So at first I heard a little squeak. I found that my stock shocks were done. Replaced those with a low end shock and have replace those with a higher end shock, KYB. I had the tie rod ends, both inner and outer, replaced. I also had both upper and lower ball joints replaced. An alignment and wheel balancing later, my ride is terrible...

After doing some research and looking at my suspension I found that my torsion bar on the right was cranked way up. The left bar was cranked to about the middle. I have since cranked down the right to about the same as the left.

My question is does anyone know how much bolt should be sticking up from the frame on the torsion bar adjustment bolt? I'm looking for the smooth ride I had before starting all of this work. Any rough road causes the truck to shimmy and shake. It's not the big bumps, those are nice and smooth but the little irregularities that cause the most problems. A smooth road and I have a smooth ride.

I know I probably need a new alignment after adjusting the right torsion bar. I would just like to get it back to stock before I do so. I have a 97 5.2 4x4 sport.

 

Can anybody help? This ride is killing me...

thanks

 

not sure where they should be but why don't you just crank them down till its better...i know its harder but try and do it with the full weight of the truck on it

 

I would think a shop manual would tell you the factory ride height. Got any buddies with one?

 

I think I hit pay dirt. I crawled under and just took a look at the bolts. I could see a definate line where there was baked on road dust. I adjusted both down to this line and what a difference this had made.

Before I did anything, I had a tremendous stutter on the brake pedal when coming to a stop. The steering wheel also felt like it would pull in and out. When I adjusted these to a mid range a week ago the stutter stopped and the steering wheel felt better but still not solid. After adjusting the bars down to this line the steering wheel is back to it's former self and the brakes are completely smooth.

All morning I drove on the roughest roads I could find and the vibration I was feeling is gone. I now just need to get it re-aligned to compensate, since my last alignment was when the suspension was off.

I think I have my truck back.

Looking at my troubles and the various posts on this forum of adjusting the torsion bars for lift, I don't think I'm an advocate. My truck does sit lower in the front but at least my ride is back. I may go for a 2" lift soon, but I will leave that to the professionals.

 

Well the problem was still evident after I did the above. The symptom has changed from vibration to a violent shaking. The steering wheel and really the entire car shakes when driving on certain types of road.

On some streches of the freeways here in CA there are what I would call very small dips. They are really not appearent to the naked eye, especially going at our speeds. Yet when you drive over them with a stiff suspension you can feel a dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, etc.

My neighbor and I jacked up the entire front end. We then went to shaking the tires. What we found was that the steering gear had some "slop" in it. the next weekend I replaced the gear. Complete PITA, if you ask me. Make sure you have the right tools before hand so you don't have to go back and forth to the parts store in the wife's car. These would be a pitman seperator fork, pitman arm remover and a very large crescent wrench. Getting everything off took about 2 days, 1 if you account for my "breaks". Putting it back together, roughly 1 hour.

After this repair drove it on the streches of freeway that causes the problem. Good news, no more violent shaking through the steering wheel. Now The whole truck bounces up and down like there is no play in the suspension. Not as bad as before when I thought the truck would fall apart, but not comfortable.

I forgot to mention that after I cranked down the torsion bars in August I did some experimentation. I then tightened my shocks way down until I could tighten no more. I also cranked up the torsion bars about 4 full turns. This compensated a bit for the "slop" in the steering gear. However I now had some extreme squeeking in my sway bar bushings.

After replacing the steering gear I have now cranked the torsion bars back to the street sludge line. Guess what no more sqeeking from my sway bar bushings, yea! I also loosened the top nut on the shocks to I think 19 pounds of torque (factory spec). I will be checking the torque in a couple days when I get my hands on a torque wrench this small.

So far the ride is a lot smoother. I will know if I truly have a fix when I hit the dreaded freeway on Saturday. If anyone has ideas I am still open for them. I mean why not throw more dough at a front end when I have now spent around $1800, not to mention my time...

 

I repeat %$&#@ 1@$#%&. Overall better but not where I want to be. On the dreaded freeway and rough roads it still feels like I'm sitting in a paint mixer, great on smooth pavement.

I changed out the rear shocks thinking I was done with the front end. This did stop the bounce and sway a bit. However no change in the front except it now seems loose. I do not know what to do now. I am going to try and tighten the shocks 1 turn at a time, and test. Then I will tighten the torsion bars 1 turn, and test.

The height on the front end is a lot lower than when I started this ordeal. I'm not sure why...wrong shocks, do I have a lift and don't know it or should I just go and trust another "professional"?

Thoughts...or shoukld I just continue the rant with my pain?

 

After re-reading some threads on this forum and a few others I discovered a few things.

1. This forum has the most knowledgable and descriptive posts I can find on the net
2. Specs for a Dakota Sport as far as height are; front 2" below the back (I measured at the middle/bottom of the fender flare to the pavement)
3. If you tighten the torsion bars to much they may bow, which can be counter productive

Thinking about items one and two I started to throw some Zen at my situation. I thought why would it feel sloppy after all of this work. My epiphany was that something was just not right in what I was doing.

I took a look at the torsion bars and they were bowed downwards. Thinking physics my thought was that this was to loose. I started tightening them and low an behold the bars started straightening out. I now have 38 1/4 " in the rear and 36 1/4" in the front. Not quite level but certainly much better than 38 1/4" in the rear and 33 1/2" in the front.

So far the test drives have been nice. The shocks I have installed may make the ride a bit stiff but the improved handeling is worth it. I may be doing some adjustments after driving back and forth to work tomorrow. Sunday will be the real test when I take it back on the dreaded patch of freeway.

If all works out I will list again what I have done and include a picture. I may even be able to stop calling the truck it and go back to she...

 

I'm in a writing mood and this definately needs an update...

I am moving in the right direction. I have been slowly tightening my torsion bars to adjust what I think is a loose front end. My reasoning is on sharp turns or what you could call slalom driving. The front corners tend to dip a little to much during this type of turning. My thought is that the suspension is to loose.

The #@%$ piece(s) of freeway, found a few more, still shake the truck but not that bad. I don't think I will be able to get back that Cadillac smooth ride I had with the worn out stock shocks. However I am coming around to the ride I have. I now think I am being a bit picky.

I hate adjustments on just about anything. On a suspension it is just plain torture. This is still considered a work in progress.

Pictures coming soon as soon as I can get her washed without any rain. I will also post an entire list of fixes with cost. Thanks for taking the time to listen to my rant...