Torsion bar or door adjustment?

[rjd2]

Hi folks. I had some sagging doors, the gas springs were 1.5-2 years old but I figured maybe I got a bad set. I bought a new set, and the problem persists. I know what a nice firm door opening feels like, and this is not that. The passenger door will sag 6-8? if I gently push it downward from fully open. Is there another calibration I could do to the torsion bar or door? Thanks.

[dn010]

You need to take the door struts out and see how far the door stays open under torsion only. It should be open around 4 inches. If it closes which it probably will in your case, the torsion bars need to be adjusted.

[WHO1DMC]

If you still have the door lock silinoids you can switch them out for actuators. Dumping the weight can help. Most need to detorque the torsion bars after its done. I did.







Dave B.

[David T]

The struts are very temperature dependent. They will work better in warm/hot weather and not so good when cold. Unless you have door actuators the best test is to open the doors all the way. If they STAY all the way open then you are OK. I do not adjust the torsion bars so tightly that the doors will swing all the way open by themselves. You can also do what I call the "Hang Test". Remove the strut and the door should hang open 4 to 6 inches. Be careful doing this test, the doors are very heavy. The struts sold by the vendors are not all the same. Some are stronger than others, some are dampened better, and some are supposed to be temperature compensating. BTW, just because you had the struts for 1.5-2 years doesn't meant that is how old they are. You don't know how long they were sitting on the vendor's shelf. Struts don't go bad from use, the gas pressure leaks out over time. Generally if the torsion bars were properly adjusted and now the doors are sagging, you DO NOT adjust the torsion bars. Once properly set, that does not change, it is the strut that has changed and must be replaced.

[dn010]

....Just see post #2 and let us know what you get before we get into essay writing.

[Timeless]

....Just see post #2 and let us know what you get before we get into essay writing.

Jesus! That guy just cannot stop!

[David T]

Just who do you think created the "Hang Test"? What doesn't stop are your comments on my comments.

[Michael]

Personally, I think torsion bars weaken after 40+ years. Not sure if that's a valid point as I do not know, but what I do know is my hang test is null and void...my doors will not hang at all but almost shut completely. However, with new struts installed, they will bounce at full open with my door launchers. To summarize, according to the hang test, I need to increase the torsion, but according to my struts, they are too tight. I think after 40 years, they just aren't the same anymore.

My solution was simple but maybe not traditional, and certainly not guru approved. I have two sets of struts. A strong pair and a weaker pair. The weaker pair is for summer temps, (which work perfectly) and the stronger pair is for winter which also works perfectly for what little driving I do in the winter. In fact, I just changed them out last week.

[FABombjoy]

Same here. 4-6 inches of "hang" without a strut lead gave me doors that rocketed skyward and bounced. Not a fan, turned the preload back down.

I'd rather help the door a little at the end of travel rather than watch it bounce off the mechanical limits.

[David T]

The torsion bars are very special. Between the metallurgy and the heat treatment (cryogenic) they are made to handle the forces without exceeding the elastic limit. What that means is they can do many cycles of bending and not weaken and fail. As you see, not all struts are created equal. Some are stronger than others. Different vendors sell different struts and then they change suppliers who make them differently. Sometimes, instead of adjusting the torsion bars all you have to do is switch the struts side-to-side. The Hang test is valid. Overtorquing the torsion bars can damage the roof. Struts that are too powerful can rip the ball studs out of the body. A while back one of our vendors had struts that were too long when they were compressed. It caused havoc with the ball studs and many cars had to be repaired. Struts typically last about 5-6 years before they get too weak to hold the doors all the way open. Be sure to install them "upside down" so the seal is always wetted. Put a drop of oil on each hinge and the ball stud anchors once a year. Discussions about the whole door system is one of the oldest and largest topics on all of the forums. A long time ago someone did a comparison test among all of the vendor's struts at that time. Some were similar and some were from different suppliers. They all varied in their power. Just changing the guides on the door latches from metal to plastic can reduce the weight of the doors a lot, going from the OEM solenoids to modern actuators can reduce the weight even further. If you have to slam the door shut to make it lock tells you the door is way out of adjustment. Most Delorean clubs offer torsion bar adjustments. People confuse torsion bar adjustments with "door adjustments". Two different things. It can take a whole day to fix and properly adjust a door that is way out of whack. A torsion bar adjustment can take less than 10 minutes or it cannot be done quickly because the anchor bracket can't be removed or the bolts holding it are stripped. For anyone interested in more on this topic you should do a search. In an old Delorean World there was a whole article about how the torsion bars were made. They were made by Grumman they way they made them for a fighter jet, very special!