[T3] Rear torsion replacement

[Jim Adney]

On 19 Jan 2014 at 12:00, Robert Klein wrote:

> They are shot, the car flops in the wind. The old owner put in
> coilovers to compensate for it. I'm not up for that. It's time for a
> replacement. The bushings are shot too. Since I rebuilt the front end
> I should complete the job. 

I bought a Square like that once. The PO had put very large wheels 
and tires on it, which boosted up the ride height. They looked good, 
sitting still, but the car was really annoying at any kind of speed.

If there's a problem with the torsion bars, the car will sit low, 
probably more on one side than the other. If this is the case, I 
think replacement will be the only solution. You might consider 
replacement with a complete good subframe. That might be easier.

If the ride height is okay, then the torsion bars are fine and the 
solution is to get good shocks in there. Personally, I've never seen 
a car with "sagged" rear torsion bars, but I've seen a couple with a 
broken one. Broken ones are obvious; the car will lean to the broken 
side.

In my case, it was all solved by going back to stock wheels & tires 
and replacing the worn out shocks with good ones. 

BTW, it's easy to test shocks. Bounce the car with your hands and see 
how long it takes the shocks to kill the bouncing. It should quit 
before 2 complete bound/rebound cycles. With the shocks off the car 
and held in the upright position, they can be tested by 
compressing/extending them. There should resistance in both 
directions. I've personally never found shocks that were simply weak. 
They were either good or they had completely lost resistance in one 
or both directions  

And yes, someone also mentioned tire pressure. It's very important 
that you not over-inflate. For stock tires, go with the sticker or a 
couple pounds over. For my squares, I've always done 20/30 psi unless 
the car is heavily loaded, in which case I'll do 20/36. Going much 
over 20 in front will never turn out well. For wider tires you want 
LESS pressure (because you now have MORE square inches to support the 
car.)

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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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