Hey gang, I seem to have run into a problem, I wanted to see if any if you have run into this. The other day I was unloading stuff from the back of my Bronco when the wind caught the spare tire carrier, blew it into the side of the tailgate, and I heard a loud "boom". My first thought was "Oh s*** the window". When I went to lift the gate I discovered I was now lifting the entire weight of the tailgate. (But at least the window survived) I checked the torsion bar and it is loose against the torsion stop. Has anyone ever had the torsion setup break like this? Is it hard to replace? And most important will I have to take the whole window out and apart? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Rich

95 Bronco-XLT-Sport 351

 

The torsion bar probably seperated from the mounts inside....very common. Does your window now "clunk" when raised or lowered? Be careful the broken bar will press against the window and can break the rear glass. Yup, the whole tailgate has to come apart to fix it.

Bob

 

Thanks for the help Bob! I haven't heard a noise yet, but I guess I have project for next week now. Can the bar be reattached to the mounts normally? Or do the mounts usually break? Am I looking at a bad project here?

Rich

 

yo,
Jeff's as well as other shops sell the brackets ($9. new) and the torsion bars ($45.00 used).

Or try Napa, I see they even have the striker bolt "plastic" sheaths now.

and here are two articles with info and pics:

http://users.superford.org/ylobronc/.../tailgate.html
"...The next step is to remove the bracket holding the torsion bar to the body. Take extreme care here as the bar packs a lot of force. I recommend trying to remove the bracket while the tailgate is as closed as possible to relieve pressure on the bar. I was foolish enough to do it with the tailgate down. Both bolts broke off allowing the bar to snap back and sent the bracket off to never-never land. I was never able to find the bracket so I had to get another one..."..
.. great hint by Dustin!

and:
http://www.off-road.com/ford/bigbron...indow-fix.html

and Chris's parts pics:
http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/cbradley...alreports.html

 

It's been three years and I still never did find that bracket LOL

 

I recently changed the torsion bar on my '94 Bronco without removing the tailgate. I did loosen the hinge bolts so I could pull the gate out enough to remove the old torsion bar. My bar just snapped and when it did, there was a loud bang. You will need to use some type of pry bar to put tension on the new bar when you bolt it back to the right rear fender. Good luck.

 

>I recently changed the torsion bar on my '94 Bronco without
>removing the tailgate. I did loosen the hinge bolts so I
>could pull the gate out enough to remove the old torsion
>bar. My bar just snapped and when it did, there was a loud
>bang. You will need to use some type of pry bar to put
>tension on the new bar when you bolt it back to the right
>rear fender. Good luck.

I just replaced my tailgate (85), and did not have to put any tension on the torsion bar for reasembly. Is this because of the torsion bar replacement?

An earlier post makes this very good point of having the tailgate up as far as you can while still being able to get to the 2 bolts on the retaining bracket on the right fender. I started to remove the bolts with the gate down....realized this was a BIG mistake before I did any damage to truck or myself! In the up position there was little to no tension on the bar. Same applied to reassembly.

Do use caution while bar is not connected as the tailgate is very heavy! Trust me, it hurts..........

 

 

Anyone have a schematic- pop open diagram for the tailgate torsion bar ,etc;
Or, better yet any write ups?
I jumped on my open tailgate and "S-N-A-P B-A-N-G!" the torsion bar!
Funny- this never happened 10 years and 30lbs earlier!

BTW- add this to my list of repairs (in reference to another thread about selling my rig- ugh!)

 

Speaking of torsion bars, does anyone know if there is a way to repair the hole it goes into on the passenger side of the tailgate? Mine has worn a groove in the torsion bar, and has worn the hole into an odd double oval shape. It pops going around corners consistently and gets very annoying to listen to.

 

Okay- I found a write up from Steve83- multiple photos.
Jeff's a good bet for parts?

 

Explosion of the tailgate in my gallery.

 

On it gs92! thanks

 

hi everyone, i had the torsion bar let go on my wifes 1993 recently but the part that let go was the very end bracket where the 90 degree is held against the gate, it rusted and bent out, can this piece be replaced as well? i tried looking at the listed links but they no longer work...

thanks in advance

 

Yeah, I pulled that gallery and never got it put back up. To replace the internal gusset inside the tailgate, you will either have to fabricate your own or replace the entire gate. If the inside of the gate has rusted that badly, it might be a good idea to consider replacement though.