indexing torsion bars?

[B17CRX]

I have a 61 short stepper and I want to get the front end down a tad bit more. As it sits the t bar adjuster arms hang pretty low, and the last thing I want is to grind em off on speed bumps. To those who have done this do you pull the tbar out of the lca and rotate it, or do you just pull the adjuster arm off the other end and rotate that one position?

-Joel

[HumphreyMurdoch]

I saw a thread a while back where a guy made a new key. It was on a black suburban with a white roof and GMC grill. Maybe he moved it in the bar in the control arm too, but it looked really slick. I can't find it at the moment, but I'll keep looking.

I would believe someone will start making something like this soon. Especially now that you can buy drop spindles for disc brakes and the captains adapter for the master cylinder for 60-62's.

However, I have my torsion bars dropped pretty far and haven't had any issues yet.

[61_FL_Apache]

Joel, With my 61, my adjusters are pretty low. I don't have too many places where they hit, but I do have to watch it.. As for changing the index of them, I think they will move too far and you wont have the adjustment you would need to keep them higher. If it had more like an axel spline, it would be easier to do.

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by HumphreyMurdoch

I saw a thread a while back where a guy made a new key.

Here:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...55#post6507755

[fleetsidelarry]

there have been discussions on this before. I can't say it can't be done but I don't recall anyone ever saying they did it. if the bars had splines like 61_Fl_ Apache mentioned above then you could do it but each face on these bars equals 60° which is a lot of drop (I'm guessing 10-12"). the way you change these things out is to jack the front up (with bump stops removed and shocks disconnected) till the control arms are fully down , so basically however much travel there is in the front cross member from loaded to unloaded (again, with no shocks or stops) is how much drop you'd get if you pulled the key off the bar and rotated it one face. maybe you could then crank some lift back into the bar to compensate for some of that, I just don't know

these bars are notorious for being hard (if not impossible) to take out but maybe the keys themselves come off fairly easy. be careful, I recall one member describing how he broke a wrist when something let go.

[LostMy65]

fleetsidelarry is correct. Indexing in 60 degree increments is too much.
.
HumphreyMurdoch posted about having a key made that gives the desired drop but keeps the key tucked up in the frame so it isn't dangerously low.

[Jeff La]

I don't know for sure but if you were to back off the key to the point where you have little to no tension and see that ride height than if it's ok other than the key you could index the key one flat and tighten it up all the way and it should be at that approximate same ride height.

I changed the keys on a newer model and had to index the key to get it right, that's the only experience I have with them.

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by fleetsidelarry

there have been discussions on this before. I can't say it can't be done but I don't recall anyone ever saying they did it. if the bars had splines like 61_Fl_ Apache mentioned above then you could do it but each face on these bars equals 60° which is a lot of drop (I'm guessing 10-12"). the way you change these things out is to jack the front up (with bump stops removed and shocks disconnected) till the control arms are fully down , so basically however much travel there is in the front cross member from loaded to unloaded (again, with no shocks or stops) is how much drop you'd get if you pulled the key off the bar and rotated it one face. maybe you could then crank some lift back into the bar to compensate for some of that, I just don't know

these bars are notorious for being hard (if not impossible) to take out but maybe the keys themselves come off fairly easy. be careful, I recall one member describing how he broke a wrist when something let go.

As fleetsidelarry posted, Indexing in 60 degree increments is too much.

[fleetsidelarry]

good work, Lost Nothing beats a visual