[T3] 1970 Fastback front torsion issue!

[Jared Kohler]

Jim,

First. Thank you for your detailed reply. 

I've followed your directions to the letter and i now have the upper stabilizer bar removed. Super easy. 

Ok...

Passenger side does not have a dimple but, driver side does and it's not trashed. I can see where the retaining bolt had loosened up and began rubbing, (not much as i caught it early) and the dimple is intact. Looks like i can realign everything and tighten. I'm taking photos as i progress. I should have it back together in a few hours. 

Now, should the passenger side have a dimple too? Sorta surprised it doesn't??!!

Thank you!!

Jared

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 3, 2013, at 6:00 AM, "Jim Adney" <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:

> On 2 Mar 2013 at 18:32, jaredkohler at gmail.com wrote:
> 
>> When turning the steering wheel to the left or right the upper torsion arm
>> pulls out by 1/2 inch! Both passenger and driver. Both torsion arms arm
>> still securely bolted / clamped. The movement seems to happen from within
>> the upper beam area.
> 
> This is a rather common problem, and it's not too hard to fix if you 
> haven't let it go on too long.
> 
> The torsion bar is not broken, it's just come loose from the LU 
> trailing arm. It appears to be still tight in there because what you 
> are seeing is not actually the end of the torsion bar, but rather a 
> thin metal cap that VW put in there after the torsion bar was 
> installed.  Here's what you need to do to fix this:
> 
> Start by pushing both sides in, so that everything's in the correct 
> position for when you put it all back together.
> 
> Jack the car up so you can work on the front end. Do this somewhere 
> with about 4' of clearance on the left side. Remove both front 
> wheels. Remove the torsion bar clamp bolts from both upper arms. Bend 
> back the lock plate on the right side and loosen that bolt a couple 
> of turns, then tap the head of that bolt until you can see that the 
> torsion bar has moved. Then loosen a couple more turns and tap it out 
> some more. Remove that bolt and find a rod of some kind that you can 
> use to drive the upper torsion bar another few inches out toward the 
> left side of the car. If you do this slowly, you should be able to 
> find the torsion bar end cap on the floor on the other side.
> 
> Once the torsion bar is out a few inches, you should be able grab it 
> from there and pull it all the way out.
> 
> Now look at the left end of the bar. When new, there was a dimple 
> there where the clamp bolt seated. Given your symptoms, there is now 
> a groove. You need to drill a new dimple, either deeper on that side, 
> or flip the torsion bar over and drill a new one on the fresh side. 
> It MUST be in the right place, and must be sized to accept the tip of 
> the clamp bolt.
> 
> If you can't tell where the right place was, let me know and I'll 
> measure a good one and get back to you.
> 
> Assembly is the reverse of this. Clamp the L end first, then adjust 
> the right side for a very tiny amount of play. Make sure both clamp 
> bolts are as tight as you can safely make them. Bentley gives the 
> torque specs, but they need to be really tight, so this doesn't 
> happen again.
> 
> 
> -- 
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
> 
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