That was definitely a bad day for my parking neighbor and his Nissan Terrano II, which in general proved to be a very reliable and dependable little SUV. Well, it happens…
CC Outtake: Torsion Bar Gone Bad
– Posted on August 31, 2018
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Curbside Classics Archives
Looks like Russia is just as nuts for SUVs and crossovers as the US is. Almost every vehicle in the background of your photos is a two-box design of some sort.
Indeed, and I think for a very good reason. Slightly higher ground clearance, more robust suspension and even rudimentary 4×4 capability really make a difference during winter. Proven to me by my Volvo XC70 (the one in the pictures, actually) – not really a crossover, just a lifted-up wagon with AWD.
During the last 10 year or so, 4-door sedans & hatches have become somewhat of a rarity, mostly bought by the conservative buyers with limited budgets and taxicab fleets (recently LADA made an attempt at reviving the 4-dr sedan body style by introducing the CrossSedan; we’ll see about that). As of now, body-on-frame SUVs are somewhat passe, just as everywhere else (but the Land Cruser and the G-Klasse still have a huge fanbase), but the crossovers are all the rage.
Interestingly the front clip was for the Ford Maverick in the UK.
I’ve attached a photo of the contemporary Nissan for comparison
I had weak torsion bars on a VW Beetle. I turned them 1 spline and that fixed it them for a few weeks. Then one of them broke. Picked up some from the junk yard and I was right back where I started.
We had a torsion bar failure on the company “airport bus”, a VW Caravelle. Fortunately it was only doing 40mph at the time, and the driver managed to bring it home in one piece.
I’ve seen leaf springs fail, and I know European-made coil springs are notoriously unreliable, but I didn’t think torsion bar failure was common.
Speaking of Russian SUVs, ever wonder how the ZIS Packard style would look on a 4WD SUV?
Wonder no longer!
http://englishrussia.com/2018/08/30/proto-bread-loaf-vans-of-ussr/
There’s some cool stuff on that site!
http://englishrussia.com/2018/08/14/vintage-soviet-off-road-car-m-73-ukrainets-8-photo/
The ZIS-110P. I actually saw it with my own eyes in the ZIL museum near VDNKh, Moscow.
That happened on my Mercedes clk ; it was the offside Drivers spring perch. I drove it home slowly with the tyre rubbing the wheelarch on the corners, and then drove it to the garage. A new metal perch was £35 , and the welding ( both sides as the other perch was rusting, but ok. He put a plate on it. ) came to £150. Job done! You cant see the weld joint rusting as its painted with mastic – alls well until its too late ( the car is 18 years old now anyway so its lasted well ). Just passed its Mot ( road fitness test) for another year, so itll get to 19 years old lol.
Spring perch rusting is suuuuuper common on first gen CLKs and similar year E Classes.
Makes a contrast to “up on three wheels”
Seen it happen with aftermarket bars on 911s. The OE bars had excellent metallurgy and many cars are still are on the same bars they left the factory with.