Is it supposed to be this hard?!

Do make sure that you have the arms at the correct angle when you try to reinstall them....because the leaves when in proper allignment make a sort of fat "+" sign with steps in it, execpt that one of the "lines" on the + is longer than the other one. I don't know if that makes any sense....also, you have to push the arms in perfectly straight. They are not a press fit, and should slide right in. If you are not pushing them in straight, they hit the edges of the bearings inside the tube in which they rotate. This will make it seem like you're having trouble getting the leaves inside the arm.

Make sure when you think you have it on that the leaves are all inside it properly...there are caps on the end of each arm that you can pry off that will show the ends of the leaves...make sure you didn't push one leave in because it wasn't lining up, and in turn pushed another one out the other side. Do NOT use force or hammer blows to get it in...it should slide right in. Removing them may have required force, but reinstalling should not.

Good luck! And yes, RAMVA does rock.

Steve wrote:

Did a similar thing a couple of weeks ago. I zip tied the torsion springs together before I pulled them out of the old torsion bar. Making sure they stayed in place seemed to be a beeeaaatch so figured that was the way to go and it worked great.

Maybe you can put them together outside of the torsion bar and zip tie them together? Also close the garage door because you may not have cursed enough :)

Remco

Thanks for the replies. It's about 12 degrees F in the garage right now, so I'll wait till tomorrow to see what I can accomplish...

~Steve

I didn't know that there were garages in north pole with beetles inside ;-

Joao

Ok. Found out that it is not the torsion leaves that are impeding the progress of the arms. The leaves are lining up perfectly once pushed inside the arm and have no choice but to slide in place since the inside of the arm is tapered to guide them into the bracket. However, the torsion arm seems to be catching on something inside the tube. I assume it is another bearing that is set about 8 or 9 inches inside. The diameter of the new arms are exactly the same as the ones I pulled out, but try as I might, they won't go in. The leaves themselves are deflecting diagionally to the front and downwards in the tubes and I have to pry them up towards the center of the tube to even begin installing the arms. Normal? Seems this would make it impossible to line up the arm if it is being forced off center. Thoughts?

~Steve

Could it be that the springs are not aligned correctly? Like Anthony mentioned, they are supposed to look like a plus sign of sorts. I sorted through my pictures and this one gives you an idea what Anthony was talking about:

Notice how the top and bottom of the springs are not as wide, making a plus sign (sort of)?

That + aligns on mine aligns with my adjusters welded in on the middle my new beam. I didn't look on the inside of my torsion arm, but maybe it has a + socket there as well? (in other words, maybe you have to turn the torsion arm a little it to make it slip in?)

I swapped mine by taking them out of my old beam and slipping them into my new beam. I wonder what would happen if you put them in upside down.. Maybe then the arm won't fit on correctly because that + sign is not lined up? Just guessing on that one, though. Maybe some of the gurus know for sure.

Thanks for the pic. The leaves are all aligned perfectly and are not the problem. They slide right in and then the arm stops about 2 inches short and no amount of wiggling or turning will persuade it to go further. Maybe I am just missing something. Somebody got them in there originally. Maybe something is bent?

~Steve

Hey finally read your problem. When I fit the torsion arms into my Beck Spyder, I had to push in the larger leaves in first and then fit the smaller leaves in one at a time. Believe it or not this worked very well. I had little luck placing them in as an assembly.

Joe

I've heard of taping the bunch together with masking tape. leaving the tape in there forever. it will soon dry up and deteriorate.

Jan

Steve,

Have a look at my pics here - will show you whats inside.

If you haven't already, try the arm without inserting the leaves first.

With regard to the torsion bars - in the factory some bars were "tack" welded across the leaves, to aid assembly.

Grahame from Australia

Very interesting, Grahame - Thank you.

How did you cut it open so beautifully? Strapped it to a Bridgeport mill or something like that?

Damn Grahame, I looked all over for your site yesterday to point him there. I shall book mark on the new computer now. Excellent "inside pics" !!! ( the link didn't work " as is" on my comp. Had to ad a bit to the link and make it html, instead of htm. ( firefox for ya )

Remove "YOURPANTIES" to reply

MUADIB®

The Peacemaking Meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict.

Yeah there are two bearings inside that torsion tube for the arm to ride on. When I installed mine I experience the same problem you're having, but not to the same extent. You just have to make sure you get the torsion arm centered winith the tube as you push it in. Since you're hanging up at the end, you might need to muscle it around a little to do this since the springs might be deflecting it. Other than that I really don't know what the problem might be -- when you pulled the old ones out nothing unusual happened, correct? You haven't been using force or blows trying to put the new ones in, correct?

Good luck

Happy Thanksgiving all. Thanks for the info and picks. I'll try pulling the leaves out and see if the arms will fit w/o them. Come to think of it, It was a beeotch to pull a couple of them out too. Maybe it has been through some big bumps in a previous life and stuff isn't lining up? We'll see. I work in the restaurant business so around the holidays I am busier than usual so it'll have to wait. :)

~Steve

Oh wierd. I'm showing up as a different person. I'm on my friend's laptop. Oops.

~Steve

With a 9" cutting disc ..................very carefully!!!!

Wow, are you a brain surgeon IRL? You certainly are surgical with a cutting disk!!

Thanks again. Remco