Torsion bar change

[charlie strayarc]

I then tightened front 3 bolts f.t. and cranked bar up on adjusting bolt until bracket and bolt were nicely tucked up in crossmember. I refitted circlip at front of bracket with a pair of multi grips.

I then checked I had about 10mm bump stop clearance each side and adjusted each side until they were even from bottom of rim to arch of guard.

I drove around the block,bounced off a few kerbs left and right and readjusted each side until I was happy they were even and most height I could get which is 805mm from bottom of rim to arch of guard with a 2 inch body lift.

 

[gazza414]

What brand did you buy ?

 

[trublu]

Nice write up dude.

 

[charlie strayarc]

What brand did you buy ?

I bought a set from a mob over here in Perth called west coast suspensions.
The rest of my suspension is efs but I held off on the torsion bars until I had winch and steel bar.
I rang west coast about the arrow on the end of bar and they said it didn't matter which way around it went end for end as long as it was correct left and right,which is why I fitted the first one incorrectly,deciding on using arrow to indicate lower control arm movement. When I noticed the Nissan one I was pulling out was different arrow rotation to the one I had just put in, I decided to ring zordo.

 

[charlie strayarc]

Nice write up dude.

Cheers mate,
I had hoped it would come out a bit clearer than it has.
Sometimes its hard to explain things.

 

[charlie strayarc]

I hope I'm not stating the obvious, but I did one side at a time.
If you finish one side before you start the other you always have a side to look at if your unsure about anything.
It's not too hard a job though and each side took about 2 hrs taking it easy.

 

[robmacca]

I drove around the block,bounced off a few kerbs left and right and readjusted each side until I was happy they were even and most height I could get which is 805mm from bottom of rim to arch of guard with a 2 inch body lift.

So.... your actual height w/o the bodylift is then 55mm then.... is that correct + u said u have about 10mm clearance on the top bump stop.... is that right??

Will check mine as I've recently installed a steel bullbar + a winch with steel cable and left the original TB in...

If the original TB can't handle the extra load, what time frame b4 u start to see the front sag or is it purely how the vehicle handles bumps in the roads, etc ??

cheers...
rob

 

[charlie strayarc]

So.... your actual height w/o the bodylift is then 55mm then.... is that correct + u said u have about 10mm clearance on the top bump stop.... is that right??

Will check mine as I've recently installed a steel bullbar + a winch with steel cable and left the original TB in...

If the original TB can't handle the extra load, what time frame b4 u start to see the front sag or is it purely how the vehicle handles bumps in the roads, etc ??

cheers...
rob

A height of 755mm without a body lift would be with torsion bars wound up.
I think standard height is about 710mm, which may vary slightly between vehicles. My standard height was 690mm when I got mine but it was 5 yrs old/118000km on clock.

I have about 10mm clearance from top bumpstop. (not measured just guessing by my wonky, glass eye).

I have no idea how long the front would take to sag as I had alloy bullbar for yonks and fitted new torsion bars within 1500km of steel bullbar, winch yet to go on.

 

[robmacca]

A height of 755mm without a body lift would be with torsion bars wound up.
I think standard height is about 710mm, which may vary slightly between vehicles. My standard height was 690mm when I got mine but it was 5 yrs old/118000km on clock.

I have about 10mm clearance from top bumpstop. (not measured just guessing by my wonky, glass eye).

I have no idea how long the front would take to sag as I had alloy bullbar for yonks and fitted new torsion bars within 1500km of steel bullbar, winch yet to go on.

Cheers for that.... What sort of difference would u expect to notice with Aftermarket TB's ??

Just trying to determine if I do or don't need to upgrade my OEM TB's as mine seems to ride ok I reckon.... well at least in the front end, rears a different story

 

[ShortyNavros]

Hey Guys,

I have just done some measurements on mine as I was trying to figure out if my torsion bars are wound up or not. Here are some figures:

Adjusting bolt length (from adjusting nut base to end of bolt): Passanger 85mm, Driver 92mm

Bump Stop Clearance: Passanger upper 20mm lower 17mm, Driver upper 18mm lower 17mm

Bottom of Rim to Guard: Passanger 733mm Driver 740mm

Lower Arm Pivot Height: Passanger 69mm, Driver 68mm (permissible limits according to service manual are 45.5-49.5mm on page 42 of the Front Axle Section, there are values for Australia and Except Australia. For some reason the Australian values are smaller which seems odd to me?).

According to this it appears my standard tosion bars have been wound up, not to the max but still a fair bit (only bought the car 2 months ago).

What I want to do is take the bars out give them a clean and regrease them and re-install them back to what they are at (happy for the extra height seeing as mine is only standard lift). Reason for doing this is when I am articulating or going over rough (ie suspension travelling up and down quickly) I get a loud knocking noise coming from the front left side which can be felt through the floor of the ute.

I know people have said check the shocks - they look fine, check the tie rod bolt for it hitting the LCA - looks fine. So I want to try this and see if its the TBs which need re-indexing because the left one may be slipping?

If I reset the TB's to what they are at now I wont need a wheel alignment will I? Everything is going back to how it should be, maybe just even the passenger side up a touch to match the drivers side, this is a very minor adjustment though.

 

[Navmania]

Hi Shorty. Mine is at 775mm from the bottom of the rim with 20mm top bump stop clearance. They are calmini UCA's tho. So I would say yours would be untouched.

Cheers

 

[RustyNav09]

Calmini arms also with 800 bottom of rim to guard. 30mm bodylift fitted also. Can anyone stick a picture up with there nee upgraded torsion bars in the tensioner and the lower arm. I have about 5mm spline sticking out if each side. Unsure if it's fitted properly

 

[tyler-k]

rusty my tough dog bars are about 5-7mm out each end on both sides so 5mm sounds about right.

-Tyler

 

[RustyNav09]

Few thanks heaps Tyler. For some reason I thought the bars may have been shorter somehow. But that eases my mind. I can't believe the difference it had made up front. A lot more stable and not even rough just firm and soaks the bumps up very nicely

 

[SG1]

I recently put EFS torsion bars in and rear leaf springs changed shocks all round to TJM gold's, only had an alloy bar on, and changing to steel bar with winch very soon which will add weight to the front and help it ride better hopefully, personally if my torsion bars wernt buggered and I didn have the extra weight going in and even if I did, I would of kept using my stock Nissan torsion bars until they were stuffed and no more adjustment left in them.

You really notice when you have HD torsion bars in with out the extra weight of steel bar and winch and or dual battery in front.

Although I did gain 85mm by changing suspension but then my old suspension was completely buggered, overall I'm happy with the change and mostly in the rear end of the nav but thinking that will change once more weight is put up front and be better in front.

 

[Fat801]

Fml got first torsion bar in sweet as went to undo adjusting bolt and snap bolts in 2 peices

 

[robmacca]

You really notice when you have HD torsion bars in with out the extra weight of steel bar and winch and or dual battery in front.

In what way..... A good ride or a Harsh Ride ???

I'm looking at doing something similar soon but I do have a Steel Bar + Winch.....

 

[SG1]

In what way..... A good ride or a Harsh Ride ???

I'm looking at doing something similar soon but I do have a Steel Bar + Winch.....

For me it was really stiff/harsh ride in the front BUT that was with an alloy bar on only. Was not nice and a little disappointed at the time and could feel it wanting to push in corners, although in all fairness knew it would be as was told that it would be until I had extra weight put in up front in steel bar and winch.

Now I have recently changed to steel bar and winch(last Friday) and the ride in the front improved considerably, there was a rake to front again and a lot better drive.

BUT me being me decided to check out the torsion bars and rest of suspension, hears the kicker, checked numbers on torsion bars and then a few phone calls later my suspicion was confirmed and they had installed Iron man TB's instead of EFS as requested and paid for, soo rang up and no problems changing them over tomoz to EFS as wanted and to match up with rear leaf springs(although its iron man U Bolts and bush kit also but not a big deal on that), so I will be doubly checking the work but should be no probs and appeared to be a mistake and apologetic...Lesson learnt and always check to make sure you have the right kit installed.

So in summary even with the wrong torsion bars and then changing to a steel bar and winch it helped a lot and the ride feels alot better now than what it was with only the alloy bar on. Will be happy once it's all sorted and have the right gear in it.

 

[DDgone]

Sorry all for digging up a really old post but today i was driving and hit a rather large pot hole, instantly the passenger side front sagged down. It turned out that the Front Shock had been on its way out ( i wondered why it was on a slight slant to passenger side) Got the navara home (5km's). After changing shocks i noticed the Passenger torsion bolt adjust was missing. I got one from a wreckers for $25 and fitted it.

I have had this navara for around 10 months ad it was already wound up on the torsion bars. I haven't done any torsion bars before so i just jacked up the Arm on the rear of the torsion bar and fitted the 2nd hand bolt from wreckers, i didn't remove the torsion bars or any thing just kept cranking the adjuster till the vehicle was level again.

i assume i did it wrong ? Any ideas ? i drove it this Arvo around the block for about 5km's and never missed a beat

Cheers and sorry for digging up old post

 

[RustyNav09]

The main thing with adjusting torsion bars is to have all load off the tb to start with. I used an air imoact wrench to adjust mine and have had no issues with them. I think they bolts etc were just fatigued and its not uncommon to have fatigued bolts. Its just part of having a tb setup. Safety is paramount amd should be first on everyones list and i would recommend having the car jacked up on stands also with the jack underneath still supporting the vehicle if the stands were to collapse. If you have the tires off i would suggest sliding them under the chassis rail as another form of protection.

Rusty