I have never done this....(just wanted to start out saying that)....but one of my buddies at church has a 98 f150 4.6 4x4 (obviously) and right before he came out here from wyoming he broke a torsion bar while antelope huntin but barely doing 35mph and not really offroading either.....i told him i would post a thread on my forum and see what the guys said...i just dont have a clue as to how you snap a torsion bar completely in half??....Any ideas?

 

it was a problem for the earlier model years. have heard it happen before. just go buy some new ones.

 

Thats crazy...those things are like a solid inch and a half steel bar...he ended getting it replaced and had to have the truck crated from wyoming to VA

 

yeah, they will break just sitting too, they dont have to be under extra stress for them to break. one guys broke in his driveway.

 

my old man had a 97 that was parked in the garage and we heard what sounded like a gun shot. we looked outside and stuff, couldn't figure it out, until he left to go to work the next morning and the front passenger side suspension was collapsed. He was cussing up a storm and had to drive it 3 miles to the ford dealer where he continued cussing up a storm... he was not pleased.

 

Dang...that would be a sucky day....thats just a big thing of steel to be breaking like that though....i didnt know it was such an issue....and yeah the guy said it sounded like a gun shot goin off

 

Yep, Ford apparantly go a bad batch. It's not uncommon on the 97-99's.

 

Well ill be sure to tell him cuz he was in a complete state of aww

 

Ya its hard to say. You hear about it every once and awhile. I have ran my torsions cranked on my 99 for 5 or so years. Hope that doesnt happen to me.

Guess its one of those you win some you loose some. Haha.

 

Yeah its one of those where im hoping im a winner

 

And this is the reason why when I do my lift here soon I am gonna get some new torsion bars. Better to be safe than have it happen going down the highway. They aren't too expensive either. Like 110 from Ford.

 

makes me glad i have them big ole beefy rancho torsion bars

 

Any warning signs to look for before they let go?
I have 120K on my 97....

 

You will hear a loud bang just before they let go. Unfortunately there is no visible signs that point to failure.

 

Agreed. There is no sign. It just happens.