Replacing torsion bar/adjusting lift arms

This weekend we will be replacing a front torsion bar that maxed out on its adjustment ability. New bar has already been delivered. At the same time, we will be adjusting lift arms. We store our computer on a very washboardy road and the arms are very much out of adjustment. I'm needing some measurements.... I've heard of two ways to measure the lift arms. One way was to measure from the bottom of the shell down to the ground. Great concept but it requires you to be on perfectly level ground, which i don't have where we'll be working on it. The second method suggested was measuring from the top of the torsion bar up to the bottom of the shell. This works better for us, since we're repairing over unlevel grass. But i don't know this measurement..... Anyone able to measure theirs?

After reading what there is on the board, the general take on it was the four lift arms on each shell should match each other, and the back shell is one inch less than the front to compensate for the overlap. I have a 2005 3023, but i think these measurements should be the same for most models.

Any additional discussion and/or insight welcomed, we're doing this Saturday. Can't wait to have a camper that opens!

[ZekenSpider]

Ed Lytle of TM told me by phone call about two months ago that the factory measurement is from the bottom of the outside floor to the top of the strut pocket in the roof shell. The dimension for that measurement should be 39 1/2" for the front four struts and 39" for the rear four struts. I have done that on my 3326 and it worked out well. I know that this is hard to imagine and I have no drawing....so...try this method to find where the top of a front strut pocket is. After you have found one, you can easily find the others:

With the roof shells open, look up into the pocket at the top of any front shell strut (you may find it easier to first remove the pocket cover because you will be looking up into a dark rectangular hole in the roof shell wall). You will see that the strut does a 90 degree turn towards the front of the shell. On the rear side of the strut you will see (up above where the strut ends) where the pocket adjustment bolt touches a block at the top of the pocket. The bottom of that block is about 5 3/8" above the bottom of the roof shell. You will measure from that block down to the bottom of the outside floor (the pocket block rests on the strut "pocket stop adjustment bolt" on the top rear of the strut).

This all assumes the struts are vertical when the shell is open. If the pocket stop bolts are too long or too short it will affect how vertical the struts are when open. If they are too short, the shell will open past strut vertical. If they are too long, the shell will open and stop short of strut vertical.

Hope this is of use.

Jerry

EXACTLY what I needed, Jerry, thanks! I was hoping you would chime in, as I've been following all of your torsion bar woes. Of course, the factory wouldn't honor the torsion bar warranty for me, since I'm not the first owner, so I had to pay for my bar. For those of you curious, totaled $138 for one bar. $100 for the bar, $10 drop ship fee, and $28 shipping.

I need to adjust my pocket stops as well, since I'm no longer perfectly vertical. I guess I'll be doing those first instead of last, hadn't thought of lengthening that distance due to non-vertical-ness (yes, I made that word up, it works). In fact, as I think on it, that might end up alleviating some of the wonkiness of the measurements I got.

Jerry, is there some sort of pictorial of all the lifting and shell parts, such as torsion bars, lift arms, pivots, stop block....etc?

[ZekenSpider]

Originally Posted by JBYRNE7844

Jerry, is there some sort of pictorial of all the lifting and shell parts, such as torsion bars, lift arms, pivots, stop block....etc?

There are none that I have seen. I took pictures and made sketches as I worked on different parts but have not yet had the time to make good drawings for sharing with others. Hope to do that in the near future.

Jerry

[Bill]

There is a picture in the new TrailManor parts catalog that may help. Scroll down to the bottom here

http://www.trailmanor.com/WebDocs/Se...rtscatalog.pdf
EDIT - DEAD LINK

Bill