WI_Mike

First a little background. I bought my 94 4runner about a year ago, didn't do a vehicle history report, later found evidence that the front passenger side was involved in a collision. I bought 31's for it and began noticing an intermittent rubbing problem on the right front passenger side. Turns out that side is about a 1/2 - 1" lower than the driver side. So last week I decided that I could fix the issue by cranking the torsion bar on the passenger side a bit to get the extra lift I needed to even out the vehicle and fix my rubbing issue. I ordered the torsion bar adjustment nut and bolt and have been spraying the nut and bolt with PB Blaster for a few days. Today I decided to get into it and found out that the nut on the passenger side is completely different than the nut on the driver side (and the one from Toyota) and that the passenger side has a lot more threads showing compared to the driver side (note the pictures). I cannot tell if the passenger side is cranked way low and that is the reason for the sag on that side or if the passenger side is way high as if someone already tried to do what I'm doing to fix it, and therefore there is a much different issue that needs to be fixed.

Here are 2 views of the passenger side:



And the driver side for comparison:


Thanks in advance for taking a look.

Mike

rhale

the passenger side is cranked much farther in or tighter which will raise that side. the more threads showing on top the more that side is cranked.

crackerjack

Ya might as well break that thing off and get new parts. I cranked and pried on mine until the bolt and nut shoot up into the cab floor. Kapooow what an explosion be careful !!

WI_Mike

That's what I figured. The problem I have now is that even with it cranked up dramatically that side is still noticeably lower than the driver side, meaning that there is a larger issue that I need to compensate for. I think I will probably get a 1.5" BJ spacer for that side and loosen up on the torsion bar and hopefully make my ride better without the rubbing.

Matt16

Whoa, I wouldn't do one side only, that will seriously screw up your handling and ride. You'll get some seriously messed up steering.

Bigblock

So someone took the upper control arm off and put it back together out of time.There should be marks that line up on the shaft and the front flang where it bolt to the control arm.Check the FSM.
Bigblock

904_runner

maybe take it to an alignment shop and see if they can find out the reasoning.

X2 on not just putting bj spacers on one side!

drew303

Theres no guide key on the stock torsions, they dont fit in " one " way. In other words just because the one side has more bolt used than the other doesn't mean one is "cranked" up.

Besides, you don't actually crank anything when you adjust torsion bars, you change where the spring action (or the torsion) starts.

Take the weight off the front end, loosen the torsion bars completely and take them out and reinstall them back properly.

On a side note, that is the wrong configuration of nuts for the adjusting bolt. Should have a large (lil longer than an inch nut) with a second nut (of normal size) ontop, This locks the bolt in place from moving.

WI_Mike

Well, I think I'm going to take it in and have a professional look at it, this is slowly starting to get out of my league. Thanks again for all the help.

drew303

Maybe this picture will better help people understand how the Torsion bar works. As you turn that nut, and bring that arm down closer to the head of the bolt (ie, tightening the bolt) ... This just changes the the angle of the A-arms. Not the rate of the torsion bar. There is already a preload in the upper A-arm. I personally don't know how the innard of the upper A-arm is designed as I've never taken one apart but it has it's own spring rate. In other words it doesnt just pivot, it has tension.

As you turn the torsion bar up you reduce the amount of useable torsion, which is why you get a stiffer ride. If you just put the torsion bar in without preloading it (tigthening it under no load, say the truck is ont jack stands) then you would be utilizing all of the availbe spring rate the bar has. The A-arms would hit the upper and lower bump stops on full up and down travel. As you keep tightening (turning) the torsion bar in a postive way you start using up the available spring rate. The torsion bar is only going to twist so much under the fixed wieght of your truck. As you turn it, you start using up that available twist. So, to keep beating this dead horse, as you tighten or "crank" as you all say, your ride quality gets worse and flex less as you pre-set the torsion spring rate closer to it's max twist (the most twist it's going to do given the weight of your vehicle)



It's a slow night, I felt like explaining =p


*** correction, there is a spline that is bigger on the ends of the torsion bar but I remember either end fitting on at different angles. In other words, the torsion bar will fit into the upper A-arm more than one way and same for the torque arm on the opposite end.

elripster

It is very unlikely you'll find a "professional" who will know what to do unless it is an a Toyota centric off road shop. Typical alignment techs don't know a thing about suspension, just red and green numbers on a machine.

It's common for the adjuster hardware to rust and snap when adjusted. So, it's very possible someone just found something to work that is not production.

Replace both adjuster bolts with new. Now, adjust the bars to your desired height. Measure from the frame to the ground to make the truck is level side to side.

Go to www.sdori.com, there are alignment instructions that you should at least try to do before brining it in. Even if you don't feel you have it quite right, it will be very close and any alignment tech will then be able to do it. If you bring it to a shop with the alignment out by a lot, good luck.

Frank

WI_Mike

The thing is I don't think there is any more room to get any additional height out of the passenger side. I don't need to get a whole lot out of it I just want to go back to stock height, but I would prefer if it was done properly.

Does anyone know of a good shop in the Salt Lake City area? There is a shop close to me that has helped me with a few other mechanical issues on the truck that I think I am going to call tomorrow and see if they have any experience in this area.