AirSpeed VW Community Forums
Technical => Chassis & Suspension Forum => Topic started by: kirin on October 18, 2006, 11:01:20 AM
-
Hey Guys,
I have this gutted chassis hanging out infront of a barn collecting rain. I need to send it off to redistrip however theres one last part thats a mystery.. How do you unload the torsion arms safely?
Any tips/ tricks?
Cheers!
-
Unbolt the caps,unbolt the plate, slide the axle out of the way, lift up the spring plate with a floor jack,pry on the plate with a large flathead,stand back and start bashing with a BFH! :lol:
I've always done that with a body on the car to counter the weight though....
Makesure WCB isn't around when you do it :P
oh... did you say safely?
-
if you have lowered the rear end already there probably wont be that much tension on it, and with it just being the pan you wont have much weight to counter it, so just sort of do what gutterbrain said but you will probably be able to pry it free with a crow bar just dont lay under it when you do it.
-
No axle or transmission or even a front beam. I'll do as gutterplug says and hope for the best. And stand back!
Okay I'll give it a shot this week.
-Kirin
-
did you not lower the rear end already?
-
Rear end is still low. Apparently its one notch although it has to be the lowest notch out there or some really weak torsion bars...
-Kirin
-
you wont need a big hammer, just a pry bar, take the end caps off and then from the top side just pry behind the spring plate, it should come off quite easy, but you should find some way to make a permanent mark on the end of the tube housing to make sure you get the right position for installing them again
-
K,
When and where are you planning to do it. I would like to see it and perhaps give you a hand. you got my number.
-
you wont need a big hammer, just a pry bar, take the end caps off and then from the top side just pry behind the spring plate, it should come off quite easy.
yup...
but you should find some way to make a permanent mark on the end of the tube housing to make sure you get the right position for installing them again.
when i disasembled the rear of my oval i used the primative tape measure and took several measurements from the body mount to the springplate/backing plate mounting holes...
then i found one of these....
(https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.toolbarn.com%2Fimages%2Fstarrett%2Fanglemeter.jpg&hash=7a97f77d67d8021e7155a37f9945af667c12f227)
....place it right on top and at the rear most end of the unsprung springplate and take a measurement.
but first...it is very important that you take a measurement of the chassis, because it will not be sitting level (or it is likely to be sitting different when you put it all back together). place the angle meter on the tunnel at the middle of the chassis to figure out the degree that the chassis is sitting at so you can + or - that from the reading of your unsprung springplate to get the proper angle.
say when you take it apart your chassis reading is 0 degrees and your unsprung springplate reading is 15 degrees.
when you go to put it back together, you find that your chassis reading is now +5 degrees (nose down) so then you'll want a springplate reading of 10 degrees.
that's if you want to put it back to the way it was. if you want to re-index the torsion bars upon re-assembly...take your chassis measurement, then index your torsion bars & springplates accordingly with the angle meter.
hope that helps.
-
I just used a grinder and put a small notch above and below the spring plate on the torsion housing to find mine.