Torsion bar quiz!

[Zeusv8]

Yep it's me again! I am a bit confused on the t bar install! I have the car on stands,wheels off and new shocks on and everything hanging. Do I have to wind the t bars back or are they now at 0 load?
Is it a straight forward one out one in job?
And the one thing that's got me is,in the destructions it says I should have 70 mm droop. I am not sure how to achieve this,do I measure the extended shock and wind it up 70 mm?
Sorry if I'm being a bit thick but this has been a baptism of fire into the driveway mechanic world!!
I have also studied the write up on mud but that confused me a bit more!!
Thanks for any help(again)!

 

[Ecoman]

Whatever you do, and this is very important, DO NOT under any circumstances wind up the torsion bars when the weight of the vehilce is on the wheels. If that bolt snaps it could kill you or someone nearby! I have seen one snap and luckily it never hurt anyone but it buried the head of the bolt 3 inches into the tarmac and the bolt punctured a holt in the floor pan!

If you are just replacing the shocks then you shouldn't need to touch the torsion bars anyway. That is unless you are adding a lift kit and therefore replacing them too?

 

[Zeusv8]

I'm putting a full AHC conversion kit on including T bars a strengthening brackets as well as shocks all round and rear springs. T bars is my last job!

 

[AndyCook]

i would think the need winding back
i replaced the torsion bar-bolts on my 4runner (weight off wheels first) and took a few turns before they loosened.
I have heard of bolts going through floorpan of 4runners/Hilux when people have tried to tighten/loosen them when vehicles wheels still on ground and they have sheared...

 

[Ecoman]

This is a topic posted on the hilux club forum...

http://www.hpoc.co.uk/community/index.php?showtopic=24419&hl= torsion bar bolt snapped&st=0 oops you have to be a member to view it....I will copy and past the contents instead

 

[Ecoman]

Here you go...

I thought i'd post a quick thread on here about the recent torsion bar problem on my mk5 with a few pics to illustrate...

As mentioned in another thread i attempted to tweak the torsion bars on mine without jacking the front wheels off the floor.

Big mistake - if you ever try adjusting these make sure you get the wheels off the floor.

With the load off the wheels its a piece of cake to crank the torsion bars up a bit. With the load on the wheels its a whole different ball game resulting in the very least a snapped bolt.

Here's a pic of a new bolt (ordered from ordered from Toyota this morning and delivered at 1pm :thumbsup: ) compared to the reamins of my old bolt.

I dont know if the torsion on the bolt caused some discolouration or if the original bolt on mine had some defect/impurity that weakened it but this is the end of the bolt where it sheared off showing a rough dark part in the left hand side centre of the bolt..

If this bolt does snap, i cant stress enough that you really do not want to be ANYWHERE near it.

I've searched the area about 30 feet diameter around my truck and there's no sign of the massive nut that goes on it or the top of the bolt that snapped off anywhere - it must be in someones garden somewhere.

Fortunately it never hit anyone or anything esle as far as i know except the floor my mk5...

For some indication of the power that this thing lets go with, here's a shot of the underneath of the mk5

And here's a shot from inside the cab with drivers seat removed, looking down at the new torsion bar bolt in place. It looks like an AK47 round has gone thru it... :ahh:

I'm managed to tap the floor back into some rough shape now but i'll need to get it welded up to stop it rusting and getting damp in the cab.

I wanna make sure that nobody else makes the mistake i did cos we all get a bit blasé about these things sometimes and someone really could end up seriously injured if they were unlucky.

Take care!

 

[warrenpfo]

I'm putting a full AHC conversion kit on including T bars a strengthening brackets as well as shocks all round and rear springs. T bars is my last job!

I am about to follow suit and wanted to ask which torsion bars you are fitting and why.

I am undecided between the OME or the Ironman ones.

 

[Zeusv8]

Hi warren I'm fitting a full old man emu kit which includes their torsion bars and wishbone bracket kit. I am led to believe that the AHC T bars are not strong enough on their own to support the weight of the car as the hydraulic pressure in the AHC system did a certain amount too. The wishbones are prone to cracking under extreme loading like off roading and the bracket kit is to prevent this, quite easy to fit just a bit fiddly!
I chose OME because upon reading loads of stuff on forums I felt it was a better kit but that's just my opinion! If I were to do it again I would buy a soundproof crash helmet so I could put it on,swear as loud as I like and bang me head off the wall! Lol

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

you'll need to undo the torsion bar adjusting bolts so there's no tension on them and then you can take them off. You can do one side then the other, doesn't have to be both at the same time. The droop they say you need 70mm of is from normal ride height to fully extended suspension. So with all 4 wheels on the ground on a fairly level surface, measure from the bottom edge of the wheel rim (easiest place to make your tape measure stick to ) to the wheel arch panel. Then jack that corner so the wheel is off the ground and measure again. The difference is your droop and should be at least 70mm. Any less and you'll start lifting wheels and losing traction sometimes.

 

[Zeusv8]

Ok I think I've got it! With all wheels on the ground say the distance from rim to arch is 500mm, I jack it up till the tyre is off the ground the measurement should be 570mm?? Cheers

Also as a heads up ,the torsion bars are longer for diesels as I found out today on my petrol one. 50 mm is the difference so just make sure they send the right ones!

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Ok I think I've got it! With all wheels on the ground say the distance from rim to arch is 500mm, I jack it up till the tyre is off the ground the measurement should be 570mm?? Cheers

it can be more as well, that's just the minimum that's generally considered to give acceptable behavior.

 

[Zeusv8]

Ok thanks Jon. It'll need to wait till Monday when they send me the correct T bars!!

 

[warrenpfo]

Does that mean you have a set of Diesel T bars going cheap?

Who is your supplier?

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I have a set of new OEM none AHC torsion bars for a petrol, what they put on the none AHC trucks from the factory, only suitable if you don't have or plan to add bumpers and armor but on a truck that fits that description they should give a more supple ride than the higher spring rate OME / Ironman etc.

 

[Zeusv8]

Sorry lads the diesel ones are being swapped on Monday. Frogs island 4x4 are the supplier but the delivery note was from Arbill but the guys at frogs are very helpful if you've any problems. I don't know if Arbill have a similar service.