Front end sagging, but T-bars already cranked up

[1994SEV6]

As some of you may know, I did an A/T to M/T swap on my 1994 D21 in Dec of 2011.

Ever since then, I've felt that my front end has been lower than it should be.

 

I just chucked it to me not having cranked the Torsion bars enough.

I finally got around to cranking them up some more. I can't remember, but I think I tried to crank them up significantly.

The front end barely came up any, but now my front wheels are positively cambered pretty badly. Like, you can see it with the eye.

 

My front wheels are like \ / but not so intense as the diagram (lol) suggests.

 

I would like to have the front end raised up a bit, and get my front wheels back to their positive camber.

Also, my rear end is sagging. The leaf springs have lost their curved shape when not-under-load. I plan on removing the leaf springs to get them re-arc'd. There is a shop in my area that does suspension for all of the big dump trucks and all that, and they will re-arc leaf springs for like $45 a side. (on a side note, is this a good idea at all? Or do leaf springs not take well to this type of treatment?)

 

I'm mentioning this because when I re-arc my rear leafs, the rear will be even higher. I already don't like how the rear is higher than the front, and re-arc'ing the leafs will make the rake even more intense. I don't want my truck to have the ass end in the air.

I think the front sagging makes it look like a 2wd, and I hate hate hate hate that. I bought a 4x4 truck, I want it to look like one dammit.

 

Here is my truck currently:

 

 

I would love it to look more like this, but I understand this is likely the work of a body lift at least. But even so, you can clearly see that the wheelwell gap in the front and the rear is equal. Actually, the gap in the front might even be a bit more.

[Bubbley11]

Have you reindexed?

[Hytekrednek]

x2 I believe that you should try to reindex the tbars first.

 

James

 

Also, I too have D21, mine is a 95 V6 auto. I want to put a 5-speed in it. How hard was it to do your conversion?? Any tips or tricks to make this go smooth for me???

Edited April 29, 2013 by Hytekrednek

[1994SEV6]

Have you reindexed?

uhh...I don't think so.

 

I think I need to adjust something in the front suspension. Maybe I need to add a shim where the front upper control arm meets the frame?

[1994SEV6]

x2 I believe that you should try to reindex the tbars first.

 

James

Reindex?

 

I read a thread on here about re-indexing the front torsion bars, but just to make sure:

 

You recommend completely un-tensioning the torsion bars, and re-adjusting the anchor that they sit in?

[Hytekrednek]

Yes it is a way to compensate for the sag in the bar. It allows it to sit correctly if you have already cranked your adjuster to max and still have a low front end.

 

James

[1994SEV6]

Reindex?

 

I read a thread on here about re-indexing the front torsion bars, but just to make sure:

 

You recommend completely un-tensioning the torsion bars, and re-adjusting the anchor that they sit in?

 

 

My adjustment bolts have not run out of threads. I am still able to crank them up more, but I feel this will make my front camber problem worse, at the expense of little ride height gain.

[ahardb0dy]

Your truck has the typical rear cab body mount problem, look at the body seam between the cab and the bed, the cab is slightly lower, Nissan had a problem with those rear cab mounts, a lot of the extra cabs are like that, I took the bolt out on my 87 and put a washer (big washer) between the mount and the body than put the bolt back in to make it level.

 

 

As for your height issue,

 

The rear leaf springs will sag over time, they probably are sitting almost flat, they didn't have any major arch in them when the truck was new anyway, if the leafs are sagging that bad, which the rear doesn't appear to be low in your pics, you could add a full length add-a-leaf into the spring pack, I used a trailmaster leaf in my 87 way back, I originally had the short Rancho add-a-leaf but I snapped it four wheeling, the long leaf is better gives a better ride too.

 

the truck should look like this stock with 31's, this was my 87 pretty much about a month or two old:

 

 

the black hardbody def. has a body lift, but I do not think the torsion bars are cranked that much if at all, notice the lower control arms in the pic appear to be sitting flat, if the truck had a lot of lift cranked in they arms would be angled down.

[ahardb0dy]

Just because the torsion anchor bolt has thread left does not mean you can adjust them more, it depends on the position of the adjuster in relation to the cross member, if the adjuster is already tucked up inside the cross member than you can adjust them anymore and would need to re-index, if the adjusters are angled down than you can still adjust them.

 

Any time you adjust the torsion bars yes it will effect the alignment and you should have the truck re-aligned.

 

If you crawl under the front of the truck, how much space is there between the bottom of the upper control arm and the rubber bump stop?

Edited April 29, 2013 by ahardb0dy

[1994SEV6]

Your truck has the typical rear cab body mount problem, look at the body seam between the cab and the bed, the cab is slightly lower, Nissan had a problem with those rear cab mounts, a lot of the extra cabs are like that, I took the bolt out on my 87 and put a washer (big washer) between the mount and the body than put the bolt back in to make it level.

 

 

As for your height issue,

 

The rear leaf springs will sag over time, they probably are sitting almost flat, they didn't have any major arch in them when the truck was new anyway, if the leafs are sagging that bad, which the rear doesn't appear to be low in your pics, you could add a full length add-a-leaf into the spring pack, I used a trailmaster leaf in my 87 way back, I originally had the short Rancho add-a-leaf but I snapped it four wheeling, the long leaf is better gives a better ride too.

 

the truck should look like this stock with 31's, this was my 87 pretty much about a month or two old:

 

 

the black hardbody def. has a body lift, but I do not think the torsion bars are cranked that much if at all, notice the lower control arms in the pic appear to be sitting flat, if the truck had a lot of lift cranked in they arms would be angled down.

 

That's a good looking truck! So you're saying my current ride height is normal? I could swear it looked much more level when I got it 2 years ago.

I never noticed that my cab sat lower than the bed. It took me a second to even see what you were talking about. What causes this?? Is the mount fatiguing or something??

[ahardb0dy]

Thanks that pic was stock, I have very modded pics of it also.

 

Your truck appears to be about where it should be sitting for stock, I do notice the front and rear tires look like they are different, that could contribute to the height being different a little as well. You can raise the front end by adjusting the bars to make the truck sit level

 

Also wanted to add, missed it the first reply, if the torsion bars are already cranked and are NOT holding the amount of lift that are cranked into them, than they are shot and it would be a good time to get a pair of after market torsion bars, Sway-A-Way is what I would use.

 

Not sure on the rear mount, I think it was a problem with the mount, you could check with Rob on here he may be able to tell us something about it. Every king cab I see the body seam doesn't line up.

 

this was my 87 at it's "highest", lol 3"body lift, suspension lift, two stage torsion bars, on 35's, lot's of other goodies too !:

 

 

[pathyguy87]

I think your rear height looks fine. The front, I suggest reindex the T bars as mentioned. Yes, your camber will be off, this is normal. You will need an alignment when you're done

[adamzan]

Since you had the bars out while doing the tranny swap, are you sure you put them back in the exact same way. Previous owner of mine had one side off a spline and it sat kinda crooked till I fixed it