Torsion bars adjusted to max.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by Shane826

Hadn’t thought of that. I figured they didn’t want to open Pandora’s Box with things like water damage and wood rot.

Same thing

[coralcruze]

Originally Posted by rickst29

That is a possibility. When you release all 4 bar clamps for the front shell, check the height of rise in the center. If the rear end of the front shell has risen more than about 6" above the still-clamped rear shell, then it's possibly pushing the front of the shell forwards and down by too large a factor. In that case, lowering the front end (on the A-frame jack) to provoke more forward movement could accentuate the problem with "somewhat weak front bars" problem even more.

The "lower the front" strategy is primarily for addressing problems at the end of the lift, helping to pull the already-lifted shell more forward (to reach it's final and most forward position).
- - -
But, if the front bars are extremely weak and your problem occurs at the very beginning of the lift, the opposite strategy might work better. Leave the excess gap at the center present, or even increase it a bit with respect to a leveled TM. In this strategy, you raise the front jack a lot for both raising and lowering. (Be absolutely sure to have the wheels chocked, or the TM will slide backwards on the rear leaving jacks.)

The resulting 'tilt', towards the rear, moves more of the shell weight onto the rear support arms. You keep raising the front jack, until the center 'rise' above the rear shell is reduced, by front shell weight being focused on the rear lifts, into the intended range of 4-7". Your lift at the very front end should be easier - but pushing it all down, with extra-strong center bars, will be harder (you have to raise the front jack for both directions).

The complex balancing act in this strategy is between getting enough assistance at the start versus pulling the shell sideways and somewhat UPHILL at the end. In the long term, you and I should both have those front bars replaced.

Super detailed as usual... very informative too. Any idea how much is a set of torsion bars? Anyone know?

[rickst29]

Originally Posted by coralcruze

Super detailed as usual... very informative too. Any idea how much is a set of torsion bars? Anyone know?

They are too long to be shipped by Fedex -UPS - DHL, so the required truck freight (IIRC) will cost more than the bars themselves. Maybe around $600 for a pair of bars @ $250, plus shipping @ $350? That only a wild guess.

Truck freight is now super-expensive, with fuel costs going crazy.

[Bill]

Like Ramblin' Rec, I have the same problem on my 2720QS. It seems to be common. I don't need much more adjustment, I think one more turn of the adjuster (less than an eighth inch) would do it. I'm waiting for someone to tell me that they pulled the stub end of the torsion bar out of the adjustment bracket, and either:

o ground an eighth inch off the top of the torsion bar stub, or
o ground an eighth inch out of the top of the opening in the bracket.

Any takers? You'll notice that I'm not doing this myself.

Bill

[coralcruze]

Originally Posted by Bill

Like Ramblin' Rec, I have the same problem on my 2720QS. It seems to be common. I don't need much more adjustment, I think one more turn of the adjuster (less than an eighth inch) would do it. I'm waiting for someone to tell me that they pulled the stub end of the torsion bar out of the adjustment bracket, and either:

o ground an eighth inch off the top of the torsion bar stub, or
o ground an eighth inch out of the top of the opening in the bracket.

Any takers? You'll notice that I'm not doing this myself.

Bill

Hi Bill can you clarify what would grinding the top of the torsion bar or opening in the bracket do for increasing torsion?

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by coralcruze

Hi Bill can you clarify what would grinding the top of the torsion bar or opening in the bracket do for increasing torsion?

Made me curious too..... I think that he may be referring to one (or both) of these bearing points. Probably "A".

[Bill]

Sorry not to be clearer. At the moment, the torsion bar adjustment is maxed out, meaning that the adjuster bolt has pushed the top of the torsion bar stub up against the top of the hole in the bracket. If I grind off the top of the stub, it would make room to crank the adjuster bolt in one more turn, which twists the torsion bar a bit more, increasing the force. Similarly, if I open up the hole in the bracket a bit, I would be able to crank up the adjuster bolt another turn. Either ought to increase the amount of force that the torsion bar exerts on the shell, to raise it.

Makes sense - I hope? Wavery, both approaches happen at location A. I'm not sure what is at location B.

Bill

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by Bill

Wavery, both approaches happen at location A. I'm not sure what is at location B.

Bill

"A" and "B" are both bearing surfaces for the torsion bar. When the adjusting bolt is turned clockwise, it pushes "up" on "A" and changes the angle between "A" and "B". Thereby increasing the tension on the torsion bar.

I think that if I were to do what you may be suggesting, I might remove the torsion bar and run the proper size drill bit up from "B" and though "A" and run the drill (or round file in a drill motor) back and forth with the pressure mostly on "A" That way you would have a better chance of getting the adjustment that you want and maintain a proper bearing surface ("bearing" meaning load bearing) and not risk gouging the torsion bar at "B". If that's even an issue...... It's not like the torsion bar is stressed on a daily basis.

Twas just a thought....... man, I have too much time on my hands. I better go out and fix something on my TM.... :-)

[coralcruze]

Originally Posted by Bill

Sorry not to be clearer. At the moment, the torsion bar adjustment is maxed out, meaning that the adjuster bolt has pushed the top of the torsion bar stub up against the top of the hole in the bracket. If I grind off the top of the stub, it would make room to crank the adjuster bolt in one more turn, which twists the torsion bar a bit more, increasing the force. Similarly, if I open up the hole in the bracket a bit, I would be able to crank up the adjuster bolt another turn. Either ought to increase the amount of force that the torsion bar exerts on the shell, to raise it.

Makes sense - I hope? Wavery, both approaches happen at location A. I'm not sure what is at location B.

Bill

Oh I got yah now. I would thing that grinding the top of the stub may be easier than getting a grinder in the opening to widen it. In reality both would be difficult given the tight area these pocket stops and torsion bars are in. However this concept is an idea that I have not heard of befor. Of you ever do this I for one would be interested. The concept should yield result.

Question: does anyone know how much approximate upward force these torsion bars should exert for every full revolution of the bolt? It would just be nice to know approx how many turns one needs to go to get say an extra 100lbs. Ect.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by coralcruze

I would thing that grinding the top of the stub may be easier than getting a grinder in the opening to widen it.

I tend to think the same thing. BUT ...

The thing that makes me nervous is that in order to grind the top of the stub, you probably have to pull the stub all the way out of the bracket. Then, after you grind, you have to insert the stub back into the bracket. With the shell raised all the way up, there isn't a lot of tension in the torsion bar, but it is still not clear to me that re-inserting it would be easy. Maybe I'm just not imaginative enough, or daring enough, but I really don't want to get involved with removing the other end of the torsion bar from the lift arm. I need advice from someone who has actually changed out a torsion bar.

On the other hand, if you choose to grind the top of the hole in the bracket, you could just pull the stub part way out of the bracket - pulling it out of the side with the adjustment hole (A in Wavery's pic), but leaving it poked through the other side (B in Wavery's pic). This might make it easier to re-insert. However, grinding inside the hole would have to be done with a rotary file, as Wavery mentioned, rather than a true grinder. Maybe not so easy?

Bill