THE TORSION BAR

When I removed the engine I was aware that the Torsion Bar leaver had some end float but left it to be sorted another day.  I tried to buy a spacer washer from Scooter Surgery but they had none in stock so I would just have to make one. 

The washer ( item 21) fits between the torsion bar arm and the casting for the torsion bar mounting in the frame and is covered by a dust cover (item 22).  The lips of the dust cover fit into groves in the end of the torsion bar arm and the torsion bar mounting.

My first attempt turned out to be too thick, I had measured the float but not taken account of the  space between the lips of the seal and the washers fitted at the ends of the torsion bar (item24).  This meant that the seal kept trying to pop off the groves in the castings.  The second attempt was better using thinner material.

The dimensions of my spacing washer :-

Internal diameter :        42.0mm

External diameter:        54.0mm

Thickness:                    1.5mm

Material :                      mild steel







I had avoided the potential problem of refitting the torsion bar by not actually removing it from the frame casting.  There is a cunning plan built into the splines on the ends of the torsion bar itself.  The number of splines on each end of the bar are different.  This enables the position of the torsion bar arm to finely adjusted which in turn alters the ride height.  I guess there are instructions on how to do this but really didn't want to tackle this at the moment.  With the frame end of the bar in its original position there wasn't a sensible option as to where the arm had to be fitted, it would have been either too far forward or too far back.

The washer sits on a flange turned onto the end of the torsion bar frame casting.  Mine was covered in paint and it was necessarily to carefully this paint away to expose the flange.  After having cleaned and inspected the bearing surfaces and checked that grease was actually getting into the bearing it was time for reassembly. 

The dust cover is a tight fit on the castings and had to be pushed up onto the frame casting to enable the spacing washer to be fitted and the torsion bar arm pushed fully home.  Once the circlips are in place the dust cover could be eased back so the lips fitted into the groves in the castings.

I think it's now time to refit the engine.