Quick help- uneven droop in front (1 Viewer)

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MongooseGA

Learns things the hard way
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Jul 9, 2017
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Location
Atlanta GA
I've been reading up on TBs again for a few weeks but haven't quite found what I'm looking for. That, or I have, and just didn't understand it completely because I'm a moron. Planning to tackle this and other suspension work tomorrow so wanting a game plan.

Note: I had a shop install my Tough Dog torsion bars originally.

I am looking to bring the front of my truck up to about 22-22 1/2" hub to fender as I've noticed a lack of tire clearance on the trail, even with the pinchweld hammered and liner trimmed. With my front end mods (diff drop, SPC UCAs, 53MM Ralphs, extended sway links), I don't think this should be a problem. When I last tried to bring the front up, I noticed that the droop between both sides was uneven. My PS is currently sitting at 21" even and shows over 2.5" droop. My DS is sitting at 20.5" and less than 2.5" droop. I have tons of room on the adjuster bolts but it's no good to me if there's no articulation/droop to be had.

My plan is to reindex, but before I do I was curious if anyone else has run into this before. Anything special I might be looking for while I'm in there?

Pic for attention:

20190319_120324.jpg
 
Well, I’m pretty new to this TB thing, but cannot imagine how reindexing the TBs would address a droop disparity. If the TBs have enough preload on them to hold the front end up that high, seems unlikely they’d exert enough force in the other direction to prevent full droop of the suspension components.
Maybe crank the DS up to 21” and see if the droop on that side changes?
Double check shocks to ensure same part numbers on both sides?
Lastly, are you measuring droop on both sides in exactly the same way?
That’s all I can think of—perhaps someone with expertise will chime in shortly.
 
Shocks are both matching. You'd know if one was different than the other, these suckers are huge. If I bring my DS up to match the PS on height, there's just not enough in droop. It's even slightly noticeable from side to side when going over wide speed bumps. (Could by psychosomatic...)

The only thing I could think of might be that the shop who originally installed them maybe didn't put them both in identically. I hadn't considered a variation in the bars themselves. That'd be a real bummer!
 
Has it been this way since install? Most TB are directional( left & right). Check to make sure they installed them correctly.
 
Yes. I haven't done anything besides mess with the adjustment bolts since install. I'll double check the labels on the bars.
 
I've been reading up on TBs again for a few weeks but haven't quite found what I'm looking for. That, or I have, and just didn't understand it completely because I'm a moron. Planning to tackle this and other suspension work tomorrow so wanting a game plan.

Note: I had a shop install my Tough Dog torsion bars originally.

I am looking to bring the front of my truck up to about 22-22 1/2" hub to fender as I've noticed a lack of tire clearance on the trail, even with the pinchweld hammered and liner trimmed. With my front end mods (diff drop, SPC UCAs, 53MM Ralphs, extended sway links), I don't think this should be a problem. When I last tried to bring the front up, I noticed that the droop between both sides was uneven. My PS is currently sitting at 21" even and shows over 2.5" droop. My DS is sitting at 20.5" and less than 2.5" droop. I have tons of room on the adjuster bolts but it's no good to me if there's no articulation/droop to be had.

My plan is to reindex, but before I do I was curious if anyone else has run into this before. Anything special I might be looking for while I'm in there?

Pic for attention:

View attachment 1986211


After chasing a little extra droop after my AHC delete, I'm curious what you find here.

I'd also be somewhat curious what exactly it takes to get you to 22-22.5"

If I'm reading this correctly, your driver side is at 20.5", and you have less than 2.5" of droop. I find this somewhat curious, because with a stock AHC system, I was ~22.75" at full droop, it sounds like you are near stock droop on the driver's side even with aftermarket shocks and UCAs.

What are the settings on your SPC UCAs?

Is it possible that the washer/bushing stack is installed differently between the two sides?
 
After chasing a little extra droop after my AHC delete, I'm curious what you find here.

I'd also be somewhat curious what exactly it takes to get you to 22-22.5"

If I'm reading this correctly, your driver side is at 20.5", and you have less than 2.5" of droop. I find this somewhat curious, because with a stock AHC system, I was ~22.75" at full droop, it sounds like you are near stock droop on the driver's side even with aftermarket shocks and UCAs.

What are the settings on your SPC UCAs?

Is it possible that the washer/bushing stack is installed differently between the two sides?

As far as getting proper droop at that height, I've spoken to other mudders who have done it fine with the same mods. As to the UCA set up, they were also installed at the shop who did the TBs. (Got too good a deal to pass up, otherwise I'd have installed).

I'll go out now and get started, starting with new measurements.
 
Update while I'm still in progress on a few things today. I was actually wrong about my measurements before. They're actually not bad but not what I was wanting.

On the ground:

DS: 21.5"
PS: 21.75"

Drooped:
DS: 24"
PS: 23.75"

So it looks like it's actually right where it's supposed to be, albeit with the PS a little taller than ideal. My rear sits at 23.75" with a brand new pair of medium rate gold coils in it (I expect .25-.5" settling to occur there). Even with a 1" rake, I should still have decent handling with the front at 22.5". Maybe I've misunderstood something... Even with the front end mods listed, am I going to be maxed at that 21.5" height to get the necessary droop? Anyone else getting 2.5"+ while sitting at 22"+ hub to fender?

Crap... Maybe a body lift is in my future 😒
 
Well... At the suggestion from ga12r1 I disconnected one of my shocks and found that they're my limitation. I thought I'd read somewhere that the Ralph foam cells were good for extra length, but apparently that's not when considering articulation or droop. Ugh.

Btw my bars are both on the correct side.
 
21.5 is 2" over stock. Getting 70-75mm of droop at 21.5” is good. Thats about all your going to get. More height in the front, will yield less droop and will put more angle on CV axles as well as more wear on them. Good to know the TB's are oriented correctly. Did they also install the reinforcement plates on the LCA?
 
21.5 is 2" over stock. Getting 70-75mm of droop at 21.5” is good. Thats about all your going to get. More height in the front, will yield less droop and will put more angle on CV axles as well as more wear on them. Good to know the TB's are oriented correctly. Did they also install the reinforcement plates on the LCA?

Agreed. I was evidently mistaken about my assumption in the original post. Oh well. Yes, the TB brackets are on.

Talking with another guy today, using long travel shocks has yielded him a constant front height of 22" with 2.5" droop still. The difference is he's got a sweet set of Icon resis and I'm not buying any more suspension stuff until this goes out. Maybe I need to try harder.
 
One of the reasons for my earlier post is that without going to the rather expensive, extended, rebuildable, remote reservoir shocks, it's been my experience that ~21.5" is about the limit while still allowing for enough droop.
 
I reset my front yesterday when I swapped out my new UCAs.

I'm running the 53mm up front, TT UCAs and droop is set at 55mm (2-3/16") I'm at 23.625" w/ a 1" BL so--- 22.625" at ride height and a hair over 25.75" - 1" at full droop.

55mm droop
22.625 Ride 24.75+ Droop ( PLUS 1" on both)

J
 
Glad you chimed in. I was wondering if your UCAs alone would net me the 2.5" for droop. Sounds like you're confirming what I found today- without a designated long travel shock, I'm not going to see that 2.5" when running the front end over 21.5" hub to fender. Have you had much chance to drive it since setting it? Curious what your ride and handling are like.

BTW, I did finally install those gold coils I'd been sitting on since that last accident. I'm glad you still sent them, I'm a fan!

Lastly, how's the scope of install for the BL? Day's work for a moderately capable moron like myself?
 
I was at 22.375" prior to the new UCA install over my original prototype UCAs. So I gained a tad and the ride seems exactly the same. But I haven't had a bumper/winch installed since the lift was installed. So it rides much firmer for now. I'll get the bumpers finished and installed and reset the height again and report back.

My old 100 with 53mm and stock UCAs was at 21.875/22" and 65mm of droop. It rode and reacted very similar.

BL--- I have a lift and got it installed in about 2 hours. A few have reported 3-7 hours pending their 🔧 skills.
 
Also, I try to always be available within reason during the week. The guys here are great for tech help. Even though my keyword alerts are on I don't always get a notification some one is asking about me or my products.

So PM is the fastest way to raise me it seems. I check my phone and emails about every 1-2 hours throughout the day.

Thanks all,

Jason
 
Well s***. Short of your UCAs (vs my SPCs), I've got everything else from your catalog in my front end. The only difference would be the upper arms. Was that in fact a design feature for yours? I'd have waited but the build was time sensitive and I think you were just a few weeks out from production at the time.
 
Well s***. Short of your UCAs (vs my SPCs), I've got everything else from your catalog in my front end. The only difference would be the upper arms. Was that in fact a design feature for yours? I'd have waited but the build was time sensitive and I think you were just a few weeks out from production at the time.

My arms have approx. 5/8" of drop built in compared to a stock or stock designed aftermarket UCA.

IMG_20181226_110050838.jpg
 

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