[T3] Rear torsion replacement
Jim Adney
jadney at vwtype3.org
Sun Jan 19 17:54:35 PST 2014
On 19 Jan 2014 at 13:24, Keith Park wrote:
> Why would you want to replace them?
> They are the one thing I deeply regret ever touching, it's a horrid job.
I thought I was the only one to regret ever doing this. I would never
try it again, unless I had the rear fenders completelly off. That
little hole just isn't enough room to work thru, and this is a really
difficult job with the stock size torsion bars. You're in for a real
challenge if you're thinking about installing stiffer bars.
And when you do that, you get to GUESS about where to set them. Count
on doing the job at least twice, in order to get the ride height
where you want it.
BTW, I installed aftermarket bars as replacments on the front of a
914. Those lasted about 2 years and then one broke, not due to rust
or any problem under our control. We installed another set and I
didn't see any reason to expect those to last any longer. The OE bars
are pre-stressed making them different for L & R, but the aftermarket
folks dodn't bother with that. I suspect that was part of the
problem. There's a lot of science that goes into making a good
torsion bar. The aftermarket parts we got LOOKED great, but they were
junk. Whatever you do, take good care of the OE parts that you
remove; you may want them back someday.
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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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