So my torsion bar exploded.

[Paraphoe]

Hey all. Been a while, but wanted to hop on and share this bizarre and disconcerting story of my torsion bar basically exploding (that's a bit dramatic but let's go with it). I was away on business for 5 days and returned to find my truck in the state you see it below: suspiciously low on the front driver's side.

I took a peek under, and the problem was obvious. The driver's side torsion bar has completely given up - it split in a spiral pattern and completely separated. I've never seen or heard of anything like this. See picture below.

I thank whatever gods are up there that this didn't happen on the highway at 70 MPH, because there is NO question I would have rolled and probably wouldn't be typing this right now. Not only that, but I was 1,500 miles away and not even driving the truck. It's extremely bizarre to me that it happened as the truck sat completely idle. Has anyone seen or experienced anything like this before? I've had the torsion bars "cranked" for years now - I'm sure the added stress has contributed to this, but it's still shocking to me.

 

[swshawaii]

WOW! Not the first time on EF, but definitely a rare occurrence.
Torsion Bar Broken | Ford Explorer and Ford Ranger Forums - Serious Explorations

 

[2TimingTom]

Wow! That sucks. I do remember reading about the one linked above. Both happened while parked. Both from areas also known for rust.

 

[UtahX]

Wow is right. Thankfully you were not driving.

 

[XLTrunner]

You are indeed fortunate...and, lesson learned. It's not advisable IMO to be messing around with "cranking" these torsion bars beyond their intended settings from the factory as steel has it's limits.

 

[1998Exp]

Anyone here who served on M48/M60 "General Patton" tanks? Replacing broken torsion bars in their suspension system was almost a daily ritual.

 

[96eb96]

The suspension dropped a bit when it happened, wasn't even that noticeable. Landed on the bump stops. Tire rubbed a tiny bit. Now with larger tires who knows what would happen. More scared about being under the truck when something like this happens!!! Reminder to always use frame supports!

I'm not convinced cranking the T-bars stresses them out. All you are doing is raising the baseline. Rust and torsion cycles are another story.