Modding a torsion bar truck to be more "Pre-runner" friendly

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Looking to see what can be done with my torsion bar suspension to have it perform better for small jumps, and your normal desert terrain. It's a bit stiff when playing around so looking for suggestions.

 

[RaceRanger97]

build a hoop and tab your A-arm to run a coilover and through away the torsion bars

 

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Sounds expensive lol. Friend of mine could do the fabrication, what do the coil overs cost? I know tbars suck though.

pics?

 

[Ranger#1]

for coilovers check out f-o-a best bang fo ur buck

 

[GoodysGotaCuda]

f-o-a?

 

[BlackBII]

http://www.f-o-a.com/

 

[Dzrtcj7]

Coil overs is not the only answer for making a truck perform ok ...

We RACE on torsion bars, and frankly haul ass through the whoops.

One key is, you can never have too much shock.

If I were to be setting up a prerunner (which I am) with torsion bars, I'd run the "1" sport trac (heaviest) bars, a shock hoop with at least a 2.5" remote reservior shock. A lot of making any truck work well is spending the time and money to get the rearend to work well too ....

The only major downside to the torsions is you will have to replace them. We can get a set to go about 500 miles of HARD use before they are sagged and wasted. We also do not start with hardly any "twist". Our arms, once everything is settled, are close to level.

 

[Dzrtcj7]

Another word on the "stiffness" of the front end. Most trucks set up for high speed offroad abuse are set up "stiff" unless you are running a multi rate coil over spring and multi bypass shock. You would be suprised how stiff our truck rides until you get it gliding over the top of a set of whoops.

 

[84projectFORD]

x2 on what Dzrt said. you need the front end to be stiffer than most prerunners due to havin small travel numbers but the shocks are what will make or break your truck. you can run 8" of travel but with a properly valved shock you can pass people left and right that are runin 13-15 inches if they a little off on valving. I have a buddy runnin the camburg torsion kit with the dual bilsteins and camburgs spindle and upper arm, his truck hauls through desert whoops no problem and pulls 13" of travel.

coilovers are definitley nice but if you do it you might as well just invest in a full LT kit for your front end. Id say pick Dzrts brain on his set up and then go buy some deaver rear springs and put a bed cage in with a 14-16" shock and have fun! you will probably be very impressed if you set the shocks up right

 

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Thank you so far everyone, very helpful. Glad to hear it sounds like i can work with my truck. I am planning for spindles someday, and probably by then it would be wise to replace/upgrade the t-bars, to #1s. Since right now i have LLs (or whichever the worst are).

Can anyone recommend a good shock with budget in mind? Bilsteins, Ranchos, Pro-Comps?

 

[GoodysGotaCuda]

+ here is a pic of my little tonka truck. We're going to make up a bumper in the near future, swap rear discs, and some other stuff.

 

[84projectFORD]

if you want a shock that will really help you id get a tuneable one, namely one that you can valve. a higher model bilstein (i believe the 7100 are tuneable) or F-O-A shock is a good less expensive shock to get you where you want to be

 

[canyoncritter]

FOA, harbor freight of shocks. MYSELF I would not run them as a coil carrier.If photobucket wasnt down Id post a pic of the poristy I got in a replacment top cap straight from FOA.I know there are alot of people who do.But after what I got ,I wouldnt have the faith in them to do so.
As a non weight carring shock,they could be a good bang for the buck.I would just open them up to spy a sneak peek on thier assembly.but thats anoutehr issue I had.

T&T shock they are a 2.0 dia shock.I dont know much about them. heard they are a knock off fox....

fox 2.0 series and bilstien 7100 are both 2.0 shock's.

sway a way has a 2.0 and a 2.25 line.

king 2.0's as well.

if you buy a tuneable shock, just make sure you get them with resi's

the "throw away" shocks, wont really help you much as you cant tune them like all the shocks above.Bilstien 5100's are the only ones that I know they do valve them to each app. where procomp, rancho etc is "one size fits all" in the valving.but at 75ea for the 5100 your half way to a tuneable 2.0 shock.