Chuffin torsion bars

[lacroupade]

..and it was all going so well...

Crawled underneath tonight and wound the torsion bars up a bit...took the nearside up around 40mm and the offside around 10-15mm. It was fine til I took it for a spin....now I have a loud clunking noise coming from the offside, almost like the noise the steering stop makes on full lock when the nylon thing is buggered and its not greased... except (i) its coming from a bit further back (under my feet?) and (ii) it does it on moderate left lock, i.e. when theres extra weight on the front right corner.

Too dark to crawl back under so will have a look tomorrow, but wondered if anyone had any similar experience?

I thought it might have been the torsion bars settling after adjustment but its too noisy and persistent for that...anything else that could be loose/catching? ... yes I tightened up the lock nut afterwards...

 

[extreme-4x4]

could have gone too high ... you might be right up to the top stoppers

this will stop you having any downward movement on the suspension only up

will bang like a bastard too if rubber is gone

 

[zippy656]

could be the cv joind too, if lifted to high under strain..

 

[lacroupade]

Could be it Colin; the nearside one i think is wound up as far as it will go - went tight right at the end, although the offside one didn't get that far...but theres getting on for 2.5-3 inches of thread above the locknut now so I suspect they are both maxed out and the truck is about where it should be (slightly down on the front).

Presumably if thats the issue then reindexing them (like some clever bloke did recently?) would fix it?

and what rubber????

 

[lacroupade]

could be the cv joind too, if lifted to high under strain..

would have failed MOT surely? Only passed last week...and as I said in the above update Lee, its not fully level, still a tad nose down so I don't think its too high???

 

[extreme-4x4]

if its up to the max... then you need to lower it a little
if its on the top stoppers you will have no downward movement on the suspension ... will bounce a lot and your get too massive strain through the tyres

will see if i have a pic

 

[zippy656]

didnt you wind them up a little tonight?

 

[ssteve]

zippy656
could be the cv joind too, if lifted to high under strain..

you mean universal joint ,different from constant velocity joint,the clue is in the name of the part.
ssteve

 

[lacroupade]

if its up to the max... then you need to lower it a little
if its on the top stoppers you will have no downward movement on the suspension ... will bounce a lot and your get too massive strain through the tyres

will see if i have a pic

yes cos i'd love to see what/where these chuffin 'stoppers' are?

 

[zippy656]

well how do i know, but yep that bit!

 

[extreme-4x4]

cant find a pic... but you have a rubber stopper at the top and one at the bottom..... i only have the top now bottom ones went in the rubbish

but if your right on the top ones it will bounce a lot and could become un controllable as i found out
when you go over a dip your wheel wont go in it any defects in the road will go through the tyres and not the suspension ... id guess they will get v hot too

 

[lacroupade]

mmm - i think i'll wind it down a bit tomorrow and see what its like....it seems to have levelled out a lot more than when I first did it...I must have underestimated the need to drive it a bit before final measurement and its looking VERY level at the moment!

I'll get some pics if I can and post them tomorrow night for further diagnosis.

Colin I'm still not cear where these stoppers are mate? are they shown in that shiny new manual you've got?! If so tell me where/what page etc..

 

[Terranosaurus]

zippy656
could be the cv joind too, if lifted to high under strain..

you mean universal joint ,different from constant velocity joint,the clue is in the name of the part.
ssteve

NO I think he was right with CV joint. You can lift it as high as you like on the torsion bars and the UJ's won't notice anything as the front diff is bolted to the chassis like the and they are connected by a propshaft with UJ's but the CV's on the drive shaft linking the diff to the hubs will change angle for sure.

Bottom line though - neither will make a noise except in 4x4 anyway so pretty unlikely to be those.


Noise wise, could well be anyone of the ball joints. Now operating in a different area of their arc of movement. Previous position may have been lovely and tight for the MOT but if the new position has wear in it they could easiliy be noisy.

Have you got lift springs in the back or were you just adjusting the torsion bars to get back to factory height? If the later theres a bit in the manual about setting it correctly by measuring rather than guessing and also ignore all the previous talk about being on the bumpstops etc as you won't be.

 

[lacroupade]

NO I think he was right with CV joint. You can lift it as high as you like on the torsion bars and the UJ's won't notice anything as the front diff is bolted to the chassis like the and they are connected by a propshaft with UJ's but the CV's on the drive shaft linking the diff to the hubs will change angle for sure.

Bottom line though - neither will make a noise except in 4x4 anyway so pretty unlikely to be those.


Noise wise, could well be anyone of the ball joints. Now operating in a different area of their arc of movement. Previous position may have been lovely and tight for the MOT but if the new position has wear in it they could easiliy be noisy.

Have you got lift springs in the back or were you just adjusting the torsion bars to get back to factory height? If the later theres a bit in the manual about setting it correctly by measuring rather than guessing and also ignore all the previous talk about being on the bumpstops etc as you won't be.

Interesting assessment as I noticed underneath just now (in the mud!) that one of the ball joints (not sure which but will post a fotie tomorrow when daylight) seems partly visible where its opposite number isn't...just got some pix, give me a minute to photoshop them...

 

[lacroupade]

First pic - heres how its sitting now, not that clear but the front has actually settled upwards a bit, so I think as Colin suggests, 10-15mm down might be an idea...

 

[lacroupade]

Second pic - showing how much thread there is now showing on the torsion bar adjuster bolt...

 

[lacroupade]

pic this time..

 

[lacroupade]

Now....whats that little ball joint fella between the bottom of the damper and the CV boot? the other side looks kind of different...?

 

[lacroupade]

finally heres the nearside...that joint looks different....? Is it me?

 

[Terranosaurus]

As I said - a ball joint. In this case its the one on the drop link - looks like its popped right out. You need a new drop link.