Torsion Bar 101, Everything you Need to look for!

[albi1cnobi1]

99 explorer-mount torsion bar adjustment

Hey everyone I'm new to this forum my question may be an old one and oft repeated, but I need to replace one of my torsion bar adjustment bolts (drivers side) and I was wondering if I can just remove old and install new. Will anything come apart or other "bad things" happen. Any help greatly appreciated. I have learned alot from the forum, thanks, Al

 

[CDW6212R]

Welcome Al, and you can remove the bolt at any time with no harm to you. But, each time you make any adjustment, that alters the ride height and camber. A new alignment is needed each time.

Why are you replacing a bolt? The bolts are not hard to remove, but do not try to tighten those bolts with the vehicle on the ground. There is a ton of pressure on them. Lift the front tires off the ground to crank the bolts in. That's also helpful to take them out, but not nearly as hard as to go in with them. Regards,

 

[albi1cnobi1]

torsion bar adjustment bolts

Thanks, CDW6212R. I'm replacing (possibly) the drivers side because I'm adding lift shackles to the rear and I've read in the forums that to level out the front there may not be enough adjustment in the drivers side bolt. It may be enough but I was just checking in case I needed to replace it. I'm only going up about 1.5" or so , I'm hoping there is enough there. When I install the shackles and level it out I'll post to let you all know the results. Thanks again.

 

[CDW6212R]

Gotcha, my bolts were at least an inch apart to get them level. That seems to be common.

 

[cjryan]

any issues with 2" or less

I read numerous times that doing a TT with 2" or less won't cause the CV axles to wear prematurely. But I've only got 60,000 miles on my ex. I don't want to do anything that will cause the cv's or anything else to fail prematurely since I'll probably have this ex for a while. Anyone have any problems on a 4x4 second gen after doing a TT (2 in. or less) with shackles?

 

[Mbrooks420]

You'll be fine with the TT. I've run mine for 4-5 years and have 167k on the stock cv's, prob have almost 100k on the TT. I abuse my truck on a regular basis.

 

[extream_dreamz]

question

When I stop it feels like my 99 sport lifts u in the rear and feels loose when i drive over bumps it feels fine.
i noticed that the front of my truck sits higher than the rear
I was wondering if i lowered the front end by doing the torsion twist is it would tighten up my suspension and stop it from feeling loose

 

[albi1cnobi1]

ex dreamz if you lower the front end you will be loosening the front suspension and making it softer. It's pretty common for the rear to sag on these trucks, and rather than lowering the front you might want to consider raising the rear either by extended shackles or add-a-leafs. If the front dips when braking there could be another cause, possibly brake related. It could be the brake proportioning valve, or maybe bad rear pads or shoes. (depending on whether you have discs or drums in back) The proportioning valve splits the stopping duties between the front and the rear, and if the fronts are doing all the work that could be why the front is dipping when stopping. If all that checks out then I would go to the suspension, but that wouldn't be first on my list of suspects. Good luck and let us know how you make out. Al

 

[gmanpaint]

Lift the rear. Used springs from Junkyard, or new ones will get you some lift.

Check the shocks for front end nose dives. Side to side, swaybar links and bushings.

 

[extream_dreamz]

where would i find the proportioning valve?
I am having some issues with the brakes a have both discs and drums on the rear drums are in the discs for the e-brake
how would i test it?
thanks for your replys

 

[albi1cnobi1]

The proportioning valve is on or near the master cylinder. If you have ABS then the units are one in the same. The drums on the rear are like you said, for the e-brake and have no bearing on the back brakes. The only way to check the valve that I know of is on a brake skid, but there may be other ways. If any one knows they can let us both know.

 

[RammaR]

This is going to sound like an odd question, but what is/was the stock ride height? I did the shackles and TT years ago. This weekend I installed a set of add-a-leafs and want to crank the front up to match.

The rear fenders are sitting at 36" from the ground and I've maxed front bolts all the way and its only at ~35". I could go with longer bolts or maybe stiffer bars - but everything i've read says don't go more than 2" up. I just can't recall where that 2" started - ha.

Thanks in advance.

 

[steelo1]

Actually I'd be interested in this too, & that would be with stock tyres (not anymore though LOL) 255/70/16's & ground to lip of guards eh?
I'm at 35" allround with 265/70/16 A/T's
thanks

p.s. oh & for a gen 2 X, thanks

 

[Mbrooks420]

There will be no set numbers. All Explorers are different, and tires of the same size and different brand will vary as well. Explorers are also never the same all the way around.

 

[CDW6212R]

There will be no set numbers. All Explorers are different, and tires of the same size and different brand will vary as well. Explorers are also never the same all the way around.

Ditto, and they should not be the same all around. The truck is made of hundreds of parts, and variations in fenders, body mounts, the frame, control arms, and mounting hole tolerances, those affect ride height.

The suspension should be level, not the body. The suspension does the work, the fenders are just hung there for looks. Doesn't anyone ever watch car racing, and know what handling balance is, jacking a corner etc?

When you make the suspension not level, the truck doesn't handle the best it can. It will be better in one direction and worse in the other. That may be great for a circle track car, NASCAR etc, but bad for street use.

Make the suspension level, measure from the suspension to the ground, on level ground. Find a suspension point at each corner, and make the left and right measurements the same. Do that and then go get an alignment. No one on Earth can look at your truck and tell if the left fender is different than the right, plus they don't care. Worry about the suspension, the handling and safety. Regards,

 

[duggyd123]

do i tighten the bolt or loosen it to lift it and how do i know what rating mine have from the factory

 

[CDW6212R]

Tighten them to lift the front, first lift the tires off the ground. You can lower with the tires on the ground. The front of each bar has the rating, ignore the "L/R/U" letters.

 

[RammaR]

Make the suspension level, measure from the suspension to the ground, on level ground. Find a suspension point at each corner, and make the left and right measurements the same. Do that and then go get an alignment.

That's all fine and good - but it'd still be useful to know the approximate ride height of a stock explorer. The Haynes manual actually says to measure ride height as the difference between the pivot bolt of the lower control arm and the lowest point on the spindle. I agree that as long as a consistent reference point is used, it shouldn't matter much how you measure the suspension.

My original question goes back to what is the approximate stock ride height? If you're not supposed to go up more than 2" from that point, what's that maximum level (roughly)? Sure every vehicle is different, but they do have some sort of tolerance / consistency. Did you ever see a stock factory truck sit 4" higher than the others?

 

[joecrna]

Not usually but 2" or a little more isn"t uncommon, if you're talking about a body point. The Haynes manual is technically correct. However, none of us measure there. Its just to big of a PITA (floor must be smooth, use exact same spot on pivot and spindle each time/side and keep imaginary line from spindle to pivot perfectly parallel to floor).

I understand your frustration but the "stock" measurement means little to anyone but the engineers designing the truck. You can easily determine how much you raise, or lower, your truck by choosing any arbitrary point. If you haven't owned the truck in question since new, there is no easy answer.

 

[duggyd123]

anyone know where i can purchase the warrior shackles from in the usa and how much there are i have a 95