Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Hi everyone.

I have to do some work on my suspension (replace idler arm, pitman arm, inner & outer ball joints, inner CV's and rear coils) and am considering to also raise the front a bit. I currently have the torsion bars tweaked, but this resulted in less articulation (have not cut the bump stops yet) and a much firmer ride (almost bakkie like). To fix this I am considering the following:

1. Re-Index torsion bars. I have read on some posts on the internet about re-indexing the torsion bars and that this will make the front end less stiff, have anyone done this? I seems that the torsion bar must be loosened at the lower control arm side, then moved 2 or 3 splines from the marker and put back. The question is which way do I move it and how much lift can I expect for each spline moved.

2. Do the Ball joint flip to return the articulation. My idea is to do the upper ball joint flip and use thicker high tensile bolts to then connect the ball joint to the upper control arm. I have read a number of posts on other forums, with many arguments for and against. The arguments against is typically that the connection will be weaker and that causes a safety concern, where the arguments for this are that using the bigger bolts the system should be strong and safe enough.

I really want some additional clearance and articulation, but not at the cost of compromising the safety of my family. I also do not want the suspension so hard that it feels more like a bakkie than a comfortable SUV.

Some advise will be appreciated.

Re-indexing of the torsion bars is necessary only if it can't be turned any more. (like turning the ratchet handle on a socket spanner).
It does not change the characteristics of the torsion bars.

The ball joint flip raises the suspension, and increases the driveshaft angles.
There is plenty info on both items on www.4x4wire.com. It seems to be popular in the USA.

PS I don't like fiddling with suspension / drive train geometry, but that's me.

Hi 4e,

Thanks for your reply. If I understand you correctly then the tension on the torsion bar is not increased when you adjust it. I must say, after thinking about it for a while (quite a long while) it does make sense.
That means that the harder ride is probably as a result of the XGS shocks that I installed. The torsion bars was tweaked at the same time, but I desperately wanted to believe the torsion bars caused this (cannot see myself replacing a perfectly good set of shocks).

I have kind off decided not to do the ball joint flip before asking the question, I simply do not think that it is work the risk with our potholed roads.

4ePajero wrote:Re-indexing of the torsion bars is necessary only if it can't be turned any more. (like turning the ratchet handle on a socket spanner).
It does not change the characteristics of the torsion bars.

I agree. The spring rate is a function of the geometry of the torsion bar (i.e. Its length and diameter) and as long as these do not change, the suspension stiffness will not be affected by adjusting the torsion bars.

It is possible that the shocks are making the difference. It is also highly likely that harshness is increased by much more frequent contact of the upper suspension arm with the rebound stop. This is due to the higher ride height, which is a result of tweaking the torsion bars: rebound travel is sacrificed for more possible bump travel, but to access that bump travel greater force is now required than was needed previously to move the lower suspension arm the longer distance into contact with the bump stop against the torsion bar's resisting torque.

4ePajero wrote:The ball joint flip raises the suspension, and increases the driveshaft angles.

I don't agree 100%.

The suspension is raised by tweaking the torsion bars. This changes the ride height to a new, higher position, which alters the sideshaft angles at the mid ride position. If nothing else is changed, the possible extremes of the sideshaft angles (at maximum bump and rebound travel) remains unaltered.

The balljoint flip re-positions the upper suspension arm further away from the rebound stop, thus liberating more rebound travel (perhaps regaining the rebound travel lost when tweaking the torsion bars to a new mid-ride position. This means that it would be posible to attain more extreme sideshaft angles at maximum rebound travel than before (because there is more rebound travel available). If a balljoint flip is done, but the torsion bars are not tweaked, the ride height and the sideshaft angles (at the mid ride position) will remain unaltered.

Balljoint flips work better on certain vehicles than on others. It is quite a popular mod on Isuzus and works quite well there, but I have not really studied the Gen 1 / Gen 2 / Colt front suspension in enough detail to know all the pitfalls. One should be aware of the fact that one is tampering with a rather important bolted joint; It is crucial to retain the integrity of that joint.

Another pitfall of the balljoint flip is that the suspension geometry might be altered such that it becomes impossible to attain the factory wheel camber specs.

4ePajero wrote:PS I don't like fiddling with suspension / drive train geometry, but that's me.

I have to agree. A production vehicle's suspension (and drivetrain) is such a carefully balanced compromise that it really is rather difficult to improve it in one respect without introducing serious compromise in another.

I have come to doubt the necessity of increasing the ride height on a Gen 2...

It seems to me that the balljoint flip will invariably result in the upper and lower wishbones no longer being parallel. To me this would suggest that up and down movements of the suspension would result in camber changes.

I had planned on doing this, but upon studying it more I changed my mind. I've instead bought blocks to do a body lift.

Hi,

I realize that this topic was discussed quite a while ago, but I also need some advise.

Firstly, I also "tightened" my torsion bars on my Gen 2 to lift it a bit, BUT, it had a huge impact on the front cambers. This is a main cause of uneven tyre wear, which I don't want on my brand new BF's! So, I decided to adjust it back to spec, but where do I find the standard specs on ride-heights?

Secondly, where can I find the "block kit" to raise the body from the chassis? And what impact does this mod have on the steering rod(fire-wall to steering box) angle and on the gearlevers?

If anyone can assist me with this it will really be appreciated!

Jaco

take it to an alignment shop. They will crank the torsion bars so both sides are even and then set the alignment and camber etc based on the new ride height.

Hi 4e, I work at a workshop/dealership with the latest wheel alignment equipment available, so setting the alignment is no problem at all. Problem is, on the alignment system's data base, we get all spec's and info we need, EXCEPT for standard riding heights! The Cambers on my Gen 2 adjust by adding/removing shimms. However, if all shimms are taken out and the cambers are still not within spec, clearly this indicates that my ride-heights are stil too high. The more you lift it, the more negative camber you get, and the other way around when dropping it.