Double Bars Blues

[AugustneverEnds]

1019181328b.jpg

The broken off hex ends of my car's former torsion bars

[DMC-81]

Thought this was interesting: I was just watching this Pennebaker documentary and at 30:06 they discussed a torsion rod failure ( presumably in a preproduction car) at 41,000 cycles and JZD asked the right questions including a request for a metallurgist's opinion. The presenter said that Grumman cycled them "into the millions ", which agrees with what was said earlier.

http://youtu.be/sueqDrq9VBw

Plus a worker was filmed installing a bar on a car at 37:57.

[AugustneverEnds]

Thought this was interesting: I was just watching this Pennebaker documentary and at 30:06 they discussed a torsion rod failure ( presumably in a preproduction car) at 41,000 cycles and JZD asked the right questions including a request for a metallurgist's opinion. The presenter said that Grumman cycled them "into the millions ", which agrees with what was said earlier.

http://youtu.be/sueqDrq9VBw

Plus a worker was filmed installing a bar on a car at 37:57.

I noticed that worker with his breaker bar and it reminded me that human beings at Dunmurry installed those torsion bars in the first place so I can do it too

Just finished bolting the roof down and waiting for the sealant to cure. Hopefully in the next few days I will have the torsion bars installed and my D will have working wings again.

[AugustneverEnds]

NewTorsionBars2.1.jpg

The double bars blues has been cured! Thanks to everyone who helped

[CFI]

NewTorsionBars2.1.jpg

The double bars blues has been cured! Thanks to everyone who helped

Nice job!

[HollywoodF1]

I don't think what I said was contradictory. if you continually damage the surface then every cycle will do more damage and concentrate the stress. My theory is if the torsion bar rubs against the rear hinge it damages the surface creating the problem. If the bar never rubs or gets scratched by the rear hinge it should not fail prematurely. Another point. The number of door closings and openings does seem to have an effect, we see more driver's side bars broken then passenger side. That would make sense because you would figure the driver's side door would be opened and closed more often than the passenger side. My strong suggestion to every owner is to protect their bars by getting a piece of rubber in between the bar and the rear hinge. It can't hurt and may save them a bar! Rubbing (scratching) the hinge once may be all it takes but if you continue then every time you open and close you are making the scratch worse and reducing the strength of the bar.

I think we have a consensus here.