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On 14 Mar 2004 at 23:14, BOB2TYPE3S@aol.com wrote: > Jim wrote: > >Maybe it has to do with the fact that an accurate reading requires that you > >apply enough torque to the torsion bar to seat the splines all the way in > the > >loaded direction. > > Well, I didn't put any kind of load on the trailing arm. By seating it, I > mean that the trailing arm was installed all the way back on the torsion bar (in > the grub screw location). It still had no load, as was essentially free > standing, just like it was when I removed it. You and I are talking about different kinds of "seating." You MUST push it in the direction that the car's weight would push it to get a meaningful reading. Otherwise you'll be on the wrong side of the "slop" that's in the splines. If you just let it hang there while you take the reading, gravity will pull the arm down, so that the splines will be seated (rotationally) against the wrong faces. > Well, according to Bentley, it's possible to fine tune either side of the car > by using both inner and outer spline changes. This kinda tells me that the > factory didn't really preload the bar until they were ready to actually support > the car. What I mean by that is you can just basically throw the bar in place, > then set the lower trailing arm to whatever the required angle is supposed to > be and go from there. I think the Bentley mentions pushing upwards somewhat, but I'll have to look at the manual to get the specifics. You're certainly right that this "preload" is nothing close to the weight of the car, just enough to seat the splines in the right direction. Then you take the measurement and adjust it as you say. If you didn't do this, then I think that pretty much explains your results. It probably also means that your car rides a bit lower than you expected it to. Doing it this way was still probably adequate to get both sides to ride equally, however. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org