front end rebuild

[Guest BLKPATHY95]

Here's another one for you.

 

I am about to have the front end rebuilt on my 95 pathy. I have decided to go with aftermarket heavy duty torsion bars to help with the 31" bad boys up front but wanted to know if everything else should remain stock. I read all about upper A arms and shims and this and that but I am only a socket and wrench guy and don't know squat. Can someone help me with this question?

 

Also, who should I buy my aftermarket torsion bars from?

 

Gracias amigos!

[FLApathy]

what all is bad up there?

 

and you think 31s are bad, you should see my 30s, haha, but really though, these trucks are made to 31s, that was an option back in the day

 

you can get tbars from 4x4parts.com, purenissan.com, swayaway.com

 

you only need aftermarket uppers if you plan on a sl, they bring ur camber back into spec

[Guest BLKPATHY95]

sorry but what does this mean...

 

you only need aftermarket uppers if you plan on a sl, they bring ur camber back into spec

[jj big shoe]

A suspension lift for a truck with independent front suspension (IFS) is done by "cranking" the torsion bars so they have more pre-load on them which raises the front of your truck. Once the truck is about 2-2.5" higher, your upper A-arm will be too short, causing your front wheels to look like this /---\ and the upper ball joints will be at a more severe angle and prone to failure.

The ways to correct it are:

Ball joint spacers - cheap and not widely recommended.

Lots of shims behind the A-arm spindle - cheap and not safe.

or new A-arms, which are longer and designed to correct the ball joint angle and allow your truck to be aligned correctly. Automotive Customizers, Calmini, and Superlift make aftermarket A-arms for our trucks. I have the Superlift ones and haven't had any problems with them at all.

[Harbinger]

As well as whats said above, you really don't need HD t-bars to run 31" tires -- they come on most of our trucks as stock.

[88pathoffroad]

I still have stock torsion bars and I run 33x13.50's. They're sagging, though. *shrug*

 

Now then...define "rebuild the front end". Steering only or suspension parts only? The steering stuff is what you need to take care of first, the centerlink gets loose, then the tie rods go, the tension rods like to waller out their holes, upper control arm bushings get loose and make it hard to align, the idler arm will bend slightly under abuse and make alignment damn near impossible...