New P-S-T Torsion Bars Do Not Fit

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DartDust

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We have been making some progress on my dart. We got the engine and trans in it yesterday. This is our first mopar so it has been a little slow. My question is the 1.03 torsion bars I bought from P-S-T do not fit. On the new ones all six points on the end of the bars lineup. The old bars have a 30 degree turn from one end to the other, so if you sit the old one on the floor one end sits flat and the other end sits on the point. I do not know if I have the wrong bars or if I am doing something wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Ron
 

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I had a set of those bars,and yes the hex ends are clocked differently than stock mopar torsion bars.When I spoke to someone on their tech line He explained that with these bars being so much stiffer they need much less preload than the stock T-bars.Install the torsion bar from the rear then just clock the lower control arm adjuster upwards till the bar slides in.Be aware your car will sit lower and the suspension will not have as much travel and feel considerably stiffer.
 
I had a set of those bars,and yes the hex ends are clocked differently than stock mopar torsion bars.When I spoke to someone on their tech line He explained that with these bars being so much stiffer they need much less preload than the stock T-bars.Install the torsion bar from the rear then just clock the lower control arm adjuster upwards till the bar slides in.Be aware your car will sit lower and the suspension will not have as much travel and feel considerably stiffer.

You said you "had" them. so u got rid of them, or still have them...or???
 
You said you "had" them. so u got rid of them, or still have them...or???

They are sitting on the shelf.Running the stock 318 bars for now.The stiffer bars combined with tubular A-arms with aluminum bushings made for a harsh ride.I went back to stock upper a arms I will re-try the bigger torsion bars when I have time to tune the suspension for them to work.Also my headers interfere with the larger T-bars.
 
so your saying that the new bars dont have, or as much of the twist?

i would still just pull the upper bump stop, back out the adjuster all the way, make sure to compress it so the "finger it against the loosened adjuster...

then insert the front splines in and see how much it needs to turn, then adjust the front adj till they line up and slide them in...
 
They are sitting on the shelf.Running the stock 318 bars for now.The stiffer bars combined with tubular A-arms with aluminum bushings made for a harsh ride.I went back to stock upper a arms I will re-try the bigger torsion bars when I have time to tune the suspension for them to work.Also my headers interfere with the larger T-bars.

What headers are you using?
 
I installed PST torsion bars at Christmas time. I had the same issue with mine.

I removed the old bars. New ones wouldnt go right in because of the clocking issue. I had a second person slowly lower the car with jack stands under the lower control arms untill the "torsion bar housing" was lined up with the torsion bar end. Then pounded in with with small wood block and small sledge hammer.

Everything was greased etc. If I were to do it again I would remove the paint from the torsion bar ends. The paint on the ends made the fit a lil tight.

Bad Shrimp
 
I installed PST torsion bars at Christmas time. I had the same issue with mine.

I removed the old bars. New ones wouldnt go right in because of the clocking issue. I had a second person slowly lower the car with jack stands under the lower control arms untill the "torsion bar housing" was lined up with the torsion bar end. Then pounded in with with small wood block and small sledge hammer.

Everything was greased etc. If I were to do it again I would remove the paint from the torsion bar ends. The paint on the ends made the fit a lil tight.

Bad Shrimp

How do you like the way your car handles/rides with those bars ?
 
You guys might want to give Autoxcuda a shout he is using the 1.03 bars and shocks I'm forgetting right now.
 
Stock Mopar bars have a 30 degree offset. This offset is what sets up the "preload" and suspension geometry. But that's for a stock spring rate.

Stiffer bars will not twist as much with the load of the car on them, so the ride height and geometry won't be right if they had the same offset. I've had this problem with the 1.16 bars on my challenger, you actually run out of suspension adjustment before the ride height is back down to normal. You need a lot less than the stock 30 degree offset.

Install the bars the way you normally would. The lca's will end up lining up with less angle on them. But that won't reduce your physical travel, since the bar will not twist as much under load. The stiffer bars will reduce the effective travel though, they just won't twist as much. So you can actually lower the car more (reducing the physical travel available) since you won't be using that travel.

1.03 bars will give a much more "modern" feel to the handling of your car. New cars run much higher spring rates than our old mopars, which were seriously under sprung in stock form. But it's important to match parts, you'll want to upgrade the shocks to handle the new larger bars, and new tires will help you take advantage of the new components.
 
Make sure the nut on the lower control arms are loose. That wll allow it to turn so you can line them up.
 
How do you like the way your car handles/rides with those bars ?

JoMoper,

I havent been able to test drive with them yet. Domino effect of issues was uncovered when I tore into rear-end. Dont want to Hi-jack thread. But i'll make a post as soon as I am able to test drive w/ new torsion bars.

Bad Shrimp
 
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