Update on suspension

[MontysMaverick]

Hi all well after all the info that was provided to me last night I set too this morning and wound up the torsion bars on the front of the maverick, all was going well until I did the n/s after winding up the o/s so that the vehicle looked and measured nearly level then disaster struck, one adjuster went all the way up untill it reached its end of thread and the other only needed to go 6 turns to be level, I have 3 inches of thread showing one side and over 4 inches on the other. my question is why is the o/s full wound up and the n/s has loads of thread left that if wound up gives an extra 30mm of height, I actually had to wind it down to get the damn thing level after winding up the first time as I went a bit to far, before anyone says I drove around a bit in between to ensure it settled but still no joy, Any ideas gratefully appreciated its annoying because if I wind both up to the top I get a listed maverick thats over 2 inches higher on the n/s.

 

[extreme-4x4]

hmmm just st them so the truck is level . side to side . and 10-15mm lower on the front than the back

 

[MontysMaverick]

Any idea what the correct height say to the wheelarch should be front and back, as Im trying to sort things out for these BLOO*Y tyres lol

 

[MudLifeCrisis]

hmmm just st them so the truck is level . side to side . and 10-15mm lower on the front than the back

Ditto

 

[MontysMaverick]

Ditto

If I do this there is no way I can get the sizes of tyres on thats been said will fit, I really need some measurements to work to as its all guess work otherwise, surely somone took some measurements before winding up the torsion bars on their motor, sorry to sound arsy but its been a bummer today really has but thanks fellas for your help and patience with your truly

 

[MudLifeCrisis]

Just popped out and measured mine.

ground to top of arch are 33.5 inches at front and 34 inches at rear.


Brian

 

[MontysMaverick]

Cheers Brian, Ill have a look tommorrow and let you know what mine measures and then hopefully it will be tyre time lol:clap:clap:clap

 

[MudLifeCrisis]

Think the back of mine is an inch or so lower than it should be as the shocks are well passed their sell by date.

Brian

 

[lacroupade]

Any idea what the correct height say to the wheelarch should be front and back, as Im trying to sort things out for these BLOO*Y tyres lol

Monty if you want the textbook answer its in the manual.....its expressed as a height differential between the inner and outer ends of the front lower wishbone (abut 1.75 inches or so from memory).

Lots of folk will tell you to jack the front end up further but that way lies trouble downstream with your CV joints which will then be working at angles they weren't designed for.

At this point cue loads of people posting to say "I did it and I don't have a problem!"....well not yet you don't LMAO!

I have 31x10.5x15 AT2s fitted and get just a slight bit of rubbing occasionally on the plastic wheel arch liner where it sticks out over the rear seam, so not enough to trouble me. But your hammer will sort that.

As regards ride height, on mine, which has the suspension sitting at roughly the right height (or at least the upper end of 'right'!), the bottom of the sill is at roughly the same height as the centre of the wheel hub if that helps. I'll try and post a piccy later.

It may be that you need wheels with a different offset to stop any contact, but as Extreme has said, going for a 9.5 might be enough to make the difference. When all is said and done, the bigger diameter might give you an extra inch or so of ground clearance but so what; its the tyre pattern that keeps you out of most trouble - that and your noodle! So don't be dissatisfied with a standard or slightly larger tyre size but a fairly aggressive AT pattern:thumb2:thumb2

Oh and PS - don't worry about the different thread lengths, its irrelevant. Its the torsion bars that sag over time and often not at the same rate. Getting them level ON DEAD LEVEL GROUND is the key - oh and they do take their time to settle after adjustment - as in a day or three.

 

[MontysMaverick]

more updates.

Firstly if it wasnt for the nice people on here I would of a) brought the wrong tyres, and b) it would of cost me a small fortune to achieve what I have with my suspension especially with regards to torsion bars....especially with garage charges
Now for the update, I sat and thought first which is always the way to go and then decided that I would jack the body up and take both torsion bar bolts out and clean up so the top 2 nuts flew up and down the threads with ease, I then looked as to how I could level the torsion bars up so that when torsioned they werent wound up to the top of the thread one side and barely up the thread the other, this I achieved after a bit of messing, I removed the circlip and knocked backward the rocker arm mechanism that applies torsion to the bar, after marking both the outer and inner together I then drifted it off altogether and moved the mechanism on the splines so that now when I apply torsion to the bar to raise the front end, both go up only part way on the thread and the mechanism and bolt head are pretty well level with the crossmember, therfore out of harms way, I then set up both sides after replacing the circlip and have got the following measurements and at the moment it seems an ideal set up (thank god ) measurements are as follows 33.0 inch to the lip of the upper wheelarch both on the n/s and o/s and 33.0 on both sides at the rear, I know a lot of people have said that the rear should be half inch higher than the front which it is when unladen, but with a toolbox in and gas bottle etc it levels it up, What my intentions are now is to let everthing settle for a few days and then re-check and hopefully fit new rear springs and shoxs at the wekend or the following weekend, this I am hoping will give me 33.5 on the rear when loaded as the springs and shoxs that are on are what looks to be original items so they are probably past their sell by date anyway (15yrs old and 140k), If anyone can see a problem with what I have done then please let me know, I can confirm that because the torsion bars arent fully wound up the ride is comfy and not hard as it was before, Your thoughts gentlemen please ( sorry for the longwinded explanantion but thought this may well help others out there who are contemplating doing the same or maybe someone just wanted the info for the future) A very happy Monty AT THE MOMENT FINGERS CROSSED

 

[BigBlack]

Good to hear Monty.... but did you take pics of the process for the rest of us to follow????? :augie

By the way, 140k on original shockers

 

[MontysMaverick]

Hi matey I do have a pic of the maverick as of yesterday and one as its set today I also took a pic of what the torsion bar mechanism looks like now but I tried to upload into the album section and it just kept saying invalid upload and seen as I have had so much SHI* with the mav then I gave up when I get a free moment and am in the mood then Ill persist and put them in the album section, as for the shoxs yeah they look knackered, I havent put a spanner on the underside of the maverick for 3 yrs apart from oil changes and them were the engine oil not anything else, thats why I have started to look at doing a bit of work on it,lol

 

[MudLifeCrisis]

By the way, 140k on original shockers

140k on mine too , thought that was standard ;O)

 

[BigBlack]

Boo.... my MK3 had replacements at about 64k!!! :bow :bow