Hladun1

My left front torsion bar failed yesterday (tow home). My car is stock, but the fender dropped onto tire and scrapped the outer edge. If this had happened at speed I would probably be dead now.

It seems the right stock (19mm) torsion bars are NLA and I’d like to change both. Has anyone used a left bar on the right side? Does anyone have a technical answer as to why there are left and right bars and why they might not be interchangeable?

Also, I have Bilstein struts in front (installed by PO) but they have no bump stops. Bump stops should prevent the front from dropping onto the wheel. Do Bilsteins normally come without stops? The parts diagrams show that Boges do have bump stops.

rusnak

Wow, that's serious. Since you are changing both, don't sweat it, just get both.

The_Dolphin

i have the (2) front torsion bar from a 911 86 , if you need them, let me know.

Ed Hughes

You definitely want to do these in pairs. I don't believe the Boge bump stops wouldn't have held the car up. Be sure and grease the new bars up good to protect from rust.

911tracker85

glad you are OK.

I had a similar situation a few years ago with my '85 911. attending a DE, on Sat the car was not handling right. suspecting out of alignment. that night coming out of the restaurant parking lot ... BANG.

left rear Tbar snapped. upon removal it appears it had cracked before breaking, explaining the handling issue. no rust so no clear reason for the failure other than metal fatigue. I have been toold this is extremely rare except when water gets in and rust develops.

my first thought was what would have happened if this broke when standing on the brakes from >120 at the end of the straight and taking right handed turn 1 at speed.

I used this as an opportunity to replace all with 22/29 Tbars.

tvanbroekhoven

I have replaced my stock front TB's with 21mm and rears with 26mm (Turbo), furthermore I have installed Polybronze front bushings and Neatrix (rubber) rears. While I was in there (dangerous disease) I also installed Carrera swaybars. I'm very happy with the result as you can see in this video :-). (It's the Ruby Red SC)

Fast forward to 2 minutes. :-)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDZD4Lxj6lg

theiceman

looks to me like you were holding up the field

Hladun1

Lovely, but what has this to do with my questions? Please don't hijack my thread.

race911

Were you thinking there were no bump stops because you couldn't see them? Or you took the damper out of the strut tube, and didn't find any bump stops on the shaft? (Remember, the damper is in upside down, compared to conventional, on a OE 911 Bilstein strut.)

Hladun1

Took the top apart and there are no stops. Did not take damper out of strut tube. The fact that car fell down on the tire caused me concern.

rusnak

I recently replaced the strut cartridges on my front suspension, and the new Bilsteins came with bump stops, but the originals did not.
As Ed points out, I doubt those little rubber snubbers would have held the car up. They are only there as a bump override, and do not have anything near the strength of the torsion bar. They only work in conjunction with the torsion bar.

If you are dead stuck on 19mm, then you can try the wrecking yards. I doubt I'd buy used torsion bars, but ......

tvanbroekhoven

Wasn't my intention, but since you have to do suspension work I just wanted to show you that my setup results in a pretty good ride (almost no body roll and still pretty driveable on the street).

Ed Hughes

That was my thought exactly-I'd have been a little PO'd not to get a wave by. That's called pulling a train.

Hladun1

Well there it is! Now it's a debate about whether tvanbroekhoven is a crappy driver.

Thanks to those who really helped. For those people... I've found that the bars are apparently pre-stressed so there are right and left and Bilsteins do not have bump stops. Thanks again.

theiceman

Deep Breath Hladun, we were just hazing hima little for Hijacking the thread ... Glad you got it sorted. PS I heard the bump stops were built inside the shock on the Bilstein.