I just got a 1993 Pathfinder 4x4 and it leans to the left in the front, it has the electronically changed suspension. Does anyone have an idea of what this could be caused by???

Welcome to the board.

No, the shocks, are unrelated. The problem is that torsion bar has sagged and needs to be "cranked up" if you are willing to wrench a little yourself, it is a pretty easy fix unless it needs to be re-indexed, then it takes a little more time.

Basically, there is an adjuster on the back end of the torsion bar. Jack up the truck(not nessacary but makes it easier) Loosen the two nuts on tob of the adjuster bolt and give the bolt a few turns. Bounce the truck a little and see if it is level. If it is still to low, give it a few more turns until it levels out.

If you cannot crank anymore and it is not level, you need to re-index. I'll explain that if that is the case.

Great... Thanks for the help, I will give that a try. This seems to be a GREAT site... Thanks again, I'll let ya know if it works.

Do you have any pics of that orange? I have been curious on how to do that.

'93 Pathfinder. All stock at the moment.

Best way to explain it short of a pic is for you to just go look under your truck. Find the lower control arm....then find the torsion bar that goes back along the inside of the frame rail and find the cross member it goes to. You'll see one bolt on each side of the truck that goes into that cross member. You need either 2 19mm wrenches, or an open end and a socket wrench. A breaker bar makes turning it easier. The reason there's two nuts on the bolt is because one is a jamb nut that keeps the other from loosening up. One thing about a torsion bar suspension that is cool is that you can adjust the front springs for height and ride.



1998 Frontier 4x4 seriously built
2002 Xterra 4x4 still stock
Please help STOP urban sprawl!

We did this on Slick82's truck Friday morning...actually, he did it and I ate donuts and coached like I knew what was going on hehe

First off, get the front tires off the ground and stick some jack stands under the frame. Then pull off the two nuts on top of the TBar adjuster and unscrew the adjuster bolt and set that stuff in a safe place.

There is a clip at the back of each TBar that keeps it from falling out. You have to remove them. The best way is to just use a screw driver and a hammer. This might take some practice.

At this point I can't remember exactly how things went because i became dis-interested, but you need to pull the bar foward or something so that the TBar adjuster can be moved down a little. The bar only needs to be moved a few(3-4) splines over in the adjuster. (Somebody help me out here )

After you do that, reinstall the clip(or else the TBars will fall out), put the adjuster bolt back in, and install the two nuts. Repeat on other TBar.

After they are both done, jump on the bumper a few times and check the ride height. There should be about a 1/2" bewteen the bumpstops. If it's more or less, crank up or down the bars to fix it. Just remember that when you crank one side, the other side will change a little too.

EDIT: Whoops, Andy beat me to it

Mr. Will

hi, I have the same problem with my 97 pick-up
but its on the passenger side leaning down 1 inch lower than the drivers side would the adjustment to the t-bar work for this truck as well ? thanks

Sure would. Remember, if there's room on the adjuster you won't have to reindex. Just turn that adjuster bolt up a little, ride around the block, and see if it's level. You might need an alignment afterwards though.

Welcome to the board

Mr. Will

well... i had the same leaning problem combined with a blown shock up front. i replaced the shocks then cranked the driver side tbar to level the front end. then as i backed out of my driveway i heard a cracking sound as loud as an axle shaft breaking. turns out i snapped the driver side anchor arm. anyone ever do this?

what worries me is that when i install the new anchor arm and re-crank the tbar i might break it again.
i am not exactly clear on how to reindex the tbar even though i did read the instructions.

You broke the LCA or just the anchor? If it is the anchor, is it front or rear? How is it broken?

Yep.. I've seen this happen. usually just the bolt breaks though. Hopefully the T-bar isnt damaged. I can see how the little arms on the anchor could bend and let the bolt slip out. Is this what happened?

Replacement:

Once you get the anchor off the Tbar you'll see there are splines on the end of the T-bar that mate the Tbar to the anchor. The splines let you pull off the anchor and rotate it up or down on the end of the T-bar. So, you just have to see what angle the old one came off at and put the new one on in the same spot.. That would get it exactly as it was.

Reindexing:

Now to reindex it.. you just put the anchor on so that the long end is pointed downwards a little more (1-2 splines rotated from where it was) and go from there. It takes some trial and error.. once you get it apart though, you'll see how it works.

Hope this helps!


BEEFYJames Fabrication - Custom Fabricated for Use and Abuse
Nissan Terrano .. "Take a grip of Steering!"

it was the actual anchor arm that bent. one side of the notch where the adjuster bolt sits now resembles a letter "S" instead of being parallel to the other side.
i understand the reindexing part (THANKS) but what can i do to prevent the new anchor arm from breaking again. was there too much tensionon the Tbar?

Unless the A arm was maxxed out against the bumpstop, there couldnt have been too much tension on it. If you have 1/2" gap between the A arm and the upper bumpstop you are fine.

Sometimes things break after being used. Often you cant really explain it other than a cost of wheeling or just another thing to repair. I havent had any problems yet with mine, luckily. Im sure the new parts will be fine.


BEEFYJames Fabrication - Custom Fabricated for Use and Abuse
Nissan Terrano .. "Take a grip of Steering!"

BGAIDAN had one of his anchors fail at Coal Creek in March. I wasn't there when it happened, but he said all of a sudden it felt like the pass side was way lower than the driver's hehe


hehehehe

Mr. Will

here is one angle of the anchor arm

i picked a 'new' anchor arm from the nissan wrecker here in sacto