Sway Away spring plates installed; have a question..
 

Well, after sitting in my garage for over a year, I finally got around to installing my sway-away adjustable rear spring plates. I have a concern, however. The part on the spring plate that the outer torsion bar slides into (w/ splines) is a good 1-2" longer than the factory ones. It is splined the whole length. This concerns me because couldnt the torsion bar slide out of its inner spline if the outer spline slid further back? Also, this outer piece is capped on the stock unit, but on these it's open. I can see the torsion bar. Being hollow bars, this does not seem good. I got these used, I am installing them on a '84 Carrera. Does anyone have any experience w/ these?

Thanks in advance.

Colby

Colby:

I would be willing to bet that you have spring plates for '87 - '89 Carreras. They have a longer tube because the torsion bars stick out further due to the G50.

The end is supposed to have a plastic cap that seals the tube.

I think that you are out of luck.

They worked on my 78 no problerm. There is a red plastic cap that goes over the outside to keep debrie from getting inside. Perhaps your missing this pice.

Paul:

Were yours as long as Colby discribed??? (This is starting to sound a little crude)

I've never even seen these offered for 87-89's. They look like the one's in the pics though (as far as length of this splined piece).

Colby

Now that I've thought more about it, I don't think the longer splines are an issue; here's why: The torsion bar cannot slide further down this tube no matter how long it is, because the splines on the torsion bar still end at the same place. Therefore, these will limit its movement. Comparing the sway-a-way bar to the factory one, it appears the splines both start at the same place, so this should be ok.

I am clearly missing the rubber piece that covers this hole. I will have to whip something up to seal this area.

Colby

FWIW I just put a set on an '87 . . .

Colby,

The cap you are talking about is no big deal. It's just a properly sized thin plastic cap. It's not even as thick or strong as a soda bottle cap. Call sway-a-way or pelican and see if they can get you a couple. I'd bet they are about 25 cents each or something like that. In the meantime,just wrap them up with some tape or something. You don't want to get dirt and debris in there.

Good luck,

David

I have heard that the splines on the inside of these spring plates are not always cleaned up real well and will have trouble fitting onto the torsion bar. A search should pull something up.