April 23, 201510 yr Hi fellas, I have encountered an issue with my '79 4WD wagon where I can't load up any passengers or weight in the back without the rear end of the car sitting down almost all the way onto the tires. I assume this is a failure of the rear torsion bar but sourcing and replacing such a part is probably a hopeless endeavor. I've brought the car to a couple specialty shops to no avail as far as finding a solution to this problem. Does anyone have any ideas, creative or otherwise? I'd really like to be able to use my car as intended...
April 23, 201510 yr I have been looking for parts/cars here in the northeast and they are definitely getting scarce. Probably could find a new torsion tube at a junkyard in WA state or CA, but shipping would be expensive. If for some reason you decide to sell the car, please keep me in mind, I'm not too far from Boonton. I currently own a 76 4wd wagon from california
April 23, 201510 yr What did the shops tell you? Having more data would be helpful. Try another shop and insist they show you the problem. It should be somewhat obvious when it's in the air. Or jack it up at home and have a look.
April 23, 201510 yr Author Scooner: Yup, I have put new shocks in. Unfortunately, it seems like they're doing all the weight bearing and the torsion bar is doing nothing. Gris: Here's what I've gathered so far... The issue is that when looking into putting in a coilover or air shock (something load bearing) in place of the standard shocks, there is not a lot of space. The other issue is that the top of the shock mount is just a hole in the sheet metal in the wheel well, which could become problematic if it goes unsupported. Because finding a replacement torsion bar is difficult and the process of installing one is pretty involved, I've been looking into alternatives I guess. Edited April 23, 201510 yr by j-karr
April 24, 201510 yr Hi fellas, I have encountered an issue with my '79 4WD wagon where I can't load up any passengers or weight in the back without the rear end of the car sitting down almost all the way onto the tires. I assume this is a failure of the rear torsion bar but sourcing and replacing such a part is probably a hopeless endeavor. I've brought the car to a couple specialty shops to no avail as far as finding a solution to this problem. Does anyone have any ideas, creative or otherwise? I'd really like to be able to use my car as intended... It sounds like you have something broken or rusted out, my 79 SW hauls weight fine.
April 25, 201510 yr I know that a stop-gap measure to keep from having to reindex the torsion bars on a VW Beetle is to buy some air adjustable Gabriel shocks. Being that there isn't much structure on the top shock mount, as you said, might eliminate this option though.
May 8, 201510 yr The service manual tells how to adjust the ride-height, I imagine your torsion bars are tired, you may be able to 'reindex' them and get our ride height back. My 78 4WD Wagon sat with a few hundred pounds of parts in it for almost 20 years, and it took a few days sitting there once unloaded for the ride height to come back to normal
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