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This is good news. Thank you. Now with all the rods and bars under the front. Which am I looking for? Im new and have not work on a car sense 1977 and it was a Chevy.
The torsion tubes are the two bars than run across the front end, between the uprights/shock mounts.
Remove the trailing arms from one front side of the torsion tubes. The trailing arms are the two bars shown n each side, angling off the torsion tubes:
Inside your torsion tubes you will see ends of these:
The most common “softening” mod is to remove the small bars and leave the wide ones.
PMOSSBERG2013-10-05 19:09:46
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Great series of front suspension photos in this thread over on The Samba:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=491123
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Thank you so much. What a great site this is. That fixes the ride now I’ve got to fix the driver side tire from rubbing the fender.
Just throwing this one in for fun.
It is likely your front end will not be as pristine as the ones in the prior pictures. Most of ’em will look like this.
On a more serious note, this crusty front end does show the torsion bars sticking out where one trailing arm has been removed.
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Thanks Paul. I see them. NOW.. where do I get info about my drivers tire rubbing the fender? looks like all of ya’ll want to lower your ride while I need to raise mine. At least on the left.
Not sure about the fender rub. I though that was being diagnosed/debated in another thread?
And I think it’s mentioned in this thread…the goal is usually not to lower the cars.
More often, the goal is to soften the front suspension. Then, if necessary, use the torsion tube adjusters to raise the car back to the proper ride height. The second step depends on how much weight the specific TDr puts over the front suspension. Some will still ride “normal” after the bars are removed. Others will settle down a bit and need to be raised up.
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
On the back when I ordered my new hubcaps the dealer said that I needed spacers because of the length of the hub. So I got those. I will post photos of my ride (Jennifer) when I finish with the fender. I will also let you know if moving the headlight bracket works.
Headlight bracket did not help at all. I tried all kinds of things so i’m back to square one.
Mark, I have heard of but not been witness to broken leafs in the beam. If you were to have one or more broken leaves, that side or both would sit lower and possibly cause the tire to rub.
There is a thread here with instructions and pictures as to how to remove some leaves.The procedure for replacing broken leaves would be about the same. Changing to longer shocks is not a good idea as it would severely affect the ride quality.Thanks. I’ve got a fix for now and found the fender rubbing thread and posted what I did there. Thanks to all of you for your input.
I have the trailing arm off and the nuts at the center of the tube loose. I was able to pull 2 thin leaves out but the rest are not coming. Are they stuck or is there another trick to coax them out. I have only the drivers side off.
I think (I may be wrong) I saw somewhere in one of the threads a step by step process for removing the small leaves to lower/soften the front end, but I can’t seem to find it. Can somebody steer me to it?
Sam
This may be the one:
Thanks guys. Think the clue in that thread is to back off the grub screws on the other side. The notches in the leaves that I’m looking at support this but I washed up for supper and it’ll have to wait.
Thanks. This is probably it. I’ll have to read it all the way thru, but I did note a couple of links in it that appear to have the detail I’m looking for, but when I clicked on them the message says it can’t be displayed.
Sam
I fixed the first link in the post Roy referenced above:
But here it is for your convenience…
https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mgtd-kit-car-suspensin/
PMOSSBERG2013-12-02 22:17:38
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Foxed teh second one on Ed’s front beam replacement…
Here it is:
https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/adjustable-beam-job/
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Thanks Paul. This subject seems of interest to virtually all new VW TDr owners. The link is so good, thorough, relevant and timeless, it should go in our TDr Post Hall of Fame.
With this question always showing up, how about consolidating the information and photos and placing it in the “Download Manuals” section at the left? Is that even possible?
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"I just realized there is a VW tech article section…there maybe?
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"We could do that Bill.
Would someone volunter to take all the content from the posts in the various VW suspension threads and consolidate it into one tech article?
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
I have just finished removing all but 4 large leaves from upper and lower torsion tubes. I was able to do it from 1 side, (driver???s because of how it sits in garage) and without removing the hub. You will need a platform to rest the hub on, and to disconnect the shock at the bottom. I also disconnected the upper trailing arm from the hub to pull it out but the lower arm came out while still attached. Mine had the expected 4 large leaves and 6 small in the bottom tube but 4 large 2 small and 2 as wide as large but not as thick, seemed to occupy the same volume. In the samba.com there is a reference in the kit car forum to welding pieces of the removed leaves at the ends and center so the grub screws fit into the same volume. I didn???t and hope/think it doesn???t matter. If possible pull out the excess leaves while disturbing the 4 large as little as possible. Reinserting them was more difficult than expected. A very important learning experience to pass on is: don???t start pulling leaves with the center grub screw out because the collar it goes into is not fixed in place. I had to wiggle it back and replace screw but it must be loose as well as the grub screw on the opposite side to pull leaves out. I may have disturbed my camber as I noticed score lines that don???t line up anymore but that???s another day. Hope this helps. Didn’t take any useful pictures. If you don’t have a large metric hex key set now’s the time to get one.
Mike,
I just reread your post.>> don???t start pulling leaves with the center grub screw out because the collar it goes into is not fixed in place. I had to wiggle it back and replace screw but it must be loose as well as the grub screw on the opposite side to pull leaves out. <<Does it simply slide side to side, or is it free to turn in the torsion tube? It’s supposed to be a cinched/pinched fit, I thought.Just curious… because if that collar is free to turn in the tube, you could theoretically “disable” the spring effect of one whole stack of torsion bars by loosening the center grub screw and letting that collar turn freely inside the tube…I’m not sure what else that would effect, but it theoretically would remove all spring tension — and make the stack of leaves function more like a sway bar than a torsion bar… resisting unequal force on one side or the other (i.e. twisting motion), but both sides could move freely up and down at the same time.This link has cutaway pictures inside an old kingpin/linkpin frontend, and I don’t know if ball-joint beams are different — other than the number/type of leaves used…I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen inside a ball-joint beam…KentT2014-01-14 21:42:12
Early FF TDr on 69 VW pan
Slowly coming back from the ashes...Because I was able to get it back into position fairly quickly I think it just slid to pass side a bit, but honestly I don’t know if it rotated. hope not. still on stands (and will be for a while) so don’t know about torsion loss. It does look fixed in that link but I know the sick feeling I had when I tried to put the screw back and there was no grab, as well as the relief when I wiggled it back with an awl.juneybug2014-01-15 00:55:23
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