What did I do with my torsion twist

[brodie hynd]

Last night I tried to do my torsion twist. I bought some liquid wrench sprayed it on the bolts and let it go to work for about ten minitues. The i jack my x up in the front I got both tires of the ground but left side hung lower( i think bc of a half tank of gas)ne way I got to tighten the trosion bars and the bolt stuck. I could only move it quater turns in both directions. Why did that happen. I used a scoket wrench, do I need an air drill.I also thought mabey it is bc My tires are still on. Do i need to demount the tires before twisting. Somebody help me I lost . I would realy be thankfull for some help tnaks happy trails.

 

[Alec]

I haven't heard of anyone spraying liquid wrench or any solvent on the adjuster bolts, maybe you actually froze the adjuster by spraying it? I dunno.

You for sure do not need to take the tires off, you just need the suspension to be hanging free. In fact, for less than a 1/2 inch adjustment you don't need to lift the truck up at all.

 

[X24]

I sprayed mine with a little penetrating oil before I lowered mine. I didnt have any problem. Are they rusty? If you have an air compressor, spray some air up around there to blow all the dirt out, then spray some WD40 or something in there.

 

[Alec]

Just to add:
Do not use an electric or air tool because you need to count the turns to make it even. I used a 3/8" ratchet and a 2' cheater pipe to turn my bolts. I could turn them without the pipe, it was just much harder.

 

[aldive]

Originally posted by Alec
I haven't heard of anyone spraying liquid wrench or any solvent on the adjuster bolts, maybe you actually froze the adjuster by spraying it? I dunno.

I used Liquid Wrench on mine the night before doing the twist as well as about 10 minutes prior.

Worked great.

 

[coolchris]

i never had to lift the ex off the ground, i just got under there with a socket and a huge pipe and went to town on the Torsion bolts until i had 1.75'' of lift on both sides. it took about 5 mins to do both sides.

 

[Campo]

I also just sprayed the bolts with penatrant, I sprayed it one Thur's night then Sat morn, then by noon I cranked on them, I use'd a 3/4" drive rachet and (i think) 3/4" socket, I didn't raise the truck off the ground.

And as many times as you can spray and longer you let it set the better it is.

 

[Hartman]

I didn't raise my truck off the ground when I turned them either. What you might be doing by raising the truck up is wedging them against the holes, making it very hard to turn them.

 

[Robert]

As I've posted in the past, Ford's official procedure calls for leaving the vehicle on the ground when adjusting the front height. The manual also says that if you are lowering it, you need to go farther down than you need to go and then come back up. All height adjustments are to be made while raising. I use my 1/2" ratchet and have no trouble turning mine up or down with the full weight of the vehicle on the suspension. The reason the bolts are so hard to turn is because Ford put dry thread locker on the bolts to prevent them from backing out. When you try to tighten the bolts up, you are running into the thread locker. If you make too many adjustments you will need new bolts or apply a suitable thread locker on your original bolt.