I failed to mark the TB orientation when disassembling, am I screwed?

[NH94Stepside]

Hi All,

Trying to rebuilt my front end today. Like a dumbass, I failed to mark the orientation of the Torsion Bars with respect to the lower control arms when disassembling. Now I'm not sure how to reassemble correctly.

Is there any trick to putting it back together if you're a complete dumbass who doesn't listen to this forums most basic advice?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Sean Buick 76]

Do you know which one is right and which one is left? Are there marks on the back ends from beating them out? Are the stickers still readable? The control arms touch more of the t bar vs the key if I remember correctly. Any photos from before it was apart?

 

[NH94Stepside]

Do you know which one or right and which one is left? Are there marks on the back ends from beating them out? Are the stickers still readable?

I was never able to remove them from the keys (completely rusted in place), so they are already installed in the frame, I just need to slide them into the LCA and then attach the LCA to the mounts on the frame.

Currently, they completely slack, with the adjustment bolt removed.

Should I install the adjustment bolts first (i did write down how many full turns those were cranked to)

Edit: basically, since the TBs are already in the frame, im just trying to figure out at which of the 6 available positions to slide the LCA onto the TB, before mounting the LCA into the frame

 

[Sean Buick 76]

Ok that’s not too bad then. Re install the adjuster bolt and the retainer nut but leave it fully loose. With the front suspension sagging all the way down you should see which way to slide the t bar into the control arm. Basically you can’t go wrong if your not forcing it. Then tension up the adjustment bolt and you should be good. If your one notch too tight you won’t even be able to tighten the adjustment bolt without huge effort. If your one notch too loose then even fully tensioned up the front end will be not held up properly and will still sag.

 

[NH94Stepside]

Ok that’s not too bad then. Re install the adjuster bolt but leave it fully loose. With the front suspension sagging all the way down you should see which way to slide the t bar into the control arm. Basically you can’t go wrong if your not forcing it. Then tension up the adjustment bolt and you should be good. If your one notch too tight you won’t even be able to tighten the adjustment bolt without huge effort. If your one notch too loose then even fully tensioned up the front end will be not help up properly.

Excellent, thank you so much!

 

[caw_86]

the front end of your torsion bars are marked with an orientation arrow and part number, the numbers are different for left and right

 

[Sean Buick 76]

Any update?

 

[Schurkey]

'88 K1500 control arm free of the frame, zero twisting force on the control arm, but pry-bar pushing it downwards for access to the control arm bushings. I did not remove tension from the torsion bar anchor bolts.

Slide your control arms onto the torsion bar hex to achieve this approximate angle.

You must be registered for see images attach