No Down Travel

[DragonMU]

Hi All,

This is my first post but have spent quite a bit of time getting info here so thanks already.

I have a 1991 2.8td mu pretty much standard at the moment.

I installed efs lifted rear springs and rancho rs5000 shocks in the rear today. All went well but when I jacked the front to crank the torsion bars to match the rear I found that I had run out of down travel (i.e. The wheels were in the air) after only jacking the front about 2.5 inches.

Is this normal? I know the Mu doesn't have great front travel but I thought you could get away with a two inch lift just by cranking the torsion bars without the need for further mods?

I was thinking to get better downward travel in the front and allow the torsion bars to be wound 2 inches I might do the following:
Ball joint flip;
1/4 inch Ball joint spacers; and
Shave bump stops in half.

Does this sound ok?

I know similar questions have been asked but I just thought it was strange that I can't seem to get away with winding the bars a couple of inches as others have done.

Cheers for help guys.

Andy

[Captcol]

I did a really long reply but got logged out and lost it, here it is in brief.

From contact with the truck you only jacked 2.5" and your wheels were off the ground, which part of the truck were you jacking off?

Your shocks may be limiting down travel, whats the ground to top of the wheel arch measurement?

The ball joint flip is to solve an issue with castor on lifted torsion bars and AFAIK doesn't affect down travel

My truck is lifted 2" approx and doesn't get near the bump stops, I will leave the bottom ones alone to stop severe angles on CV's

Never heard of ball joint spacers and don't see how they can help in this instance.

[pig75]

A ball joint flip will give you more down travel but it will put more load on the cv joints

[DragonMU]

I jacked it from the middle of the axel so both sides dropped their full length. Could this mean the torsion bars were already wound up? It is sitting much higher in the back than the front with the new rear springs.

[Captcol]

reading that link elsewhere about the steering dampner me and my 33's might be interested

[turnturn]

At the end of the day you will only get as much wheel travel as the bumpstops will permit.
Not so much an issue for you but I think you can be failed a WOF (Warrant of Fitness) in New Zealand if they notice you have trimmed your bumpstops.
In my opinion you should only raise (wind up torsion bars) to the point that you are still getting full compression on individual wheels. Any further and you are reducing articulation. Unless you are consistantly running out of ground clearance then articulation is more important.
When I first got one of my Mu's it was wound up so high that I improved it's score on my home made RTI ramp by lowering the front suspension.
I also think that the first things people should do for their Mu's before mucking around with the factory suspension is to fit good tyres, good shocks and all the traction aids you can afford (LSD, Air locker etc).

[geeves]

You can fit low profile bump stops which overcomes the cut bump stop issue. A ball joint flip does help travel as will spacers. Do remember that extra down travel increases angle of the cv joints which will cause extra strain.
Beyond this you have to think about diff drops which is major engineering.
50mm is really the limit without this.
What is the measurement from the centre of the hub to the top of the guard at rest