Torsion bar slots.

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yellowghost

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Is there any significance to the slots on the torsion bars as far as positioning goes? I got everything back together and the drivers side sits about an inch higher even thought the adjusting bolt is screwed in farther than the drivers side. I did not make note of the slots when I took the passenger side, only made note of what end goes to the control arm. I diagrammed the slots when I took out the drivers side, the slot in the frame end of the control arm was verticle, but stupid me, did not realize that slot can be verticle in two different positions. The mechanic who installed the bushings seemed to think they were the original bushings so if so, the torsion bars might never have been removed, so if the factory installed them all in a certain way, we might be able to know exactly what position they were in before.

Thanks
Jeff
 
Not sure, yet did you keep the left torsion on the left, and right on the right? Sometimes people put them on the wrong side.
 
Thats something I made sure to do, and also put the control arm ends back in the control arms.
 
Jeff,
I can't see where the "clock position" of the vertical line on the torsion bar would matter. If it did our assembly manuals should make a note of that and I don't recall seeing that.
When you assembled, you had or should have had to drop the lower control arm as low as possible maybe even prying down on the LCA to insert the torsion bar. Did you get each of the LCA's down an equal amount before inserting the torsion bar? Did you remove the lower LCA bumpers from both LCA's?
C
 
It sounds as though when you slid them in to the front slots the Driver's side cam (which has the hex opening the front of the Torsion Bar slides into and the adjustment bolts goes up and pushes on) was rotated differently than the Passenger side. I did the same thing when I swapped mine out. When I lowered the car off the jack one side was a lot lower than the other, despite having the adjustment bolts run in to the same depth.
I jacked it back up and made sure I had the cam or arm the bar front end goes into was at the same rotation point as the Passenger side, which just happened to be done correctly.
Make any sense? It threw me off a bit too, until I sat back and looked at it for awhile.
Hope this helps.
 
340 dart power, when I removed the torsion bars, first I unscrewed the adjusting bolts all the way to release tension. I did not remove the bumpers to make it go lower, since I unbolted the ball joints from the spindle, When I did that the LCA did drop , but only a little. But that was enough to take the torsion bar out. I noticed the control arm was close to a 45 degree angle so that's How I put it back in. It seemed to me, that you have to rotate the control arm alot to bring the hex opening to the next position. Almost horizontal to almost verticle, so I figured I had it right. I did not account for the position of that cam in relation to the arm. It could only have been rotated wrong one way though as it would have hit the adjusting bolt before it could turn to the next hex position. I will take both apart again to be sure.

But that brings me back to my original question clhyer. I might just have the right position after all. I have read here that over time, the torsion bar starts to bow a certain way and does not work as good if it is not in the same position. If this is true, then that could explain my problem, which is that the two sides need different amounts to tension to be level. If there is a formula to the away it was assembled, I can bring it back to stock location and remove some variables to this problem. I just wish the Chrysler repair manual was a little more specific in the torsion bar chapter. Not just "install torsion bar into the control arm" or "slide the control arm out from the control arm".

Jeff
 
Okay, I think I'm on the same page with you.
I would guess the control arm (which the adjustment bolt pushes up on to raise or lower the front end and has the front hex opening into which the front of the torsion bar fits) just needs to be rotated to match the other/passenger side. You'll have to remove the bar and rotate it (the control arm) to roughly the same position as the passenger side and re-install the torsion bar. The passenger side control arm will be in a slightly different position because it is under tension from the adjustment bolt, but you should be able to "eyeball it" and get the driver's side where it needs to be.
Let me know if this helps at all; I'm no expert but when I did mine it was a learning experience. When I dropped mine off the jack, the Driver's side was a good six inches lower than the passenger side, simply because I had the adjustment arm rotated incorrectly. I didn't realize or know how the assembly worked together, and as you said, the shop manual instructions assume you know what you're doing, which I obviously did not.
Good luck with it.
 
Thanks you 340 dart power. I totally understood what you mean and in your case, I can totally picture how you solved your problem. Mine is only an inch higher on the drivers side. But I forgot to mention something. The rear of the car is still on jackstands and my garage floor isnt entirely level either so that could perhaps make a difference too, when I get the back wheels on, I will take to my dads garage and check again. I did not bounce the front end up and down either.
 
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