How To Re-Index Your Torsion Bars

[88pathoffroad]

Reindexing torsion bars is not a mysterious task requiring a lift and professional tools, it can be done in your driveway or garage at home with hand tools and the stock jack, if necessary.

 

"Why would I need to reindex my torsion bars?" you ask?

 

Stock t-bars will sag over time. This results in a lowered front suspension ride height, especially compared to the rear. One simple solution is to crank the torsion bars up to fix this drooping problem. However. If your torsion bars are sagging to the point that they still do not give you enough ride height after adjustment, (the adjuster bolt runs out of threads after a certain point, of course) you will need to reindex the anchors on the bars to allow for more adjustment of the ride height.

 

Re indexing means to remove the anchor from the t-bar, rotate it "down" two or three splines and then reassemble. This gives the adjuster arm more of an angle downward and allows you to crank it up more than you otherwise would have been able. Basically, you will now have pre-loaded the torsion bar more. The overall spring rate of the t-bars do not go up AFAIK, they simply start compressing earlier than they used to, which results in the desired effect; lift. The choice of two or three splines is up to the owner, two will give a little less adjustment than three will so position them according to your needs. IIRC when I did mine I rotated them two splines. Three simply looked like a little too much to me at the time.

 

Note: it's also possible to remove the front anchors, reindex them and reassemble. It would work the same way. The only reason I don't want to go there is that the front anchor bolts are notorious for rusting and being very difficult to remove. Some people find it just as easy to do the fronts as the rears, some do not. This article is only covering rear anchor and adjuster removal.

 

Tools required:

 

Two 19mm box-end wrenches

One 3/8" or 1/2" drive ratchet with a 19mm regular socket

Large C-clip pliers(if you have them)

If no c-clip pliers: one or two flat-head screwdrivers with at least 8" shafts, a pick or icepick (may help), and a small hammer.

Cleaning supplies(wire wheel on a grinder or drill, WD-40, sandpaper if needed, rags, etc)

Grease (regular white lithium grease would work, I used axle bearing grease)

Anti-seize compound

White-Out, a Sharpie or mechanic's paint (typically yellow, used to mark fasteners to prevent tampering)

PB Blaster, WD-40, Liquid Wrench, KrOil or similar penetrating lubricant

 

Here are the basics:

 

This is the torsion bar rear anchor arm.

 

This is the torsion bar adjuster bolt, nuts and pilots arranged in order.

 

Here's where the crossmember is, looking from the rear of the truck to the front. (Pardon the rag on the end of the trans and lack of driveshaft.) I've circled the adjuster bolts sticking up through the crossmember.

 

 

This is what the adjuster and anchor look like inside the crossmember, fully assembled. (Pardon the rust)

 

Let's Get Started!

 

1. Jack up the front end so that the wheels are just off the ground. Support with jackstands if possible. Safety first!

 

2. Get under the middle of your Pathy where the t-bar crossmember is. At the front side of the crossmember, pull the little rubber boot off of the anchor and slide it up the t-bar and away from the anchor. Use a rag and clean everything off at the anchor end so you have a good view of what you're working on. Don't use lube yet, you need to mark something, OK? Here's what that should look like.

 

 

3. Using mechanic's paint, a Sharpie or simply good old White-Out, mark both the end of the t-bar where it enters the adjuster and the adjuster in the same place, (somewhere easy to see) so that when you remove the anchor you know where it used to be. If you take the anchor off without marking it first you'll have no idea where it used to be and you'd have to guess at where to put it back on. It wouldn't be the end of the world if you did, but it definitely helps with reinstall. I used an un-installed Sway-A-Way t-bar and a spare anchor for demonstration purposes.

 

 

4. Apply some penetrating lube to the t-bar adjuster bolt, nuts on top and the anchors that hold the aft end of the t-bars. Also apply some to the c-clips on the front of the anchors.

 

5. Using two 19mm wrenches on top, loosen the locknuts on top of the adjuster, then unscrew the top locknut about 2" up the bolt. Use the ratchet on the bolt head at the bottom of the adjuster and a 19mm wrench on the adjuster nut on top to unscrew the adjuster bolt until it sits loosely. IE, no tension on the t-bars.

 

6. At this point, I removed both nuts, the adjuster bolt and adjuster pilots(the one on top is hemispherical, the bottom one is u-shaped with raised edges on the 'u', as pictured above) from the adjuster and crossmember. I cleaned them all up and got them ready to reassemble with a bit of grease on the pilots and a little bit of anti-seize compound on the bolt threads. I'd recommend greasing the pilots simply because of possible future rust or corrosion issues and I believe it makes it a little easier to crank the adjuster up.

 

7. Now remove the c-clip that holds the anchor on the t-bar. C-clip pliers can be used if possible but I had to use two flat screwdrivers with a hammer to gently tap the c-clip out. The ice pick helps if you have the clip partially pushed out, you can use it to hold the clip out while you reposition the screwdriver(s). You may not need to use two screwdrivers at the same time so adjust according to taste, mmk? The green arrow points out the clip in this pic.

 

 

8. Tap the anchors toward the rear of the truck until they come off the t-bars. At this point I completely removed the adjusters by finagling them out of the crossmember (which is a bitch also) and cleaned the splines out because they REALLY needed it. If your adjusters come right off and can be put back on with no problem, go for it. Rotate the adjuster arm downward by two or three splines, so that the adjuster arm points down more than it used to. That would be clockwise on the driver's side(left) t-bar and counter-clockwise on the passenger side(right). Slide the anchor back onto the t-bar and verify the number of splines you moved it just to make sure. This is what the match-marks look like after rotating two splines.

 

 

9. Reinstall the c-clip.

 

10. Reinstall the adjuster bolt, pilots and the large nut. Screw the lock nut on but don't tighten it down to the large nut yet.

 

11. Hold the large nut with a 19mm wrench and tighten the adjuster bolt until it starts to tension the t-bar. Try to tighten both t-bar adjusters the same amount initially. Then tighten the t-bar adjuster bolt one turn at a time, counting the turns, until the anchor is mostly sucked up into the crossmember. Tighten each adjuster an equal amount.

 

12. Lower the jack and front end to check suspension height. If it's not high enough yet, crank the adjuster bolt up another two turns at a time until you get it to where you want it. Adjust t-bars side-to-side as needed to achieve levelness.

 

13. Take a short drive to let the t-bars settle down a little bit. Adjust t-bars as needed to level and set ride height.

 

14. Get a front-end alignment or eyeball engineer one.

 

15. Go wheeling!

Edited December 13, 2010 by TerranoNZ
Because Simon is AWESOME, see page 3

[Kittamaru]

You sir, are a gentleman, scholar, and a god. I proffer to you much booze.

 

I plan on attempting this either tomorrow or the day after Christmas! Thank you muchly!

[chappy]

Another great write up 88!!!

[NaturaTek]

Awesome! I just creamed in my coffee

 

Couple of questions, would you recommend to reindex or adjusting torsion bolts for a 90 path stock that has seen no love under chassis?

Also, Lets say theres a clock on top of a nut:

 

........12

9 NUT HERE 3

.........6

 

A full turn means from 3 to 9, clockwise? Or from 12 to 12 again? Yes, I'm confusing the competent again lol. Or is it simpler to just have the wrench at a spot, turn it, returning to the same spot to complete a full turn?

 

You mentioned this is for the rear only HowTo. If I wanted to lift my droppy front, are there front torsion bolts I should do only? Or these are the only torsion bolts?

When you tighten these bolts, how do you control what areas you want to lift, like rear only or front only?

Edited December 24, 2007 by NaturaTek

[Simon]

12 to 12 is a full turn, or the wrench going all the way around.

[adamzan]

woo thanks. now my truck will finally be level!

[88pathoffroad]

You're welcome. If I left anything out or got anything wrong, please let me know.

[NaturaTek]

Hey 88path, you mentioned 'eyeball engineer' a alignment, you think you could make a HOWTO on a homemade alignment,?

[88pathoffroad]

I got my alignment info from Googling it.

 

Couple of questions, would you recommend to reindex or adjusting torsion bolts for a 90 path stock that has seen no love under chassis?

 

Sure. Mine never saw any abuse until I bought it. Came from Cali with 96K on it, not a damn scratch or rip or dent.

 

Also, Lets say theres a clock on top of a nut:

 

........12

9 NUT HERE 3

.........6

 

A full turn means from 3 to 9, clockwise? Or from 12 to 12 again? Yes, I'm confusing the competent again lol. Or is it simpler to just have the wrench at a spot, turn it, returning to the same spot to complete a full turn?

 

Full turn means a full circle. 12 to 12. You can go a quarter turn at a time or whatever you want.

 

You mentioned this is for the rear only HowTo. If I wanted to lift my droppy front, are there front torsion bolts I should do only? Or these are the only torsion bolts?

When you tighten these bolts, how do you control what areas you want to lift, like rear only or front only?

 

There are only torsion bars in the front. In the rear you have coil springs. The front is the only end you can adjust. The front/rear I am referring to above are in reference to the front torsion bar anchor at the lower control arm and the rear torsion bar anchor in the crossmember, as pictured above. You can remove either anchor and reindex from either end if so desired. I only covered the rear anchor removal and reindexing.

 

Better?

[NaturaTek]

Thanks man, now I fully understand. I thought torsions where for back and front. I think I'm gonna try adjusting the bolts first. I think it would handle to lift just a bit so I can stop rubbing the back of fender flare, everytime I turn, everyone jumps out the way and stares at the pathy, lol..ripping plastic sound. I was reading somewhere to PB blast them 24hrs ahead to make smooth unloosen if really stuck..gonna get some at wallyworld.

[Kittamaru]

I'm going to attempt to do mine tomorrow... if the bolts are terribly stuck, then I'll WD40 em twice an hour for 5 hours and try it again. Don't have any real good breaking fluid sadly

[NaturaTek]

Hey Kittamaru, let us know an update on how your torsion lil project goes.

[Kittamaru]

*nods* I will do just that Only one problem... I don't have a single jack stand

 

Gonna look around for them tomorrow... I KNOW we had four of them, where they went is beyond me...

[Kittamaru]

I have finished both torsion bars...

 

my truck is now sitting high and mighty once more!

 

I need to actually lower it a bit (I overdid it on the adjuster bolts) but that's far far better than what I was sitting at!

 

Now, I only need to figure out how to raise the back end a bit... anyone know the standard ride height for a 1990 Nissan SEV6 with default size tires?

 

*grins* 88path, you are a &^%*ing god... you really are!

 

I had an odd quirk though... the drivers side torsion bar... the c-clip was attached INSIDE the frame mounting. Like... it wasn't doing anything at all.. that was a Pain in the ASS to get off. Now that I fixed it though, and two splines on each side, she sits MUCH better.

Edited January 14, 2008 by Kittamaru

[davidcar]

thanks for the write up, I re-indexed mine today, it was very easy following your instructions, thanks

[NaturaTek]

Kittamaru, how long did it take you to complete task? Did you just adjust the bolts or did the whole reindex?

[Kittamaru]

I did the whole reindex...

 

it took me 5 days due to time constraints... total WORKING time was... I'd say 7 hours for the drivers side (first one I did) and maybe 4 for the passenger side and drivers side again ( I messed up a little the first time)

[TopOfTheLine89]

should the anchor be tight up against the cross member? I recently just put the calmini lift on my 89, and the front of my truck is squatting down in the front, a lot. since I was putting new torsion bars on, I didnt have any where to start from so this write up was only partial help. . the first time I put the t-bars on, the anchor would not go all the way up to the crossmember so I had to re-adjust it so the anchor would go all the way up. but I think I over adjusted, and now I am just confused so if someone has dealt with this before I really could use some help.

[Kittamaru]

The anchor should be almost the whole way up... it doesn't really matter. The more you tighten the two bolts, the higher it will go and the higher your ride will be as well.

[headpeace]

quick Q. When you say clockwise/counterclockwise is that looking from the rear of the path or the front??

[headpeace]

Anybody?

[Simon]

quick Q. When you say clockwise/counterclockwise is that looking from the rear of the path or the front??

What exactly are you asking? I just re-read the whole thread, and unless I missed it, I can't see any reference to that.

[Simon]

Sorry....just re-re-read.

 

Clockwise on the driver's side (to drop the anchor a spline or two) and counter clockwise on the passenger side while looking towards the front of the vehicle, from behind the adjusters.

[headpeace]

Simon, you always answer my questions, you da Man. Preciate it, I thought it was viewed from the rear but I wanted to make sure, think I need to do some reindexing soon, getting saggy

[Simon]

No worries man. If you haven't done it before, it really is simple. You'll see which way you have to drop them when you get under there. The lower they come out of the crossmember, the higher you'll lift. But be careful, as you'll have to be able to crank the t-bars enough to get the adjusters back into the crossmember.