does anyone on here know for sure if the torsions from an ACTUAL 1 ton pickup are any larger than the bone stock standard half ton torsions every truck usually has?

i found a 1ton truck today at the yard and yanked the front 25mm sway bar (SCORE!!). in the process i had to drop one of the torsion bars out to get the sway bar loose. in doing so i noticed (or at least to me) that the 1 ton torsions looked WAY thicker than the ones on my truck... i couldnt confirm it as i didnt have a micrometer or any other way to measure them. im going back tomorrow hopefully with a micrometer but can anyone else tell me if they are thicker or not???

on a side note, i also noticed the brakes were larger as well on the one ton. i am going to take these off as well as the rotor off one side and see if they bolt up to a stock 1/2 ton truck. it'd be a nice upgrade in breaking power and performance out of the smaller contact patch the regular brakes have. ill post more info as i find out....

 

I have a 1988, 1/2 ton but I replaced the torsions with 1 ton torsions and yes, they are thicker.

 

1 ton trucks are 6 lug

 

ok, so i found out more info on this truck. the truck i pulled the torsions and sway bar out of has a V6, 5 speed, single wheels out back, 5 lug pattern. it has bigger brake calipers, pads, rotors, sway bar (25mm), torsions (also 25mm), G code axle (8"), 5 leaf rear spring packs, and thus the 1 ton rating.

the dually 1 ton trucks have bigger brakes yet, even thicker torsions (27.5mm) and of course the full floater rear axles with the 6 lug wheel design and hubs.

i grabbed the torsions and sway bar out of this truck so im hoping to get my poly sway bar bushings in by friday so i can do the install. ill take pictures through a good corner with a before and after shot and bring it here and post it.

 

Great info as aways. Now i must go back to the 1ton dually I found and grab the tbars. Already got the full set of sway bars from it.

 

awesome!

now, this is just an idea at the moment but im gonna try and figure out how i can use the torsion bar im removing from the front and somehow run it on the rear.... with correct width and some help from a welder, anything is possible....

 

brakes are bigger funny rock auto does not list them being bigger ? i know the rear drums are

 

yup. the 4cyl and v6 brakes are different. so are the calipers. rotors are larger by 6mm. pads have a more square pattern to them and a good deal more contact patch for the pads. rotors between the v6 and 1 ton are 2.4mm bigger. calipers are even larger, and so are the pads.

im going back to the yard this weekend and messing around mounting the 1 ton caliper and rotors to the 4cyl trucks and see if its a straight swap. if it is, a slight bolt on upgrade would be to use v6 calipers, pads, and rotors.

 

I do recall measuring an older (79-83) one ton brakes at a yard years ago and it was slightly bigger. I thought it was an insignificant amount of upgrade so I didn't get the parts. But they were the same concept as your talking, but using the older solid rotors. I would rather make caliper brackets to run my 4rynner calipers and town car 12.6 rotors. Good note on the tbars of the 6 lug super heavy duties. I'm gonna do a drop job on a 91 soon so I'm trying to get info for a nice solid ride ready. Deff gonna reff your bj flip and other various write ups. Then move onto interior upgrades. Ill probably pm ya later and brainstorm ideas.

 

Very imaginative. Sounds like a fun project.

 

larger or thicker?

 

I'm not exactly sure what the reason is for the change is but I have a few sets of hubs, rotors and calipers here and there is a difference.

My 87 2x with a carbed 22r, G code rear and 4 speed has standard small diameter and thinner vented rotors. I kept the rotors and hubs off of the 89 efi 5 speed 2x I scrapped they are exactly the same as the 87.

Now the 90 G code with a carb & 4 speed has what appears to be the same diameter rotors but they are much thicker than the other rotors I have, not sure if the calipers have a larger piston or not. I do know with the same V6 booster and 1" master with stainless braided lines as my 84 it STOPS right the fawk now.

 

its strange. the differences are minimal, but obviously engineers back in that day believed the truck needed "that much more" for it to stop safely and efficiently.

take a look into the other thread i resurrected, about the supra spindle and brake upgrade. its a way bigger upgrade than the bigger 4x4 calipers... i may be doing this mod next.

thicker

the way i keep going, i find out toyota made way more variations of their suspension and brake setups for these trucks than i had originally known. there are lots of combination of parts for these trucks to make them perform really well, its just a point of knowing what came in each truck and how to piece them together for factory high performance parts!

 

I have a set of the 4 piston calipers with equal size pistons not the big/small combo. They should work with my rotors, only issue is rotor thickness difference. As long as they fit with pads in, I'm good. Anyways, ill seek out the supra info. Did you have any issues with it moving the wheel forward or backward, seem to remember. And like 1.25" drop. I don't care so much about drop spindles as I do big brakes.