Spring Plate/Torsion Reinstall - At wit'send

[KMoore68]

Hi,

I have a 1977 911 S Targa and I've taken the spring plates off to replace them with new rubber bushings. I have the new bushings on and I have been having a lot of problems putting things back together. I've been through probably 5 to 6 times of reinstalling the torsion bars and spring plates and keep running into issue after issue.

First of all, the passenger torsion bar pushed all the way through and pushed out the driver torsion bar. I undid everything and re-inserted the passenger torsion bar and measured the driver bar so it was 4 1/2" protruding from the hole. As I slowly screwed in the spring plate cover, I measured the driver side torsion bar and it's length from the end of the hole didn't change. As I got closer to tightening up the spring plate cover on the passenger side, the cover popped off and now the torsion bar is visible outside of the cover.

Recognizing I need some help, I was hoping someone could provide some help in how I can re-assemble this as I'm feeling pretty frustrated out by this project.

[MadeofOak]

It is hollow in the middle. The 2 torsions meet.

If one side is out, just tap it in. This is from my Beetle experience and lowering them.

[Evans, Marv]

Yes, you should be able to tap it in. If not, what I have done each time I've had mine out was to take a brush (similar to a bottle brush) and clean out the splines in the center (& clean out the crap in the tube). Then put new grease in them - or just greease the splines on the teeth of the torsion bar & push it into the torque tube splines. You do know the splines on each side of the bars are different. If you try to put the wrong end in, it won't mesh with the teeth in the tube.