Torsion lift & CVs

[MyExploder]

Has anyone ever heard of a CV joint failure on the front diff due to the torsion "twist lift".And if so, what are thi signs and symptoms of a failin CV?

 

[GJarrett]

Not yet that I've heard

I've got well over 30,000 miles on mine and haven't fried a CV yet. Evidently the long-term viability of the mod is proving itself out.

 

[MyExploder]

I'm getting a popping/grinding noise when I take off from a dead stop. It's only during hard acceleration and stops at about 35-40 mph...when the control trac cuts out....Any ideas? Thanks...

 

[NoBoundaries]

I would have to say that it is your 4wd Auto kicking in when you start up. This is a common event and is nothing to worry about, and you are right, it stops at about 35-40 mph, exactly when the Control Trac cuts off. This sort of popping seems to be more common in Sports, at least it seems to be more noticable in Sports. But like I said, its nothing to worry about, probably your truck sensing a little slippage in hard acceleration and kicking power into you front end. My guess is that it is more noticable in Sports because of their light weight, making it easier for the tires to slip out then the heavier four doors. Hope this helps.

 

[ExplorGM]

CV Failure

Sam,
After 50K miles, no CV problems with the Torsion lift/upgrade. I don't recommend going all the way up on the adjuster bolts though. I can hear the bearings at full lift.
Rick

 

[MyExploder]

Wow...all I know that sometimes it's worse than others and that it is annoying. Does anyone think thaat it's odd that one of the adjuster bolts is almost all the way in while the other is almost all the way out? Thanks for your help!!

 

[Tom Wilk]

MyEx, I think it's odd, but mine are uneven as well. Been that way since I adjusted out the Explorer "lean". Stayed that way after the spring transplant. My right one is about 1/2 way in, while the driver's side is over 3/4 of the way in now. Seems to be the nature of the beast, as others here have experienced the same thing.

 

[MyExploder]

Ok...I guess that I'll have the dealer look at it and chec it out. Do you think that I ought to twist it down when I take it in so they can't blame anything on the "lift"?
Thanks again too all!!

 

[Ray Lobato]

MyExploder,
The reason that the adjusters are at different lengths is because the torsions bars are NOT the same length. The bar on the passenger side is longer, while the bar on the drivers side is shorter, therefore it does not need to be adjusted as much.

 

[GJarrett]

Ray, it's possible MyExploder has a separate issue to that one. I did.

MyExploder, if you have vastly different settings on your adjuster bolts to keep the same level, you may have the same situation mine did. When I first tried cranking mine up, I had no problems cranking my right one up a ways but my left one only went a couple of threads. It was ALREADY cranked all the way up. What to do? I couldn't do a torsion lift because there were no threads left to raise my left one.

I took a real close look, and you can to. Wipe the dirt off the front of your torsion bars where they show in the hole in your lower control arm. They are stamped. You can probably read something like "DL" on one which means you are looking at your left one and it is a "D" rated torsion bar.

What I noticed was that my right torsion bar stamp read level, but my left one was ****ed over. I realized that the factory had installed my torsion bar 1/6 turn off!

I removed my left torsion bar (whole 'nuther project and subject) and reinserted it 1/6th turn over to match the torsion bolt adjuster thread play of the right one and was able to crank that baby up to match the right one then.

I'm betting you have a torsion bar installed 1/6th turn off. Take a look and let me know if I was right.

 

[Tom Wilk]

Interesting observation, Gerald. I'll have to check mine to see if they're the same or not.

On another note, does anybody know if there's a specification as to how much angle is permissable for the CV joints when the vehicle is at rest? This might give people an idea as to how much they can crank the torsion adjusters and still be within spec.

 

[William Schumacher]

ome springs and b-code bars being done today

My truck is at the shop getting the ome 36 springs and the b-code bars as I'm replying to this thread,will be ready tommorow,(wed),they are charging me $175. to do the whole job,it did not seem to be allot,but hell....I would not know if thats good or bad.
but i'm exited just the same though !!!!!!!!!!!!
next will be a borla cat back#14748

 

[Keith]

So you are saying that both bars should read level and the bolts will end up being the same length?

My drivers side is 1/3 to the right and my passenger side one is about 1/3 to the left. So they are at opposite positions.

My drivers side bolt is all the way in and my passenger side is a 1/4 of the way in. So hope fully by fixxing their position i will solve the problem with the bolts.

 

[GJarrett]

Well, that's not exactly what I said

Even though I rotated my left one, it still did not have as much play as the right one. My left one is now cranked up about as far as it will go and the right one still has plenty of play left. But by rotating my left one I was able to get the front of my vehicle up over 1.5". I'd have to rotate my left one another notch AGAIN to get anymore. I know better than to try that.

I guess what I AM saying is that if you measure your lift before playing around with it, we all know by now that 1.5" - 1.75" of lift is safe (2" may be too much). If you are not able to crank a torsion bar enough to get it up there, then you can pull the torsion out of its hexagonal slot and rotate it one angle to give you the ability to crank it up some more to get there.

I'm not going to stand here and guarantee that Ford stamped all their other torsion bars straight and that is a foolproof way of figuring out where yours fits in. The basic concept is:
a) Explorers can tolerate a torsion lift in the 1.5" - 1.75" range; and
b) If one of your torsion bar adjuster bolts reaches the end of its threads before you get there, you can rotate the bar to allow you to use the adjuster bolt to readjust to that level.

Hope that made sense.


[Edited by GJarrett on 07-11-2000 at 09:08 PM]

 

[ExplorGM]

Bar length...

Another reason for bolt differences could be fatigue. The lengths are different because of weight and the fact that most are driven with an extra 150+ lbs on the drivers side more often than not. As the bars fatigue, they may do so at different rates. Mine were off as well, and when I installed the upgraded new "B" code bars, they matched again. The "B" bars were probably my best modification yet, as they raised the truck slightly without even cranking the adjuster bolts, and improved handling immensely. They also have helped with the bigger tires in keeping them out of the tops of the fenders on impact.
Rick

 

[William Schumacher]

hey Rick: I just did the ome springs and the b- code bars on my sport !!!,what a difference in the height ,but my question is did you crank the b bars or not,I noticed that with the b bars the height in the front went up some,but I also manualy brought the front up with the adjusters,to just below level,1/4" lower than the rear,man, the truck sits up nice.

my mistake though was getting the stock size bfg t/a ko 255/70/16 a few months back,I'm going to try to trade them in for bigger t/a ko's,do you think they would
take the tires back with only 3600 miles on them without myself taking a huge hit ???