Lowering torsion bar suspension

[Vintage Grumble]

Sup? I have a van, with torsion bar suspension, and am looking to lower it. Something I cant decide is whether or not the suspension will get softer the lower I go? Will the spring rate change as I unwind the bars? Im not sure it will as the weight on the bars wont change, but does it take more tension to hold that same weight up higher? I jacked up a surf I had once by cranking the bars rite up, and im sure it made it way stiffer, so im assuming it will do the reverse when the bars are backed off?

[escortwags]

100% gets harder as the shocks are lower and closer to bump out

if you want to do it properly get some drop spindles goes down yet keeps full travel

[escorted]

As you suggest unwind the bars and it lowers itself. But it will make it hard as a rock. Jaguar XKs had them

[slayer00]

I had a peaugeot 309 gti that a had torsion bars in the rear and when i lowered it, it was really hard and bumpy

[Vintage Grumble]

I dont quite understand how it gets harder the lower you go? Can someone explain? I would have thought that the lower it was, the less tension there was on the bars, the softer it would be? Or has it got something to do with the shocks being more compressed making them harder? Im sure my surf got harder as it got higher?

[Steelies]

may have meant hard as in the ride is hard and bumpy cos youre on the bumpstops/bottomed out shocks, as opposed to a harder spring rate

[ManWithBeard]

I would have thought that the tension on the bar remains the same as you're not twisting it, just moving where it joins the trailing arm.

I did it to the 205 with little effect to travel, only when it loads up (people in the back) does the ride get really hard.

[Vintage Grumble]

Thats what I would have thought, your not changing the spring rate as all the forces and weights stay the same, your just more likely to bottom out. Oh well, i'll drop it down and see what happens. Cheers.

[drftnmaz]

most sytems with torsion bars dont have alot of travel, like 35mm bumpstop clearance (which equates to alot more wheel travel) so when you wind it down even a little you normally just end up riding on or hitting the stops regulary

drop spindles is the only way to go for good handling when dropping a van/ute with torsion bars, there is one other option that i would normally do but requires quite abit of mucking around and usally machining, and that is to goto p-a-p and find another van with a different spindle that is offset higher and make that fit, normally works best for fitting van spindles to a ute, mine got a massive drop from it but was alot of messing around and prob fuks all your front end geometry