Ok anyone who has only cranked their torsion bars I have a question for you.

I cranked up my torsion bars 3 weeks ago to level the truck. I come to find out now that the rear has settled maybe about an inch. Now, it looks as if the rear is lower than the front. How is this possible? Should I go ahead and get an AAL kit to fix this maybe shackles? Will I see any adverse affects, except for the lowering of the rear end if I decide to do nothing?

Thanks,
JC

Do you usually carry heavy loads? From what I understand leaf only flatten under repeated heavy load and constant abuse, under normal conditions they don't flatten in a rapid pace especially if just your tbars are cranked and you have no shackles or rear tire carrier. Your eyes may be playing tricks on you, have you measured? An aal if not out of the question but your 02 should have better spring life than that, if they are sagging really bad take it to the dealer and ask if they are under warranty.

I have been stuffing quite a bit of weight back there this past couple of months. I have been helping people move boxes, landscaping stuff, etc. but not all the time. It does sound suspicious for these springs to go this early.

You might be right also, my eyes could just be playing tricks. I'm going to go ahead and measure the right height in the back tonight. Do you know what the stock ride height was? Next time I'm at the dealer or the truck shop, I'll ask them to take a look at the leaf springs.

If all checks out fine. I guess I'm going to either crank these t-bars down a little or go ahead and spring for the AAL kit. I'd rather get the AAL kit, since I put on some new 265/70/17 tires on the X about 2 months ago.

Thanks Gbizzle.

--JC

Just find a nice level area and measure from the ground to the center of the wheelwell. Then do the same on the front one side at a time. Then you will know what the deal is for real. Also your shocks are probably going to get fatiqued a little quicker then the leafs would. Just go ahead and get the AAL's. It's a pretty easy mod to do and if you want to get some real lift then go with the 2" shackles from SLR. That's how I got my 2.5" of lift out of it along with the T-bar crank. The ass end sits about a half inch higher but it's not all that bad.

Dan if this is going to happen, would it be better to get shocks or the AAL kit first? I really wouldn't want to buy new shocks until these originals are ready to be replaced. Just don't have the funds for both.
Thanks

do the aal if it is that bad. A way to tell if shocks are bad is if they are leaking fluids or in extreme cases, explode and make a mess on the underside of your x. I think you may have just cranked your tbars too much and it looks like they are sagging cuz the front is higher than the rear. But the AAl will only help the stiffness of your ride and allow you to support more rear weight with less sag. I have seen fellow x members carry much recovery/gear (all year round) in their x with stock springs and have no sagging problems. I would measure and wait a couple of months to make sure just to save having to purchase aal. Or just raise the rear up a bit and get the aal if you got the dough.

Getting a new AAL for the truck is not all of that expensive it is only $62.50 for them. Check out the following L ink to see the price .

don't use those, unless you want broken springs.. the short aal's (which those are) concentrate stress at their ends, which is in the middle of the stock lower spring.. this tends to break the lower spring. The 3pack is good, or a longer "full length" aal, like calminis..
link link 2 link 3

Broken springs? How often has that happened? We have a few members with lots of wheel stuffing articulating miles under their single AAL rear ends with no problems at all.

I agree with superjens. I have the singles on both sides of mine and haven't had any problems with them. I have even gotten my X to about 20 degree off camber and had one wheel way up in the air and nothing bad happened even though I had to get strapped to get my other back wheel onto the ground.

I know that after a lot of time spend with heavy loads in the back end, the short AALs will cause the leafs to warp around them. It has nothign to do with articualtion, but with weight in the truck.

I know my situation is a little more extreme than yours, but it might apply.

About half a year ago I stripped my t-bar and anchor, reducing my driver's side front to sag as low as it can possibly go. When I was examining my damage, I noticed the driver's side rear had sagged quite a bit also.

You have to remember although one end of the t-bar is sticking into the front control arm, the other end is mounted onto the anchor arm which is several feet closer to the center of the vehicle. In my scenario the torsion bar had practically been reduced to uselessness, thus dropping my entire driver side a bit. My leafs weren't damaged in any way, and after fixing the anchor and t-bar everything leveled out.

With the torsion bars located where they are, they act differently than coils that are placed directly at the wheel's location. Tweaking a t-bar lower or higher will affect more than just the front end, especially if you're talking larger increases/decreases.

Not sure about your case though, because you have a much smaller change.

It won't happen overnight.. over time major stress loads are concentrated in a 1/16" area at the ends of the short springs. over time these areas weaken, and fail. The longer aal also stress the old pack.. but it is twards the ends, where there is less stress & strain from axlewrap. The longer ones also tend not to bend your springs into a mangled M shape..
[img]http://chrislisson.com/xoc/aal.bmp[/img]

JC - Maybe I missed the back story...but, you cranked the t-bars, raising the front end...and you have no lift in back, because you are asking whether to get shackles or AAL's?

If that's correct...

The rear didn't have to sag...you only raised the front...so the rear just stayed where it was...lower.

Raising one end transfers more weight to the lower end...further compounding the low ass syndrome.

So - Unless there's some missing info...you did a half a lift (Front), and are asking if you should raise the rear to match?

If the original intent was to raise the front to "Level" the truck...that means the front end was lower than the rear...a normal factory balance (Ass up).

If you went up too far...you transfered more weight to the rear, and increased the load on the leaves, and compounded that load by adding more weight in cargo, further stressing the rear suspension.

So - Your easiest fix may actually be to lower the front again, and restore your trim.

Hope that helps.

Yes, I only raised the front end. When I cranked up the tbars the truck looked level. Now, however, the back end looks like it's getting lower. It may just be my imagination, so I'm going to leave it for a little longer and see if it changes any more. Thanks for all the replies. Maybe later on I'll go get the AAL kit.

--JC