Sundays Project - torsion bar switch

[Facey]

Hey guys
tomorrow morning i'm hoping to start and finish changing the front torsion bars.

I left my 101 projects in a different city, and was hoping some ppl could gimmie a few pointers. edit: nvm, have one that i thought i had lost here, I have read it and its doesn't sounds too hard or time consuming.



some questions are:
where is the best place to position the jack stands?
a sequence of items that need to be removed?

any helpful pointers or things to watch out for would be great as well.

thanks
Nick

[Rot 911]

The front bars are mounted longitudinally inside the a-arm and are removed from the rear.

1. Place jackstands high enough to get under. Place the jack stands behind the tires where you see the seam of the floor pan make a curve. Remove underbody cover.

2. Remove torsion bars adjuster using 11mm socket.

3. Pry off rear endcap with large screwdriver.

4. Grab torsion bar splines with padded pliers/cloth and wiggle out from rear.

5. Grease new bars and install noting L and R markings for Left and Right sides.

6. Install new foam dust covers.

7. Install endcaps/adjuster, lower car and bounce suspension to check ride HEIGHT.

8. If car is still too high, turn bar clockwise to lower.

Fronts were a breeze to install and adjust. You only need to remove the front t-bar cover if the bars are broken or rusted in place. There is a foam grommet over the bar to prevent dust.You can just buy some cheap foam and cut foam into a circle with scissors and make a dust cover.

[Facey]

Thank you very much Kurt!

just going to the garage now, put on the new headers (muffler should be here today or tomorrow i hope), then get the car to fire up (yup muffler-less).

take her for a drive

come home and switch the front TB's.

take her for a drive a write about my thoughts on the switch.

once i have a muffler on i'll talk about the header switch as well.

cheers
Nick

[Facey]

looking for a quick reply here.... asap please.

do you need to remove your front sway bar in order to pull the torsion bars out?

i have the car up and supported near the seam. (x2)

a-arms are un supported.
adjustment screw was removed, as was its mating picce + foam thingy.

wiggled the bar loose, however after ~6" it hits the sway bar....

i'm about to unbolt the sway bar in order to pull them the rest of the way out.

but before i do that i'm going to get this far on the other side then check back here.

thanks
Nick

[Facey]

well, no big deal... was able to partially remove the sway bars in order to pull them down allowing me to pull out the torsion bars.
-kinda wierd that none of the books make note of having to touch the sway bars...

next question is regarding putting them back in. The drivers side slide right in. However the passanger side seems to be stopping about 2-3" shy.

is it just the wiggle and push method to get it in? or is some real force okay? (aka rubber mallet).

should i pull it out and try again?

-it is nicely lubbed up and covered in white lithium grease.

[Facey]

alright.... i'm presently freezing the bar to see if i can shrink it, maybe then it'll go in.

i've wacked/wiggled and pushed away.... nothing, still ~2" shy.

i've checked the teeth on the old one, they are fine. no damage or signs of damage coming out on the end of the new one.

i'm sure i have the correct way going in, as there is an R on the visidble end, and the adjusting arm/cap slides on. (doesn't fit the other end).

i've wacked a hammer up and down the a-arm trying to find the binding location, used a rubber mallet and wacked on the end...

what do i do guys? supposed to be driving for 3 hours in the car tomorrow.....

[Facey]

hey
well this planned ~2hr project has turned into a 12 hour affair....

i think it may have went in a little farther when i just tried, it was very cold....

some (a little) black crud came out with it this time.... and the splines looked partially engaged, at least on one side (grease looked like the splines had met)...

anyone have any adivice??? is the next stage to pull off the a-arm and see whats going on? this sounds like a ton of work....

eeek....

[JP911]

I would pull off the cover on the front of the a-arm (near the bumper) for a closer look at the splines. There are three bolts holding the cover on. Once you have the bolts and cover off, you will like need to drill a small hole in the cap at the end of the bar, put a screw in the hole, and then find a way to yank on the screw to remove the cap. The other option to the "drill and screw" method is to pop the end cap out by sliding a stick from the other side, which should pop the cap off.

Once you have the cover and cap off, look around in there with a flashlight and clean up the splines. I would then grease up the splines, re-grease the torsion bar, and try again. If this fails, then try reinstalling the old T-bar. If the old T-bar goes in and the splines on it and the A-arm seem OK, then your new torsion bar may have funky splines.

Good luck!

[Facey]

thanks Jon, i was affraid that was my next option....

gonna try removing the cover and poping out the end, i think i'll try the push out method first...

does the end cap just 'pop' back in as well? or will i have to wip out the mig?

cheers
Nick

[JP911]

The end cap does just pop back in. You can put in a few dabs of silicon to secure them.

[Facey]

alright.... dunno wtf is going on.

took of the end cap, everything looked better then i expected... bascially no rust (there is some orange...but i got it allg one with a little work).... all the teeth appear straight....

new bar will still not go in... so i said wtf (out loud) and decided to see if the old bar will fit back in...

slid right in... so i pulled it back out and greased the entire shaft up, and slid it back in....

can i drive it like this??? stock/22 + 29/29??? i don't mean for more then 10 days...

car is going in for a fluid change on the 10th... maybe some experienced hands can make it work???

- i also have my fingers crossed that my muffler shows up today... and am working on a engine lid grill.... then time to pack up and drive for 3 hours....

[einreb]

Originally posted by Facey


new bar will still not go in... so i said wtf (out loud) and decided to see if the old bar will fit back in...

slid right in... so i pulled it back out and greased the entire shaft up, and slid it back in....

can i drive it like this??? stock/22 + 29/29??? i don't mean for more then 10 days...

my opinion.... sure you can drive on it. just try to get it sort of 'level'.

I had to return a pair of rear torsion bars because they were so out of spec dimensionally and would not fit.

-bernie

[Facey]

i'm about to contact sway-away and see if they could send me a 22mm front Right torsion bar via express shipping.... hopefully they'll want to correct this flaw....

i asked my mech and he said it might rebound funny, but nothing that i couldn't control....

so i'm gonna bolt everything back up.... a take her for a drive.... see what i'm feeling...lol....other then tired and grumpy.

[Facey]

hmmm, put on hold for 15min, then transferred to voice mail.... figured no big deal, called back.

talking to a nervous sounding kid this time, who begins by stating that he knows nothing of this application, but will take down all the info so that when the person who does know somehting about it is free he has all the info in front of him. then i'm told that the knowledgable one is free and am being transferred.... well it turns out i was put on hold, for ~15min, then a secretary asks if anyone is there i say yes and tell her the name of the person i was supposed to be transferred to, she says hang on one second i'll put you through.... and once again... voice message... left one this time... any chance they'll call back???

[JP911]

Sounds like great (insert sarcastic tone here) customer service. Did you buy direct from Sway-away? If not, I would contact the retailer you purchased from.

Also, did you search the archives on this issue? I seem to recall that this problem has been described before and that some had exchanged the bars, while others made modifications to the splines. Regardless, I hope you get this issue resolved without any further headache.

[MattAlpha]

How does the new bar compare to the old one. I mean when you put them beside each other, what differences are apparent?

Is the spine count correct on the new bar, is it the exact length, etc.

[einreb]

here's a pic of the swayaway bars i initially got (then returned) for my car. obvious differences in the splines....

[Facey]

the splines on the right bar where .3 taller then then splines on the old bar. (measured with a digitail vernier caliper)....

i'm going to try calling again tomorrow, as i have not gotten a reply from email or a call back.

i did not buy them direct, however i do not feel that it is the suppliers fault, it is a casting/manufactoring fault.



actually driving it feels fine. turn in is different left to right, but other then that there is no noticeable differance.

i have a stock muffler on at the moment and wow is it quiet... and i can feel (i think) a loss in hp, especially in mid-range torque...


overtime is about to come back on, lets go canucks!!!