Adjustment bolt for torsion bar beating into frame?

[Jasonzgenerallee]

Recently I've had my 69 charger on a lift replacing a motor mount, I noticed on both sides it looks like the adjustment lever is hitting the frame & beating into it, why is this happening & how can I fix it? I thought about on the frame welding some thick plates but not sure why it's happening in the first place, thanks for your info!

[bill440rt]

Got a pic?
The adjustment bolt is no way near the frame rail. It goes thru the lower control arm.

[Charger-Bodie]

He's probably talking about the crank arm. Sounds like the t bars are a tooth off.

[green69rt]

Is this the part that's banging (my finger on it.)??  If so then the only way to fix it is to pull the torsion bar out and then let the LCA drop and put the torsion bar back in.   Has you suspension been apart recently??  Any other reason why it's so far out of adjustment??  What about the other side??

[fy469rtse]

Take those torsion bars back out Mitch , undo those adjuster bolts, push those arms down further and then insert torsion bars, there designed to preload from start ,,
The idea is to have tension on them earlier, you have just installed them with the arms up my friend ,
Then you will need to jack them up to connect bottom to upper arm ball joint etc once installed correctly
Do you follow Mitch , you just installed them incorrectly

[green69rt]

Take those torsion bars back out Mitch , undo those adjuster bolts, push those arms down further and then insert torsion bars, there designed to preload from start ,,
The idea is to have tension on them earlier, you have just installed them with the arms up my friend ,
Then you will need to jack them up to connect bottom to upper arm ball joint etc once installed correctly
Do you follow Mitch , you just installed them incorrectly

Not me, Geoff, but I'm sure Jason will follow along.

[fy469rtse]

Don't forget to the nose of that torsion bar adjuster down as well, you just inserted torsion bars indexed wrong
Just back those rods out , have the arms facing down, can only be done without connected to rest of suspension
Mark where torsion bar is now, once installed the line should be back one hex,
If you have it right Mitch , you will need to jack arm up to connect bottom arm up to connect to rest of suspension,
Then when car has weight on it , you can wind those adjusters up for cars weight , ride height etc

[fy469rtse]

Whoops , sorry Mitch , Johan you follow lol

[Jasonzgenerallee]

I don't have any pics right now, but that does look like the part your finger is on, I've never had the bars out, only thing I've ever done was change the 318 to a 383, didn't change bars, is it possible he has have rotated to much? Or wore out?

[bill440rt]

Did you have to crank the bars up to restore ride height? That might have brought the crank arm up a little higher. But I'm not sure there is that much adjustment in the bolt to bring them up that high?? 

[green69rt]

I don't have any pics right now, but that does look like the part your finger is on, I've never had the bars out, only thing I've ever done was change the 318 to a 383, didn't change bars, is it possible he has have rotated to much? Or wore out?

Whatever the reason, the TB is way out of adjustment.   I would bet that you are going to have to take them out and re-install.  Get the weight of the car off of its front wheels so the tension is off the TB.  Look at the end of the TB that is under the floor board.  You have to look inside  the back of the socket to find a wire C-clip thingy.  Pull that C-clip out (it might be a good idea to get a pair of new ones in case the old one breaks when it comes out ) then you will have to find a way to move the TB towards the read of the car (it only has to move about one inch till it will fall out of the LCA socket close to where my finger was.)   This may be a bear because 40 years of rust, dirt, etc may have jammed the TB in the socket.  There is a special tool for this but it can be pretty expensive.  Whatever you do don't try to grip the TB with something with metal teeth like vice grips etc.   Nicks in the TB metal become defects that can allow the TB to break.   Once the TB is out of the socket push the adjusting blade down so you can get the TB back into its socket.  Re-install the C-clip, put the car back on it's tires and use the adjuster to set the front end ride height.  Ride on!

[1974dodgecharger]

also wrong bars?  BB and RB blocks had thicker bars vs SB?  All that extra weight of the 383 over 318 could of done that also.

[Jasonzgenerallee]

Thank you for all the great replies, I have g had a chance to fix t yet, but I did try to adjust those bra once, bout a year ago, front end never raised up, I thought maybe the bolts were stripped or something, but if I have to take out the tb bars I should replace them with bigger ones, how would I know if the control arms or the adjusting bolts are ok? I guess if the bolts back out there not stripped,

[fy469rtse]

You will have seperate bottom ball joints , Jason those bottom arms need to be hanging almost straight Down hanging towards the ground, have those torsion adjuster back all the way out , reinstall torsion bars back in,
Even without the tensioners done up you will have to jack bottom arms up to connect ball joint to stub axle ,
Then do those tensioners up app half way and sit car back on its wheels and see where it sits , it might need more
Do you follow , those bits you were saying were hitting your frame , they put more twist in torsion bars , this is the cars front springs , and sets ride height
In your first photo they were completely undone , bars in wrong

[green69rt]

Thank you for all the great replies, I have g had a chance to fix t yet, but I did try to adjust those bra once, bout a year ago, front end never raised up, I thought maybe the bolts were stripped or something, but if I have to take out the tb bars I should replace them with bigger ones, how would I know if the control arms or the adjusting bolts are ok? I guess if the bolts back out there not stripped,

The bolts can strip because over the years rust eats away at the threads.  Rust also makes it harder to adjust.  If you do end up with new TBs you might think about replacing the adjuster blocks and bolts at the same time.

Here's one shop that has them all.  http://www.firmfeel.com/b_body_mopar_torsion_bars.html