Torsion Bar Adjusting

[SharpDart71]

I read in the chassis manual for my 71 Dart Swinger that you can adjust the torsion bars for raising and lowering the front end? How much adjustment really is there? What's the best results or ways to go about doing it?

Thanks

 

[TrailBeast]

I read in the chassis manual for my 71 Dart Swinger that you can adjust the torsion bars for raising and lowering the front end? How much adjustment really is there? What's the best results or ways to go about doing it?

Thanks

Lift it off the ground to take some of the pressure off the adjusters, spray the adjuster bolt threads with a light lube and count the turns so you can match the other side.
Once back down roll it back and forth a few times to get it to settle where it's going to ride.
(once lifted the tires come inward and resist letting the car sit back down on the bar tension)
Amount of difference depends on the bar size.
I can tell you that 1.03 bars have about 4 inches with a small block.

Don't forget that changing the height also changes the toe on the tires.

 

[Veryfastdart]

You will need to re align the car.

 

[SharpDart71]

WOuld this be the best way to go about lowering the front a little? Or should I get shocks to accommodate this?

 

[72bluNblu]

Shocks won’t lower the car, unless for some reason you have air shocks installed and pumped up in the front.

Changing the ride height with the torsion bar adjusters is the easiest way to do it, but, there’s more to it. If you lower the car with the torsion bar adjusters, you lose suspension travel in compression. So, if you lower the car very much, you’ll end up bottoming out on the bump stops when driving the car. The way to compensate for the lost suspension travel is to use larger (stiffer) torsion bars. That reduces the amount of travel needed.

If you lower the car a lot, you not only have to replace the torsion bars, but the factory lower bump stops as well. Shorter lower bump stops allow for more travel. But you have to match your suspension rate with the amount of travel you have remaining so you’re not hitting the bump stops all the time.

And any time you make changes to the ride height using the torsion bar adjusters you need to have an alignment.

 

[SharpDart71]

Shocks won’t lower the car, unless for some reason you have air shocks installed and pumped up in the front.

Changing the ride height with the torsion bar adjusters is the easiest way to do it, but, there’s more to it. If you lower the car with the torsion bar adjusters, you lose suspension travel in compression. So, if you lower the car very much, you’ll end up bottoming out on the bump stops when driving the car. The way to compensate for the lost suspension travel is to use larger (stiffer) torsion bars. That reduces the amount of travel needed.

If you lower the car a lot, you not only have to replace the torsion bars, but the factory lower bump stops as well. Shorter lower bump stops allow for more travel. But you have to match your suspension rate with the amount of travel you have remaining so you’re not hitting the bump stops all the time.

And any time you make changes to the ride height using the torsion bar adjusters you need to have an alignment.

Thanks, sounds like i'll just leave it be for a nice comfortable ride.

 

[rustycowll69]

Thanks, sounds like i'll just leave it be for a nice comfortable ride.

good choice. I bought a repo'd 74 Duster in '76. PO liked the snow plow look. It was riding on the LCA bumpers. It cracked all the UCA frame ears, and the frame horns. Took a lot of welding to fix that.

 

[72bluNblu]

good choice. I bought a repo'd 74 Duster in '76. PO liked the snow plow look. It was riding on the LCA bumpers. It cracked all the UCA frame ears, and the frame horns. Took a lot of welding to fix that.

My car sits lower than that. The stock LCA bump stops wouldn’t even fit onto my car. I’ve only got about an inch from the frame to the short poly bumpstops I use.

You just have to match your suspension parts so everything works together. The stock torsion bars on these cars are dramatically undersprung, which means a squishy marshmallow ride and lousy handling. Done right you can lower these cars substantially and handle even better, but you can’t just mix and match stuff or leave in stock components and expect it to work.

 

[mvh]

Just to give you an idea, from my experience, if you have the heavy duty factory V8 torsion bars (.890), you can easily get away with 1/2 to 3/4 inch of lowering with the adjuster. I chopped off about 3/8" off the top of the bump stop when I went 3/4", but it doesn't really ever hit it in normal driving. This was on my fastback, not the 'vert in my avatar. I dialed down the 'vert about 3/8" to level it out. It has stock slant six springs, and it's possible the rears are a little tired. But it sits nice now, and has plenty of suspension travel, even on rough roads.

 

[oldkimmer]

Any time u raise or lower the t bars u need to loosen the lower control arm pivot pin nut so the suspension isn't in a bind as that's bad for the lca bushings. Then re tighten them at ride height. Kim