This topic may have been discussed already but I havent been on in several months, Today a friends 1998 f150 4x4 had the torsion bar break at the front as he was backing in a parking space.The guy dosen`t run the truck hard (off-road etc..)it has about 48k miles on it has anyone had this happen?When it broke it cracked like a gun and dropped down on the tire. Lucky he wasn`t doing 55! Iwould like to know if this is just a fluke or should Ikeep an eye on mine as well ? trav.

 

Thats a good question. I've only heard of one other instance where that happened. I would like to know what would happen if they broke while traveling down the highway. Just curious, does your friend have a lift, or better yet, does he have his torsion bars cranked at all?

 

The owner is an older gentleman truck is box stock. AT the end of the bar where it flairs out part of the flaired end brokeoff with the bar. I would imagine at hiway speeds with or with out oversized tires this could result in a nasty accident.

 

Do you know if he is the original owner of the truck?

 

My fiances (sp) dad had this happen to him too, twice. Both of the torsion bars on his '98 broke. One happened while it was still under warrenty and the dealer replaced it. The other happened just a few thousand miles later (after the warranty) and he had to pay to have it replaced. His truck is completely stock (as he's leasing it).

 

This happened to my uncles 98 4wd sc.XLT with only 12,000mi at the time.It happened overnite while the truck was parked,its totally stock I think they had a bad batch of bars in 98 run.

 

Yea, maybe there is something wrong with the 98s torsion bars. Maybe some research will bring up more cases of it happening, then we could see if it's only the 98s.

 

Hey SteveB,

Which warranty ? If Ford puts on a part , say at 35000 miles and the warranty ends at 36000 . The new part would be under warranty for 12000 miles/12 months. Or in other words the replace would warranty until 47000 miles.

 

that is not true with the warranty issue. If the dealer puts something on a truck while its under warranty the new warranty on that part does not excede the original warranty. ex. My clutch went out at 34,000 miles and they replaced it for free. then my clutch had the same problem at 39,000 miles but they would not warranty it because it goes under the original warranty. i went to two dealers in my city trying to get them to fix it and they both said it was on me.......

 

AMA regarding the torsion bar issue. there is a lot of info out there.
--1. read the bulletin titled "Angry at Ford" this shouldnt be hard to find since it is the largest bulleton by far in the suspension category. this happened to this guy..l

--2. from that bulleton i researched this a little last month. I went to the NHTSA website. You can get the link form the recalls +TSB's section of this website. In 1998 the NHTSA investigated this problem. apparantly it has happened somewhat regularly. The investigation number for them is PE98009. look it up. it is considered public info and it is your right to know. here is the link it might help you. http://www.nhtsa.gov/

good luck and please post any findings you have we are all interested.

 

That could be true, but he said that one broke while under warrenty, and the OTHER ONE broke while it was out of warrenty. The one that was replaced didn't break again, the other one broke. So, in that case the second one wasn't covered.

 

canyonslicker -

Both bars had broken. Just the one had broken under warranty and the other one didn't.

 

Thanks for all the info I am passing it on to my friend.The site for the NHSC.was extremely helpful 51 complaints about torsion bars breaking!I also found out that I am not the only one with an 01 super crew that has had to replace front rotors and pads with 28k or less miles. thanks again!!! TRAV

 

Bump!