TheSamba.com Forums
 
  View original topic: Torsion bars and spring plate angle.
mr magyar Fri Sep 04, 2020 7:41 am

Hi,
Has anyone seen torsion bars like these which are fitted to my 1949 Standard? They're black with a thin red line running the length of them. The outer splined end is marked with a letter A and an oval shape which looks like it might be a manufacturer's mark but it's too faint to make out. The diameter is exactly 25.5mm. They don't look like they're made by VW.
The trouble is when I relaxed the tension on them to renew the bushes the spring plate was set at nine degrees instead of 13 which it should be. I refitted the spring plate to sit at exactly 13 degrees and put it all back but now the car is sitting too high and there is only a 5mm gap between the bottom of the spring plate and the stop. It's as though the torsion bars are too strong. Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Andy.


mr magyar Mon Oct 05, 2020 3:08 am

Hi,

After hours and hours of searching and conflicting specifications it seems that up to September 1952 the spring plate angle with stock 25mm torsion bars is 8 degrees plus or minus 30 minutes so it was set correctly.

Cheers,
Andy.

Hawker Mon Oct 05, 2020 11:17 am

Hi Andy,

Good to hear from you.

The “A” stamped into the end of the torsion bar is an identifier. Äußere for the outer splines. Unlike the Type 2 where there is a different number of splines machined for the inner end of the torsion bar compared to the outer; on the early cars there is no difference. Therefore, there is a possibility to incorrectly fit the bars. Hence äußere for outer!

8 degrees +/- 30 minutes is correct. 👍🏻

BW,

Rob

mr magyar Mon Oct 05, 2020 11:57 am

There are 44 outer splines and 40 inner ones as far as I'm aware for all Type 1 torsion bars over the years. If there were the same number of splines on each end then surely they wouldn't need to be marked inner or outer as they could go in either way? VW say in the early workshop manuals that there's no need to mark rotation as they're not handed (unlike later ones).

Andy.

Hawker Tue Oct 06, 2020 10:45 pm

The manuals show that the splines are machined longer for the inner location than the outer spring plate attachment. Therefore, the bar could be inadvertently reversed. Hence the stamped “A”.

If you are correct in your assumption of 40/44 inner/outer splines, then non of this would concur.

BR,

Rob

mr magyar Sun Oct 18, 2020 3:20 am

Still not identified the black torsion bars in my split but I've managed to find and buy some genuine NOS ones. Here are the casting marks at the inner end.




Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group