Torsion bar drop

[chrmaka]

Okay guys, I have completely decreased the torsion bars, I'm looking for another inch, maybe two. What's my next step?
Thanks.

 

[chrmaka]

Note, the truck is a 2006 sport 2wd.

 

[JoshT]

You are a member on RPS as well right? I think I've seen something over there about flipping the torsion keys or re indexed keys allowing for more drop. My only torsion bar ride is a 4wd so I don't follow that stuff much just recall reading about it.

Good luck with the drop!

 

[chrmaka]

Josh, I am on rps, and I'm wanting to avoid flipping my keys due to the camber you get from it. I still use my truck for the occasional trip to the scrap yard or yard work. And camber would severely lessen the load I could do, plus make it a pain in the ads to drive around my yard. But thanks for the input though!

 

[MastuhWaffles]

Well, I did the crank to lift my front, but I suppose the only way to get more out of the front would be with a lowering kit, the back you could do the shackle flip.

 

[chrmaka]

In the bag I'm going to do a lift block delete, but I'll want to keep my current stance angle, when I drop the lift block out I'm wanting the front dropped slightly more so I keep the look I got now, just with less wheel gap

 

[MastuhWaffles]

In the bag I'm going to do a lift block delete, but I'll want to keep my current stance angle, when I drop the lift block out I'm wanting the front dropped slightly more so I keep the look I got now, just with less wheel gap

Just drop it down and get some wheels that will get it flush, or use spacers.

 

[JoshT]

Okay, there's something wrong with these replies. I'm going to address each one so hopefully we can get to the bottom of the confusion here.

Josh, I am on rps, and I'm wanting to avoid flipping my keys due to the camber you get from it. I still use my truck for the occasional trip to the scrap yard or yard work. And camber would severely lessen the load I could do, plus make it a pain in the ads to drive around my yard. But thanks for the input though!

What do you think camber is? If you are looking at the front of your vehicle, the camber is what makes the tires look like this /---\ or \---/. (Please excuse my line art.) You want the tires to be closer to this |---|. While affected by raising or lowering the truck, camber is adjustable independently of the ride height with the correct parts. The correct parts of course varies by the amount that camber needs to be changed. All that said Camber will not affect the things you are concerned about, what it can affect are steering, handling, and tire wear.

Also lowering will not affect your load capacity unless you modify the rear spring pack, or lower it to the point that you do not have enough clearance under load. Front suspension will not noticeably affect your load capacity since the loads that you refer to will be mostly on the rear suspension.

As for being a PITA to drive around your yard, once again camber doesn't matter. What will make it a PITA is ground clearance, that issue comes from ground clearance (AKA lowering it another inch) not from camber. Unless you've got one hell of a rough yard then the amount of lowering to which you refer will not be an issue.

Well, I did the crank to lift my front, but I suppose the only way to get more out of the front would be with a lowering kit, the back you could do the shackle flip.

The only lowering kit for a torsion bar Ranger is flipped re-indexed keys. You get pretty much the same result from flipping the existing keys from my understanding, maybe not quite as much drop, but should cover the 1" he wants. If you want any more than that it's time to get rid of torsion bars and start into custom suspension components.

In the bag I'm going to do a lift block delete, but I'll want to keep my current stance angle, when I drop the lift block out I'm wanting the front dropped slightly more so I keep the look I got now, just with less wheel gap

You back is stock? Looks lower than stock in that pic, must be the angle. If all you want to do in the rear is remove the lift block then you have nothing to worry about as far as load capacity is concerned. If you want to go lower in the front, the next step is flipped keys whether they are stock or aftermarket. Regardless of the method, lowering any more will add more camber. You just have to adjust the camber out once you get it to the height you want. The only other way to get rid of wheel gap is to move to a taller wheel/tire combo, probably with a little less backspacing to make it look good.

I really suggest looking for threads about lowering an Edge (Ranger), stock for stock they had the same suspension as the truck you have. IIRC the Sport package was the name replacement for the Edge package, then the Edge package was moved over to a 4WD in later years before becoming a separate vehicle.

 

[chrmaka]

Okay, there's something wrong with these replies. I'm going to address each one so hopefully we can get to the bottom of the confusion here.



What do you think camber is? If you are looking at the front of your vehicle, the camber is what makes the tires look like this /---\ or \---/. (Please excuse my line art.) You want the tires to be closer to this |---|. While affected by raising or lowering the truck, camber is adjustable independently of the ride height with the correct parts. The correct parts of course varies by the amount that camber needs to be changed. All that said Camber will not affect the things you are concerned about, what it can affect are steering, handling, and tire wear.

Also lowering will not affect your load capacity unless you modify the rear spring pack, or lower it to the point that you do not have enough clearance under load. Front suspension will not noticeably affect your load capacity since the loads that you refer to will be mostly on the rear suspension.

As for being a PITA to drive around your yard, once again camber doesn't matter. What will make it a PITA is ground clearance, that issue comes from ground clearance (AKA lowering it another inch) not from camber. Unless you've got one hell of a rough yard then the amount of lowering to which you refer will not be an issue.



The only lowering kit for a torsion bar Ranger is flipped re-indexed keys. You get pretty much the same result from flipping the existing keys from my understanding, maybe not quite as much drop, but should cover the 1" he wants. If you want any more than that it's time to get rid of torsion bars and start into custom suspension components.



You back is stock? Looks lower than stock in that pic, must be the angle. If all you want to do in the rear is remove the lift block then you have nothing to worry about as far as load capacity is concerned. If you want to go lower in the front, the next step is flipped keys whether they are stock or aftermarket. Regardless of the method, lowering any more will add more camber. You just have to adjust the camber out once you get it to the height you want. The only other way to get rid of wheel gap is to move to a taller wheel/tire combo, probably with a little less backspacing to make it look good.

I really suggest looking for threads about lowering an Edge (Ranger), stock for stock they had the same suspension as the truck you have. IIRC the Sport package was the name replacement for the Edge package, then the Edge package was moved over to a 4WD in later years before becoming a separate vehicle.

Josh, I understand what camber Is, I want to maintain some degree of steering and handling. I also want to keep tire wear to a minimum, but yet I have my toe out to maximum factory tolerance.

 

[chrmaka]

And plus, negative. camber on a 28 inch tall tire would look quite sumb

 

[JoshT]

If you know what camber is, then you know it can be fixed. So, why do you keep bringing it up as an issue with lowering the truck any more?

Camber can be fixed with a camber kit or by swapping out your upper control arms. Once you have it lowered and the correct camber fix in place, both Camber and Toe can be adjusted back into spec with an alignment. It doesn't matter if you lower or lift you will need an alignment after doing so to brings everything back into spec.

Dude forget camber and toe for a minute those can both be corrected. Do you, or do you not, have enough ground clearance to drop it the extra inch that you want in the front? Ignoring the camber change do you want it an inch or so lower in front?

 

[stmitch]

If you know what camber is, then you know it can be fixed. So, why do you keep bringing it up as an issue with lowering the truck any more?

Camber can be fixed with a camber kit or by swapping out your upper control arms. Once you have it lowered and the correct camber fix in place, both Camber and Toe can be adjusted back into spec with an alignment. It doesn't matter if you lower or lift you will need an alignment after doing so to brings everything back into spec.

This is only true to a point. With any Ranger, dropping the truck too much with springs, or t-bars alone will reach a point where it becomes unalignable. They don't make camber kits big enough to handle more than 3 inches of drop via springs or t-bars. Any drop of more than 3 inches, will need control arms, or beams to fix the negative camber.

It's because of the hard points of the control arms/i-beams, and the spindle design. If they made drop spindles for Rangers, or you modify the stock mounting locations of the upper control arms, you could achieve more than 3 inches of drop through a spring/ t-bar and keep it alignable, but those are very in depth modifications that most people aren't willing to perform, or pay for.

 

[JoshT]

I know, but he's talking about 1" more than what he has now. Should be able to align that with a camber kit and/or two piece upper control arms, right? The point is that he keeps carrying on about camber being the reason he can't do anything, in truth camber doesn't affect anything he originally stated that he was worried about. It won't decrease his carrying capacity, and it won't decrease his ground clearance.

Either way it sounds like the guy has completely ignored the alignment portion of lowering his truck. So I suppose his original question should be readdressed.

What's my next step?

Get an alignment!

 

[stmitch]

If I understand the first post correctly, he's already decranked his t-bars, which should be a 2-3 inch drop. If he goes any lower, either by flipping keys, or using drop keys, he'd probably have so much negative camber that even with an alignment, there would be camber problems.

He's simply asking if theres any way to drop it an additional inch or two, and keep it alignable. There are now drop control arms made for the torsion bar trucks that might help, but I don't know enough specifics to say for sure if it would or would not prevent camber problems, but they would be the best shot.

Obviously, anytime the ride height of a vehicle is changed, a new alignment is needed to correct things.

 

[chrmaka]

Firs thing i did was an alignment.