torsion bar adjustment

[dartsteve]

I would greatly appreciate someone walking me through the adjustment of my 69 dart torsion bars. The nut up front can be easily turned. There is no engine in the car right now.My limited experience with automotive front ends is when I was 9 years old on my bicycle and a car skidded to a stop. I looked up and said " so thats what a torsion bar looks like!
Thanks,

 

[pagilman]

Doesn't appear anyone knows how, I wish someone would reply as I have to swap mine this spring from /6 to V-8. by the way is the 318 and 340 torsion bars the same? :notworth:

 

[demon seed]

Sounds like it's time to do some reading gentlemen. You can start by going to moparts.com, then tech archives, then front suspension, then torsion bar charts. This chart will give you an idea the size of bar (diameter) you should be using and there are other question and answers you can go through to determine settings.

Good Luck, it's not that difficult

 

[pagilman]

thanks demon seed, great site i will use it many times in the future, but the chart doesn't list the 318 torsion bars! so i guess they're the same as a 340? :farao:

 

[GotDart]

If your 318 has a/c, then the torsion bars should be the same as a 340 car which is .870".

Here is a reference chart on bigblockdart.com.

 

[GotDart]

I would greatly appreciate someone walking me through the adjustment of my 69 dart torsion bars. The nut up front can be easily turned. There is no engine in the car right now.

Are you talking about the torsion bar or the lower control arm strut? Unless your '69 is completely different from my '71, the torsion bar goes from the inboard end of the lower control arm back to the trans crossmember. The strut goes from the outboard end of the lower control arm forward to the front of the k-member.

At any rate, you cannot adjust the torsion bars without the engine in the car. The torsion bar adjustment is to set a specific ride height which is measured from the ground up to reference points on the suspension. For pre '74 cars, you measure from the torsion bar adjusting blade to the ground - measurement 'A'. Then measure from the bottom of the ball joint to the ground - measurement 'B'. Now subtract 'B' from 'A'. For a 4-door car, the specification is 2"-2-1/4". For a 2-door it is 1-7/8". The variance from left side to right side must be 1/8" or less.