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Tear down and torsion bars for a 69 Coronet

Mocajava

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One of the next steps in my rebuild will be to remove K member. I plan to put her on roller legs to continue the body work and restoration. In reading and listening to the chatter about torsion bars and how much they effect the ride/performance,I wonder how I should address this? I will be using the same engine (although pumped up) so weight won't change and supposed to take very good measuresments of the amount of thread/position of nuts for each bar to make sure I can replicate this for when it is time to go back together? Should I be replacing these bars with new stock, do they wear out of fatique? Should I be considering a different size as I have heard mention in these forums? I have no experience with this type of suspension and could really use the combined wisdom and experience here at Mopar U. to guide me. Thanks in advance Professors, I will be waiting for your responses. Mocajava
 
I would reuse/try the ones you have unless you have money to blow. But depending on what your plans for the car are, drag racing, street driving, road racing, etc., would be factors as to whether you might want to replace them. In any case I'd try the ones you have first. They're not that hard to swap out. JUST DON'T BE UNDER THE WEIGHT OF THE CAR WHILE ADJUSTING THEM, the adjuster bolts can strip/fail and the car will fall on you.
 
All springs get old and fatigue with time but, if they were performing well before and are not beat up and rusty, you should be able to get more miles from them. Clean and inspect them once they are out and check for nicks and deep scratches. Minor scratches can be removed to prevent stress risers which in time, lead to cracks and breaks. Now is a good time to clean the adjuster threads as best as you can and use penetrating oil to help them to turn. You may have to apply penetrating oil several times and yes, you need to take the weight off of them by jacking up the car before attempting to unscrew them. Jack stands are your friends and use good ones.
 
Thanks Daytona and Cranky! The car is meant to be a cruiser when I am done with the average playing a 450 horse engine can do. They appear to be in great shape and I am assuming I should record the adjuster nuts vs position when threaded on of EACH end so I can try and replicate that upon reinstalling them. I know I will have questions when I get ready to put them on. If I do position them , let's say a half a thread off after I reinstall them, does that drastically alter how the car reacts? Can alignment shops make these tweaks...do modern cars have this type of suspension anymore and do todays alignment shops still have that capability? I will have to dig into the forum records as I recall seeing where someone posted a step by step on how to remove these without damaging them. From what I can see there are 4 tension rods I have to remove to get the K member free. Is there any order (front first then rear)that makes the process easier? I know I have too many questions but am not scared of showing my ignorance if I learn something, make it easier and prevent myself from getting hurt in the process Thanks again gentlemen.
 
It wouldn't be a bad idea to measure or count threads. If you really want to get techy, mark all the parts with a file or something so you'll know left and right, in other words something so you can put them back where they came from, or "index" them as they say. A half a thread off will have no noticeable effect, now 5 full turns maybe, they're not that sensitive. Most align-shops can tweak it as much as you can afford, watch out for the rip-offs. There is really nothing difficult about any front end work on these T-bar suspensions, super easy. Youtube probably has step by step for any task. I do everything myself including the alignment, which I do with strings, levels and tape measures. After the first time I did it myself I took it to a shop to check it, they said it was perfect. Never been to a shop since. Not sure about modern cars with T-bars, I think most have coils. To disassemble the front end/suspension, before anything else you should first remove the adjuster bolts and relieve all of the torsion bars' spring pressure, but only after much lubing with wd40 or similar, before and even while removing won't hurt. Those old threads are delicate sometimes. Clean and inspect the adjuster bolts and their nut-bar/plates. If they have any bad threads you should get all new ones, bolts and nut-bars. They are not very expensive. Not sure what you're talking about with the 4 tension rods. There are 2 lower control arm strut rods that go forward and the 2 torsion/T bars go rearward., And probably 1 sway bar going from side to side. After removing the T-bar adjusters just start rippin and tearin, not sure of set way/order of disassembling the K and all the front end parts, it's not hard and no real wrong way or right, just loosen the T-bars first. All the ball joints will be the hardest thing to remove, there are special tools you can buy for that (or rent) which are not expensive. Note- there is a front and rear when installing the t-bars, and "index" them as well so they'll be twisting the same way they always have. When you reassembling everything and retightening the t-bar adjusters bolts to where you think they should be, park the car on a level surface and after a few pushes to bounce the front end, measure each side from the ground to the top of the wheel well lip, if you really want to get close put someone in the driver's seat close to your weight. Adjust if needed. I put a couple of blocks of wood under the car that are just short of touching while I'm reaching under adjusting. Then stand back and see if you like the stance that the car is resting in. If not you can raise and lower the front to your liking and/or it's handling. When I was younger and dumber I used to drive my 70 RR to school one day with the front end in the sky and the next day dragging the ground., neither of which I would recommend doing.
 
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Thanks for the awesome "play-by-play" Daytona! I will go to MyMopar and see if I can get some schematics for this and get busy! I appreciate the help. Mocajava
 
Thanks for the awesome "play-by-play" Daytona! I will go to MyMopar and see if I can get some schematics for this and get busy! I appreciate the help. Mocajava

I bought a service manual off amazon which has been handy, taking pics before and as you disassemble helps a lot also.
 
I bought a FSM 6 months ago from Amazon but it doesn't come close to some of the schematics I have seen the other FBBO members insert. I went on MyMopar and got a little better results from what was available through my FSM. Will keep looking and get all "knowed-UP" before I dive into that work. Thanks again...
 
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