front torsion bars

[jtparr]

I have (finally) managed to extract the front torsion bars from their A frame mounts and noticed a fair bit of surface rust under the original bubbly paint, extending for about 75mm inboard of the splined ends

Rust is at the rear end, adjacent to the steering rack, the rest of the bars are fine

Question is whether any rust is a scenario for replacement or not, or whether as they are less stressed than the rears they will be fine

Does anyone have any opinion about this please, any experiences good or bad would be appreciated...

I also managed to drill a small hole, 3mm diameter and about 2mm deep into the ends of the torsion bars when drilling out the ends caps which plus some heat and a small drift was the only way they would come out....

Thanks
Jonathan

[Luke]

Jonathan It's hard to give advice on this one without pics. If the rust is so bad that the splines on the end of the bar are rusting away then yes you need to replace. If not, surface rust doesn't inherently make the bars more prone to breaking (i seem to remember this from my GCSE metallurgy class) so you should be fine.

I'd suggest attacking them with a wire brush, and taking a good look at them, if they're ok then give them a coat of hammerite and re-install.

That said if you've got cash to burn you can always install some hollow torsion bars

oh and the drill hole in the end won't be an issue (i'm assuming it hasn't drilled into any splines right?)

[davidppp]

Hello, Jonathan.

The pitting is a stress raiser and will be a likely initiator of a fatigue frac\ture..I have seen this..torsion bars are the most highly stessed part of your car!

You could gring it out and polish or shot peen...but good used bars are a better bet IMHO..they are not expensive..if you need a pair I have some here..

The hole is no problem

Kind regards
David

[haasad]

Jonathon,

I 've just been through the same worries.

My front bars were a pig to remove and had corroded to a depth of some 0.75 mm at the neck of the front splines I agree entirely with David, failure is potentialy going to cause a lot more costly damage than replacement.

I bought a good set of second hand bars from Nick Moss.

Any views on fitting a grease nipple in the bottom A arm tube or perhaps through the end cap? It strikes me that once the weather seal has failed at the front water and salt will sooner or later find a way in and do its worst.


Food for Thought.

andy

[jtparr]

hi all

sound advice,rust pitting has not damaged the splines, just have surface rust, but if the bars are so reasonable, then a new / replacement pair might be in order

haasad, mine sound the same as yours, probably about the same depth of corrosion, grease nipple is an interesting idea, certainly when I replace the plug ends on mine I will try some araldite or superglue so seal them

strangely enough it was not the front end of the bars that were damaged, its the rear, which has the removable cover, the front ones had rusted in so well they were almost sealed for life !



regards
Jonathan

[haasad]

Jonathon,

new caps are fitted by carefully applying pressure to the centre of their convex dome shape use a little grease on the edges don't araldite them. They are designed to be self retaining and as the state of our bars has proven they seal very well.

andy