a/m torsion bar ID

Is there a way to identify what brand torsion bar is in the car without disassembly? I have a 71 challenger that has a large diameter set that are powder coated white. Nice handling at speed on a smooth highway, but will rattle your fillings out on a rough patch.

They may have come from the old company California Moparts... California Suspension. I had a few different size sets of TBs from them and, if I remember going back into the mid-1980s, they were all white powder coated... my current 1.24" from them are white powder coated.

This company was ahead of its times and unfortunately couldn't survive back then... out-of-business by about 1990. They actually raced oval track events with Mopars.

Too harsh shocks (for the purpose) can ruin a ride-quality at slower speeds.

That is probably it. They were installed in the car when I bought it in 1994. Thanks for the reply.

Any particular brand or valve rate to use with the bigger torsion bars that you recommend?

I have an A-body with 1.06 Torsion bars and the Hotchkis/Fox Shocks ride really nice (I have the non-adjustable set)

I'm really happy with the RCD Bilstein's in my Barracuda with 1.12 bars and MP XHD springs (from the late 80's, USA made). Before the Bilstiens, I had KYB's and the ride SUCKED worse after I put the big bars in.

That's why I'm still glad I went for the adjustable shocks on my daily driver ('73 Dart). Hotchkis upfront and QA1 ones at the rear.

Eventough the car still has 'just' 1" bars front, the car does have 7 leafblades per side at the rear.

I've been able to tune the workings of the shocks much to my liking.
I even feel I can tune for what I think is wear inside the shocks, as I've been slowly increasing the stiffness of the Hotchkis shocks every so many months now.