I hope its not a dumb question : I see alot of you guys talking about cranking the torsion bar and I was wondering Where is the torsion bar, whats it do, whats cranking the Tbar, hows it done, and can I do it without any other modifications.

I got a 90 4runner 3.0 5spd manual if that helps any.

 

The torsion bars are the front springs. The red parts in the diagram (thanks all terrain17):



You can "crank" them by applying additional preload and recenter the suspension to create additional ride height at the expense of flex and ride quality.

 

Here's some articles you can refer to which pretty much explain it all...

http://www.off-road.com/toyota/tech/torsion/

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/torsion_bars/

Basically, you crank the bars (which act as torsion springs for the front suspension) by jacking up the front and turning the nut at the torsion bar mount behind the transmission crossmember.

Cranking is free and will allow lift, but your ride and flex will suffer depending on the amount of crank.

I've been told it can contribute to uneven tire wear as well...hopefully someone will chime in and confirm or denounce that.

 

Tortion bar is your front spring. By tightening the bolts that hold it in place you can gain some lift. Essentially you increase the spring stiffness. Sorta like adding a leaf to the rear pack. Although there are negatives such as stifness of ride and reduced downtravel. I have mine cranked about 1-1.5" and have not found it to be bad in any way.

 

I think tc beat us to it

 

As much as I'd like some extra height in the front I think I've decided to hold off until I can lift it right. But, it is free lift if you are willing to accept the downsides.

Remember, you do need to get an alignment after you adjust the T-bars.

 

sweet, thanks guys. I think I'll leave mine alone for now if I've got to get an alignment afterwords.

 

[QUOTE=
Cranking is free and will allow lift, but your ride and flex will suffer depending on the amount of crank.

I've been told it can contribute to uneven tire wear as well...hopefully someone will chime in and confirm or denounce that. [/QUOTE]

cranking the T-Bars is not as bad as most make it out to be, its not the best thing but if you keep it moderately low then you will be fine. dont crank them all the way, and my dad has had his Tbars cranked on his 86 runner for 20 years. has never worn out the tires unevenly.

 

When I played with the hight on my old 4runner I did swing by a NTB for a free alignment check. Going from about 1" over stock hight to 1/2" -1" under stock hight the aligment was still in spec. The alignment isn't a big issue as people make it out to be IMO.

 

To follow onto the OP question. I've got a set of Downey springs on the way for the rear of my 90 runner. Supposedly, they'll provide 3.5" of lift. While some of the lift will help correct the rear end sag. I'm thinking that much lift will make the rear higher than the rear.

Is it advisable to 'crank' the Tbars in this situation?

 

so theoretically, I could raise the front say an inch, and be okay on the alignment? Or would we say the alignment is a must?
Also, whats the max you can lift with cranked T bars??

EDIT: Or maybe not, reading geiger's page, it says No tacoma's and only list 86-95, so its a no go for us newer kids?

 

Also - NOT - a dumb question, great for us who don't know, I've never put a lot of thoguht into it because I really didnt know much about it, but now...who knows. Thanks for stepping up and asking Willie.

 

If you ask me, then yes. I would crank them 1.5" and see if that is enough for you, if you need more get balljoint spacers and adjust your t-bars to needed height.

 

I have riden with both stock and cranked t-bars and I really don't feel that much difference between the two. I think that an alignment is always a must in my opinion. It can't ever hurt to have a place check everything and make sure it's on the up and up.

 

i had my tbars cranked (maybe an inch or so) - it did screw up the alignment and the ride wasn't great. since then i've just used the 4crawler ball joint spacers and uncranked the tbars. the ride feels just like stock. either way you'll need an alignment, you're changing angles up front and the suspension needs to be readjusted.

 

cranking them 1.5" inches does almost nothing to ride quality. You oughta get it aligned. The camber was noticably off after cranking mine. I did drive around on it about 1k miles before I got it aligned however, and It was a couple degrees out of spec. I dont have the alignment sheet with me as its in the glovebox right now, but if anyones really interested I can get it at some point, and post all the specs.

If you're looking to get 1.5-2" of lift its a decent way to go, but you wont be able to get much more than that without a serious drop in ride quality, and flex.

 

Is it possibelt to crank T-bars on a newer truck? Or are they just on the old trucks?

 

Tacos and 3rd gen 4Runners (and newer) have coilovers, not torsion bars. Totally different, however, the idea behind spacers (like a ToyTec lift) is similar.