Torsion Bar trouble
 

Hey guys I replaced all of my suspension bushings over the weekend. I put every thing back together and lowered the truck and now the front end sits on the bump stops. I put the adjusting nuts same height as before. I haven't touched the spline towards the rear of the torsion bar.

I didn't mark where the torque arm came off the front of the bar. I have messed with it for a while now and the torque arm only seems to slide on in one spot. The bolt that goes through the LCA has a toothless spot but no corresponding part on the torque arm. Somethings not lined up I guess?

Im doing something wrong any ideas on lining up the torsion bar with torque arm so I can set more pre-load? Any tips?

Thanks,
Andrew

I still cant figure it out.

Am I correct to say that the Torque Arm and Anchor arm only have one way of sliding onto the Torsin spring? Because one spline is bigger then the rest.

So both arms are lined up with the big spline. How about the lower control arm bolt. On the back side where the anchor arm slides on theres a toothless portion where does that face??

Right now every thing is lined up and mounted but the torque arm is resting on the cross member so theres no way to adjust ride height since there is no pre load at all?

Please help!!!!

i'm definitely no expert, (i'm pretty new to working on cars, but i get by thanks to yotatech) but if your truck is riding on bump stops after messing with the t-bars, it sounds like you reinstalled the t bars into those groves without the truck up on jack stands letting the suspension sag all the way. Maybe someone with more knowledge here on the site will chime in here..

Yea the car is up on stands when I installed the bars but still every thing lines up so I cant set any pre load at all. Any one know if the Lower Control Arm bolt has anything to do with it?

This is very frustrating I am super eager to get the truck back on the road.

Thanks,
Andrew

Stupid question, but have you mounted em on the right sides of the truck??

The T-Bars have a right and left.

Yea they are on the right side of the truck. Any other ideas?

Im still struggling with this.. Does the direction of the lower control arm bolt have anything to do with it? Theres this toothless section but no corresponding toothless on the torque. How does it line up?

Are there any special ways to set the torsion bar on? can all the suspension components still be attached any tricks that im missing?

Thanks
Andrew

Any help guys? Truck is still sitting on bump stops. agjuster nut as tight as it goes and still sits that low.. what am I missing?

Have you tried retracing your steps, but with the help of the Manual? I assume this step: 1. PLACE MATCHMARKS ON TORSION BAR SPRING, ANCHOR ARM AND TORQUE ARM
didn't happen, so you could go down to the section on installing a "new" torsion bar spring.

I don't know what you are referring to with "lower control arm bolt" or "... corresponding toothless on the torque." If you removed the upper arm shaft or the adjusting cams http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...27frontsus.pdf you should probably check that these were correctly installed. Any misalignment there will collapse when you weight the suspension.

2wd? Id ask over on toyotaminis.com
If I could help any more then that I would but I haven't had torsion bars on my truck in a long time. If I had to guess, I would say they are indexed wrong on either the LCA bolt or at the adjuster arm.

Thanks for your response, my pickup is 2wd so it has a little different set up. There is one bolt going through the LCA control arm and bushing then matches up with the torque arm with splines. What im asking is two posts above. There is a tooth less section on the spline end of the bolt. Im wondering what that lines up with on the torque arm? There isnt a toothless section on the anchor arm so what does it line up with?


How do I index the lower control arm bolt? as pictured a few posts up. I might post over there tomorrow.

Thanks
Andrew

It can't really be that hard to get it indexed correctly. For each torsion bar, there is one and only one index position where the suspension will center between the bump stops when you put weight on it. Just take it apart and re-index it one spline at a time until you find the position that works. Do that with the fine adjustment bolt on the other end set at roughly 50% of its travel and you should be at the right spot, and have plenty of adjustment either way.

You're probably only one, and at most two, splines off where you are right now, so it shouldn't take too long to find the right position.

Im still having trouble with this. Here is a picture of my truck with the adjuster bolt maxed out:

Attachment 118774

Heres the only way the arms fit onto the torsion bar does this look right?

Attachment 118775

How do I set up the lca bolt where does this toothless part line up with:

Attachment 118776

Any help would be great the project is coming along great this is the last thing to finish!

Thanks Andrew

Did you ask over on toyotaminis.com like I suggested before? 2wds is pretty much all they do on there.

I hope I don't run into this problem. Did you ever figure out how to solve it? I have my truck torn apart and I will be putting the suspension back together on thursday hopefully. I really hope mine goes together fine. I will post later with my results.

Hi from my experience the the torsin bars are splined in only one spot so if its sagging it most likely means the bars are worn. I took a cut off wheel and grinded off a spline two over from the master spline on the torsin bar; in the direction that would lift my truck. Now I sit at factory ride height and the adjustment nuts are right in the middle of the bolt range. Followed by an alignment and the truck was riding really nice.

**Note grinding off a spline most likely ads more stress to the torsin bar and I am not responsible for premature wear on the spring.

Super thanks for update. Of course you are not responsible, everone is responsible for their own actions! :D but i understand why you would say that since sadly they often have the power to blame someone else in this land of unjust courts & modern laws. Thanks for the helpful hint!

Just incase anyone was wondering I got my Toyota torsion bar back together just fine with no problems after all. That being said I had to buy the torsion bar anchor arm adjuster bolt and nuts from a dealer, could not find them in hardware stores. That costed $17. Yeah..

But all I did was bolt the torque arm onto the lower control arm while it was in installation position (in other words lined up so it is close to where the lower ball joint connects to the wheel [the steering knuckle to be exact])

Before I did this I made sure the 'splineless' gap inside the torque arm was facing directly down the control arm (parallel with it).

After those two bolts on the torque arm were installed I fought with the anchor arm get it back into its slot-thingy that it was sitting in originally. I had to gently pry it into place then take my expensive anchor arm bolt and get it started until the anchor arm stayed in its position. Then i just tightened it until the length of bolt protruding out on the other side of the slot (minus the two locknuts of course) matched the protruding length of the orginal bolt I measured at the beginning of the project. It was fairly easy to tighten even with a basic socket wrench. Hope this helps if anyone stumbles upon this.

Thanks again Andrewtexas for posting this thread!