For all You IFS's

[Ryan1]

In addition to my Exploder I also have an 88 4Runner. The front is IFS. The Point of this Email is that 6 years ago when I bought the thing the cheap way to lift it was To Tweak the torsion bars which is now called a Torsion twist. Anyways you would get anywhere from 1-2 inches of lift.

But, Downey offroad made a thicker Stronger torsion bar that you could replace your stock ones with. Which would add an additions 1/2 to 1 inch of lift but they were A hell of a lot stronger. I beilve that the stock were refered to as 24 millimeter and the aftermaret were 26 millimeters.

Now that I saw that Gjarrett Broke one, I was wondering how similar and or different the IFS setups were for a Yota and And X are. Do you think they that one of you could make them fit ( that is if there arent any aftermarket torsion bars for the X, Ive never seen them). You would get a little more lift and be a lot stronger

another note, was that tons of people warned me that tweaking my torsion bars like that, would make them more prone to breakage and actually had a buddy that stated he had seen a couple of them roll when they broke at highway speed, because the torsion bar would break, that side would drop down causing the whole load to shift to that front tire and just roll right on over.

But this is just all an Idea for all you fellas that are trying to get a little more lift out of that front IFS and it would actually stiffen the ride up front more.

Ryan

 

[Jefe]

1 - I don't think a toyota torsion bar would work on a ford. They may be different lengths and probably mount differently. I have a friend with an Isuzu rodeo, and his bars are about 6" longer than mine, and neither the front or the back of the bar are the same as the explorer.

2 - there is no way that I'd want a stiffer torsion bar. if anything I'd want something softer so that I could get more flex, more easily.

3 - a stiffer torsion bar will not give you more lift unless its because you're maxing out the torsion bolt, and if that's the case, there is a fix for that. otherwise after about 2.5 - 3.5 inches you will run out of down-travel because either your shock, or ball joint or CV joint is maxing out. . .and without down-travel you're screwed off-road. (not to mention it'd make for a bad ride on-road)

 

[Ryan1]

Like I stated in my original post, Its just an Idea.

Also the reason that it lifted the 4runner is because it was a larger torsion bar not JUST Stronger.

Ryan

 

[Jefe]

Sorry. . I didn't mean to shot you down in my last post. . just trying to be informative. But I seem to be a little tired, and didn't convey that very well.

 

[GJarrett]

It's a thought, but I doubt if anyone would make larger ones: we're having enough trouble getting aftermarket companies to pay attention to us and manufacture other stuff for our vehicles.

One reason I posted that news of my breakage was to make sure that I was truly the only one, and it seems to be so. The stock Explorer part is already strong enough that no one has broken one from the twist.

The bar I broke was the heaviest rated "B" bar and is already very big. I was able to pinpoint an exact area of damage that caused the weakness preceding the failure. That damage would have affected any bar no matter how it was manufactured, and I very seriously doubt that my torsion twist had anything at all to do with the failure. It was pretty obvious to me that the damage caused the failure and whether I was twisted or not it had no bearing on the event of the breakage.

It's an intriguing idea, but I wonder if there really is a need for it on the Explorer. There's an awful lot of us out there with the twists and the torsion twist hasn't caused a failure yet.

 

[JDraper]

Doing a torsion twist does not apply more force to the torsion bars under normal driving conditions. When you do a torsion twist you are just changing the height of the vehicle, not how much pressure the bars are under. Even though the truck will sit higher, the truck still weighs the same, so the force applied is the same. The difference is that the bars are rotated slightly from their original position. The only time you will be applying more force to the torsion bars (after doing "the twist") is when you have the suspension fully compressed.

Gerald, you're right on the nose about what caused your failure. I see parts like that come through my office all the time. My company makes equipment to detect cracking and corrosion before it leads to failure. Any time you 'ding' a component (like a Torsion Bar) that is under stress, you introduce a stress riser in the part. Continued flexing of the part will usually result in a crack and lead to the failure.

 

[Rick]

A few things about torsion bars.

Increasing vehicle height by twisting the adjusters DOES put them under more tension. That's how you get the lift. Turning the adjuster bolt doesn't magically lift the vehicle, it twists the torsion bar putting it under more tension and effectively changes the spring rate. The torsion bar is designed for full suspension movement with x amount of preload. If you increase the preload by twisting the bars the bars will then have to allow the same suspension movement while they are set tighter. That's outside of design spec.

Installing larger diameter HD bars is the best way to get more lift without stressing the bars. The reason is the larger diameter bars can support the increased vehicle height without cranking so far on the adjustment bolt. The spring rate of the torsion bar is already higher allowing more load to be carried, or the same load to be carried higher.

Damaging a coil spring in the same way the torsion bar was damaged on Geralds truck will also lead to failure.

 

[DesertSpive]

Yeah, but our problem is that no one makes an upgraded t-bar for our front ends, that I know of. I have heard of people using F-150 bars, but I have no idea how one would make them fit. Anyone know how it is done, or anyone making stronger bars?

--Sean

 

[Jason_25]

Originally posted by DesertSpive
Yeah, but our problem is that no one makes an upgraded t-bar for our front ends, that I know of. I have heard of people using F-150 bars, but I have no idea how one would make them fit. Anyone know how it is done, or anyone making stronger bars?

--Sean

Well that would depend on what torsion bars you already have on your truck. You can always go and get a b-rated bar if you don't already have one and get a little lift from it.