NMMarauder

I added a bumper and winch to my rig about a year ago and I finally got around to gears (4.88) and new tires 33 x 10.5 and when I checked my ride height (stock height - no lift) in the front I was about 12 inches on the drivers side and 12.5 on the passenger side. So I cranked up the drivers side 10.5 turns and the passenger 8 turns and that got me back to 13.5 inches of ride height on both sides. I wouldn't mind having 14 or 14.5 inches because the tires just touch at full turn and full compression but I'm worried that would be too much tension on the stock torsion bars.

Anyone have experience with torsion bar fatigue? Ever snapped a bar with moderate wheeling? Would you even worry about a slight rub at full turn and full compression?

I searched and found threads about how to crank up the torsion but none really about people's experiences after having done it.

MaK92-4RnR

I had a TJM front bumper, winch, lights, 33x10.50 etc etc with no torsion bar modifcations or lift.

I dont think anyone has ever snapped a torsion bar unless they were either jumping it or got in a car accident. you should have zero worries about one.

cranking the torsion bars is going to limit flex and stiffen the ride significantly. I recommend doing BJ spacers and relaxing the bars completely. You'll get a nice result.

Stuwy123

iTrader: (1)

I'll throw in my two cents.

I've cranked the torsion bars on my truck. The front suspension was basically riding on the bumpstops. It was rough. I cranked up front end to match the 63" chevy leafs in the back.
It was definitely a stiff ride at first, then it mellowed up a bit after use.
A year later, I tossed an ARB bumper on the front with a big winch. That definitely softened up the ride some more.
I took out the front sway bar as well, that drastically improved the ride quality both on-road and off-road. You can't take corners as confidently due to body roll. Pot-holes and rough roads are much nicer and not nearly as rough.

I'd say crank 'em, that's why there's a bolt there. As the torsion bars get older ( my truck was 18 years old when I cranked them), they soften up and wear in. You crank them back up to get them to stock height again. I gain a lot of up-travel from cranking them.

Balljoints mess with the toyota engineered suspension geometry, cranking the torsion bars does not. Plus cranking the torsion bars is free and easy, takes maybe 30 mins to get everything level and where you want it.

highonpottery

iTrader: (1)

Ummm....adjusting the torsion bars on an IFS vehicle absolutely changes the suspension geometry - it changes the camber of the wheel since the a-arms travel in an arc. BJ spacers will also change the camber as well, hence the strong suggestion to address your alignment after you mess with either component.

NMMarauder - where is the 12" measurement taken from? most accurate way to measure your ride height is to measure from center of your hub/axle, to the bottom of the fender since wheel/tire sizes vary between vehicles. For example, my pickup is around 22" on the front.

Rerunn

Been thinking I need to crank mine. Anybody know what stock height is?

nightstalker

Don't crank em, the ride blows

Rerunn

Yeah know ride is gonna suffer. The 32s scrub a little bit is all

NMMarauder

I have the stock aluminum toyota rims (SR5?) but when I measure from the center of the locking hub I get 21.5 inches to the bottom of the fender. Just looking at the bump stops (all stock) it looks like the top bump stop has just a bit more of a gap than the bottom bump stop. Possibly 1/2" but certainly no more so that seems to be in line with the 22 inches you are getting. I could crank it up another 1/2" to get back to stock ride height but there is no way I can crank it up another inch or inch and a half. I don't have that much adjustment left on the bolt. That bumper and winch probably added 225 lbs to the front of the truck.

As an aside..... I've been tracking every single tank of gas since I got the truck in 05 and adding 225lbs didn't do squat to my gas mileage. Maybe 1/2 mile per gallon. I'd have to take the pre and post averages to know for sure. So that take stuff out of your trunk to get better gas mileage is poppycock! Well... It might help a Geo metro of something.

highonpottery

iTrader: (1)

i honestly don't remember what the stock ride height is. on my truck the 22" is with 15" wheels, BJ spacers, and relaxed t-bars - then I added a little t-bar crank back in there after I put 33x12.5s on.

if your wheels are rubbing, then sounds like it's time to bust out a BFH and pound that pinch weld flat (or cutoff wheel). Most people have to do that once you go with larger tires, or they crank the heck outta the t-bars until they clear.

jmcgin186

Doesnt cranking the torsion bars give you a crappy ride?

Rerunn

Thinking the bfh is gonna be best. It only really scrubs on three plastic fender well answer I've trimmed it twice but it continues to catch it on the lip. Guess I need to get of my ass and beat on that sucker!

blake.nemitz

ill throw my 2 cents in. with the bars crankewd it will be stiff, hang a bunch of heavy bumpers and a winch on the front it wont be stiff just compensating for the extra weight. my 2 cents

Stuwy123

iTrader: (1)

I would check your logic on that one.
Cranking the torsion bars keeps the parallelogram shape of the suspension. Where as putting a balljoint spacers turns the parallelogram into a sideways trapezoid.

Torsion bar crank:


Balljoint spacer, spacer is inserted the bottom.


And it's most accurate to measure the ride height from the top of the rim lip to the fender lip. That way it's more consistent than measuring from the approximate centre on the hub.

It is still recommended to have an alignment done whenever you touch the front suspension, balljoints or torsion bar crank alike.

blake.nemitz

umm but what happens when the upper control arm is shorter than the bottom, then its no longer a parralellagram. i know because i dudted a set of swapmers in six months on my old ifs setup because after cranking it toed it in

Rerunn

I'm an auto technician and will testify that cranking torsion bars does affect camber on ifs. Think of it as when you jack up the front end and what happens the tires camber out. This is because of the butterfly nature of ifs. It can be corrected sometimes with an alignment. But without doing so will cause severe wear on the outside of the tire.

Zpd426

I rec-amend some thicker bars. go up 1mm maybe 2 because of the winch. I actually have some old 300m 28mm bars from my t100 that I barely used for sale

Punchy

I have used both stock 22mm and 24mm, The stock ones give alot better articulation and you can also index them another notch if they have sagged to much.

The 24mm aftermarket are extremely hard and the stock ones completely cranked dont even come close to tension, No articulation at all (with TJM bumper, Lights and 8K winch)

You should have about a 1/2"-1" play between the top bumpstop and the upper control arm or you get to much rebound impact and that can get distructive as well.

Really high quallity shocks are the best to control the stock compress and rebound.

Liftkits like BJ spacers and lower tress drop are a great choice if you need to go higher beyond the IFS limit, Then just get an alignment.

Zpd426

ooh dont re index them if you need to do that you are going to twist them, thats how I ended up puting 2 holes in my floor... trying to take them off after doing that. You really need to go bigger than stock. 1mm over. you have to support that extra weight somehow. Also if you go above a 31 inch tire you are supposed to get larger bars.