Pulled out torsion bar

As many of you know, I was adjusting my spring plates. The first went well, but then tried the second, and bamb! Torsion bar comes out. What is the process to put it back in place. I understand that it is a guessing game. But what is the protocol?

Hammer it back in? Feel it out to get the splines correct? Any advice is appreciated.

Jeremy....

It's definetly NOT a hammer in....The easiest way, for me, is to seperate the torsion bar from the spring plate, install the bar in it's inner "tube" spline, then install the spring plate....

Mark your existing spline/arm location befor removal and you only have to find the correct inner spline location....Use paint or possibly mark the location with a Dremel motor tool...Just make sure you don't raise any burrs.

Hope this helps..Good Luck...

Leon C.

also - don't torque anything (first time around) because like you said - it's a bit of a guessing game (especially the first time you do it), so you can easily adjust it.

poke around on thesamba if you need some research / pictures. There are a few threads with protractors / hanging bobs, etc. Also - the inner splines are different than the outer spins (I'm sure you probably knew that), so one spine at a time doesnt always work.

Also - hoodride.com has a lot of good info on this because of the dumping of vw, adding rust, general pimping of das auto.

I had a hard time installing adj spring plates also. I ended up finding a post somewhere that made the process much easier.

1. Go to Home Depot, etc and buy a magnetic protractor

2. Jack the car up and put on stands so that it is level. Use a carpenter's level and check it in a couple of places... door sill, floor board, etc.

3. Using the protractor, follow the instructions in the Bentley manual. If memory serves me, the correct angle for my '66 pan is 17 degrees.

Longer bolts made getting the spring plate covers back on much easier.

Chuck

You really don't need all that Protractor stuff.

Just go to the "Knowlege" section of this site and look at article 214. That will tell you how how re-set your ride height.

https://www.speedsterowners.com/knowledge/article.asp?id=214

If you really want to use a protractor (tool section of Home Depot or Lowe's), you'll have to get the other side's spring plate off of the bottom stop of the guide casting to let it hang down so that you can match the angle of that side on the side that let go.

Remove the other side's spring plate from the axle housing, then back out the torsion bar cover bolts 1/2 - 3/4 of their thread depth. Jack up the axle end of the spring plate (put a wood block between the plate and jack) til it lifts off of the lower stop, then use a beefy pry bar to pry it away from the stop and gently let it down as it passes by the stop. It will continue downward til it unloads the torsion bar tension and then just hang there.

Use that protractor you bought to find out the angle of the "good" side as it hangs there, and make the other side match it and then slip te torsion bar in on the "bad" side.

You will then have both sides matched in the unloaded position, and they will then be equal when you get the spring plates back up onto the lower stops, AND be pre-loaded equally. This works, it is a laborious process, but you're in for a bit of labor to get it back no matter WHAT you do.

Do a search on this site and/or speedstershop.com for "ride height", "spring plate" or "rear ride height" for lots more info.

Even for a newbie, getting you back to where you were should take 2 - 3 hours max.

Jeremy, I'm back from vacation. How's it coming along since our conversation?