rear torsion bar fit question.... (have searched forum)

mag232 · 08-08-2009, 09:21 AM

doing f/r elephant tbs and bushings. three corners done, no problem.

but reassembly of the driver side rear has me perplexed. The spring plate won't set deep enough on the tb to attach to the car - I have a good 1" of gap. I have cleaned up the splines in the rabbit hole and in the spring plate cap. I've wire wheeled the elephant tb. I've used more grease and less grease.

The tb will seat in the rabbit hole firmly against the inner wall - i hear/feel metal contact as it bottoms out. But the spring plate cap still has a huge gap. Tapping with a hammer won't do it - I've tried that and I can't see me getting 1" of travel without doing some damage..and I'd never get the spring plate off again.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated...TIA

911pcars · 08-08-2009, 10:38 AM

Obviously, there's something preventing further spline engagement while on the car.

Have you tried removing the torsion bar and spring plate to perform a spline check fit on the bench?

You're correct about not using the "hammer to fit" mechanics strategy.

Sherwood

tonythetarga · 08-08-2009, 11:31 AM

What year car? You may have the t-bar on the passenger side in a bit too far and that is stopping you from fitting the bar on the other side. If it is an 86 or earlier car, I'd back off the cap on the right side and try and fit the driver side. If it is newer than 86 I don't have an answer.

mag232 · 08-08-2009, 11:36 AM

911pcars: yes, tried a bench fit of the springplate and tbar. Nothing obvious there.

tonythetarga: 85 targa. good call on the opposite side. I'll give that a try. IIRC, however, that side tb protruded about 3.75", and the drivers side protruces 4.25" so can center, but I can't find that 1" i'm looking for.

thanks, other ideas welcome.

jkh2cpu · jkh2cpu's Garage

I wonder...

1. Take the offending TB out, get a flashlight, and look down the hole? What do you see? You should see the end of the other torsion bar.

2. Are the bars the same length? When I put mine in they did not really want to seat / bed at the end. I wiggled the torsion bar in a circle (the end of the bar that I held made a small circle) and the bar slipped in.

3. What happens with the old bars? Do they fit properly?

4. With both bars out, you should see all the way through.

John.

mag232 · 08-08-2009, 01:08 PM

Bars (old, new, r, l) all are same length. I bet that I have the passenger side too far in, so I'll disassemble and try centering them. Thanks for the advice, will keep the list updated.

175K911 · 08-09-2009, 06:04 AM

Did you install the ER Polybronze at the same time? If so, how many washers did you use under the passenger side tb cap? You need to space the cap out on both sides, under the 4 bolts that attach the cap to the chassis. If you didn't use any washers on the passenger side, you have 2 problems- 1) the torsion bar will be in too far and 2) the passenger side spring plate will not move freely.

One other thing to check- when you JB Welded the PB races to the spring plates, are the races flush with the spring plate itself? When I did mine last winter, the right side went together perfectly, but the inner race on the left walked as the JB Weld hardened so there was an 1/8" gap between the back of the race and the surface of the spring plate. I was crunched for time so bolted it up that way but ended up with 5 washers under the left plate and probably had very little spline engagement on the inside. Chuck sent me another reace which I finally got around to installing the right way. Worth checking on both sides.

don gilbert · don gilbert's Garage

just had this same prob. as posted above, check other bar by looking in the opp. hole and see if you can see where the intalled bar is in relation to the splines for the bar that not going in, its prob. in to far as mine was. I took a long wooden dowell (broom handle) and tapped it back farther into the spring plate, then got longer cover bolts and wormed the cover back down, and then put in the original bolts

911st · 08-09-2009, 07:59 AM

Sounds like you pushed the completed side's torsion bar in to far when you assembled it.

I would try taking the load off the completed side and see if you can use the un- assembled side's TB to move it in using a piece of wood placed on top of the TP and lightly tapping it with a hammer checking from time to time that you can still remove the bar you are tapping.

If not, pull the finished side including the bar and then see if you can get your difficult bar to seat.

mag232 · 08-09-2009, 09:59 PM

tech forum to the rescue.

i disassembled the pass side, centered tbars and re-buttoned everything up. It fits now.

I had no idea that the bars butt up against each other, i would have thought there was a shoulder in the receiver to keep them centered. I must have missed it in the documentation. live and learn.

thanks for the responses!

175K911 · 08-10-2009, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mag232

tech forum to the rescue.

i disassembled the pass side, centered tbars and re-buttoned everything up. It fits now.

I had no idea that the bars butt up against each other, i would have thought there was a shoulder in the receiver to keep them centered. I must have missed it in the documentation. live and learn.

thanks for the responses!

Enjoy the car with the new bushings and torsion bars! It's going to be a lot of fun to drive.