Torsion bar question

[MattfromMaine]

Hey everyone,

In the middle of taking the tension off of my torsion bars before removing the stub frame. Passenger side went great.

Driver's side is making me scratch my head. I finally started to get the bolt backing off but instead of the ear of the torsion bar coming with the bolt, it instantly loosened up, like the passenger side did after completely backing off of it. This suggests to me the the torsion bar isn't unwinding and releasing tension. Am I correct here? Is this thing going to let go all at once? The two pic are to show how much I can move the bot around .... The top of it is almost completely clear of the torsion bar ear. Thoughts?

 

[Big_John]

The threads could be stripped in either piece. What I think happens is guys tighten/loosen the bolts without taking the weight off the front end. Not saying you did this, but someone else might have.

If the adjuster is loose, the tension should be off the t-bar. I don't know of anything that would be holding it. Look at the position of the "ear" on the other side and see if it's roughly in the same spot.

 

[MattfromMaine]

They're not, which is what has me a bit weary. You can see the passenger side "ear" came down and kept everything tight until I completely backed the bolt off and only then did it get loose

You can see the driver's side didn't come down at all when I was backing the bolt off and it got loose almost immediately. You can see that I'm able to move the adjuster bolt completely out of the way in the pic and I've hardly backed it off when compared to the other side.

Front end is off the ground with no weight on the front end at all. I just don't want to assume I've relieved the tension only to have the thing let go God knows when ...... I'm going to still pull the front clip of today and take a second look once it's out. Thanks for the response, Big John!

 

[MoPar~Man]

My experience is that the adjusting bolt will engage the torsion bar through at least half of it's threaded length (or even most of the length) before the torsion bar tension is relieved, and that's with the front wheels off the ground.

I'm not sure if I'm reading that you think the bolt is stripped and you're turning it but it's not coming out of the support block.

If you've got some play between the bolt and the torsion bar that you think shouldn't be there, put a jack under the lower control arm at the lower ball joint and raise it. That should rotate the torsion bar and take up the play. Then remove the jack, see if the play comes back.

 

[MattfromMaine]

My experience is that the adjusting bolt will engage the torsion bar through at least half of it's threaded length (or even most of the length) before the torsion bar tension is relieved, and that's with the front wheels off the ground.

I'm not sure if I'm reading that you think the bolt is stripped and you're turning it but it's not coming out of the support block.

If you've got some play between the bolt and the torsion bar that you think shouldn't be there, put a jack under the lower control arm at the lower ball joint and raise it. That should rotate the torsion bar and take up the play. Then remove the jack, see if the play comes back.

Thanks for the suggestion.... I'll do that after youth football is done this afternoon.

To clarify, I don't think the bolt is stripped. It's backing out, albeit slowly but it backs away from the torsion bar with every turn. My concern is the part that the bolt pushes up against that's connected to the torsion bar (not knowing what it's called, I'm calling it the "ear") hasn't come with the bolt, letting the tension off like it did on the passenger side. I tried to show in the pics that it's still up in the air on the driver's side but has come down and recessed into the LCA on the passenger side.

Thanks again and I'll report back to see if your tip works!

 

[wyrmrider]

use the larger late model torsion bars, especially with radial tires, wider 15 inch wheels, make it handel
you can use a cordoba rear sway AFTER you source the bigger t bars

 

[ynst]

What's the other end of the torsion bar look like?
Perhaps the rear anchor is rusted completely away from the torsion bar cross-member which is pretty common and why you can buy repair kits for the issue. If the torsion bar is adequately anchored at the rear, it will twist under load and have a noticeable pressure on the torsion bar adjuster where it contacts the adjuster bolt. If the rear anchor assembly is rotted away, the torsion bar will simply rotate (not twist) with the motion of the front end.
Or....
Maybe someone, in the past, clocked the torsion bar off by 60 degrees and it has never functioned properly since and the car sagged on one side.

As for beefing up the torsion bars, I had to do that on my 225 slant six powered '72 Dart Swinger in 2007 when I couldn't buy the proper six cylinder replacement.
The car rides like a buckboard now and I never got around to looking for the correct torsion bars now that the reproduction market has exploded.

 

[ynst]

Here's a couple photos of the torsion bar anchor I removed from the previously mentioned '72 Dart. This left side anchor was about to twist out and with the heavier torsion bars, it probably would have.

I replaced the entire torsion bar cross-member because the right side was starting to go as well.
The torsion bar anchor MUST be replaced from the top due to the slight inclination of the unibody frame rails so part of the floor had to come up to do the job.

 

[Gerald Morris]

The far end of the torsion bar looks like it does in an A or B body, just a bit bigger maybe. It will be hexagonal, meant to slide into the hexagonal anchor. Given the symptoms you've described, I would jack the control arm up, then let it down to the point where one might just see a little daylight between that lift bolt and the blade. Then, see if you can turn the bolt back in, then out. You may well need a new bolt and nut, if not more...

I suspect, especially after looking at the example from your Dart, you might need more. However, if there is no spring force from the control arm, after loosening the bolt, and there is nothing foreign acting on the torsion bar down its length, then NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. Proceed to remove the control arm, remove the retainer from the back of the crossmember/torsion bar anchor, and proceed with tapping the bar back and out.

Then you can check the condition of the anchor and crossmember. I don't envy you. I suspect the anchor is buggered bigtime, or, if you're lucky, maybe the bar just wasn't retained well. If you want, try rotating the control arm while watching what happens to the torsion bar.... A jack should suffice for that.