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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / General Car Topics / January 2006Torsion bar spring?
Merry meet. I do not know who to ask this question of so I thought I would ask you find folks in Usenet. :-) My Toyota 2WD 6Cyl 1992 pickup (extended cab) pickup has pretty much sagged all the way to the rubber stops ("jounces" as one web site called them). This means the front of the pickup is quite low to the ground and I am constantly scraping rocks--- I live in the wilderness down a 9-mile-long dirt forest road that is very rough. This has caused the underside of the pickup to be beat up badly, with the oil pan and fuel tank dented: life cannot go on like this for my pickup much longer. Worse, when I drive the automobile and hit a bump, the tires scrape inside the wheel wells. When I turn sharply, the wheels also scrape inside the wheel wells. I jacked up the front end via the body and I went looking for something that looked like a tension bar and I found them--- both are laying hard and flat against their rests, but I have not looked to see where they are when the body is resting on the wheels (I'll do that in a few minutes). Would replacing the torsion bar springs help lift the front end back to where it once was and thus solve these problems? Or is the problem elsewhere? I'm a cowboy, not a mechanic, so I just don't know about such things. Any advice will be much appreciated, and thank you. >Would replacing the torsion bar springs help lift the front end back to >where it once was and thus solve these problems? Or is the problem >elsewhere? Torsion bars are adjustable. Look to the other end of the bar (not at the wheel end ) and find the lever that has a large bolt in it. The lever is the adjustment point and you either screw the bolt in or out to get ride height. You may want to spray the bolt area with a good penetrating oil a few hours before attempting to move the bolt and it helps to jack the front wheels off the ground to help release tension. One will assume you have the sense to use stands or other blocking materials and not crawl under the vehicle with only a jack supporting the vehicle in the air. Pete > >Would replacing the torsion bar springs help lift the front end back to > >where it once was and thus solve these problems? Or is the problem > >elsewhere? > Torsion bars are adjustable. Look to the other end of the bar (not > at the wheel end ) and find the lever that has a large bolt in it. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > and it helps to jack the front wheels off the ground to help release > tension. Thank you. I saw the long bolts, with a nut and a locking nut. As far as I can tell the nuts are all the way tightened. I will wash the mud and rabbit blood off (hee!) and let the bolts dry, then spray with WD40 or other oil and then remove the lock nut.... and then losen the top nut and torque the bolt to see if the bar lowers. Golly I hope it does--- replacing the springs looks like tedious work. The bolts have not been twisted since they were put on 14 years ago. Thank you for the suggestion. All I need is about two inches of lift. Still, it does not explain why the front end is sagging. I assume it is because the torsion bar springs are shot. > One will assume you have the sense to use stands or other blocking > materials and not crawl under the vehicle with only a jack supporting > the vehicle in the air. Thank you for the suggestion. :-) I use four nine-inch-square red cedar blocks to keep the automobile from crushing me to death (or worse, maiming / crippling me). The nearest other person is 3 miles away and probably would not hear my dying screams. I'll take your suggestion and do it Saturday, and then post the results here so that any one in the future will be able to look up and see if it worked or not (in case they have a similar problem). I'm just confused about why the front end sagged. The only think I can think of is the worn springs. > Pete >I'm just confused about why the front end sagged. The only think I >can think of is the worn springs. Worn torsion bars, worn bushings, damaged frame member under the adjusting bolt. And Yes, It is very tedious to have to replace the torsion bars especially on an older (rusty?) car. In a pinch, you can spacer up the frame member where the adjusting bolt end sits - bolt or weld it in. Good luck Pete cse...@mts.net wrote: > >I'm just confused about why the front end sagged. The only think I > >can think of is the worn springs. > Worn torsion bars, worn bushings, damaged frame member under the > adjusting bolt. And Yes, It is very tedious to have to replace the [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Good luck > Pete Google News is messaged up yet again, so I don't know why I even bother trying to reply. My assigned news server does not carry this newsgroup. Let's see..... Yesterday I went and borrowed a 22mm socket and a 22mm closed wrench, and with the help of a creasant wrench and a "cheater" pipe I got the lock nuts off the bolts. I then used the 22mm socket with a 1/2-inch square drive bar and I tightened both torsion bar adjustment bolts as tight as they would go. I then put the lock nuts back on and dropped the pickup back on its feet. The result: the front end is now about 3 inches higher than before, and the problem of the wheels scraping the inside of the wheel wells is gone; the wheels no longer scrape when making a tight turn. Weehee! Thank you Pete. There will be some extra in your pay check this week. :-) DMR |
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