| [GMCnet] Torsion bar fun [message #322799] |
Sun, 27 August 2017 22:55 |
Richard Denney
Messages: 920
Registered: April 2010
Karma: 9
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Senior Member |
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There is a good chance I will have to go to Houston this coming weekend
(and a better chance my Elkhart vacation will be spent in Houston) to help
with the aftermath, buit I need to get the coach out of the Redhead's
uncle's airplane hangar. So, I put in a hard GMC weekend this weekend to
try to get the one-ton front end project as much done as is possible with
the coach on stands and waiting for the replacement intermediate shaft to
arrive. I also wanted to get the tanks down and up, but in the end I only
got one tank down.
On the port side, I installed the lower control arm first, with the nuts
hand-tight, and then I wound up the torsion bar to make sure I had put it
together correctly. It performed as expected--jacking it up to normal ride
height just lifted the coach from the jack stand. I finished that side,
except for the brake hose routing, which I'm still pondering.
On the starboard side, I waited until I had the whole installation done,
and then wound up the torsion bar. It sure seemed like I had to work a LOT
harder to get the pork chop up into position with the same amount showing
on the adjuster bolt as I had measured on the port side before disassembly.
Everything felt super tight. To test it, I jacked up that side, and it
didn't seem like the suspension moved at all before carrying the weight of
the coach. My brain was fried and I was past my point by that time (9PM on
Saturday--12 hours), so I unwound the torsion bar and sent an email to KenH
for guidance.
Today, by the time I made it back out there (much conversation between here
and Houston), I release the other torsion bar, loosened the crossmember,
and slide it back on the startboard side to release the offending torsion
bar. Was it twisted? No. It's definitely on the correct side. Ken and I
didn't think it was possible to be clocked to the wrong facets on the
torsion bar--60 degrees is way out of the range that was making me
uncomfortable.
After wiggling them both around, I persuaded myself that the pork chops
were hanging down the same (or nearly so) on both sides with the a-arms at
the full droop allowed by the shocks, and there was just no evidence at all
of a Big Mistake. So, I reinstalled the starboard pork chop and reinstalled
the unloader to wind it back up. That's when I noticed that the unloader
was positioning the pork chop and torsion bar over to one side of the
opening in the crossmember through which the torsion bar enters the pork
chop. That was causing the unloader tool to try to cock over to the side as
I was tightening to a greater extent than on the port side. Jim Hupy makes
a strong tool and I tested it. KenH tells me that it's a common problem,
and recalls one incident where an acme-threaded unloader pin snapped from
misalignment. I set the adjuster bolt to a minimum position, and now when I
jack up the a-arm, I get a lot of suspension travel before it raises the
coach. I think the two sides will adjust somewhat differently, and setting
ride height is going to be fun.
So, all that's left are brake lines (and bleeding), spacers, axle nuts, and
alignment (including ride height). Sure is nice to see all those new tie
rods, bushings, and halfshafts.
Rick "yes, I remembered to lube the ball joints and tie rods" Denney
--
'73 X-Glacier 230 "Jaws"
Northern Virginia
Offlist email: rick at rickdenney dot com
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