Torson Twist, Warrior Shackles and leaf bundles, a Fresh Look

[Leucoandro]

Torsion Twist, Warrior Shackles and leaf bundles, a Fresh Look

Hello Everyone I just thought that I would do a fresh Thread on suspension to consolidate and get a couple of my questions answered. Most will deal with my Experiance with a 97 Explorer Sport.
First We will Talk about General Lifting. Start by Doing a TT Lift. It is simpler and harder than it sounds.
Simple
1) on a flat surface measure the distance between the ground and fender wall on both sides of the front of your truck. Remember these numbers. and add at max 2" as your desired lift. and wd 40 your TT Bolts
2) on the center of your front end jack it up, make sure that both sides ballance and make sure that both wheels are off the ground and resting at there farthest down possision.
3)tighten your TT bolts equally on both sides and let the front end down. measure both sides and repeat until you have the desired lift.

For the rear end simply add a set of warrior 153 shackles, it is fairly simple and the shackles come with instructions. (tip, you might want to pick up about 4 washeres that will fit the bolts for the warrior shackles incase you have any slack you need to take up in them.)

Next (and this is my question part) stronger suspension.)
On my front end I have F rated T Bars. This ride seems a little light weight for me and I was wanting to get a stiffer ride, but not too uncomfortable. So I was thinking about going to the D rates T Bars for the front end. Will that make the ride stiff enough? Should I go to the B T Bars. Also I believe that my T bars in the front might be off. I have both sides cranked up the same, but my left side always sits about 1/2 to 3/4 inch lower. even when I let the right side down and leave the left alone, the left side still is lower. If I were to keep my current T Bars should I adjust my left side?

In addition
I have the 97 explorer sport with the Mono Spring in the rear, and I hate it. I am wanting to go to the 3 leaf bundle with a O/L spring. I found a bundle at a Junk yard for $25 per side. Now the thing is it is from a 97 explorer 4 door. I think I read that I can change these out, although details are scetchy. Would there be any serious mods I would have to do to put the bundle from the explorer 4 door under my truck? What all parts do I need to get from the yard? Do I just need the leaf spring bundle, or do I need I need additional parts, IE different U bolts, or different shock mount? Has anyone done these mods before and can give me any details of things I might encounter?

Final Q
If I change my T bar to a D rated do I have to use one from a 2 door, or am I able to use one from a 4 door also? I read in one thread that I have to use one from a 2 door and in another I read that I can use one from a 4 door. If I go from F Rated T bar to D rated, how much firmer will that make my ride? How hard is it to change T bars?

Here is my plan. If the T bars and Rear Leaf are interchangable between the 4 door and 2 door explorers. Then I will go down to the Junk yard and find a 4 door explorer with D Rated T bars, then I will Take the T bars and leaf bundle off (I will asume that the front suspension and rear suspension match) and Install them on my truck to give it a firmer ride with the lift I already have from the warrior shackles and redoing the TT lift. Does this sound like a Workable plan without too much work? (I just added a block on the rear end of my friends Yucon [gasp] and I am not planning on the rear leaf bundle swap on the explorer to be much harder than adding a that blasted block, Especially because he already had the rear end totally removed on his yucon before I could get there to help, he made it a little harder than it had to be) Anyways Any info would be appriciated
Thanks

Charles

 

[Leucoandro]

Added Note

Also I believe that my T bars in the front might be off. I have both sides cranked up the same, but my left side always sits about 1/2 to 3/4 inch lower. even when I let the right side down and leave the left alone, the left side still is lower. If I were to keep my current T Bars should I adjust my left side?
______________________________
I didnt say that too clearly, what I Was wondering is if I should pull my left torson bar turn it one notch counter clockwize I think and reinstall it to level off the front end. (I read somewhere that this can work for leveling out the 2 sides. Does it?

 

[jimbo74]

the left sags becuase the gas tank is on that side, and a full gas tank is like 150 pounds

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by jimabena74
the left sags becuase the gas tank is on that side, and a full gas tank is like 150 pounds

Jim, I've measured the height from my back, left fender to the ground before and after filling up with gas and it only affected it 1/8". In addition, the exhuast, muffler & catalytic converters which are on the other side will make up for about a 1/2 tank of gas. There has to be some other reason why Explorers sag on the left side.

 

[ExplorGM]

B-Bars

Leucoandro,
I suggest you go with the B bars if you are going to do any frequent offroading. They will stiffen up the handling and you won't have to crank your adjusters up very much at all. My thought is that they will probably hold up longer than other bars under repeated punishment. Also if you plan to add a brush guard, winch, or any other weight to your front end the stiffer bars will help. Of course, I like the firmer ride and you may like a smoother ride...

When doing my research at the dealer's I found that the bars are the same length for both the 4 door and the sport (on the 95 at least) and probably for the 97 as well as there is probably no difference. The only differences are in the weight bearing specs/codes.

I would probably go to the dealer and spend the extra dough on new T-bars though. No sense getting bars that have already started to "sag". New ones are pretty cheap. The rear leaves are different as you can get an add a leaf to help them, but on the front you are stuck with what you get.

There is already a pretty good instruction page for the TT lift on the site, but here is one that I did back when I first put on the TT which is mainly useful for the part numbers and costs.... I especially recommend getting new torsion bolts! Keep the old ones for spares! The part numbers are listed below. This parts list was done in 1997 when I did the lift so most should be applicable to your 1997, assuming the parts are still available. Prices may have gone up since then though...

Explorer 2" Lift

Front Torsion Bar Replacement
Take a measurement of your starting lift before you start the procedure. Then measure again immediately after you are finished. Drive for a few days and measure in the same spot again. This will tell you how much your springs have settled, and if you need to replace them. If your original torsion bars are in good shape and not sagging, you can gain most of your lift from simply adusting the adjuster bolts all the way in. Try it and drive for a few days. If you lose much of the lift go for new upgraded bars.
For the most durable lift, swap your torsion bars for stiffer factory bars if you can. The stiffest are the "B" code bars. My 95 came with "D" code bars because of the factory brush guard. Four door Explorers with a V8 may already have the "B"code bars. You can check your front and back suspension codes on the driver's side door jamb. The softest bars are the "L" coded bars.
The replacement bars were $49.62 & $47.92 each. The right and left sides are different lengths. New adjusters were $40.00 a pair. Mine were slightly rounded and one was "welded" to the bar so I opted to replace both. If your Explorer front end takes a beating, replace them! I also replaced the sway bar links and parts. These studs were longer than the originals which gave me a little more lift. $54.76 for all the link parts.
Get a Haynes manual for complete instructions and pictures. The manual covers pre-94s as well as the new suspension in the 95+ Explorers. Plan on 1 to 3 hours for your lift depending on how many parts you decide to replace, and how badly corroded your original parts are.
After the lift my front suspension was quite a bit stiffer and had more bounce. This overpowered the stock shocks. My alignment after the lift, and with the new tires was still perfect!
There is plenty of clearance for the larger tires. I suggest not lifting any more than is absolutely necessary to safely clear your tires at full compression. Too much lift will prematurely wear your bearings and CV joints. I could hear mine after the lift. I am going to lower it about a quarter to half an inch to try and relieve the stress.
For the rear lift I used extended shackles. These were 3 inches longer than stock which gave an extra 1.5 inches of lift. They are the generic "muscle car" shackles that you can buy at your local auto parts store. They fit snugly outside my stock shackles and with a tack weld they make a pretty strong combination. You can also get your springs re-arched and/or add helper springs. Because my springs are 3 inches wide and are single with no factory helper or overload spring, the spring builder quoted a $300-$500 price tag to build them up. I decided to spend $27.00 bucks on the shackles for now instead.

Parts and Tools needed:
Ford Aduster Tool #T95T-5310-A (Helpful, but not absolutely necessary)
Torsion Bar "B"code-F57Z*5B326A AND F57Z*5B327A
Adusters F57Z*5B328A (If yours are in good shape and not corroded onto the bars you probably won't need to replace them.)
Sway Bar Link replacement parts-
Studs-F77Z*5495*AA
Nuts-F77Z*5C491*AA
Links-F77Z*5K483*AA
Torsion Bolts- N811015-S100 / Bolt M1 455991 $3.23ea
1/2", 3/4" Box open end and socket wrenches. Ratchets preferred!
Floor jack
Jack stands -2
Liquid wrench, or WD-40

 

[Leucoandro]

Torsion Bar Type?

OK I was searching around on the site and found that the second number 1(x) that (x) isnt my torsion bar rating. that means that it is a ford? I found this on here somewhere
What my Torsion bars say on them is F57A-DC and then LUD
what does that mean my Torsion Bars are?

 

[Robert]

The first number should be your torsion bar, the second number is your rear springs. The part number you posted corresponds to a "D" torsion bar.

 

[Leucoandro]

Here is another good tip. When planning on doing a Torsion Lift, buy a set of Front Shock Extenders or shocks for lifted trucks. Buying Extenders is alot Cheaper and my experiance so far has been that they work very good. I picked mine up at Napa Auto Store for $7.50 for a pair after taxes. You dont really have to have them, but it does reduces some of the stress on your front shocks from having them extended almost to max and it gives you a better ride. I was getting some wheel skip from the outside wheel on turns when I turned my bars up before I added the extenders. Also my front end was bumping up and down pretty hard when I would go over bumpy roads with a trailer. Now that I have the extenders both problems have stopped, and the ride is alot better. I tried to fit the extender on my stock shocks though and it wouldnt tread on right, but it worked perfect on my Monroe Shocks.

 

[ExplorGM]

Interesting...

Do you have a part number for those extenders? For $7.50 I might put off getting longer shocks until the RCD lift comes out...

 

[Fischer]

Does anyone know the part # for the Long Add-A-Leaf? Not the short one PN: 13120...

 

[Robert]

What about your shock compression though? If you put a 2" extension on to the end of your shock it it will bottom out 2" sooner. If the shocks have the extra 2" to give that is fine and it won't cause a problem. Unfortunately if it causes your shock to bottom out before your suspension does you'll either destroy it or your shock bushings on a hard hit.

 

[ExplorGM]

True...

Good point Robert!
Time to do some measuring...

 

[Leucoandro]

It is all about returning the shocks to there Factory setting. Please Read.

If you add the 2" extensions after you do a 2" suspension lift then it does it return your shocks the way they would have set before the lift. you see when you do a suspension lift it will make your shocks lengthen directly in proportion to the lift. True if you dont do any lift at all on your truck and put extenions on (I dont have any idea why someone would do this) there is a good chance you will overpressurise your shock and burst it.
If you do do a suspension lift, and dont add extensions, or get shocks made for the lift, then you have a real problem. after I did my 2" lift and put new shocks on it, my front shocks were about 1/2" to 1" from being at Max extension. What that means is when I would go into a turn my truck would lean and with this lean it compresses the suspension and shock on the side of the truck to the outside of the turn. The side of the suspension and on the inside of the turn will in turn lengthen. Now if you make a high speed turn or a fast turn in your truck that has a raised suspension but doesnt have shocks to compensate for it is that your suspension on the inside of the turn will reach max extension because your shock will NOT let it extend as much as it needs to. This will cause your inside front tire to hop because the sock is at max extenion and the boddy keeps lifting, and actually pulls the tire off the ground, It did it really bad on my truck. It had me so worried that I would slow to under 10 MPH for even mild turns. Also another danger that you run into by having your shock hyperextended is that if you do hit a hard bump then it can bend your shock and then you get to buy a new one, and remember you always buy shocks in pairs. so you are looking at around $60 - $100 for a pair of good shocks, if not more.
Now there are some benifits to having your shocks at the right hight after a 2" lift by using extenders.
1) you have a more comfortable ride
2) the front of your truck doesnt bounce really bad when you have a trailer on it and you hit a bump
3) you make turns at normal speeds without having to worry about hyperextending your shocks and having that tire hop.
4) You dont have to turn your Torsion bars up as much. This is because when you start to hyperextend your shocks it takes a tighter torqued torsion bar to acheve the same amount of lift. Also giving you a more comfortable ride. I put the warrior 153 shackles on my truck, and when I did the torsion lift on the front, and put new shocks all the way around my front end was still sitting about 1/2" lower than my front even with my torsion bar cranked all the way up. After I installed the extension it made my front sit about 3/4" to 1" higher than my rear. so I had to crank them down about a turn and a half.
Oh and BTW you will not bottom out sooner by returning your shocks to original length. Your front suspension has a little hook so that your suspension will only compress so much, and you will bottom out on that hook far before you can bottom out a shock.
Hope this helps some

 

[Robert]

This is true of a real suspension lift that relocates your front suspension pieces down, thereby not creating any additional travel. On a real suspension lift, the shock extenders are a good idea. A torsion twist though is not a real suspension lift. All it does is relocate the settleing point of your front suspension. It does not alter the amount of travel in either direction (up or down). It only changes where it rides. Now for street applications where the suspension isn't utilized to it's fullest potential the shock extenders will allow the shocks to ride at their predesigned location more often. The trade-off though is that it has two inches less of up-travel, but two additional inches of down travel. Since you don't gain any down travel with a TT, the extra two inches of down travel provide little benefit. Like I said earlier, if the shock has an extra two inches of up travel before it bottoms out on a stock suspension then the extensions will be of some benefit by allowing the shock to spend more time in the intended location.

Think of it this way, a TT has the same affect on your front suspension as putting a jack under the front cross-member and jacking it up. You aren't creating any additional travel, just pulling the wheel away from the top of its travel range and putting it closer to the bottom.

One way to find out for sure is to remove the torsion bar adjuster so that your front suspension is riding on the bump stops. Make a mark on the shock. Remove the shock and push it in. If you can push it in two inches further with it removed then the extensions would probably help. If you can only push it in an additional inch, then your shock will bottom out an inch before your suspension does if you put on a two inch extension.

 

[Leucoandro]

Let me try to explain what happened after I gave my Truck a TT lift.
I cranked it up to give me 1 3/4" like, and with my old factory shocks they seemed to sit fine. but my front end became really bouncy when I had a trailor. Then I relaced my shocks with the Sensatrac on the front and Reflex on the back. I should have gotten Reflex all the way around they really do dramatically cut body role, and alot better than the sensatrac. With the Sensatrac on the front, which extend to the same length as the factory shocks (I checked this) my truck road higher. This is because my old shocks were so worn out I could easily compress them with one hand, making it where my shocks had to do more work and causeing some sag.
I didnt have to change the setting on my torsion bars at that time but it leveled the front and back out nicly. well I desided to look at my shocks in the front end to see how things looked under there when I had finished. Well I noticed that my front shocks were extended way past what I would call safe. the the bottom bell of the top half of my shock was level with the last half inch of the top of my bottom shock. I then desided to test to see how much longer my shocks could extend. well I used a forklift to lift up the front end, and all I had to do was raise the front of my truck about 3/4 before my front wheels started coming off the ground. I put the extenders on and I had almost 3 inches of extension and my shocks road in the right place. I did have let me TT down in the front some though, because with the shock sitting in the place it was supposed to I didnt need as much tension on my TT bars for lift. It seems that the sensatrac loses alot of its buffering abilites when it is hyperextended.
I just dont think that it is safe to drive a truck with only 3/4" of extension.

 

[Robert]

The extensions would definately help prevent you from reaching the travel limits of your shocks as your suspension drops. I do know that the shocks are the limiting factor as the suspension drops on a stock Explorer and one with a TT. When you add a TT you are just moving the wheels down closer to the end of their travel limits. The extensions will prevent this although I'm not certain what would then become the limiting factor in suspension drop. It's possible that the CV joints might be the next limiting factor. If not the CV joints then probably the ball joints. Since Ford designed the suspension drop to be limited by the shocks, I don't know how good it would be on the rest of the suspension components to go to places they weren't designed to go. Still, my other concern is that the shocks might not have the extra 2" to give when goint to full compression. If your wheels never see full compression then it is a moot point. I know mine have on many occasions though. If you only had 3/4" of downward travel after the TT, it's possible that you might have gone up a bit to far with the TT. Of course depending on where you are measuring the 3/4" could make a difference in how much the tire actually drops. When I jack my front end up from the cross member, my tires drop about 6" before they lift off the ground (just an estimate, haven't actually measured it).

 

[ExplorGM]

Wow

I think we need to get Kissinger in here to mediate!

Hey Leucoandro-What are the part numbers for the extensions? I could have gone out, bought them, tried them, broken my shocks, and written the final word by now!

Guys- don't stop now! This is just getting good!

Rick H.- I've been seeing a whole lot of lifted Explorers lately in the area. How can we get them hooked up with our Arizona Explorers!? Do you have a business card for the web site? Back in the old days when I had a business card I would put it on their windshields with the site web address....

 

[Leucoandro]

I will have to get that for yall tomorrow. I already threw everything away that told brand and product ID#

but I checked the net and found a couple other brands for yall to check out till then

Extension 1
Dead Link Removed

I promise to have the Brand and Product# tomorrow, things have just been busy at work + I have been trying to find a place that will change my transmission fluid that wont cost me out the @#$. I swear one place wanted $200 to change my filter and do a system flush. The best deal that I was able to find is that I get the Mercon V fluid and filter and he charges me $45 to put it on and drain my Torque converter. That Mercon V is expensive. best deal I was able to find was $2 a quart. also this is totally off topic, but on my Transmission filter, should I get Motorcraft, or will any aftermarket filter work as well?
The guy that is going to do my transmission for me seemed to be impressed by the EQ on my truck. He said wow when I told him I had 3.73 diffs (I didnt think that was that big a deal) and he was also impressed I have the 5M55E trans (I think it is M).

Apparently the Chevy blazer usually comes with a 3.44 Diff or something?

Anyways At least I only have to change my Trans every 60,000 and not every 12,000 like my friend says he has to do with his Yucon.

 

[ExplorGM]

Links

Thanks for the links!

I use Mobil 1 in my tranny. Have not seen a big difference in performance with the fluit upgrade, but hopefully the tranny will live longer.
Thanks again,
Rick

 

[Leucoandro]

O.K. I was reading threw my post in the past and I thought that I had mentioned something, but I now thing I forgot to. On the Shock extenders I would suggest that they only be used to moderate off road driving. To the extent of taking it easy not flying along. If you want to do heavy duty ball to the walls driving offroad then I would suggest getting the very strong shock absorbers that will compensate for lift. The extension probibly does create somewhat of a weak link, but as long as you drive reasonably I dont see any problems with them. I havnt had any problems with mine and I have taken my truck about 40 MPH down really bumpy gravel roads, and threw some moderate depth holes, but I just putted threw the holes.
Anyways on those extenders
NAPA calls them
BallCamp 735-1563 for ford trucks mades from 69-present.
The Package however says Superior Shock Stud Extenders No. 13-6521

ExplorGM I am an oil distributer, and does your Tranny call for regular ATF or Mercon V. The reason I am asking is because we sell Mobil and Conoco (conoco makes motorcraft oil) and the Mobil 1 ATF doesnt meet all the specks that Mercon V has. Also I was looking at Mobils different ATF, and I cant see on there products that they have started selling an Mercon V eq product. I can call the mobil Engineers to find out for sure though

Well my .02
Charlie