Leaning ranger!

[Buggyman]

Its a long story... But basically after working on my truck for 8 hours and getting no were, I decided to take a break from the front drive train and work on bolting in new struts, I had the front end on jack stands and the steering knuckle pulled, so the control arm was in the lowest position. I got ticked off when I couldn't get the shocks to reach since the control arm was dropped, so I put a jack under it, still couldn't get it high enough. I was planning on cranking my torsion bars anyways, so I thought I might just go on and give it a few cranks one way to see if I could get the shocks in... Bad idea, it moved the control arm a little, and I was able to install my shocks, but I cannot remember how many turns I gave it and my truck is leaning.


Any thoughts on getting it leveled up? I thought about putting it on jack stands and measuring the distance from the top of the tire to the weal well and get a friend to watch as I crank it till both measurements are the same. Would this be exact enough?

Lastly... The shop manuel said that the top of the struts needed to be torqued to around 50 ft. lbs (not exact, but near that). I could never get a good reading because of the rubber garments and the entire strut would turn a little with each crank; both nuts appear to be equally tight. Any thoughts on getting this bolt torqued? Could a difference in torque cause the truck to lean?

Thanks!

 

[4x4junkie]

If it's leaning after messing with the torsion bar adjusters, just readjust it a bit at a time until the truck is level again (the shock bolt won't affect it leaning).

Use a pair of Channellocks to hold the top of the shock from turning, then you should be able to torque the bolt down.