What Makes Mopars Awesome 

Is it just me, or is it super weird to see Uncle Tony kneeling down on that clean polished cement floor, instead of on cracked asphalt, gravel and rain puddles???

Good job Tony, a walking and talking Chrysler encyclopedia.

I like that uncle tony doesn’t have a stupid intro straight to the point 👍

In a hundred years this channel will be used by collectors and museums to figure out how to keep Chryslers in proper working order.

In Nascar guys would cut holes in the floor so they could adjust the torsion bars from inside the car, using the wrench under their leg. After start of race, lowering it to go faster and then jack it back up for tech at the end.

You know this story is going to be good when UT start's the video off in a rocking chair, that's when you sit back and just shut up and listen to him!! :D

Torsion bar comment classic. When I was in high school I had a 70 charger L code 383 2 barrel. Wanted a classic rake look. Didn't have money for air shocks so I just lowered the front end using the torsion bar adjustment. A few months later took my car to alignment shop for a front end alignment. The guy was bitching at me saying he was going to charge me more money cuz he had to raise my car up to the proper level. The good old days.

Fun Fact: For the movie Bullitt Max Balchowski had to reinforce the Mustang's front end and install heavier coils. For the Charger, he just turned the bars up a bit.

Glad to see you at home in the new shop!!!! I'm a Chevy guy ,but right now I drive a Jeep. I love all makes of car and trucks!! I am looking for my dream truck...about a 50 Ford Pick Me Up!!! LOL You got to love old Iron!!! LOL

Actually... A coil spring is a ridiculously long skinny torsion bar that has been coiled up into a tube shape.

"It's just a different twist on the same thing" ... I see what you did there. :D Cheers,

Born with a traction bar.. that just sounds right 🤘

Those of us who lived in the Rust Belt had to throw away our Darts and Valiants when the mounting points for the torsion bars rusted out and dropped the front end onto the ground.

Imagine being the poor woman thinking her car was doing a wheelie 😂

I love torsion bars and I hate torsion bars. Love that they can be adjusted to dial in at the track. Hate that any idiot can put a wrench to them. Same for adjustable coil overs. If you feel the need to adjust them by all means have at it. Just be aware that camber and toe will be affected. Also it's good practice to always Jack up the vehicle by the frame until the tires are off the ground to unload the bars before turning the adjustment bolts.

Always love how a Mopar rear end rises up on it's haunches when you get on it.

Geez Tony, bringin back memories of my youth. I remember doing a grade 10 science project on Chrysler torsion bar suspension and how it differs from traditional suspension on the other manufacturers vehicles. Luckily, I had a future brother in law who, with his dad, had a garage full of mid sixties and early seventies Dodges. He was able to lend me some of the parts involved so I could show the different components in class. It was cool and I got an A on the project. Thx for the memories 👍

Every time I have to compress a GM coil spring I swear under my breath , I could of had a Cuda.

All that Tony, and you never even mentioned the low center of gravity! Huge bonus for guys who run around the twistys.

I have never heard such a good explanation or positive things to say about torsion bars, Uncle Tony is awesome at knowing and explaining the ins and outs of these cars! Fun and educational watch.

You have a wonderful way of explaining all things automotive ! You obviously like what you do,and your enthusiasm is contagious.. Thanks so much Sir ! 🌞

Can’t forget the Classic Mopar starter sound that makes them Awesome!

It's a brilliant design. I have a 57 300C that had a lot of the firsts in engineering that evolved into greater things in the 60s. My first primer into how brilliant Mopar engineering, is years ago reading Rick Ehrenberg's articles, then found a gem of a book by Tom Condran called Performance Handling For Classic Mopars and his other book Mad About Mopars gives great insight into the greatness of Chrysler engineering. Because of those books and articles I rebuilt and modified the suspension on several of my Mopars over the years....

I love MOPAR! Hey, Tony, get some 1/4 inch plywood to put under your jack stands to protect that floor. They are tough put the base of the jack stand will cut the surface in time. I learned that the hard way. Mike

Tony, remember Chrysler built tanks for the War Department then DoD and since WWII the tanks suspension was torsion bar type over vertical or horizontal valute spring suspension thus made the tanks very maneuverable on the battle field and could run at faster speeds in battle, so it makes sense the MaMopar went with torsion bar suspensions over coil springs in their cars also most pick up truck have torsion bar suspensions today because of the reliability of the torsion bar suspensions.

The signature sound of the gear reduction starter.....that's a Mopar!

This guy is a MOPAR genius, I love to watch all his videos

What makes Mopars awesome........ Lightest out of most OEMs Adjustable height torsion bars Most innovative out of the OEMs Most widely used make in the movies and TV shows One of the only OEMs that let you literally order anything you want ( Butterscotch Hemi whatever? Sure! Check the boxes )

The ironic thing is that when Ford and GM put independent front suspension on their 1500 4 wheel drive trucks they used torsion bars!

Hi uncle tony, thank you for your information and knowledge because I am self taught it’s so interesting to me to learn that you can do so much with mopar’s by making adjustments especially the way the rear is centered and torsion bars just great 👍👍🚘

Awesome that you have the shop now. You moved right up fast keep it up uncle Tony.

What we did not see in this video was Uncle Kathy having to get up and down on the floor every time Tony did. Kudos!

I Just Want too say a huge thanks too UTG for the info on buying these cars , and what to watch out for, concerning the seller’s and the cars. Excellent info ! Buyer beware. Thanks pal.

Best video you have EVER done ... OK I really liked it!

In 50 years of Mopar repairs, I only saw one broken torsion...and it WAS a '57.

Is the counter rotational force the other way around for us down under in Australia, due to our engines spinning the opposite direction ?

I couldn't agree more! This is something I discovered on my first car, when I was still a teenager. That old girl would sit level no matter how aggressive you took a corner. The limiter was my nerve!

Porsche 911 used torsion bars front and rear. Every corner is adjustable. Great when it is set up correctly. You need scales, though. First time Hearing Chrysler used them. Neat to see them being used for adjusting corner weight for drag racing.

I noticed that nice, new epoxy floor too. It looks great and has to be a nice change for Uncle Tony to work on and slide around under cars without getting his shirt and pants all dirty with oil and grease. He definitely deserves it.

I drive a 2015 Ford Mustang GT, but here I am getting schooled on how great Mopar torsion bar suspensions are. It's simple really: When Uncle Tony tells a story, you listen.

Great tribute to Chrysler's suspension, perfectly explained. Congratulations 👏

I just watched this for the first time and I was laughing out loud about to story about adjusting the torsion bars on the wagon. Thanks Tony for brightening up my day! 🤣

Dont fill these people with bull.Mopar had the WORST suspension and still does...look at how many trans am titles they won ....NONE!the lower control bars would roll and wrap under hard turns.Guys,mopar mahes a great engie but they rotted on the lot,faded,junk enamel paint and they were the cheapest plastic riddled interiors,Im not saying GM and ford were blameloss holy creatures....just saying the mopar had mega issues.especially the QC.

Story time from Uncle Tony's rocking chair. Great informational video! Great camera work Uncle Kathy! The new shop is lookin' really good. ROLL UP YOU CIGARETTE!!! LOL

I've watched this multiple times. It's amazing how nice this car is underneath...... I'm from NJ they are rotted to hell or beat to hell. No one comments on that not even you uncle Tony!! But I mean that as a compliment. Good on you for not rubbing it in our faces but you scored!!!

Was doing rear break band replacement on a 1969 road runner , so of course back end was up on stands , i herd a loud BAM. Right front torsion bar broke. Had to order part even though this was in 1976 . put a put a deep well socket up in the adjustment area and drove it like that for a week untill my new torsion bar came in. MOPAR.

I’m so excited about Uncle Tony addressing the topic of suspensions that I almost dropped my pants and made love to my horny 70 year old neighbor - who looks like she’s in her 50s so don’t think I’m a total whacko perv. The point is that I’d love to see him cover things like Ehrenberg’s “Disc-O-Tech” disc brake setup for B Bodies and methods of dialing in positive caster. The fact that Chrysler had, in concept, developed a superior suspension system compared to GM and Ford seems totally absurd to most folks, but it’s the God’ Honest Truth and I’m tickled Uncle Tony is discussing it.

Torsion bar advice; I've always looked at it like adding & subtracting minutes .. 15min at a time.. Now drive a bit.. measure bottom of fender to ground using center of wheel to line up to .. after you figure this out, what height looks good to you.. I add 3/4" more height to my side due to body weight.. I run my Dart low enough to make sure water will come off windshield from the middle and up.. this angle also, at speed will push the car Down, curing front end lift.. I've had my own Dart above 110Mph with minimal lift or lighting of Steering feel.. peace humans..

1955 Packards had full length torsion bar suspensions on all senior cars. The torsion bars make for great suspensions.

I'm surprised you didn't mention Mopar's Super Stock springs for the rear.

Have to disagree when you said you lose adjustability when you switch to coilovers. The main feature of that type of suspension is the adjustments you can make to corner balance or preload the car. 99% of coilover have adjustable valving as well. So not only can preload be set, but compression and rebound can also be tuned. Obviously the cost is very high to convert, especially on a mopar. But it’s definitely more tunable than the stock Chrysler suspensions. Not for everyone tho.

Great stuff unk I learned about the leaf spings when I was about 16 my camaro had bad wheel hop and the Chryslers didn't 👍👍

U.T. to me, the 440, the 426 hemi and torsion bar suspension made Mopars awesome. (The 396 Hemi was pretty good as well) I have owned three 440's, a 360, and a 318, oh...and also one slant 6. I always loved Mopars but...not in the past 20 years or so.

I Still call them Chryslers because calling them MoPaR’s is like calling Fords Motorcrafts and Chevys Delcos.

Best thing after I put headers on my 74 Duster I had was cranking up the torsion bars a little at a time until it stopped scraping them on speed bumps

Good stuff. Maybe do a pro/con for GM and Ford and maybe even AMC??

I am petty sure the GM Colonade cars(73-77) had torsion bar also, but it's been a while since I looked at one so I might be wrong.

Sounds like George was smart

My friend was an alcoholic . He watched his friend die next to him ! He was under the car adjusting the torshen bar when the bar broke the car bounce on the floor & his skull was crushed . With my charger I would always block the back wheels then jack up the car put on jack stands then an extra pare under the tortion bars . The big thing about them is when the body gose bad around them the car is done . I never had an issue with mine . The salt they used here in ohio ate the cars up some good ase mechanics died from mistakes with tortion bars

Haven't had a MOPAR since my mom's 1969 Dodge Monaco 383 Sure Grip wagon when I was a kid, but for huge American iron, that car would handle! I remember learning on it tossing it through the local twisties with its mammoth dimensions. Driving friend's Fords and Chebbies, I was amazed at how they wallowed and bucked and needed to be rushed by hanging their tails out like drift cars. The Monaco just got down to business and went where you put it when you pressed the loud pedal. And got an honest 18 MPG moving the longest 9-passenger wagon built at the time. I loved that car, and it was happier at 100 than anything I've driven that fast since. Wish I had one now. Thanks for the memories, Uncle!

As a kid we had a 1972 station wagon that broke a torsion bar on the passenger side...I still remember how loud it was....my first car a '77 Aspen R/T with a 360 had the torsion bars that went towards the front...I ended up replacing the 904 trans with the 727 from that station wagon when I was 16...I always liked the torsion bar setup.... Great Video 👍

Tony didn’t pull the wheels off Bottle Rocket for this video. It was to get the water spots off that I got on the wheel wells.

Extra care and engineering, it makes a difference.

I love all classic 60s and early 70s cars, especially GM cars like the Camaro, GTO, 442, Firebird. My brother and cousin were Mopar fans, (no competition, I love Mopars too). So I am familiar with these cars and how to work on them. I am so impressed with UT. He is a true classic car enthusiast and knows all the tricks and details that comes from working on them for decades.

Love this video! 5 minutes in he says Ford and Chrysler cars need a traction bar because their axles are centered on the spring. LOL

One safety note! Never just crawl under a Mopar and wrench that bolt! Since I didnt jack up the car I didnt have any safety stands. It stripped out those threads and the left front corner dropped unto the bump stop. I was pinned under my Challenger and had my roommate left work early I would be dead! He saw it drop, saw my legs sticking out and got the floor jack to lift it off me. I saved that bolt and part as a reminder to not take chances. Real story!

I always learn something new from Uncle Tony. I love it.

Amen to everything!!! I absolutely love the way a torsion bar suspension launches, that weight transfer, then the push up from the rear, they leap frog of the line and then plane out straight. Damn!

Sorry I cant agree as a Chrysler mechanic there was a factory torsion bar removal tool and sometimes you need it and a big hammer to get it off

All that you mentioned, plus the pinion snubbers 👍

Coil springs can have a beehive shape and support variable spring rates - coil springs were also commodities that can be purchased from suppliers at cost savings. I read an account from a Chrysler suspension engineer. By the mid '60s coil springs technology had improved and Chrysler wanted to convert the A body to coil springs. The Valiants and Darts would be less costly to manufacture and quieter. But, the marketing surveys proved that people bought Chrysler products for two popular justifications: Torqueflite and torsion bars. The customers loved torsion bars and most drivers just used the cars for commuting anyway, they didn't need to tweak the suspension for road racing. They just wanted a smooth ride. Today, a version of the McPherson strut is almost universal because struts are lower cost to manufacture, and despite objections from some, struts do just fine for the way that most drivers use their vehicles. That the torsion bars anchored just under the drivers feet transmitted more road noise. The F-bodies dealt with that and those cars have a "big car" ride and are quieter. Every design has tradeoffs.

I never knew there was that much adjustment available just from the factory stuff.

Torsion bars, I raced a dodge dart on the ovals, we could adjust the suspension to go in a circle, like no other car

I’ve always loved Packards. They had their own take on four wheel torsion bars. Ride quality was fantastic

Hi Tony, I put air shocks on the rear of my Fury and the guys on the C body forums are giving me a hard time saying that rear cross-member is now being loaded in a way it wasn't designed for that and the shocks will destroy that cross-member. Any truth to this? I've run air shocks on many cars in the past without issue - your thoughts please.

Nice new shop! I love this episode. Torsion bars are cool. I read that Ford and, GM drag racers that had to run stock complained about the Chrysler guys using slant six torsion bars on much bigger engine set ups. But, it fit the rules because it is factory. Huge weight transfer on launch! I don’t know how much of that is true in an old story but, you definitely touched on the topic. The rear leaf spring set up too. Thanks for sharing!!!

Please keep that chair!

Nice part of the F J M body set up is that the torsion bars acted as a anti sway bar as well

Thats why gm trucks use torsion bars..please Ut you must tell us what eventually happened with your front end adjustment on that satellite ..were they pissed off ..

I’ve been working on my moms 75 power wagon for a year now. Mopar engineering is terrible lol

That's right only Chrysler had that system, back in the days, that's why every Chevy and Ford owner traded the vehicle and for Chrysler product. "NOT"!.....

I really liked this video. I am kind of a suspension nerd by default because I´m into Citroëns. Their hydropneumatic suspension is incredible. But just like your telling it, most people talks bad about it because they don´t know better. I am not that skilled in US cars, but I kind of have a soft spot for Mopar. They always seem to surprise me with good engineering like in this video (torsions are cool). BTW: I wanted to lift my old Isuzu and found out it had torsions in the front. 2" lift = five minutes of wrenching. And also... Here in Sweden many years ago I drove some Chevy vans in my work. Then I tested a Dodge. It was like driving a sports car compared to the Chevy.

I just loved that. Bam 💥🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

But what about packard and their torsion bar suspension? Also Chrysler still used torsion bar on the dakotas into the 2000’s.

I use my dads 1974 chiltons book alllll the time

Uncle Tony on Rocking chair talking Mopars love it

I remember hearing that our beloved MoPars didn't need traction/ladder bars but never knew exactly why, now I do!

That was awesome Uncle Tony! Wisdom and Mopar go hand in hand. Between both sets of grandparents growing up there was a 69 Fury, 73 Duster, 72 Dart Swinger and 78 Diplomat. My parents fell for the GM hierarchy for years (start at Chevy and go to Oldsmobile or Cadillac years later) Those GMs were nice but in the shop a lot. I never remember the grandparents mopars with any trouble. Just simple, strong, tough and reliable cars. A Duster may not be as sexy as a Cutlass but it was hell of a lot more reliable.

Another great feature of the torsion bars is there’s very little intrusion into the engine bay. So it allowed Chrysler (or the owner) to shove even bigger engines under the hood. Ford and GM had massive strut towers to work around or even remove completely. I’ve seen guys hack them out and replace it with a Model A front axle from the hotrods.

Bottle implies nitrous..rocket inherently implies fast and exciting...we WANT NITRO..and fireworks...thanks.

When I would look at my B body suspension I would think to myself, "what a bunch of archaic garbage." I am not saying it's any worse than any other 1960's domestic car design, but in no way impressive. Just enough to get by

If you do have some nicks on your bars just sand them down and give them a good heavy coat of paint! Also the leaf spring system on Chryslers helps in the handling department too! It almost acts like 4 wheel steering, when cornering! With a classic Mopar its important to use power through the turn! Not enough to blow the tires off, just get slowed down to a good entry speed, then feed the power the whole way and she will just pull you right through! in my experience I feel A-bodys handle the best, but I'm sorting out a C-body that's been upgraded quite a bit in the handling department!

Just another reason Mopars have a certain “je ne sais quoi”. I love those cars.

Love Torsion Bar Suspension!

Have replaced them before. Fell in love with the simplicity in what Chrysler had designed. Thanks Uncle Tony.

I never knew what was the big Mopar thing until I owned one. Chevy everything till I bought a d100 shortbed with a 318 4 barrel and full length headers and Flowmaster 40s .That truck ripped and sounded even better. That day I knew.

I just got my first Dodge Car.... 1973 Dodge Dart Swinger 225 Slant 6. It is a documented 32,000 mile car and as I recondition it, I am finding out it is a literal piece of crap of a car. I have never worked on a car as cheaply made. I had to replace the alternator (34 amp) and all the replacements are 60 am but to install a 60 amp I have to upgrade the wiring because the wire gauge was thinner for the 34 amp cars. That is just one instance but seriously, I jacked it up on the front torque boxes and the rear under the axle. Can't open and shut the doors because the car bent..... what a piece of crap. Even the carpet is so cheap it litterally has turned into dust... not worn out just disinitrated to dust.

UT is always informative and can explain things in a easy to understand language! I’m not a Mopar guy but find the topic interesting Thanks Tony!

When I first heard about torsion-bar suspension, I thought it was the most brilliant thing I'd ever heard of, suspension-wise. Simple, elegant, and nearly perfect. It just makes sense.

Sadly, so many major publications crap all over TB suspension when its just THE ULTIMATE BEST!!! I've out tracked and out maneuvered SO MANY Fords and GMs in my life, its LUDICROUS!!!