Torsion bar adjuster failure.

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AlV

AlV

Crabs in a barrel
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So A while back (a year ago) I purchased a front end rebuild kit and a torsion bar adjuster kit. Everything has been installed in the car for about that long also although it has not seen the road yet (It's up on stands).

After wrapping up the interior I was working on the exhaust. In the process of working I backed the adjuster off to unload on the torsion bar. After installing the exhaust I started to reset the adjuster and heard a "Pop" as I was turning the adjuster into the block.

I backed out the screw to find the threads failed. Gonna call PST tomorrow about this.
This is essentially a brand new bolt threaded in one time.

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AlV
 
ouch - betcha they're going to accuse you of cross threading it... is the block stripped out too? um... no anti-seize on there?
 
Wow, that is interesting. Confirm the car was up in the air on stands when this happened.
 
Yeah the car has been on stands for a long time. Here I a pic from Saturday I was installing the TTI Exhaust pipes.

I'll take a picture of the blocks so you all can see the threads.
 

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You can't screw those in with the cars weight on them. I don't screw them out while weight loaded either but others do.
Proper procedure; lift vehicle, adjust, lower vehicle, jounce and roll vehicle, measure, repeat until desired measurement is achieved.
 
I seriously doubt it was cross-threaded. More likely a thread broke on the bolt or the nut at/near the heavy galling. Backing it out probably flattened the threads. Assure us you didn't use an impact on this.
 
Redfish you described the procedure I use. No adjustment until the car is off the ground. You'll notice in Post #5 The car is off of the ground and on stands. The only pressure on the screw was from spring load.

I've had a very good experience with PST so far and purchased a lot of stuff from them. My understanding is that they offer a limited lifetime warranty on this part. I'll call them in a bit to see what they say.

These screws are pretty hard to cross thread, that's not to say you can't do it just that I am sure I didn't. Some additional info.. I started the bolt by hand threading then switch to Hand tools (a 1/2 inch ratchet wrench) no air or impact to continue threading the bolt thorough.

If you look at the bolt the thread collapsed in the center of the bolt and the damage to the threads occurred on removal as a result of the collapse. Take a look at the pattern on the threads, notice how they look worse closest to the center but become less damaged to the end.

Here is a picture of th thread in the Block so you can see it too. I used a bit of grease although I suppose anti seize could be used also.

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I called customer service at PST and got Matt's VM box, will follow up after hear back.

AlV
 
Funny how stock ones can last 50 plus years. It doesn't look cross threaded at all to me. It looks galled from a chip breaking off and getting stuck between two threads in the block. When you reinstalled the bolt, it chewed it all to heck and back. I think it was parts failure.

JMO.
 
Yeah...stock 50 year old stuff is hard to beat...I clean them,grease a little and re-use them.
 
the upper portion of the bolt near the hex, the unused threads, look like crap. too sharp, too thin, not nice rolled threads. send 1 to arp for laughs-literally. and did U wipe the grease off, cuz it looks kinda dry, I dip threads in straight 30 oil
 
Please PM me your information and I will look into the issue personally for you. I will need you name and the full address that we sent the product to.

Thanks
James
 
ScampMike said:
ouch - betcha they're going to accuse you of cross threading it... is the block stripped out too? um... no anti-seize on there?
Click to expand...


It is best to not jump to conclusion and give the vendor a chance to asses the situation. I have pulled the stats on this part and so far we have sold 795 pairs with 131 just this year. We do take pride in providing quality muscle car era parts and stand behind our warranty's.

I have since found the original poster paper work and we will be sending a replacement set out the customer today.

Thanks
James
 
Following up. James called me this morning while I was driven my to NYC to help a friend. Top notch service. Said he was going to send me a replacement set and wanted to confirm my contact info.

Thanks James and PST!
AlV
 
Anti-sieze

With it in there I can crank my 1968 bolts up and down with full load on the front. Been sawing on them, off and on for over 15 years.
I put that stuff on almost everything.
Including wheel studs. Now before somebody goes off on a rant, I've been doing this for 47 years so please don't preach to me about wheels falling off.I have never torn a stud off or had a wheel come loose.And when it comes time to remove a wheel, I don't have to deal with seized nuts; just bust 'em loose and spin em off with finger-power. Saweeet!
Ok, to be fair, I don't recommend that eveybody should anti-seize their wheelnuts; just me.And guys that have calibrated wrists. If you jump on the bar with antiseized studs, you deserve what you get. heehee
 
that bolt was less than a year old. not a high temp environment. anti-seize would not have made a difference. maybe not enough grease. I would have dipped it in 30 weight oil-like my head bolts and rod bolts and main bolts and ...
 
yeah, I cleaned the grease off and used parts cleaner to make it clear for the pictures.
 
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