TT settling??

[clarkkent]

Hey watsup guys, I've done a +2 inch TT on my mounty and notice the height difference. A couple weeks later after some dune jumps or so.. or just regular riding around i noticed my front end seemed to settle and drop lower. Is it me or is there a chance that the TT can some how manage to go back to stock height on its own?

 

[rhyno]

I know mine settled after driving it around for a day or so, but not back to stock height. I would think it would be done settleing before a few weeks.

 

[Bronco638]

When I did my TT, I noticed this , too. I ended up driving around for a month or two with a tape measure, 1/2" socket, 1/2" drive extension and breaker bar in my Ex. Then, while I was out running errands, I'd measure the distence between rim and wheel well lip, make a TT adjustment and then drive some. After a while, they won't settle anymore.

 

[clarkkent]

cool, thanks guys. yeh i noticed it alot. i mean maybe "stock height" is over exaggerating but I noticed it lowered a little from what i adjusted it at. Is there any chance of me SCREWING the TT bolt out if i go to far??

 

[Bronco638]

Only if you're lowering it. You should be tighening (clockwise rotation) the bolt. You might run out of threads (bottom out) before you reach the desired height. If that happens, you can buy a longer metric bolt to replace the stock one.

 

[clarkkent]

so if i buy a longer bolt. I can get a higher TT adjust?

 

[Bronco638]

Well, within reason. If you gain more than 2" of lift, you start to stress the CV joints in the front driveshafts which will cause them to fail prematurely. But, if in order to reach 2" of lift, you need the longer bolt, use it.

 

[Premier]

Bronco, you know where to snag a longer bolt? Does it need to be grade 8?

 

[Kamaaina]

For anybody doing a TT I found that extending your existing rubber "bottom-out" bumper is critical. A torsion bar is designed to work within a limited range. When you do a TT you are effectively moving this range to a different (higher) area of travel. With the snubber in the stock location the torsion bar will over-twist if you should smack the snubber when "coming in for a landing" and start to stress and sag. I did a 2" TT over three years ago and it hasn't sagged one bit yet (of course, I don't drive my "X" like a dirt bike). I extended my stock snubber and left a gap of about 3/8" between it and the lower control arm and I don't feel it bottom out going over speed bumps and other stuff, I guess the rubber is kind of soft. But it sure saves my torsion bars!

 

[Bronco638]

Premier: It's a metric bolt so any industrial supply stores or industrial hardware stores should be able to source them. Grade 8 is an SAE standard but there should be an equivalent metric standard. Someone just recently posted the size and thread pitch for these bolts (I don't remember where I saw it though). I would think that if you added one inch to the stock bolt length, you'd be pretty safe. I ordered a stock bolt from Ford so I could use it as a base-line in case I needed longer ones. But, I only TT'd about 1.5" and didn't need to get longer bolts.

Kamaaina: how did you extend your snubbers?

 

[Kamaaina]

Bronco638 -- I removed the stock metric bolt from the snubber and used a longer 5/16" bolt with a stack of "fender washers" (5/16" I.D. but a larger O.D. than standard). I had to retap the hole on the chassis for the 5/16" bolt and I also put a self-locking nut on top. With the washers I can add or remove them to find that sweet spot.

 

[Brans Freestyle]

From the things I have read around here, you can pretty much max out the bars as far as they can handle since you have 2WD. I think I saw a thread around here somewhere about buying a longer TT bolt, giving you the ability of going higher.

I think with stock bars you can go like 5 or 6 inches from stock height, but you're going to have a lot of settling. Mabye "B" rated bars would help...

When you crank the bars up also, you are limiting the downtravel, so keep that in mind when going higher and thinking about performence, because your ball joints are going to get tired fast.