Torsion Bar Won't Budge

[culp]

Can anyone give me some advice on removing the offside torsion bar. I cant get the rear lever to slide forward on the splines like it says in the workshop manual. It's rusted solid I think and then glued up with mastic sealant. I'm actually trying to replace the front eye-bolt as its worn. I've disengaged the torsion bar from the bottom trunnion on the swivel pin. I've taken off the nut fixing the eye-bolt to the chassis leg and pulled it out as far as it'll go but its jammed because the rear lever wont budge, and now I'm stuck.

[LouiseM]

This thread might help: http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... ar+removal

[bmcecosse]

Never try to move the rear lever arm - v bad idea. It WILL come apart without touching it...slide the front arm back and turn the eyebolt.

[maxwoods]

Make a note of which hole the torsion bar is located in the the vernier plate on the cross member. Take the whole thing off by removing the large securing bolt on the end of the torsion bar at the back, and the smaller nut and bolt securing the rear arm through the vernier plate. No need to disturb the spline positions.

[mike.perry]

Replace the eyebolt rubbers with metalastic bushes

[philthehill]

Mike
Do you know of a supplier of suitable metalastic bushes? The ones previously used and I believe sourced from the suspension of the BMC J4 comercial vehicle are no longer available.
regards
Phil

[bmcecosse]

Here you go... http://www.robush.co.uk/pdf/1519%20Robush.pdf

But poly bushes are much simpler = and work well.

[les]

From your description, it appears you now have the lower suspension arm hanging on the end of the torsion bar (front). Next step, knock the arm back towards the rear just enough to clear the eye bolt, you will then be able to renew the bushes, no need to remove the eye bolt, unless worn. To do this procedure you will need to put the big nut back on the eye bolt and put the thin lower arm back onto the car but only held on by the nut nearest to the chassis leg ( this stops the pin moving moving back when knocking the thicker arm mentioned earlier)

[mike.perry]

Mike
Do you know of a supplier of suitable metalastic bushes? The ones previously used and I believe sourced from the suspension of the BMC J4 comercial vehicle are no longer available.
regards
Phil

Take the eye bolt and fulcrum pin to your nearest bearing stockist and let them measure it up

[philthehill]

bmcecosse
Many thanks for the link.
I will add it to my supplier data base.
On my Morris I have used very hard nylon bushes (supplied by Minor Mania some years ago) in the eye bolts and fitted grease nipples to the eye bolts for lubrication. I have also done away with the original tie bar and tie bar rubbers and now use a adjustable tie bar with rose joint at the front where it meets the chassis. With harder top swivel bushes the front suspension geometry is kept very tight and removes any judder when braking hard and I do brake hard. I find that these arrangements work very well.
Mike
Thanks for the reply

[bmcecosse]

I trust you have reinforced the metalwork where the front tiebar connects to the chassis rails then!! I would normally suggest one rubber and one poly up front there.

[les]

I thought in was necessary to have a bit of 'give' where the tie bars were concerned, to avoid any undue stress when braking. Why do you brake so hard?

[lambrettalad]

any thing to do with braking too late or travelling too fast

[bmcecosse]

Exactly why I suggest one rubber and one poly - but perhaps different for a track car........

[les]

Oh, never thought of a track car.

[philthehill]

Les
My Morris is not road registered (though it still sports its original number plates WDF 714)) and is only used for speed hillclimbing (and the occassional sprint) I am therefore constantly braking hard before corners when I cannot take the speed off by use of the tyres.

Bmceccosse
Thank you for your concern but no I have not put extra bracing around the tie bar mounting as I consider that the tie bar brackets are satisfactorly secured to the chassis legs. The arrangement as described has been on the car for a good number of years and has been used on many speed hillclimbs with very sticky 7" slicks and have yet to show any signs of fatigue. The integrity of the running gear is always under regular scrutiny by myself and of course the MSA scrutineer when competing. What I have had to do though is install rose jointed braces between the shock absorber cross member (using those spare mounting holes) and the front cross member as I discovered that under heavy braking the chassis legs were flexing. Before you comment the chassis legs are like new (inside and outside) and have never had any welding on them since the car was built in 1957 (on the road Jan 1958). Installing the braces improved the handling considerably.

[les]

That would explain your handle---phil -the -hill The clue was there all the time!

[philthehill]

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and all the best for the new year.

[les]

Wishing you the same.

[bmcecosse]

Phil - on the similar Mini set up it is ESSENTIAL to weld bracing gussets on the front tie bar mounts. If I was (now) using a Minor in competition - I would be doing so. I certainly did in the past with my Minis - but my (earlier) Minor wasn't very powerful - although it did beat many a more powerful car!!