem has not returned.

 

[Hoppy]

Well, End Links it will be then!

I'll give it a try. She just passed the safety inspection today, just an emissions test and she'll be on the road. Woo Hoo!

Hoppy

 

[dreamr]

I had this front end clunk on bumps since my TT. I changed sway bushings and end links. The sound was definately reduced but still present. Today I had it in for a different problem and they changed the ball joints on the passenger side, The clunk is gone. Seems there was lots of little things exagerating the clunk caused by the ball joint

 

[Hoppy]

Well guys,

That did it. The sway bar end links were bad. No more clunks.

Thanks for the help,

Hoppy