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yorkshirekowboy

Helicoiling Torsion Bar

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yorkshirekowboy

hello,

 

not so long ago i bought x2 torsion bars for my 309 beam from ebay, but the end that sits iht the arm with the washer and torx, the threads are damaged. how easy is it doing as i heard it couldnt be done by hand?

 

sorry if there is already a topic on this, had a look but couldnt find anything.

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Tom Fenton

Try tapping it out, I had a go drilling one out to tap it M10 and struggled.

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marksorrento205

I drilled and tapped my chopped off gti6 arb. Like tom said they are hard but I started with a small drill and went up a mm at a time and it was ok. Dont see any reason why you could not helicoil it.

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yorkshirekowboy
I drilled and tapped my chopped off gti6 arb. Like tom said they are hard but I started with a small drill and went up a mm at a time and it was ok. Dont see any reason why you could not helicoil it.

 

 

well there are some threads there, but they look abit iffey, so i will try and re tap it to 8mm, so maybe it will clean the threads up, see how it goes. any tips? the tap seems to go in at a angle using the old threads so maybe its slighty out.

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Rom

If its damaged, it can be hard to get the tap in perfectly straight, as it wants to follow the damage, rather than the original threads.

Not sure what there made of exactly, but there hard, as said. If you cant repair it, cant see what harm a helicoil would do, providing you can drill it out enough.

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johny105_y2k

i'd try running the original size tap down 1stly if its only part damaged. you might get away with it if your lucky

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pug_ham
well there are some threads there, but they look abit iffey, so i will try and re tap it to 8mm, so maybe it will clean the threads up, see how it goes. any tips? the tap seems to go in at a angle using the old threads so maybe its slighty out.

If the threads are damaged & stopping the tap starting straight then you need something to hold the bar & tap in perfect straight alignment so you don't cross the threads or snap the tap winding it in.

 

Best is in a lathe so you can fit the torsion bar in the chuck & the tap in a drill attachment on the lathe bed & wind the tap in gentley by hand or if thats impossible a pillar drill & vice with the bar held solidly perfectly vertical & the tap in the drill chuck.

 

Either method isn't going to be easy though.

 

Graham.

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yorkshirekowboy
i'd try running the original size tap down 1stly if its only part damaged. you might get away with it if your lucky

 

 

well i tapped it to 8mm 1.25 pitch and it did it ok. it is slightly at a angle but i cant see that this will matter, also the screw is a tad wobberly in the thread, but tighens up ok thou, well it does me holding the bar and tightening so fingers crossed, when in the splines of arm it will tighten. :D does the torx stud need to be very tight with the off centre washer?

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pug_ham
does the torx stud need to be very tight with the off centre washer?

No, whatever you feel safe with. I tighten mine with a Torx allen key so I've only got about 4" of leverage to tighten them with but they've never worked loose at that.

 

Just don't get it as tight as you can, it doesn't take long for the Torx bolts to fill up with road crud so if you want it to come apart again just set it nice & tight but not FT.

 

Graham.

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marksorrento205

As graham said they soon get full of crap. I put mine in with a large helping of nickle neverseize and nip them up.

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Rom

I never do mine up overly tight.

The ones that cause me the most trouble though is those bolts, with a fixed washer in the centre, flat in one end, and a 13mm nut that goes on.

The flats always brake off for me :rolleyes: Even 6 months after rebuilding my beam i broke one.

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welshpug

I would be tempted to replace the bolt with a longer one if possible :rolleyes:

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pug_ham
I would be tempted to replace the bolt with a longer one if possible :)

Why?

 

Its not the length of the bolt that causes the problem with getting them undone again if needed & TBH I used some normal M8 allen headed bolts on my 309 beam when I rebuilt it but swapped back to the torx headed ones when I swapped to ZX trailing arms because they were worse for rounding off than a Torx one.

 

Graham.

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welshpug

because of the damaged threads not the type of head.

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pug_ham
because of the damaged threads not the type of head.

OK, fair enough.

 

TBH the thread doesn't sound that damaged & the torx bolt is threaded as fully into the torsion bar as it can go except for the width between the end of the coutersink in the washer & the bar end so I don't think its really needed.

 

To replace it though would more than likely mean using a different type of bolt head anyway though.

 

Graham.

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