Torsion bar bolts

[Deuceswild]

Hey. 
wondering if someone can tell me the size - length of the rear torsion bar bolts

mine have been cut off with grinder at some point by looks of it. 
i want to adjust bars down a bit to lower the front end

thus I want to replace the bolts before I start messing with it. 
 

also wondering if there is a estimate of how much adjusting they need for about 2” front end lower

 

1978 kc

 

any help would be great

 

many thanks in advance

 

 

 

[datzenmike]

 

Take one of the lock nuts off and take into Fastenal or home depot or w/e and get a bolt that will screw into it. They look to be about 8 1/2" long. If yours are near that long and nearly out of adjusting range for lowering, the torsion bars may have been indexed.

 

No way to answer what's needed to get to 2". As you will be replacing them you'll be tightening them. Just stop when both bolts are even, let the truck down and look. You will have messed up the toe in alignment any time the vehicle is raised or lowered.

 

 

Is there still a drag strip in Deseronto?

[Deuceswild]

Ok. 
thanks for the help Mike

 

so I have it right

 

to lower —tighten the bars

and to raise—-loosen them right ????
 

how do I tell if they have been indexed ?

I’ve had this truck for years but wanna lower it now just a bit now that I have some different wheels and tires

 

and no the Deseronto drag strip is long gone

 

all our drag racing happens at Shannonville Motorsport Park

that’s where I used to race my 78 kc — trying to just get it back on the streets now

SMP is not far from the old deseronto drag strip though

 

im guessing you were from the east at one point ?

did you race at deseronto ??

if you did any chance you remember at 72 datsun 620 with a SBC 327 ??

[datzenmike]

Loosen them and it will come down. How long are they? They're probably ok for length.

 

 

I had heard about Deseronto as a kid (and later Shannonville) but only went to Cayuga a couple of times in the late '60s to watch. Saw my first under 7 second AA/F. Now cars do this all the time. When I got my new '70 340 I did race at Toronto International Dragway a few times in '71. Got a 14.20.

[Deuceswild]

Ok. Got it. 
thanks

 

my bolts are about 5” long 

and only have about 3/4” of adjustment to loosen. 
 

so ill get some longer ones then start adjusting. 

 

i only raced at cayuga once. 
nice track but i liked others better. 

 

best i have run in my truck is 11.2 

should be a bit faster now a few upgrades since at the track. 
But never fast enuff !!

 

i was gonna put a few pics on. But not sure how to. 
haha
 

[banzai510(hainz)]

Why would some one need to cut the bolts?

 

i think I got 3 in on my 521 with the stock length bolts. Just ran the bolt out till the jam nut was on the edge of the threads

[wayno]

I think you need the complete story here before you go out and buy stuff, you see when you lower a Datsun truck with torsion bars you loosen the nuts, but at some point the arm of the torsion bar gets below the cross member and you do not want that as if you bottom out and hit the arms it will bend them and possibly have no front suspension at all anymore, so what you need to do then is remove the nuts/bolts and re-index the torsion bars a tooth or two(mark where they were as you want both to be the same), driverside counter clockwise I believe, pass side clockwise I believe and then you put the bolts/nuts back into position and tighten them up, then the arms will not hang down below the cross member anymore when you have the proper height you are looking for, and if you actually have a shorter bolt it will not matter.

Edited May 3, 2020 by wayno

[Deuceswild]

Im not sure 

why, when, or who cut them. 
but they have been cut off with a grinder by looks of it. 
 

ill try loosening bolts see if get enuff change in ride hight 

if not ill measure them, and mark then take out the old cut bolts. 
readjust it if the arms of torsion bar are not too low ill stick with it. 
Otherwise ill index them i guess. 
 

thanks for all the information on this 

 

[datzenmike]

 

This is what happens if you lower too far. The anchors become the lowest part of the truck.

 

As wayno said the bars can be pulled out of their spline at the front and turned and put back in so that they are up out of the way.