IMO, I believe that Josh is right, and this being my third truck with
torsion bars I have to side with Josh.
The only time that the torsions bars are putting a load on the front
suspension is when the lower control arm is being pushed up from below, as
in sitting on the ground or ramps. When you jack up the truck and let the
suspension hang clear of the ground you do not have any tension load on the
ball joints except the gravity load put on them by the hub, brakes and
tire/rim, and you are actually putting a load back onto the torsion bars.
The idea behind jack up the truck and letting the suspension hang is to take
the bigger load off of the ball joints, that way they are easier to
move/check. You do not have to jack up the truck to check the upper ball
joint. If it is bad it will move with or without a load on it, but jacking
up the truck does make it easier. I hope this helps.
Wayne
01 QC Sport 4x4 V8
----- Original Message -----
From: <david.clement@verizon.net>
> In article <brnapu$k2q$1@bent.twistedbits.net>, jbattles@bankfinancial.com
> ("Josh Battles") writes:
> >
> >
> > "Phillip Batson" <pbatson68@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > >
> > > Hmm. Ok, silly question: How would I know if they are
> > > going out?
> >
> > Okay, this is what you do...
> >
> > jack vehicle and support by frame with front wheels about 4 - 5 inches
off
> > the ground. take a LONG pry bar (i use a 4 footer) and move the
suspension
> > (wheel) up and down (loading/unloading) while having someone look at the
> > joints. If any sort of extraneous movement is observed, then it's time
for
> > new ones.
>
> Actually you would want to jack the truck up by the lower control arm so
that
> the spring/torsion bar is not loading the suspension.
>
> Dave Clement
> 99 SLT+ CC 4x4
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 06 2004 - 11:47:12 EST