Torsion bar breakage

[4x4RangerGuy]

Anyone ever have a torsion bar snap on them? Today I got to experience that. I was leaving work and not 1 second after I roll onto High Street do I hear the worst/loudest/scariest noise come from my truck immediately followed by truck diving to the left.

My driver's side torsion bar snapped. I've never seen this happen, especially in a light truck like a Ranger.

So, I push it back to the shop to take a look. My front suspension seems alright, nothing other than major articulation . The torsion bar snapped at the end that mounts on the frame. It turns out that the alignment shop I had align my truck recently maxed out, and I mean maxed out, the adjuster bolt on my driver's side to get camber in spec, on top of me already adjusting it 1.5" from stock. I never noticed it strangely enough (probably because they did both sides).

I'm ok, just kinda frazzled. I'm glad it happened within feet of the shop. Tomorrow I will put my spare torsion bar in and do the alignment myself (with the correct camber bolts). And then I'm going to have a talk with the shop, because I specifically asked them, along being in writing, to NOT adjust the torsion bars. I'm glad I wasn't on the highway where I could have killed someone.

Oy.

 

[naford]

Just for curiosity. Were you able to steer? Did it rub the tire? Did you loose control? (Of the truck.)

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

I was able to minimally steer...enough to prevent myself from going into the other lane. The tire absolutely rubbed, and I maintained enough control of the truck eventually to get to the side of the road. However, when it snapped I lost control for a second or two. It was really intense.

I'll see if I can get some pics of the broken bar.

 

[Boggin]

happened on my old maxda..

 

[Skeleranger]

so they cranked em out even further??? thats scary as hell tho. coulda been real hectic kinda make me wonder about my tbars.

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

Yeah, the shop cranked them further on top of my 1.5" crank. Not good. I still have the repair order with the detail to not touch the torsion bars on it. I'm going to bring it to them and see what they say.

 

[Skeleranger]

dang that sucks bro. hopefully they didnt break or hurt anything else. cant u get stronger tbars? mite help so it doesnt happen again, and they better fixed what they broke, they signed their name to the bill. If not sue em haha

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

I'll do a more thorough inspection tomorrow. I'll probably just ask them to replace the parts and possibly my labor.

 

[Bent Bolt]

Snapped a torsion bar on a Ranger ?? Wow, never seen that. Happens all the time on the 97-03 F-150's.

 

[metalmacguyver]

Wow man, I am glad you are ok. I know your truck is not beaten on. Was this a possible defect in the bar?

 

[Shoeboy]

ITomorrow I will put my spare torsion bar in and do the alignment myself (with the correct camber bolts). And then I'm going to have a talk with the shop, because I specifically asked them, along being in writing, to NOT adjust the torsion bars.

Call the shop first and don't touch anything until you have talked to them, if you replace the torsion bar they may say they have no way of knowing if that was the one in there or not and you just want to get a new set (one, I've never had to change them, I don't know if they come in sets like springs, or singular). Talk to them, tell them what happened, and see what they'll do for you there. They may pay for towing and repair it for no cost on your part since you did specify for them not to touch them. I do work in a shop, and deal with warranty issues every so often, and when we know someone has had their hands in there (either them, or another shop), its hard to tell if the failure of the part was because of our mistake or someone else's, a lot of these cases are cause for a voided warranty, unless its very straight forward. I'm just telling it from someone who works on the other side of the counter, and trying to save you some possible grief.

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

Snapped a torsion bar on a Ranger ?? Wow, never seen that. Happens all the time on the 97-03 F-150's.

Yeah that's what I've heard as well. Quite odd, no?

Wow man, I am glad you are ok. I know your truck is not beaten on. Was this a possible defect in the bar?

Yeah me too. I'm glad no one got hurt most of all. I'm not sure how to inspect the broken bar...but there aren't any cracks on it running up or down.

Call the shop first and don't touch anything until you have talked to them, if you replace the torsion bar they may say they have no way of knowing if that was the one in there or not and you just want to get a new set (one, I've never had to change them, I don't know if they come in sets like springs, or singular). Talk to them, tell them what happened, and see what they'll do for you there. They may pay for towing and repair it for no cost on your part since you did specify for them not to touch them. I do work in a shop, and deal with warranty issues every so often, and when we know someone has had their hands in there (either them, or another shop), its hard to tell if the failure of the part was because of our mistake or someone else's, a lot of these cases are cause for a voided warranty, unless its very straight forward. I'm just telling it from someone who works on the other side of the counter, and trying to save you some possible grief.

I appreciate the input. I talked to the manager today before doing any repairs (I know him, not the guy who actually did my alignment), and he was very helpful. He was quite angry to hear that my adjuster bolts were turned up all the way and said he would talk to the guy. He also said to replace whatever parts needed replacing (since I work at a qualified shop) and he would refund me all costs and give me a free alignment done the right way. He even faxed me over the contract covering the above. All in all, he went way over my expectations and I'm quite happy.

That said, I need a new torsion bar, adjuster and bolts, upper control arm, and inner tie rod. I've got all of that on order and ready to be put in tomorrow.

 

[metalmacguyver]

A picture of the two parts of the bar would be good. Did it shear like a bolt? Or was it a spiral break like an axle shaft?

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

It sheared like a bolt. I will try to get pics asap, providing that my boss didn't throw out the parts already (he has tendency to do that).

 

[Jspafford]

It sheared like a bolt. I will try to get pics asap, providing that my boss didn't throw out the parts already (he has tendency to do that).

If you work in a shop, how come you didn't do the alignment yourself?