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Buggyman
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2007
- Messages
- 134
- Vehicle Year
- 1998
- Transmission
- Manual
Hey folks,
This is my first time doing any work on the front end or suspension, so I am a complete newbie, and I think I messed up my truck. It’s a 98' 3.0 4x4 Ranger.
I have my truck jacked up and sitting on two jack stands on a concrete surface that is not 100% level, both jack stands are supporting the main cross member of the frame that is under the engine proximal to the front. The driver side jack stand sits about 1" lower then the passenger side (had problems with the jack and had to chalk it were I could). I have both brake calipers set aside, rotors removed, hubs and bearing assembly off and steering knuckle removed. To make things simpler, I will just spell out everything I did in order to were I am now...
First I removed both front struts, when I did, the A arm dropped about 2" on the passenger side and about 3" on the driver side. Before I removed them, they both seemed to be slightly hyper-extended.
Next... I bolted in the top of the driver side strut, and had a problem with the bottom part of the strut, the end was not at the right angle and would not reach the A arm. To get around this I put a floor jack under the A arm and jacked it up about 3" so I could get the bolts on.
Then... I tightened the top of the strut down as tight as I could get it (shooting for 35 ft-lb) and tightened both the lower nuts, switching every few turns to keep it an even tightness. I was trying to torque them to 45 ft-lb per directions from the shop manual, but in the process snapped the bolt!
Then... I removed the other nut, allowed the A-arm to drop back down, threaded a new nut back on, jacked the A-arm back up, and then had a bright idea of messing with my torsion bar. I decided to give it a few cranks (My truck was leaning a tiny bit in the past, so I thought it might have been off) which seemed to move the A-arm a little.
So as of now, I have loosened the top nut of the strut, put both the lower bolts on loosely and raised my driver side jack stand up 1" while I had the A-arm jacked up.
The problem now is... My truck is slightly level at the cross member were it’s supported by jack stands (floor does run down hill slightly) and is slightly level (passenger side is about .5 inch higher then the driver side) but the passenger side A-frame sits at 6" from the floor while the driver side is at 11 inches!!
Any ideas as to what caused this? Is it from my cranking the torsion bar or is it because I removed both struts at the same time? I never measured it till now, so it could be because the slab is not level or just the way the truck sits? Any ideas on how to level the front end of my truck up since it does look not look level at all? Any ideas on how to get my shocks back on and not bust anymore bolts? Is it going to harm them to be hyper extended during installation?
Sorry for all the questions, but any help at all would be great!
This is my first time doing any work on the front end or suspension, so I am a complete newbie, and I think I messed up my truck. It’s a 98' 3.0 4x4 Ranger.
I have my truck jacked up and sitting on two jack stands on a concrete surface that is not 100% level, both jack stands are supporting the main cross member of the frame that is under the engine proximal to the front. The driver side jack stand sits about 1" lower then the passenger side (had problems with the jack and had to chalk it were I could). I have both brake calipers set aside, rotors removed, hubs and bearing assembly off and steering knuckle removed. To make things simpler, I will just spell out everything I did in order to were I am now...
First I removed both front struts, when I did, the A arm dropped about 2" on the passenger side and about 3" on the driver side. Before I removed them, they both seemed to be slightly hyper-extended.
Next... I bolted in the top of the driver side strut, and had a problem with the bottom part of the strut, the end was not at the right angle and would not reach the A arm. To get around this I put a floor jack under the A arm and jacked it up about 3" so I could get the bolts on.
Then... I tightened the top of the strut down as tight as I could get it (shooting for 35 ft-lb) and tightened both the lower nuts, switching every few turns to keep it an even tightness. I was trying to torque them to 45 ft-lb per directions from the shop manual, but in the process snapped the bolt!
Then... I removed the other nut, allowed the A-arm to drop back down, threaded a new nut back on, jacked the A-arm back up, and then had a bright idea of messing with my torsion bar. I decided to give it a few cranks (My truck was leaning a tiny bit in the past, so I thought it might have been off) which seemed to move the A-arm a little.
So as of now, I have loosened the top nut of the strut, put both the lower bolts on loosely and raised my driver side jack stand up 1" while I had the A-arm jacked up.
The problem now is... My truck is slightly level at the cross member were it’s supported by jack stands (floor does run down hill slightly) and is slightly level (passenger side is about .5 inch higher then the driver side) but the passenger side A-frame sits at 6" from the floor while the driver side is at 11 inches!!
Any ideas as to what caused this? Is it from my cranking the torsion bar or is it because I removed both struts at the same time? I never measured it till now, so it could be because the slab is not level or just the way the truck sits? Any ideas on how to level the front end of my truck up since it does look not look level at all? Any ideas on how to get my shocks back on and not bust anymore bolts? Is it going to harm them to be hyper extended during installation?
Sorry for all the questions, but any help at all would be great!
