towing with lowered torsion bar

[foolio]

i have a 96 2wd 5.0 that i plan to tow my offroad ranger on a trailer with. i really would like to lower the explorer a few inches. was wondering if that would be bad for towing? i know the rear suspension wouldnt be affected only using blocks but with the front torsion bars unloaded for the 2" drop would this cause handling issue for towing a 5k lb load? any body with a lowered explorer done any towing and have real feedback?

 

[joecrna]

No issues directly related to towing do to the drop. Assuming you do all the required lowering stuff already needed to keep the front suspension geometery good. You also need to consider all the other recomendations related to towing that size load with your Explorer completly unrelated to the lowering.

 

[IZwack]

Lower spring rate means more bouncing at the front when you go over dips/bumps. Towing usually means aiming for a stiffer suspension all around so this would be doing the opposite at the front.

 

[joecrna]

Ah correct you are, but the "spring rate" remains the same by backing the T bar bolts out. You are just removing pre-load. Just as lifting the truck by torsion twist adds pre-load. This isn't exactly like jacking the corner of a race car with coils springs where the compression on the coil adds both pre-load and increases spring rate (unless you are running constant rate springs). Suspension travel will suffer through increasing the chance of hitting the bump stops, very bad while towing.

 

[IZwack]

Ah correct you are, but the "spring rate" remains the same by backing the T bar bolts out. You are just removing pre-load. Just as lifting the truck by torsion twist adds pre-load. This isn't exactly like jacking the corner of a race car with coils springs where the compression on the coil adds both pre-load and increases spring rate (unless you are running constant rate springs). Suspension travel will suffer through increasing the chance of hitting the bump stops, very bad while towing.

Yes but from the overall vehicle's perspective, it now it takes less weight to lower the vehicle's chassis by 1 inch - therefore, the spring rate of the vehicle has ultimately changed (spring rate as defined by the lbs per inch of movement ). So if you have 2 guys stand on the front bumper after the torsion bolts are backed off, the front suspension will drop more than stock. This is why the "torsion twist" is not very good for off roading - because it takes more weight to compress the suspension 1 inch thereby not allowing the suspension to soak up any off road bumps leading to a harsh and more uncontrollable ride (compared to stock).