Slight Body Lean - How do I level it out?

[BTR]

2000 Explorer XLT 4-Door 2WD 4.0L SOHC 5R55E Automatic. Over the years, it has developed a slight lean on the driver side, i.e., the driver side is lower than the passenger side. Control arms, ball joints, sway bar links, and shocks have been replaced regularly. It's never been in a wreck. There are no broken suspension parts. How do I get rid of the lean? Please advise. Thanks.

 

[410Fortune]

Adjust the torsion bar
Bolts until both fender lips sit at same height off the ground.
First check all tire pressures make sure they are even
Next with a half tank of fuel (ideally) and a driver in the seat adjust the torsion bars until both sides are even Steven

 

[Fix4Dirt]

the standard explora' lean!!! as said by 410, just crank the tbar slightly to level it out. they sag more cause the driver, battery, and fuel tank are all on one side imo.

 

[Mbrooks420]

I’d measure from the control arms. Those will be more exacting than the fender lips, which could have been hung wrong, and moved since it rolled off the line.

The best way to fix this is with new leaf springs. If you look under the truck your drivers leaf will be flatter. Adjusting t t bars won’t help the rear lean much.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

I’d measure from the control arms. Those will be more exacting than the fender lips, which could have been hung wrong, and moved since it rolled off the line.

wasnt it from the center of the hub to the frnder? but i dont know though. or you could do what gerald did- the torsion.... torsion lower! so to match the sag, one could lowr it slightly to match. or YJ shackles to level, or as you mentioned new leaves

 

[Mbrooks420]

wasnt it from the center of the hub to the frnder? but i dont know though. or you could do what gerald did- the torsion.... torsion lower! so to match the sag, one could lowr it slightly to match. or YJ shackles to level, or as you mentioned new leaves

You want to measure from something frame or suspension related to flat ground. Those are going to be much more repeatable than the fenders.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

You want to measure from something frame or suspension related to flat ground. Those are going to be much more repeatable than the fenders.

10-4

 

[BKennedy]

The rear of my Explorer's frame was 1" higher on the passenger side when it was six months old. The dealership said it was within specifications. When I did custom rear shock mounts, I had to make them uneven to the frame to get them right. I would eyeball it since the lean is visual. That's how I leveled mine when I did the SAS because the shock hoops were slightly different and the body and frame have seen a lot of use.

 

[swshawaii]

The notorious Ranger or gangsta lean.

Keep in mind that camber changes when ride height is altered with the torsion bolts. This may or may not require alignment, but have it checked.

Also, height adjustment affects the opposite rear corner. Driver front up = passenger rear down, etc. May take several attempts to get even as possible and the front should be heavily jounced before measuring. Find some tall speed bumps. Don't believe I've read of anyone getting ALL corners closer than 1/4" of each other.

 

[BTR]

2000 Explorer XLT 4-Door 2WD 4.0L SOHC 5R55E Automatic.

@410Fortune - Good tips... thanks. [Check tire pressures; make sure they're even.] [Adjust torsion bars with 1/2 tank gas and a driver in the seat.]

@BKennedy - Re "The rear of my Explorer's frame was 1" higher on the passenger side when it was six months old," that's intriguing. Based on that, I'm curious. Thus, before I do anything, I'm going to gather frame-to-ground and control arm drop measurements all around.

@swshawaii - Re "Keep in mind that camber changes when ride height is altered with the torsion bolts," my understanding is that camber cannot be adjusted on my Explorer unless an aftermarket kit is used (which I don't have). However, regardless, I'll check the cambers before and after. I'm interested to see what will happen, how much, etc.

 

[Mbrooks420]

2000 Explorer XLT 4-Door 2WD 4.0L SOHC 5R55E Automatic.

@410Fortune - Good tips... thanks. [Check tire pressures; make sure they're even.] [Adjust torsion bars with 1/2 tank gas and a driver in the seat.]

@BKennedy - Re "The rear of my Explorer's frame was 1" higher on the passenger side when it was six months old," that's intriguing. Based on that, I'm curious. Thus, before I do anything, I'm going to gather frame-to-ground and control arm drop measurements all around.

@swshawaii - Re "Keep in mind that camber changes when ride height is altered with the torsion bolts," my understanding is that camber cannot be adjusted on my Explorer unless an aftermarket kit is used (which I don't have). However, regardless, I'll check the cambers before and after. I'm interested to see what will happen, how much, etc.

I believe the camber concentric kits just allow more adjustment. There’s factory adjustment available.

 

[swshawaii]

Setting Camber/Caster After Torison Twist?

I just did my shackles/TT lift and gained maybe an 1 inch. After which, I went to get an alignment. They told me that because I had lifted it, they would only be able to adjust the toe. And that the camber/caster acceptable ranges that their machine uses would no longer be valid. Is this true...

www.explorerforum.com

Torsion Bar Bolts and Adjustment Question

I’ve always noticed that the front of my Explorer is lower on the driver’s side. I made sure my tires had equal pressure and measured at the center of the wheel well. Sure enough the driver’s side is about 1” lower than the passenger side. I crawled under the truck and the passenger side...

www.explorerforum.com

explorer forum camber and toe change after ride height adjustment - Google Search

 

[Dennis J.A.A.]

2000 Explorer XLT 4-Door 2WD 4.0L SOHC 5R55E Automatic. Over the years, it has developed a slight lean on the driver side, i.e., the driver side is lower than the passenger side. Control arms, ball joints, sway bar links, and shocks have been replaced regularly. It's never been in a wreck. There are no broken suspension parts. How do I get rid of the lean? Please advise. Thanks.

Amazing how you get great answers.
When I asked my friends, many years ago, they just told me to lose weight!

 

[DintDobbs]

@BTR Best way is to replace the leaf springs and torsion bars together with new, then adjust the t-bar height to level both sides and get an alignment.

Due to the t-bar's rotational function, the camber changes as the suspension is raised and lowered. Because of this, if it leans to one side, the camber is going to be off, due to the uneven load on the IFS.

If you don't want to buy new leaf springs, just switch the sides they're on and boom, fixed the rear. Front end, not so simple.

 

[c96drumm]

Yep, mine does that, but the alignment is perfect with it that way, so I just ignore the lean.

 

[BTR]

@DintDobbs - Good tips... thanks. Over the years, I've noticed that as my front shocks become more-and-more "worn," correspondingly my front camber moves more-and-more in the negative direction. The result is uneven wear on the front tires. Specifically, increased wear on the insides of the tires. Given all of this, I've often wondered if the torsion bars could be adjusted proportionately to the shocks "wearing"... and one could achieve zero tire wear until replacement of the shocks.

 

[410Fortune]

The shocks only control the rebound of the spring they do not effect the height of the vehicle
The torsion bars are springs and in time they get weak the front sags and the camber goes negative
You can adjust the t bar bolts to bring camber back into spec, amazingly this will also bring the truck very close to level
If the t bar bolts can no longer bring camber back and level the truck then it is time for new springs, possibly all the way around

 

[DintDobbs]

@410Fortune True and not true, depends on the shocks. On lighter vehicles such as the 2-doors, air/gas shocks designed for the 4-doors will actually make a small difference in height, like maybe 1/2 inch or so, in extreme cases. My Superlift Shadows are designed for the Ranger, and made a small increase in height over the Rancho R5000 hydros I had before. Hydraulic shocks will never affect the ride height.

 

[BTR]

On the driver side (the sagging side) I added 5 clockwise turns of the torsion bar adjustment bolt. This got it to where the front left and front right frame-to-LCA measurements are now the same. I ran out of time so I have to go back and take detailed camber measurements, but preliminary rough measurements show that some (not all) of the negative camber on the driver side was removed. Visually, the truck no longer appears to be sagging on the driver side. However, interestingly, the front left and front right fender-to-ground measurements are not equal... the driver side is about 3/4" lower than the passenger side.

I'm going to drive it for a few days... including going over some speed bumps... and then take the measurements again.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Shocks should have zero effect on ride height. They don’t lift, you can compress them by hand.