Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

i keep hitting my front steps hard in the water bars/cross ditches. i went to wind the torsion bars only to discover they're within 3/8" of the frame. the suspension parts otherwise are all pretty new. glenn at ccauto said all the shocks and bushings are good (actually he said its the nicest delica he's ever seen ) perhaps only the torsion bars themselves need to be replaced ?
bcdelica's vans are both a higher than mine in the front
your thoughts?

Since you asked, torsion bars can be re-indexed.

since you answered could you elaborate?

Email sent. I can take pictures of your torsion bar work for everybody.

oh, cool, so you'll be there to help

how about upgrade them? thats what i am working on doing. it'll cost about $500 (mostly shipping costs) but you'll get beefier torsion bars that can actually handle the weight. I just figure it makes logical sense to bite the bullet and buy beefier ones seeing as how they all begin to sag eventually. That would fixe things properly, rather than a band aid solution.

Josh

josh wrote:how about upgrade them? thats what i am working on doing. it'll cost about $500 (mostly shipping costs) but you'll get beefier torsion bars that can actually handle the weight. I just figure it makes logical sense to bite the bullet and buy beefier ones seeing as how they all begin to sag eventually. That would fixe things properly, rather than a band aid solution.

Josh

hmm now youve got me thinking! are your new ones coming from japan?
i kinda promised myself not to upgrade till fall, in order to allow myself a little recovery from the initial investment. although ive only spent about $7000 to date, so im doing okay
do you really consider reindexing a bandaid? i guess what im asking then is do reindexed torsion bars sag again much faster than brand new ones?

after oil wrote:i guess what im asking then is do reindexed torsion bars sag again much faster than brand new ones?

Yes. New torsion bars should be heavier duty, then add some ball joint spacers for serious water bar clearance.

For what it's worth, I'm planning new torsion bars before next winter. I've spoken to Japanoid. They don't stock them, but they can get them.

There are lots of pictures of Gumdrop around here, and you can see classic saggy Delica torsion bars. I've crawled underneath and had a look and there isn't much travel left on the adjusters. Personally, I favour new torsion bars; if I'm going to take an otherwise-good front end that far apart, I might as well do it right, and not have to worry about it for another 15 years.

...laura

I agree that new beefier torsion bars is the best solution but re-indexing is a very easy undertaking and viable solution. Simply undo the adjusters all the way slide the end off the spline rotate counter clockwise a couple splines and re-assemble (then get an alignment). If you have decent shocks then I think you can expect this solution to work for a decent amount of time with out to much noticeable sag depending on how and where you drive. Don't forget to check, and adjust, your upper bump stop if you plan on raising the front anymore than level.

Andy

Just following on from Andy's post - before you slide the adjuster off the torsion bar, put a mark on both parts (adjuster & torsion bar) first so that you know where it was and how much you've turned it.

It's a badly illustrated image, but hopefully gives the idea?



The reason for doing this is simple>> If the adjuster is tight/stiff, you might end up with it popping off the torsion bar after struggling with it for a bit and before you know it you can't remember where you were or how far you need to turn it. Having the mark gives you a reference point.

Turning the adjuster by 1 spline can often be enough - 2 splines if the front is really low and there isn't much left on the adjuster.

A side note: Andy mentions rotating it counter clockwise...this is on the drivers side. The pasengers side is done clockwise.

asorensen wrote:I agree that new beefier torsion bars is the best solution but re-indexing is a very easy undertaking and viable solution. Simply undo the adjusters all the way slide the end off the spline rotate counter clockwise a couple splines and re-assemble (then get an alignment). If you have decent shocks then I think you can expect this solution to work for a decent amount of time with out to much noticeable sag depending on how and where you drive. Don't forget to check, and adjust, your upper bump stop if you plan on raising the front anymore than level.

Andy

well, i guess it does sound pretty simple. i hope i can get to it this week. i thought it was gonna be done already so i made an appt for an alignment. i might just break down and pay a few more bucks for the shop to do it. seems like it should take a shop too long, an hour only i would hope.
thanks for all the tips.

ill order new torsion bars soon enough!

after oil

the mechanic was wrong! i wound 'em up 1 1/2" to 19 3/4" from center of wheel arch(outside) to center of hub.
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NOW they are wound all the way!
thanks for all the tips folks, and speaking of tips:


bruce, instead of "tippex" in canada (BC anyway) they say "white out" and down in texas they say liquid paper. the inventor of liquid paper bettie nesmith is from texas, and her son is michael nesmith, the monkee! and even funnier is i didnt have to look that up!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_Paper but i did anyway just to confirm

michael nesmith is the one with the toque... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuque

after oil wrote:the mechanic was wrong! i wound 'em up 1 1/2" to 19 3/4" from center of wheel arch(outside) to center of hub.

Are you missing a number there? Does this mean bring on the water bars!!

BCDelica wrote:

after oil wrote:the mechanic was wrong! i wound 'em up 1 1/2" to 19 3/4" from center of wheel arch(outside) to center of hub.

Are you missing a number there? Does this mean bring on the water bars!!

i wound 'em up 1 1/2" so now the wheel arch is 19 3/4" from centre of hub.

and yes! bring em on!