Hi! We just purchased this Blazer and I noticed this. The mechanic said it is the torsion bar welded to the frame. And if that weld breaks the torsion bar it will not be able to support the weight of the vehicle. Can anyone tell me if this looks like it will hold? And if not what type of repair and cost am I looking at? We moved to a new town and I’m not familiar with any of the mechanics here. So trying to get an idea of what I’m looking at before messing with it.

 

I'm tryto figure out why anyone would do that! I'd guess you would need to replace the torsion bar and possibly the lower control arm.

 

The end of the torsion bar and the hole in the control arm are both hex-shaped, so that weld isn't actually holding anything (which is fortunate, because it's a terrible weld). Like Hess13x said, I can't imagine WHY somebody would do that, but the "solution", at least for the time being is probably to do nothing about it until you need to replace either the torsion bar or the lower control arm.

 

I’m guessing the hex shape was worn away maybe. But yes, Why do that and not replace.

Do you know if there is any warning once that weld starts to give? I don’t want to be speeding down the highway and it give out on me. Or should I just take it to a mechanic and ask them to fix it properly. Any ideas what that costs?

 

Like I said, I don't think that weld is actually holding anything except MAYBE keeping the torsion bar from working its way out of the hole. The hex could be worn, but I've never seen it happen or heard of it happening. It's not a moving part, just designed to prevent rotation.

As far as making a proper repair, if the mechanic could save the torsion bar (carefully grind the weld from the control arm and press/hammer it out), you're probably looking at a few hundred dollars in parts and a few hours of labor. IF the weld is actually supporting the vehicle and it fails, there will not be any warning. It will just suddenly drop to the bump stop on that side. Just IMHO, though, that's not very likely. If it were mine, I'd probably just run it.

 

Thank you guys for the information. I’ll just leave it for now and fingers crossed it holds it own for years!