Upcoming torsion bar replacement

[BrucePerens]

You should be able to widen the hole in the end of the bar by grabbing the end in a vise by the narrow sides and squeezing it a little.

[Larryjb]

The following is an image Jacob sent me from the factory. Note how the threaded end is ground to fit into the lift arm. Also note the angle the torsion bar makes.

My old torsion bars remained vertical but these new ones have a lot more tension, even with the adjustment backed right off.

Bill, I see no purpose to the threads. All I can figure is that the supplier makes the rods like that, and TM puts the bends in.

(Jacob has an iphone, so guess how the picture orients itself. )


[ATTACH-]18408[/ATTACH]

[commodor47]

I am a bit puzzled as to why the end of the torsion bar has been ground into a square shape. The white rectangular support arm on my TM is designed to receive a round torsion bar end.

Dick

[Bill]

What I am seeing in Jacob's picture is the threaded end about to be inserted into the adjustment cage. Once inserted, the ground-off area presents a flat surface to the end of the adjustment bolt. And being a bit thinner, it also allows a bit more adjustment range, an issue you discussed in post #13 above.

What I saw in your earlier picture (2nd pic in post #34) is the threaded end inserted into the lift arm.

Are both ends of the torsion bar threaded?

Bill

[Larryjb]

A few weeks ago I asked Jacob how I could get the new torsion bar into the lift arm. The threaded end is slightly thicker than the rest of the bar and would not fit into the lift arm. The 13/16" bar definitely would not fit without deforming the lift arm more. Jacob replied and showed me how they grind the threaded end into the square shape to fit into the lift arm. It is very clear to me that the threaded end, once ground, fits into the lift arm. The other end is not threaded.

If you look at Jacob's picture, the torsion bar is inserted into the undercarriage of the trailer, ready to receive the lift arm. In his picture, the torsion bar is resting about 30-40° forwards from vertical.

Bill, if you look closely at Jacob's picture, they haven't yet installed the walls of the box. You can still see the wood frame of the floor. You can see the metal torsion bar support that is bolted onto the edge of the floor into the wood frame. You cannot actually see the adjustment cage itself in this picture, but you can see the bolt for the adjustment cage that sits behind the torsion bar support. So, the bolt you refer to is the adjustment bolt for the adjacent torsion bar.

[Larryjb]

I think I know what happened. I probably did have the ends of the torsion bars inserted properly into the lift arms. However, because it was so difficult to close, I "pushed" the lift arms out from the torsion bars. I did tighten the bolts holding the lift arms in, but I didn't torque them down really tightly. I believe that was my main mistake.

When I get things back together, I will try tipping the entire trailer back a little to let gravity pull the shell closed instead of me pushing the shell closed.

It's in progress as we speak, so I'll check in later with some results, hopefully.

[Larryjb]

Things went well, in a way. Raising the front of the shell is a piece of cake. Once my jig is in place, I can have the shell securely raised in less than half an hour.

The main snag I encountered is that the lift arm for the curbside twists away from parallel to the trailer. As a result, the left arm binds inside the shell pocket. I will need to raise the shell again to remove the lift arm and grind the end of it some more.

[Larryjb]

Now for my latest snag. I adjusted the shell height to 39.5", as per spec. Now the lower door jams when trying to set it up into the upper door:
Notice that the screw on the lower door will not pass under the upper door frame.

Shell height is set at 39.75":


I may try raising the shell height to 40" as long as the torsion bar still fits within the 4 bolts.

[Larryjb]

I just had a thought. The shell overshoots the alignment pins which means the pocket stops are not engaging. This could mean that the shell is resting too low on the lift arms.

To adjust, I have to lower the entire shell which is difficult to do at the moment. I was unable to shift the shell by hand into the street side alignment pin because the torsion bar was so stiff. I will try to raise the front of the trailer to allow gravity to lower the shell for me.

[Larryjb]

Originally Posted by BrucePerens

There's a chance that you can remove the piece that supports the bar, under the trailer, and lower the lift arm out of the shell without having to lift the shell. It's held in with three or so lag bolts. I haven't looked under my trailer to see if this is possible. Don't strip out the holes, that piece supports a share of the shell weight. And you'll need some wood pieces or a jack to hold up that corner of the shell. Gee, that would make things easier, if it works.

I can now say, with certainty, that this support piece does not need to be removed. However, the torque on these bolts should be checked. Mine were not tight.