Some guy started talking to me about my Valiant at the 711, and he asked me if I ever had a problem with the torsion bars snapping in half. He said he has a Dart and that's what happened. I thought he might've meant the mounts rusted out and they spun free, but he insisted they snapped in half. I told him unless he did a Dukes of Hazzard style jump with the car, I can't see how that's possible. Anyone know?

I've seen pictures and seen posts about it. One or two on here and a few on moparts.com so you may want to search there for pictures

Torsion bars are springs, and just like any ordinary spring they can fatigue and break.

If they were dammaged from something hitting them, if they get knicked (especially from an improper tool trying to remove them) this creates a stress point on them and increases their chance of them breaking at that point.

I have personally seen one broken one. It was in an early '70's C body.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Yeah, it's not super common, but it can happen.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I've seen one broken from a Porche where rust had put several deep pits in the bar. The crack started at one of the pits. Porsches may be a bit more vulnerable to this since many encase their torsion bars in rubber, which keeps water in. But any nick or rust pit can be the start of a crack.

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

I had one snap right in the middle of my 75 duster, drivers side. I have no explaination for why it was like that, it was my dads car before me, and we drove eveywhere together in it, and he never jumped it or was to aggressive with it.

I always thought it was a fluke myself.

A fellow I know years ago had his brand new Mopar up on the rack at the dealership for its 1st oil change, and one of the torsion bars broke right then and there. The dealership replace it of course, and attributed it to a flaw, and no other damage was done.

I myself have seen about a dozen from driving tow truck for about 5 years in the past. It happens even when they are brand new, I was next to a new chebby 4x4 when one let go from front to back it splintered and blew apart the tire and a couple of other parts. It's already loaded looking for something to hit.

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married with more children than cars