| one ton truck torsion bars [message #250306] |
Wed, 21 May 2014 22:29  |
dpottebaum
Messages: 100
Registered: January 2013
Location: Bondurant, Iowa
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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I'm considering options for torsion bar replacement. Anyone ever used one ton truck torsion bars? They are about 4" shorter, larger diameter and the hex at the ends is larger, but I think it's doable. There is enough clearance to move the cross member ahead 4" without colliding with the mufflers. I think the one ton pickup pork chops could be used at the back and the front hex could be ground down to match the socket on the lower control arm. Interested in your thoughts. Thanks.
Dave Pottebaum
Bondurant, Iowa
1978 Royale
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| Re: [GMCnet] one ton truck torsion bars [message #250310 is a reply to message #250306] |
Wed, 21 May 2014 23:12  |
Ken Henderson
Messages: 8726
Registered: March 2004
Location: Americus, GA
Karma: 9
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Senior Member |
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Dave,
When I had a blown out TB socket, I had extensive discussions with a
representative of SuspensionMax http://www.suspensionmaxx.com/, perhaps the
owner. They're the manufacturer of the adjustable pork chop being sold by
Applied GMC. In fact the current version is modified from the original
based on those discussions. While we were discussing my problem, Larry
(IIRC) suggested the use of the current truck torsion bars, proposing that
their standard pork chop could be used without change to our #4
crossmember since
the center portion of the adjustable porkchop can be changed to either
1-1/4" or 1-1/2" hex.
To accommodate the front of the torsion bar, they prototyped, overnight, an
adapter, basically 1-1/2" socket with a 1-1/4" hex extension to fit into
our A-arm socket. That extension bypassed the area where the sockets
normally fail and utilized the strong area where the socket passes through
the A-arm's hat section. The length of the socket was sized to accept the
4" shorter current arms so that NO modification to anything else should be
necessary. There is a wide variety of TB strengths available in the
current version, far more than the 4000 and 4200 lb/* (units uncertain)
versions supposedly used on the GMC.
We resolved my socket problem in a more conventional way, and I lost
interest and contact with Suspension Max. I doubt that they did any more
work on the project and I've never heard it mentioned by anyone else in the
GMC community. If someone wants to pursue the subject, I'll try to recover
the name of the contact I had there. In fairness to them, please don't ask
me to divulge that information unless you have a sincere intention to
proceed with a project.
Ken H.
Americus, GA
'76 X-Birchaven w/Cad500/Howell EFI & EBL,
Manny Brakes & 1-Ton, etc., etc.
www.gmcwipersetc.com
On Wed, May 21, 2014 at 11:29 PM, Dave Pottebaum wrote:
> I'm considering options for torsion bar replacement. Anyone ever used one
> ton truck torsion bars? They are about 4" shorter, larger diameter and the
> hex at the ends is larger, but I think it's doable. There is enough
> clearance to move the cross member ahead 4" without colliding with the
> mufflers.
> I think the one ton pickup pork chops could be used at the back and the
> front hex could be ground down to match the socket on the lower control arm.
> Interested in your thoughts. Thanks.
>
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Ken Henderson
Americus, GA
www.gmcwipersetc.com
Large Wiring Diagrams
76 X-Birchaven
76 X-Palm Beach
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| Re: [GMCnet] one ton truck torsion bars [message #250328 is a reply to message #250309] |
Thu, 22 May 2014 06:19 |
dpottebaum
Messages: 100
Registered: January 2013
Location: Bondurant, Iowa
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Why??
I've converted to a one ton front end. The old bars can't get the coach to proper ride height plus the added leverage of the wheels being moved out seems to make the ride softer. I'm looking for an economical solution using parts anyone can find locally without incurring specialty fabrication and shipping charges. If a one ton truck torsion bar fits the bill, then it seems a lot of folks could benefit. I realize that there are reconfigured pork chops and a batch of 30 special made bars just occurred, but I'm looking for other ways to solve the problem with affordable parts anyone can obtain no matter where they are in the country (or out of the country for that matter).
Dave Pottebaum
Bondurant, Iowa
1978 Royale
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| Re: [GMCnet] one ton truck torsion bars [message #250329 is a reply to message #250310] |
Thu, 22 May 2014 06:25 |
dpottebaum
Messages: 100
Registered: January 2013
Location: Bondurant, Iowa
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Hi Ken. Thanks for the response. I'm interested in pursuing this further even though it violates the principle of being able to do the conversion without specialty parts. It's likely to be a lot cheaper to ship those adapters than a set of full length bars! I'd appreciate that contact info. I am curious to know why you stopped pursuing this? It seems viable to me, is there a big roadblock to be aware of. Thanks again!
Dave Pottebaum
Bondurant, Iowa
1978 Royale
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| Re: [GMCnet] one ton truck torsion bars [message #250352 is a reply to message #250310] |
Thu, 22 May 2014 11:24 |
Bob de Kruyff
Messages: 4260
Registered: January 2004
Location: Chandler, AZ
Karma: 1
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Senior Member |
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""Dave,
When I had a blown out TB socket, I had extensive discussions with a
representative of SuspensionMax http://www.suspensionmaxx.com/, perhaps the
owner. They're the manufacturer of the adjustable pork chop being sold by
Applied GMC. In fact the current version is modified from the original
based on those discussions. While we were discussing my problem, Larry
(IIRC) suggested the use of the current truck torsion bars, proposing that
their standard pork chop could be used without change to our #4
crossmember since
the center portion of the adjustable porkchop can be changed to either
1-1/4" or 1-1/2" hex.
To accommodate the front of the torsion bar, they prototyped, overnight, an
adapter, basically 1-1/2" socket with a 1-1/4" hex extension to fit into
our A-arm socket. That extension bypassed the area where the sockets
normally fail and utilized the strong area where the socket passes through
the A-arm's hat section. The length of the socket was sized to accept the
4" shorter current arms so that NO modification to anything else should be
necessary. There is a wide variety of TB strengths available in the
current version, far more than the 4000 and 4200 lb/* (units uncertain)
versions supposedly used on the GMC.
We resolved my socket problem in a more conventional way, and I lost
interest and contact with Suspension Max. I doubt that they did any more
work on the project and I've never heard it mentioned by anyone else in the
GMC community. If someone wants to pursue the subject, I'll try to recover
the name of the contact I had there. In fairness to them, please don't ask
me to divulge that information unless you have a sincere intention to
proceed with a project.
Ken H.
Americus, GA
""
There are a couple of ways of raising the coach via the torsion bars. One is a higher rate bar, and another is a bar of the same rate but via the hex or pork chop indexing. I'm really curious how these new or revised bars affect the ride and handling. The same goes for the rear airbag setups. Again, I'm just very interested and not picking on any approach.
Bob de Kruyff
78 Eleganza
Chandler, AZ
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| Re: [GMCnet] one ton truck torsion bars [message #250365 is a reply to message #250329] |
Thu, 22 May 2014 13:02 |
bpimm
Messages: 211
Registered: June 2013
Location: Washougal Washington
Karma: 2
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Senior Member |
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I would be interested in those adapters as well if you get something going.
dpottebaum wrote on Thu, 22 May 2014 04:25Hi Ken. Thanks for the response. I'm interested in pursuing this further even though it violates the principle of being able to do the conversion without specialty parts. It's likely to be a lot cheaper to ship those adapters than a set of full length bars! I'd appreciate that contact info. I am curious to know why you stopped pursuing this? It seems viable to me, is there a big roadblock to be aware of. Thanks again!
Brian & RaeDean
1973 26' #383
Washougal WA
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