Adjustable Strut Rods

Duane said
Wow quite the debate went on here. I think both of these guys are partially right. I do not agree that the factory lca bushing holds the arm in place, but I do not believe that the strut does either. IMHO I think they were on the right track about the torsion bar, but not the clips. As was mentioned previously, a suspension is a system.
I recently installed nylon lower control arms bushings, and rms strut rods with
A heim joint on the end. During the install I did indeed see how the arm can just slide back if the strut length was not correct. I adjusted my struts while pivoting the arm up and down to find the arms natural position up against the pin. I think the more correct terminology is that the strut locates the arm in the correct location.
But assessing the weight of a vehicle and the braking forces involved, there is no way that I believe that the strut keeps it there.
The strut is at an angle. It's purpose is not to keep the arm up against the pin, but to keep the arm square to maintain toe pattern.
This is mentioned in the Mopar chassis book. Your toe setting may get done at an alignment shop at rest, but the struts are what keeps the toe setting dynamically while driving or braking.
Once the correct strut length is determined to position the arm against the pin, your torsion bars would be installed and tensioned.
The bars are supposed to be driven in right up against the arm further locating the arm against the pins. It's a system.
Once you tension the torsion bar enough to support ride height, think about how much the front end of your car weighs. All that weight is concentrated on those six torsion bar hexes. You just try to slide that bar back with all that load on it. It ain't gonna come out.
I think of the clips like the cotter pin on a ball joint assembly.
If you installed the joint correctly, and torqued the nut to spec, it should never come undone. The cotter pin is just an insurance policy against complete disassembly, but by design should never really be needed. I think both those guys are both partially right, and to some degree partially wrong, but this too is just my opinion.
Cheers to you and stay healthy during this time.

Oh I shouldn’t even bother.

The torsion bar can slide back and forth too. Most cars have a good 1/4” or more between the end of the bar and the clip.

Here you go. A ~1/4” gap, so nothing to positively keep the bar from sliding back. Which means it can’t keep the LCA from moving back either.

Now, torsion bars don’t slide around freely because they’re usually loaded. But keep in mind that as the suspension works up and down the load on the hexes varies quite a bit, and at full extension of the suspension there may be very little force on the hexes depending on how the adjusters are set. The bars can move. If the anchors are greased and the bars are fully unloaded they can slide right out by hand. Doesn’t usually happen if they’ve been in there for 20 years, but I’ve done it on bars I’ve installed recently.

The strut rod locates the LCA. Not the rubber in the control arm bushing, not the torsion bars. If the LCA was held positively in place by the rubber in the bushings or by the torsion bars, there’d be no need for the strut rod at all. And if there was no need for a strut rod, you’d better believe the factory would have left them out.