Okay! so this first post is a bit redundant of my introduction, but i wanted a place to post future mods, so here we go.

the best mod of all, not mentioned in my intro for some reason... WELDED DIFF! with billet plates in there and TIGed. all done by me

ENGINE-
has engnbldr full rebuild kit .020'' over, oversized valves, port and polish (by yours truly) RV cam, adjustable timing chain pully (dual row of coarse) a 38/38 weber, full de-smog, a 2.5'' stainless exhaust w/ no cat and a summit turbo muffler (TIGed by me with piecuts) the block and head were machined by a one man shop down the street from my house. i did all the assembly and checked all the clearances. runs good for a 22r.

SUSPENSION-
overload leaf on top of regular leaf pack, 4'' blocks i made, QUALITY 9/16 u-bolts, torsion's cranked all the way down. re-indexed this morning, should have done that last night (too easy)

RUBBER-
fornt-205/60r15 rear-205/70r15 both on jeep cherokee mesh alloys. my favorite tire shop would not mount my tires as they were "too old", so i went to harbor freight and got a manual tire changer for $40 and i happened to have a 20% off coupon so yeah i got it done.

oh did i say WELDED DIFF!?!?

here is my progress

 

and now low

 

Did you end up pulling the extra leaf you had when you flipped the overload?

 

yes JJ, and that leaf added A BUNCH of height. thanks again for letting me know whats up.

 

Glad it helped. That thing was stupid high

 

Looks good..

Our trucks are very similar as far as engine and wheel selection it would be a good match up in a drag race..

 

Nice! Another 81 shortbed! Did you notice a change with the torsion bars being reindexed? Mine are just turned down and its not too bouncy of a ride. And heres a few pictures of mine.

 

@first80 yeah man if your ever in texas that would be sweet

@eman710 the only thing reindexing them does is get the keys from scraping the ground. you know when you first let the torsions out, then you have thoes 2 big things scraping on everything, and indanger of being broken off if you hit a rock or bump the wrong way? reindexing just lets them be sucked back up where there suposed to be. does not change the ride. and actually loosening the torsions wont change your ride either, because your not changing the spring rate. its the same as adjusting a coilover. you change the spring to change the ride. BUT, your ride will be changed for other reasons when you adjust them. for example because your control arms are at different angles than stock, and your shocks are probly bottoming out, and your on top of your bumpstops. BTW i cut all but like 1/2'' of of my bumpstops all around.

jack up your truck, let the torsion adjusters all the way out, take the 2 nuts off the top and the bolt will fall out the bottom. then pull the bar downwards so you can bang off the big clunky thing on the end of the torsion bar with a rubber hammer. (i think its called the key). then just put it back as straight as you want it, (parralel with the ground) i think i moved mine around 30 degrees or 3-4 knotches on the spline. on each side of coarse. its easy, you'll understand once you bang it off. you might want to draw a sharpie line on the key and the torsion bar on each side so you can try and move them both the same # of splines, but it really dosent matter, as your ride height is set by the tension on the torsions, not where the key is on the torsion bar.

 

Reindexing the torsions does affect the ride. When you loosen them to lower the truck your taking away the preload. When you reindex your definitely preloading because the key being tightened up in to the chassis is twisting the torsion bar making it want to spring back. More preload= stiffer and Less bottoming out.

 

@jj. it dosent matter what spline the key is on. what matters is how preloaded they are from adjusting the nuts. After you pop off the keys, move them a few splines, and tighten the bars back up, if you preload the bars the same amount as they were before the rekey, the ride wont change. For example, the night i lowered my truck i was tired and all i had time for was just loosening the nuts all the way, then giving them 2-3 turns of tension, just enough so that you couldn't wiggle the key around while the truck was jacked up. When i reindexed the keys the next morning, i gave them that same amount of tension (again almost nothing, just enough so they wouldn't wiggle if i got airborn) and then the keys were nice and tucked up in that crosmember thing, and i had the same static drop as i did the night before. more preload just raises the truck, it dosent change the way the truck rides in itself am i wrong? maybe i dont understand reindexing, cause i never found a good write up about it. i just knocked off thoes things on the end of the t-bars and moved them in a few splines to give them more ground clearance. thats a reindex right?

 

Guess we reindexed the keys for different reasons. My key wasnt hanging too low, **** was just too soft. So i reindexed and it firmed up the ride because i turned the bar a few splines and put the key back on. My buddy did the same thing. And i know others have too.

If you do it right you will be preloading, maintaining the drop, and tucking the keys at the same time.

 

Just sayin..

http://www.toyotaminis.com/forum/su...do-torsion-rekey-reindex-79-94-pickups-17935/

 

well i saw that thread, but i dont get it. you cant change the springrate of the bars. i got this quote from an offroad site. They are talking about winding them to raise the truck, but its the same concept. the reason for a ride quality difference, is that leverage of the lower control arm on the torsion bar will change as the angle of the lower control arm changes from torsion adjustment. its all just leverage. i tried to explain it earlier but i guess i suck at explaining. any way don't take it from me:

"With no applied force [weight], the torsion bar will keep its pivot end [control arm] at the position or angle in which it was originally set. As a constant applied force [set weight] acts upon the torsion bar the torsion bar is resisted from returning all the way back to it's memory or set position. the amount by which the torsion bar can not return to its memory [set] position becomes pre load. Pre load is solely controlled by the amount of force [weight] applied to the torsion bar.

To adjust the ride height of the vehicle by winding the adjuster bolt at the fixed [frame] end of the torsion bar does not add any more force [weight] to the pivot [control arm] end of the torsion bar, therefore the pre load is unaffected, hence ride quality and torsion bar life theoretically remain unchanged. Winding the torsion bar adjuster bolt is the same as installing blocks between the axle and lief springs or a set of coil spacers, it simply moves the spring to a different position.

The reason the truck may ride a little stiffer is because of the new angle of the pivot [control arm]. As this angle [control arm to ground] becomes grater, the pivot [control arm] exerts less force on the torsion bar effectively reducing the pre load. "---taken from ToyotaOffRoad.com - Torsion Bars Explained

also this:
" It's a common misconception that lowering/raising Tbars stiffens or softens the ride. It simply changes the ride height. The only way the ride stiffens or softens is via a different spring rate (meaning a different spring).

Obviously I'm a 4x4 guy and am more concerned with lifting. Cranked tbars can make for a harsher ride due to the limited down travel and the frequency the UCA hits the bumpstop, and I'd assume the same holds true for adjustments in the other direction. Reindexing is a better method for adjustment than having the anchor hang below the crossmember, exposed to speed bumps, etc." ---taken from Torsion Bar lowering : Datsun Chat

there is also a thread with this EXACT argument inside toyotaminis somewhere. i have read it before but cant remember where it is right now. i will keep trying to locate it.

just sayin..

 

You say potato i say tacos. i loosened the torsions to lower my truck and it got soft and rode crappy. I reindexed and it stiffened up. It is what it is.

 

Interesting.

 

Just bag it.

 

Fact. Preloading isn't happening unless the bars are cranked up till the droop stops are being hit at rest. Spring rate isn't changing at all unless the bars are being twisted beyond their intended range of motion.

 

YO I just got those same rims but in gold. So glad someone has the same truck and rims as me, gives me an idea of what my car will look like. Good choice bro can't wait till it gets done

 

thanks litneon and white trash. i was beginning to think i was crazy.

seriously though the ride quality SUCKS. only because im about 1/2'' away from my mostly cut off bumpstops front and back... so heres my plan with christmas money (if i get any )

drop spindles w/out a 84+ front sus swap. i dont know whats involved to modify the knucks inorder to fit them onto the 81' suspension, but im a machinist and welder so ima get it done. if anyone knows where i can find info on that, help a brother out!

and...

frame notch! i think ill use a piece of pipe, but i dont want to weaken the frame, and i dont want to cut into the bed, so i need to think about how i can reinforce that area... remember this is supposed to be a drift truck, so it needs to be SOLID