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Bill Shea
Dodge Dakota
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1/21/2002
13:15:09

Subject: Torsion bars cranked from the factory!
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First off, many thanks to Blizzard and Aaron for the lightning replies to my wheel question. Man, you guys are good :-)

Here's another one for ya. I had a '00 Dak CC that was about an inch lower in the front when I got it. I mentioned it to the salesman and he said the front suspension was "adjustable" so I asked for it to be levelled. They turned the torsion bars up and re-aligned it and it was indeed level. A set of 32X11.50's fit perfectly and I was a happy camper.

Then some rotten bas&$*d decided to steal my truck (while it was in for service no less) and demolish it. After the insurance company finally got off their ass I am now the proud owner of an '02 QC. When I picked the thing up it was about 1/2" lower in the front. No big deal, I thought, we'll do the torsion bar thing again. Didn't have the time to put it in right away so I drove it for a month and brought it in today. Over the past month the front end has settled another inch and now sits just less than 1 1/2" lower than the back. When they put it on the ramp, they told me the bars had no adjustment left!!!!!

This is a new truck, never been touched and the bars are fully cranked (I checked them) and still sits lower in the front. I checked with the parts department and found that there are two sets of bars available for the truck (they 'believe' that there is a standard and heavy-duty bar available). Only problem is they can't tell me which my truck has or even if they're interchangeable.

So here's the questions. How do I find out what bars my truck has and are the normal and heavy duty bars interchageable without changing a million other parts.


Thanks in Advance
Bill Shea



4wDakota
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1/21/2002
15:15:24

RE: Torsion bars cranked from the factory!
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I would take it back to the dealer and have them reindex the bars. The end of the bar has a hex head (some trucks have splines) if this isn't engaged in the right way you loose a lot of height because the bar is 1/6 less "cranked". In other words the dealer can pull off the adjusters and rotate the bars 1/6 of a turn. I have heard of a lot of trucks like yours that are low and are maxed out. Something you may want to look into.
Before anything I would have them find out if the bars are the right ones. They put in differnet bars depending on the engine to have the right spring rate. The factory may have grabbed the wrong bar

Corey

www.geocities.com/cjf7148/index.html

98 CC 4x4, 5.2 Auto 3.55LSD

Mike
Dodge Dakota
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1/21/2002
15:52:33

RE: Torsion bars cranked from the factory!
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My Dakota sits lower in the front too. Cranking the torsion bars...which direction and will it affect my alignment. I have 31x10.5 tires, if I crank the torsion bars I'll be able to get bigger tires on the truck?



kevster
Dodge Dakota
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1/21/2002
18:43:13

RE: Torsion bars cranked from the factory!
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I agree with 4wDakota, I have a 2002 quad cab 4x4 myself and it was almost 1 inch lwr on the passenger side. so i cranked it up. now the front sits 1 inch lower than the rear,like it should be. From the factory the front suspension settles,and this is the results, no biggy.) i did not need an alignment,. but i have heard about the adjusters being installed incorrectly on different makes of vehicles with torsion bar. also take a MICROMETER and meassure the diameter of both bars and see if the HD is fatter. have the dealer do it. If you have the V-8 chances are you have the HD bar.



Dave Mitchell
Dodge Dakota
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1/21/2002
20:44:05

RE: Torsion bars cranked from the factory!
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Transport drivers can overtighten the binders on the transport truck or on the train the vehcile was transported on and may have caused this problem.

Have 'em fix it, whatever it takes.



TSS
Dodge Dakota
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3/12/2002
18:27:02

RE: Torsion bars cranked from the factory!
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Ok so say my truck already has the HD 2000lb bars. Does anyone know of an alternate source for some stouter bars? I cranked mine up about 1 1/2 (then dropped it down a bit) and you can really feel the stress that it puts on thoes bars. Any URL's for a MFG of some good bars for a 2000 Dak, Club Cab 4.7 would be much appreciated. I have looked at many many posts and have not seen anything about stronger bars (besides the HD ones from Dodge) Also any input on some stronger upper and lower control arms would be great. I found this one and awaiting some pricing if anyone is interested. @
http://www.californiasupertrucks.com/html/customfab.htm



ayrow
Dodge Dakota
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3/12/2002
19:46:09

RE: Torsion bars cranked from the factory!
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I have gone round and round over this.

My suspension really gave up when I started haulung bricks and other heavy things.

To get it back up, I cranked the torsion bars and noticed a pretty big difference in the ride. Much more bounce to the front end.

I have learned to live with it.

Now, the back end is another story.
I have tried several things trying to get the back end up where it belongs and I finally settled on two coil springs. They are called "helper" springs and mount over the rear axle.
After installing them, I gained almost 2" in the back and increased my payload capacity by about 1500lbs.

The only thing I don't like about them is that it is pretty bouncy back there with no load in the bed.
I am going to get some better shocks in hopes I might solve this problem. Besides, I have heard time and again about how the factory shocks suck.

Ayrow

http://www.ayrow.com/truck.html




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