I had the local garage put on my new Downey Torsion Bars... I think they torqued them down a little too hard beacuse the ride height seems too high.... so I backed them off myself... the Haynes guide I have says there should be a lock nut on the adjusting bolt but I did not see one.... anyone know if there is supposed to be one and if the garage forgot to put them back on?.... Manual also says there should be 1 to 1-1/2 inches of adjusting bolt sticking above the nut... mine is now flush with the to of nut... Problem?

Is there other adjustments that can be made?
-Thx

 

There are two types of torsion bar adjusting screw. Earlier model years have a lock nut, later model years do not... you have a nut with one conical face and one flat one...

As for the bolt above the nut, flush sounds wrong to me....

Go check Rogers site for pics and more info...

www.4crawler.com

David

 

No locknuts one mine. I've adjusted my bars up and down varying the ride height by over 1 1/2". It went from maybe 1 1/4" of threads sticking out to maybe 3/4" of threads. (I did not measure - this is a purely 'subjective' measurement...) If you were to back the bolts out to where they were flush it would unload the bars as much as possible - lowering your ride height. Sounds wrong. Wonder if they could have done something like got lefts and rights reversed? (just guessing here)

 

well the bars are a little thicker...so if you still had 1-1 1/2" of bolt sticking up then that would dramatically increase the ride height. 1-1 1/2" is referring to stock torsions adjustment. The thicker the bar will mean harsher ride and less adjusting for more height.

 

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

 

Be sure to check your alignment after you do the adjustment. If the shop cannot align the truck, it may be due to one side being torqued significantly more or less than the other.

 

My suspension shop says you need an alignment anytime you adjust the torsion bars, period. And they're an honest reputable shop. Also like the article says, if that's the one I recall reading way back when, you must have your wheels off the ground to adjust them on a lift or on jacks, etc. . Also, the bolts can be a bit rusty so you might want to hit them with PB Blaster every day for a few days before you adjust them yourself. Mind you said you just had them installed so the bolts are probably fresh or new or at least should be relatively easy to turn. Is there any particular reason you went with the Downey, I'm assuming 26 MM torsion bars over the stock 22.8 MM ones? Do you have a winch, or something on the front end, or way bigger tires, or just wanted a change? I originally was thinking about this but the general consensus after a search and asking around was that most guys find the ride too harsh and just end up switching back to the stock ones.

 

Thanks for the input... very helpful... I originally wanted to just replace the rear springs to level the ride... I figured at the same time I would replace the shocks... The package deal from Downey included the torsion bars so I figured "what the hell"... I agree it is definitely a stiffer ride... definitely gonna take some getting use to

Springs 200 bucks
Shocks sold individualy +/-75 bucks a piece
Total 500 bucks

Downey's package (springs, shocks, torsion bars) 500 bucks

 

Oh... one more thing... Downey sent the wrong front shocks... the garage replaced the torsion bars but wanted to wait till the replacements came in to do the alignment... It seems to track well... alignment scheduled for next week.