Re: Torsion Bar Problem

["daveswingle2" <dswingle@xxxx>]

This is NOT a good thing. I've seen this one time (Christian W, if 
you're out there, I'm talking about your car!)

The bar is actually probably not bent permananently, but what has 
happened is that the doofus that took it out used the wrong (too 
small) allen wrench on the bar (or did not insert it all the way) and 
caused the head of the torsion bar to expand very slightly. This is 
NOT visible to the naked eye. This has caused the splines on the 
torsion bar to seize into the retaining clamp. When tightened, rather 
than sliding down the bar, the clamp actually compressed the bar 
causing it to bend (picture trying to press on both ends of a soda 
straw with your hands- what happens to the straw?). On the one I've 
seen like this we put a couple of washers under the torsion bar 
retaining clamp to space it back from the body slightly. There is NO 
WAY To adjust the torsion bar with this problem in place, and you may 
even have a hard time removing it from the car without removing the 
roof panel and/or the back window since you cannot get the clamp off 
the bar.

You may want to engage in further discussions with the bodyshop at 
least as far as paying to fix it. 

Only solution is probably a new torsion bar and clamp. 

Dave



--- In dmcnews@xxxx, "Aaron PETERSON" <mrroboto1@xxxx> wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I am experiencing problems with the driver side door torsion bar. 
It seems that a local body shop bent the bar, while replacing a door 
hinge, that the door will only stay half way up, even with a new 
strut on it. Is it possible for the bar to be bent back (the middle 
is bowed outward) without causing damage to the bar?
> 
> Aaron P.