Anatomy of a broken Torsion Bar

[ritztoys]

I thought I'd share pictures of the broken pieces of my Driver's Torsion Bar. It appears that there might have been some surface problem that ultimately led to it's failure.

(it cleared the hinge too, notice the rust!)

20200902_110309.jpg 20200902_110027.jpg

What's interesting for me I installed this over 25 years ago and made sure it would not rub on anything, once fully bolted in position.

[Rich]

Interesting.

There's some kind of surface irregularity at or near the fracture, as you say.

Was this bar NOS when you installed it 25yrs ago or did it come off of a donor car? It might have been compromised.

[ritztoys]

@ Rich This was NOS back in the day.....don't remember who I purchased this from. My 'D' records are buried in the garage somewhere.

[captainneo]

when putting these in, how many notches do you end up turning? roughly?

[ritztoys]

@ captainneo With the new bar coming in on Friday, I'll be starting over on "pre" torquing the new bar. The method is to pre torque the Torsion Bar so it holds open

the door approx. 4-6" from full close, without the gas cylinder assist.(it is completely removed during the re-assemble of the Torsion bar)

Since I do this by myself, I usually use a long "cheater bar" connected to the hex socket , which sets on my shoulder while installing the bolts into the

locking/mounting plate for the splines.

[Elvis]

That's 2-4 inches too much AFAIK