'59 Plymouth Forum

Hi, my name is Luis, I live in Vallejo Ca. I just bought a 1959 Belvedere 2 door sedan with a 318, and 3 speed with overdrive. I want to lower the front end, I know torsion bar suspensions are adjustable, can anyone advise me on doing it?

Hi Luis, Welcome! I'm not far from you in Williams, Ca.

The torsion bar adjustment is an easy one, at the rear of each torsion bar is a mount that has a large [7/8"?] bolt. By turning the bolt counter clockwise, it will take tension off, and lower the front end. Do each side equally until you have the height where you want it. I recommend spraying penetrant on the threads of each bolt first, as the rust build up can gall the threads.

---John

Welcome Luis,

I might add to John"s comments, these bolts will turn much easier if you jack up the front end of the car to take the weight of the bars.

Tom Fox

Good advice from both Tom and John F. Also if you can and is good to have is to pick up a Factory service manual for 57-58 Plymouth's and the red 59 plymouth supplemental catalog (just covers the different stuff that 59's have over the 57/58 main manual)

Both are available on ebay all the time. I will try to find you some links to click on for you. Here is the supplement one to get.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1959-Plymouth-S ... mtrWelcome aboard!!


Here is the main 57/58 manual too on E bay.http://www.ebay.com/itm/1957-1958-Plymo ... xp=mtrJohn Q.

We do have these same manuals posted on the tech section somewhere page by page courtesy of Ron Keij.

Thanks guys for your help, I'll be posting pics. soon.

Welcome Luis, this is a great club with many knowledgeable guys waiting to help you.
Also remember when lowering or raising the front suspension the wheels should always be
Wheel aligned after you happy with the height. Whee alignment will change every time you
adjust the suspension. If you take it very low you may also need shorter shockers so they won't punch
Themselves out when your driving!

Good morning guys, so I'm looking at the back of the torsion bar, and it's recessed in , I see the hex head of the bolt, does the end cap come off?

Here is a photo of the top side of the torsion bar mount on a convertible. The head of the bold you need to turn is facing the ground, not horizontal.
Hope this helps.

Thanks to everyone for your help, I got it lowered today, and it looks really nice, thanks again.

My daughter and I stopped by Big M's two car lots on June 30, just after noon. It was easily over 100 degrees. My daughter didn't wish to get out of the car...We showed up unannounced, so I said a brief hello to John who was on his way out to lunch, driving his 58 Belvedere. I don't think he recognised me.
I wandered around and took a few photos, but the heat soon drove me back to the A/C car. I wasn't feeling well anyhow.
We drove on to Placerville for Mom's memorial, and a great family reunion.
On our way back to Seattle, we drove past Vallejo to SF to see the fireworks on the Fourth, then next day drove up the coast to see the redwood trees. We stayed at the Roseburg Econolodge July 5. There is no such thing as an affordable chain motel anymore!, then a brief visit to Crater Lake before arriving in Kelso so that we could drive up to the rim of Mt St Helens volcano at midnight so my daughter could take pictures of the crater and stars.

I didn't even recognize you, Roger! Might have partly been due to the heat, we had a record 7 days in a row, 105-115 degrees then.

Glad to hear you had a good trip, if you get this way again, let me know in advance!!

---John

We were driving a bright yellow Mustang convertible and i introduced myself to you thru an open car window. But it is true, I didn't give you a forewarning, it was extremely hot, and we couldn't hang around anyway...on top of it all I wasn't feeling well.
I did want to see the project 59 cvt, and the airporter, but they must be tucked away.

rogerh wrote:We were driving a bright yellow Mustang convertible and i introduced myself to you thru an open car window. But it is true, I didn't give you a forewarning, it was extremely hot, and we couldn't hang around anyway...on top of it all I wasn't feeling well.
I did want to see the project 59 cvt, and the airporter, but they must be tucked away.

I recall the yellow Mustang now. The airporter is hidden in the north side of the barn, and the '59 Convert project was just behind the '57 Turnpike cruiser I'm doing body work to, but the chassis and body are covered to keep bat poop off.

---John

Oh well, maybe next visit!
Some might find your working conditions "sparse", but you obviously don't require polished concrete floors, fluorescent lighting and conditioned air to do your amazing work!
I am a carpenter, when I visit again, I will bring a door and install it in your guest bath, okay?