Good to hear. I will be using the truck a lot more offroad soon and seems like a worthy investment for better shocks.
Tough dog review thread (2 Viewers)
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Good to hear. I will be using the truck a lot more offroad soon and seems like a worthy investment for better shocks.
I BELIEVE the springs/torsion bar is for the height of the vehicle. The actual damping is in the shocks.
Anyways, I have OME torsion with Ironman springs, and it is super smooth paired with my TD. 41mm front / adjustable 45mm rear.
springs / torsion set the height, but also the weight carrying capacity of the vehicle. Shocks dampen the movement. They work as a system to provide comfort and control based on what you need/want to do with the truck. Mixing brands is fine as long as you understand what your goal is and plan appropriately.
Email Trail Taylor, they will set you up with what you need based on the above and what you have.
Email Trail Taylor, they will set you up with what you need based on the above and what you have.
Well, finally got my TD springs/strut/TB and SPC uca’s installed. Still need to get it aligned before I take it out and about. Rears are sitting a little high. I went with 41/45 and medium (gold) springs. Not sure I have much more play left with my torsion bars. So we’ll see how this settles.
Wheels and tires look great, though.
This is the 2” medium. There is also a HD gold coil which would bring up the rear without any weight in the back, ie bumpers. I’m just kind of surprised how high mine is.
How much is measured droop in the front with BOTH wheels off the ground? Also, try measuring it with the swaybar links unhooked in the front. Check the bar is not hitting anything and getting stuck when you jack it up. I don't think the rear looks high... it does not look like you have enough height in the front, actually.
Also , you should have all the adjustment in the world with the new TBs if they were indexed right when they were installed. Easy way with new bars - ignore the painted index marks. Remove the front brackets after undoing the adjuster. Remove the bar. Zip tie the adjuster to the frame, all the way high. Insert the bar, re-do the bracket bolts. That will give you the maximum TB adjustment available.
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^This. I have the TD tb’s as well, and while they’re a little tricky to properly install especially if you aren’t very familiar with how tb’s function with the rest of the suspension system, they’re not impossible to do on your own. Regardless, you should have a large range of adjustability if they were installed correctly. Based on what you said it sounds like they were not and you might want to reindex them following @gatormark91 advice and the torsion bar thread in the FAQ before getting an alignment.
Thanks guys. I’ll take a look. I’ve installed all sorts of suspensions on different cars but this my first go with TB. I did briefly go over that TB 101 thread in the FAQ. When I installed the TB I aligned the painted markings from TD with the torsion arm. The rear I offset 5 splines to the anchor arm according to several instructions. I did install new sway bar end links too.
I’m a total noob to this torsion bar stuff so I’ll look into the indexing.
I’m a total noob to this torsion bar stuff so I’ll look into the indexing.
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I agree as well, i went with the predetermined marks on the bar (the other was wiped off) and the truck was almost on the bump stops. I reindexed them last night and i'm even not halfway through the threads and it's where i want it to be height wise.
i didn't count threads or anything, just zip tie the adjuster, and slide the front mount on whatever teeth are lined up to make bolting the front mount possible. then you need to crank each side to where you can get the right and left side height even with each other. a jack with high lift is really handy here. jack it up from the middle support, stick your arm and turn the adjusters then take it for a spin. I had to do it three times. I think every 3 turns is an inch give or take.
Here's what i used to get it done, last post has the PDF Amy's Official Build & Tutorial Thread
EDIT, while you're doing all this, remove the adjusting bolts completely, clean the threads, and apply some sort of lubricant. Mine were dirty and filled with crap, made wrenching much more difficult than it had to be.
i didn't count threads or anything, just zip tie the adjuster, and slide the front mount on whatever teeth are lined up to make bolting the front mount possible. then you need to crank each side to where you can get the right and left side height even with each other. a jack with high lift is really handy here. jack it up from the middle support, stick your arm and turn the adjusters then take it for a spin. I had to do it three times. I think every 3 turns is an inch give or take.
Here's what i used to get it done, last post has the PDF Amy's Official Build & Tutorial Thread
EDIT, while you're doing all this, remove the adjusting bolts completely, clean the threads, and apply some sort of lubricant. Mine were dirty and filled with crap, made wrenching much more difficult than it had to be.
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kelly saad
Supporting Vendor
Installed my rear springs and all 4 shocks last week. Immediately went on a 300 mile trip to meet up with the Beach & Toys club out of San Diego. We went to an area north of Joshua Tree where there are abandoned gold mines and a a good amount of trails. It’s a pretty good place to test this stuff off road. I can say that I’m glad I switched from yellow to silver! On the highway it’s wonderful, and off road it’s just great. I love the adjustable rear shocks. Very happy.
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Just to let everyone know I got a small stocking order today with shocks, t-bars and the NEW 2.5" TOURFLEX.
TourFlex is limited availability until the boat arrives in January.
Jason
TourFlex is limited availability until the boat arrives in January.
Jason
The springs provide the force. Force = (displacement)(spring rate) [cool fact, you can do alot of stress analysis assuming things are springs... somethings are just REALLY stiff)
A torsion bar is just a spring, like any other, except it's displacement is measured in angular deflection rather than linear displacement.
The shocks ONLY damped the spring, they do not support any static load, the just slow things down (shock absorber!)
Some good reading:
Damping ratio - Wikipedia
Yes. I am a nerd.
I also installed the TD 2" lift (tb's, springs & shocks) this past weekend. It still needs a little tweeking as far as rake, but so far, I like it.
I just drove my friend iron Man equipped 100 and realized how much rougher my td equipped truck feels.
It crashes on bumps and is bouncy on the freeways and i feel everything.
Softening the rears to 5 makes the rear good, but the fronts are butt clinchers when driving on anything other than perfect pavement.
It also rolls quite a bit more than his.
I have the extended sway links, dissent bumper, and group 31 battery and secondary optima battery with the 53mm ralphs at 35psi
I'm not sure what's going on, i thought they needed to be broken in, but no improvement so far.
It crashes on bumps and is bouncy on the freeways and i feel everything.
Softening the rears to 5 makes the rear good, but the fronts are butt clinchers when driving on anything other than perfect pavement.
It also rolls quite a bit more than his.
I have the extended sway links, dissent bumper, and group 31 battery and secondary optima battery with the 53mm ralphs at 35psi
I'm not sure what's going on, i thought they needed to be broken in, but no improvement so far.
bwell
SILVER Star
What's your front hub to fender measurement?
Not sure of your front UCA's but with anything above 22" hub to fender measurement and with stock upper control arms and your going to be above the recommended droop level in most cases.
I have the Ralph's and run similar tire pressure and it's pretty smooth, but my front end is fairly heavy.
I have the Ralphs as well. Stock weight truck with sliders. It's firm, but not harsh. I suspect when I put an ARB on next week it'll get cushier. Will update.
I forget what I put my rears on but I think it was on the softer side, maybe 3? I'll play with it before and during a road trip this weekend. Same thing though, firm but not harsh. Springs are 865s for now.
Edit: @ibrahim83 did you replace your control arms as well? If not, I'd wonder if maybe they became a weak point and you're now getting heightened symptoms of worn UCAs. Just a thought. If you did, then yeah it's bizarre.
I forget what I put my rears on but I think it was on the softer side, maybe 3? I'll play with it before and during a road trip this weekend. Same thing though, firm but not harsh. Springs are 865s for now.
Edit: @ibrahim83 did you replace your control arms as well? If not, I'd wonder if maybe they became a weak point and you're now getting heightened symptoms of worn UCAs. Just a thought. If you did, then yeah it's bizarre.
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I just finished installing the 2.5" Tough Dog lift- my rears are set to 3, front measurement from hub to fender lip is 21.5". The ride seems pretty smooth to me, although I don't have any other lifted truck to compare it to. Definitely worlds better than stock- I gained 4" in the front, 5" in the rear, my stock suspension was very tired!
I just finished installing the 2.5" Tough Dog lift- my rears are set to 3, front measurement from hub to fender lip is 21.5". The ride seems pretty smooth to me, although I don't have any other lifted truck to compare it to. Definitely worlds better than stock- I gained 4" in the front, 5" in the rear, my stock suspension was very tired!
Thats a remarkable difference. You must have been riding on the bumpstops.
