Torsion bar madness HELLLP *RESOLVED*

[Gdsmith07]

Did some diagnosing today, my pitman arm has some play. It also looks like the boot/bushing or seal for the steering gear box is causing the shaft the move as well coming out of the steering gear box.

Also I was able to attempt to grab the torsion bars out I noticed the bushings for the torsion bar cross member were pretty worn causing the cross member to be able to shift and move under just me being able to wiggle it. I’m assuming this is also adding to some rough and inconsistent suspension.

My torsion bars are stamped on both ends so I honestly done know if they’re “backwards” but I think I’m going to be performing. A coil over conversion on the truck instead of fixing the T bars.

Hopefully fixing the pitman arm and idler arms fixes my weird 4WD shifting but if not the last thing I can think of is the diff bearings are going out.

 

[Gdsmith07]

So as future to anyone having torsion bar issues. Here’s what I’ve learned.

Flipping my bars front to back back to front didn’t make much of a difference in fact I’d say almost no difference. They’re currently in “L,R” towards the rear as that’s why everyone has said they had seen as correct from factory.

More so noise wise I’ve got a rattle that was mixed in with some steering clunkiness that I’ve now been able to narrow down to the torsion bar cross member bushings.

The Cross member itself is easily
Able to be pushed and pulled by hand.

Ill mark this thread as solved but for anyone looking. No you didn’t index them wrong I’ve twisted mine all the way around the LCA insert and basically I had indexed myself out of being able to install the torsion key.

Stamped “L,R” to the rear just to be on the safe side.

Check those torsion bar crossmember bushings and they’re not the cheapest of parts. It also looks like I couldn’t just pick up the bushing I had to order some new racket style thing.

If you want better suspension for a coil over swap.

Thanks everyone else in the thread for the help! I greatly appreciate it!

 

[1badjimmy]

It’s weird on those torsion bar bracket bushings. My 04 Tahoe as well as 05 and 06 Dually’s have the big round bushings. However my 05 2500 Suburban has this dog bone looking mount that has a bolt through the frame and a bolt through the bracket. I haven’t looked at the 12 Yukon XL 2500 I have.

What about the jerkiness with the 4WD? Did lowering the front hurt, help or no change?

 

[Gdsmith07]

It’s weird on those torsion bar bracket bushings. My 04 Tahoe as well as 05 and 06 Dually’s have the big round bushings. However my 05 2500 Suburban has this dog bone looking mount that has a bolt through the frame and a bolt through the bracket. I haven’t looked at the 12 Yukon XL 2500 I have.

What about the jerkiness with the 4WD? Did lowering the front hurt, help or no change?

No didn’t do much for the jerkiness. Here is what I’ve learned about the torsions. If it’s lifted or the truck is leveled The front end will Ride like bricks hahaha. I learned a lot just playing with the torsion bars and how they function and how they react to things and so on.

My torsion bar bushings are big bushings but the replacement seems to be this weird bolt in set up. I’m assuming you need to somehow remove the old style bushing setup. I’m guessing it’s pinned or riveted in somehow and it needs to be ground off and replaced with this new style of bushing setup.

Was able to get a helper and get under the Yukon and found a bad pitman arm and oddly, don’t know if it’s common, play in the input shaft into the steering gearbox.

I tried doing an alignment on it and
Went for a cruise brought it back check the alignment and my toe was crazy off again that’s what lead me to the steering parts again. After doing a second alignment thinking oh it just settled and then bringing it back to the garage and again it being way off.

Replaced the pitman arm, steering gear box, idler assembly, idler arm, center link and a power steering pump to
Fix a whine and steers like butter now. Just silky smooth.

With 4WD engaged I don’t get the jerky feeling anymore but I now have a distinct whine/growl from the front end with 4WD engaged and a continuous *click or *tap that sounds like cv Axel still. From everything I’ve read on these IFS setups and the 8.25 I’m assuming I’ve got a bad Axel bearing on the drivers side which is what my click may be or the guid tab broke off, could have happened when I replaced the Axel seal on that side.

The growl though I’m guessing is a ring and pinion issue. She’s loud and gets louder with speed.

So im thinking I’ve got some bad bearings in the diff and a diff swap will be in my future. I’ve never rebuilt one of these but I’d give it a try. I’d like to swap to lower gears anyways. Idk time will tell hahaha

 

[1badjimmy]

Ah ok assumedly you have the dorman brand replacement bushing assemblies. Your old ones will have 4 rivets holding it to the frame that will be easier to drill out and bolt the new ones on. I recommend going to a nut and bolt place and getting better bolts. I’ve heard of the replacement bolts breaking on some people.

 

[Gdsmith07]

I didn’t order them I decided not to go with the torsion bar bushings. I couldn’t see spending the money on them when in the long run I wanted to do a coil over conversion anyways. But I couldn’t get the factory style bushings anywhere I assume they’re dealer only.

Hahahaha but I’m in a pretty remote area I don’t have a dealer.