Hey all, I just got around to replacing my sad, old torsions with some Old Man Emu torsion bars. Everything thing went fine, but I was wondering if the rear mounts are supposed to look like this.

So here is the driver's side rear mount



And here is the right side mount



The right side mount never seated like the left side (which lead to the bolt being shorter than the left side), but the torsion bar seated nicely in the control arm anchor. Is this supposed to happen? And the front rides pretty close to 15 inches.






And here she sits

 

What year truck?

 

maybe have the left bar on the right and vice-versa?
they should be marked which bar on which side.

 

My truck is an 86 and I took caution to make sure the bars went on the right side. So unless LH means something other than left hand, I believe they're on the correct side.

 

The driver side is the left side.

 

Yes, I did the driver's side first with the bar marked LH. The bar could only fit going in one way on the right side or else the splines wouldn't mate properly. I lined up the white marks on the torsion bar to the mount on each end too.

I drove around after the installation and everything seemed fine. So, I can only think the that the right side is meant to angle like that.

 

Looks like you just have the splines of one side clocked more than the other side. Should be the same spring rate between the two sides since you cranked it up on the one side. Won't really be a problem until you want to change the settings on the adjuster nut, or you'll run out of threads. to fix you need to take off the side that's maxed out on adjuster nut and rotate a few splines more. Then they will be the same or very close.

 

Hhmmm, makes sense. But here's what I did. I took the old torsion bar off along with the rear mount, then I seated the new bar in the mount (and lined up the white marks on the bar and the mount (I think )), then I seated the bar in the front anchor (again lining up the white marks). So I'm betting the bar is probably clocked a little in the rear mount.

I won't be able to check until this weekend, but I'll let you know if that's the problem.

Thanks for the help.

 

Otherwise how do you like the new bars?

 

I've only done highway driving so far, but I'm very pleased with them. The previous owner had the old torsion bars cranked up to accommodate the weight of the ARB and it rode pretty stiff.

The front is definitely more controlled now; off road impressions will come next. The only thing I don't like is that since the front is smoother, every bump is intensified from the back.

Dakar springs will probably come next.

 

how old are your shocks? when i upgraded to OME shocks, THIS made the biggest improvement aside from deleting my front swaybar in terms of "smooth ride". i have Dakar leafs and they definitely helped with the butt-sag, but definitely stiffened up the rear. now that i've done a u-bolt flip and V-mounted my shocks, the shocks are inevitably less effective at dampening - but they're no longer limiting my down-travel! i think you'd be happy with the Dakar leafs, I am.

 

Right now I'm running the Bilstein HDs. I put 'em on about 2-3 years ago. I just read a thread a few minutes ago about how you have to be careful tightening the u-bolts so you don't limit the shocks' travel. Do you have any input on this?

Seems likes a u-bolt flip would be in order then. I definitely would pair the springs with the OME shocks seeming how they're tailored for each other and other brands can cause issues.

Thanks for the response.

 

meh, you're not going to do much when people talk about this except maybe get 1/2" and compromise your safety. basically what they're referring to is that since your shocks are mounted to the lower ubolt plate, you can rotate this plate slightly in favor of shock travel. basically you just tighten up the ubolt more on the shock mounting side, instead of mounting it parallel to the leafs like it's supposed to be. IMO this is as dangerous and in the same category as lift blocks.

you might be ok with your bilsteins if you get leafs. it's not like they're 20yr old worn out shocks. OME shocks aren't cheap and you can always add new shocks later if you're not happy. if you get the leafs, get a u-bolt flip kit if you're wheeling the truck. i ordered the standard squared off ubolts for the Dakar leafs and there was a lot of extra threads hanging down under the axle. the shocks were also the limiting factor for down travel in stock position. if you just street your truck you'll be fine w/o.

 

Sounds kinda scandalous. I think I'll keep it safe.

My wheeling is at a standstill right now (college seems to do that to you), so I'm sure I can live without the flip kit for a while. I think I'll just order the springs first and see what's the deal with my Billies later.

I appreciate your help.

 

So I just got around to fixing my torsion bar mount and it turns out the spacers that go on the bolt were cockeyed.

Before


After



But now I have another question. Is it okay for the upper control arm to be resting on the droop stop?

 

It won't hurt anything but may ride a little rough with the limited down travel.

 

Why are arms on bump stops? You got a lot of tbar crank for lift? Take a pic of further back on truck so we can see cv angle and take a measurement from center of axle to bottom of fender. You may or may not have to lower it depending on cv angle.

 

The front end is still around 15 inches, but that's measuring from the lip of the rim to the fender. When I installed the bars, I threaded the bolts through until about 1/2 inch of thread was above the nut (as you can see in the pics).

However, the new bolts I ordered through a Toyota OEM site were about an inch (or more) shorter than the original bolts. Could this have anything to do with it?

One more thing; after I reseated the right side bar today, that side rides a little more than 15 inches. I tried adjusting the bolt, but it seems like it's not making any difference and I'm running out of threads.

 

Hey guys, I hate to beat a dead horse, but here are some pics of my CV and control arm angles.
I'm just looking for some closure.




And this is measured from the center of the hub to fender.

 

So I asked this question in another thread after I had problems with the rear torsion mount, but I never got a definitive answer.

When I installed the OME torsion bars, the bolts I got were about an inch shorter than the stock ones. Could this have anything to do with it?

Also, I threaded the bolts until about 1/2inch of threads were showing.

Here are some pictures showing full droop. (Pics are old, now I have the OME nitrocharger shocks instead of my Billies)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't full droop mean the torsion bars are completely relaxed? Or does it mean they're cranked?

Are there any problems that arise from having the UCAs on the droop stops?







This is measured from the center of the hub to fender.