Rear torsion bar problem

[Matter]

Today I started to install 31mm torsion bars and neatrix busings when I ran into trouble. The spring plate was extremly hard to remove, the bar was not seized in the spring plate but when the plate and bushings finally came off with major prising the torsion bar was tweaked in the housing toward the front of the housing. I thought the bar may have been bent somehow but when i put the new bar in its tight towards the front of the car also. Its like the inner spline hub is bent. I cant see how I'll ever be able to get it back together again as it wont center in the tube? Any ideas?

[john70t]

Fraid I can't be more informative on this one but was the alignment ok?
The only thing I can think of that would cause that would be if the rear wheel were smacked against a curb and tweaked the frame enough to cause that. There might be signs of buckling on the underside(?).
A quick check of the frame if possible would be to measure the box in an "X" from a couple of corner bolts. If there is a problem there, the local PCA might be able to suggest a shop to pull it into shape.

[KTL]

Do the old bars show any signs of corrosion on the splines?

If the splines on the female hub within the t-bar tube have a good amount of corrosion on them, that can cause the bar to be off-center.

Just a thought....

One of my t-bars was semi-rusted into the spring plate and took alot of smacking with the rubber mallet before coming loose. As I knocked it back and forth with the hammer, the bar would stay far off-center until knocking it the other way.

Also, when you put the bars into the chassis tube you'll notice they can be moved up/down/side to side a good bit even though they're fully engaged in the hub. Shows that there's room for corrosion to build up in there if the hubs aren't heavily greased.

[avi8torny]

You didn't bend anything...if you could bend a T-bar with your bare hands, you're in the wrong line of work. Remove T-bar again and try to clean up the splines down the tube. Once it's free of the corrosion, grease it all and reasemble. I suspect you have some contaminants on the splines in the tube.

Cheers.

[Sunroof]

Interesting.
I am planning on replacing my bushings this spring and have been following every info. bite on this I can. Besides scribing the line it looks like the real challenge is getting the fitting off the t-bar.
Rubber mallet and some prying sounds right, but what about the issue of lubrication in the tube itself? Is that sucker supposed to be packed with lubrication?

Thanks
Bob
73.5T

[MBAtarga]

Bob, not packed with grease, but a good protective layer instead. I've been through this task just in the past month. Send me a PM with your number and I'll give you a call.

[marcesq]

clean old torsion bar splines with wire brush on bench grinder and then with brake parts cleaner until all corrosion and crap is off. Grease the end of the old bar and use it to clean and lube the inner torsion tube splines. You can use the outer bar cover to help with leverage and twisting the bar to find the inner splines. Do not pound the bar in, it should go in with minimal force.