Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill
I tend to think the same thing. BUT ...
The thing that makes me nervous is that in order to grind the top of the stub, you probably have to pull the stub all the way out of the bracket. Then, after you grind, you have to insert the stub back into the bracket. With the shell raised all the way up, there isn't a lot of tension in the torsion bar, but it is still not clear to me that re-inserting it would be easy. Maybe I'm just not imaginative enough, or daring enough, but I really don't want to get involved with removing the other end of the torsion bar from the lift arm. I need advice from someone who has actually changed out a torsion bar.
On the other hand, if you choose to grind the top of the hole in the bracket, you could just pull the stub part way out of the bracket - pulling it out of the side with the adjustment hole (A in Wavery's pic), but leaving it poked through the other side (B in Wavery's pic). This might make it easier to re-insert. However, grinding inside the hole would have to be done with a rotary file, as Wavery mentioned, rather than a true grinder. Maybe not so easy?
Bill
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Hey Bill I think I have some info you might be interested in. Yesterday I finally got around to trying to tighten the tension on the torsion bars. Had to go rent the 29mm socket from auto zone. I do have a 1000lbft impact which made the job easy as those bolts are on there tight after 16 years. I did have to use a wire wheel to clean the threads and penetrating oil to get the bolt to turn easy. Good news for me I was able to tighten the front a bit which solved my problem. Bad news is this will be the last adjustment before needing to replace those torsion bars. I actually have more to go on the front. No more in the middle 4 and no more in the rear. But those are all ok for me.
So to you questions. The front and rears there is some room but the middle torsion ends are touching the bottom of the TM or very close to it. I do have first hand experience with grinding my tongue jack hole on the TM. I used my high RPM drill with a sanding wheel. It was very easy. Make sure you use a smaller diam. wheel than the hole and you can potentially take off some good amount of material. Because of clearance issues in some pocket stops you will have no choice but to grind the bar itself as grinding the hole will bring the bar in contact with the bottom of the TM. Lastly backing out those 29mm bolts all the way I could move the torsion in the hole. They were NOT completely loose but loose enough that I could.move them slightly. I would think taking them in or out would not be too difficult but some may need some force and perhaps just a little push up from a floor jack to get them in the first hole. Once in a 2-4 lb hammer should do the trick to get them seated all way in. Hope that helps. I hope not to have to ever do this that's why I checked and I think I bought myself about 16 years with the adjustment I was able to make.
One last note. TM used bigger diameter bars in front and back but smaller diameter bars in the middle. This was a mistake the whole point is to be able to make these adjustments. Because the middle bars are smaller diameter they DO NOT offer the same torsion as the outer front and back. This is the reason the middle bolts in the pocket stops are already taken in all the way and still have some more on the fronts. The fronts and rear could have been 1/8 wider diameter which would also insure lifetime tension for this application.
BTW. I would bet a good rotary with a cut off wheel would cut those torsion bar tops. Even my dremmel would do it and is a small enough tool to get in to some of the tighter areas. Honestly... that's the way I would go if I ever have to in the future. HOWEVER you WILL need longer 29mm bolts to push up those bars to the sky in those pocket stops because there is no more threads to tighten further with the existing bolts.