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My torque tube needs help. Why should I do it?

Posted on 08/25/2010 7:44:29 PM PDT by When do we get liberated?

I am ordering parts to repair the torque tube on my 1970 Opel GT. The question I have is, why is it there? What purpose does it serve? It would seem to me that a simple driveshaft would suffice, but no, I have a heavy (everything seems heavy in an 1800 pound car) piece that serves, as far as I can see, no purpose. I have read the Wikipedia definition of what it does, but this makes no sense to me. Can someone tell me in layman's terms why it is there?


TOPICS: Hobbies; Travel
KEYWORDS: automobiles; automotive; opel; opelgt
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1 posted on 08/25/2010 7:44:30 PM PDT by When do we get liberated?
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To: When do we get liberated?

I have no idea - but an Opel GT is a seriously COOL car!


2 posted on 08/25/2010 7:45:36 PM PDT by NotThere
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To: When do we get liberated?
Does your Opel GT have a dent in the rear of the boot? (trunk)

Yup, I think they build 'em with that darn dent....

3 posted on 08/25/2010 7:46:41 PM PDT by China Clipper (My favorite animals usually are found next to the rice on my plate.)
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To: Xenalyte; Lazamataz; Texan5; Slip18

(Robt pings xena because she likes heavy torque tubes....)

(WhyisaTexasgirlgettingtubedinTX?)


4 posted on 08/25/2010 7:47:09 PM PDT by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but socialists' ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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To: When do we get liberated?

It’s a Dunsel.

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Dunsel


5 posted on 08/25/2010 7:48:33 PM PDT by shibumi (Pablo is Miley- wily, clever and detractive as all get out!)
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To: China Clipper; NotHere

The “dent” was to make room for the top of the carb ... 145 mph in east TX in 1973 between Bastrop and Rockne. (Don’t tell my dad.)


6 posted on 08/25/2010 7:48:54 PM PDT by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but socialists' ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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To: When do we get liberated?

More mass implies more angular momentum. The mass might have been built into the shaft to allow the car to overcome deformations on the path without overloading the engine with shock loads.


7 posted on 08/25/2010 7:49:14 PM PDT by James C. Bennett
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To: When do we get liberated?

“My torque tube needs help. Why should I do it?”

Take a shower & call your Dr in the morning.


8 posted on 08/25/2010 7:49:52 PM PDT by nuconvert ( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
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To: When do we get liberated?
It keeps this from happening

9 posted on 08/25/2010 7:50:33 PM PDT by mnehring
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To: patton

(Patton remains confused. Gets knew tread for Opel.)


10 posted on 08/25/2010 7:51:04 PM PDT by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but socialists' ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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To: When do we get liberated?

This thread could go downhill quickly...


11 posted on 08/25/2010 7:53:56 PM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (Sarah Palin - For such a time as this...)
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To: When do we get liberated?
Wikipedia--

A torque tube system is an automobile driveshaft technology, used in cars with a front engine and rear drive. It is not as widespread as the Hotchkiss drive, but is still occasionally used to this day.

The "torque" that is referred to in the name is not that of the driveshaft, along the axis of the car, but that applied by the wheels. The design problem that the torque tube solves is how to get the traction forces generated by the wheels to the car frame. The "torque tube" transmits this force by directly coupling the axle differential to the transmission and therefore propels the car forward by pushing on the engine/transmission and then through the engine mounts to the car frame.

12 posted on 08/25/2010 7:55:03 PM PDT by freebilly (No wonder the left has a boner for Obama. There's CIALIS in soCIALISt....)
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To: gov_bean_ counter

Does Viagra work for a “torque tube”?


13 posted on 08/25/2010 7:55:20 PM PDT by hal ogen (1st amendment or reeducation camp?)
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To: When do we get liberated?

A friend of mine had one of those in HS.
It was yellow.
He had Earl Schieb paind it green, the left the headlight cowlings yellow.
The car was ever after known as “Froggie”


14 posted on 08/25/2010 7:56:01 PM PDT by mylife (Opinions $1 Halfbaked 50c)
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To: When do we get liberated?

I would start talking with these guys:

http://www.opelclub.com/index.html

They look like they know what they are doin ...


15 posted on 08/25/2010 7:56:19 PM PDT by jessduntno (The Grand Old Potty needs to be flushed ... vote for Conservatives in November.)
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To: When do we get liberated?; Salamander; Markos33; JoeProBono; Slings and Arrows; Allegra; ...

Seriously.

It’s there to keep the flayrods from going out of skew on the treadle.


16 posted on 08/25/2010 7:56:19 PM PDT by shibumi (Pablo is Miley- wily, clever and detractive as all get out!)
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To: When do we get liberated?

your what? needs what? geez, i’ve heard a lot of names for it but that sure takes the taco. sounds like a personal problem ya got there.


17 posted on 08/25/2010 7:56:42 PM PDT by madamemayhem (defeat is not getting knocked down, it is not getting back up.)
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To: China Clipper

No dents, no rust, painted Carracas Red with black interior. Lenk Racing lowered suspension, 1 inch sway bar front 3/4 inch rear, BBS wheels, front brakes modified from a “75 station wagon, new interior, Weber 36/32 carb, header (still feels weird not having an S on the end of header), polyurethane bushings all around, 50 series BF Goodrich z rated tires. Koni gas adjust shocks on the way tommorow or Friday. Built it frame up, it is a monocoque car, so that means engine and spring cradles removed. Replaced every part with new. Every bolt, clamp, bushing and washer. Rewired the car front to back (That was wicked pissah fun)She bad.


18 posted on 08/25/2010 7:57:49 PM PDT by When do we get liberated? (A socialist is a communist who realizes he must suck at the tit of Capitalism-Steve Hamel.)
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To: When do we get liberated?
Got nuttin' to do with engine torque (directly). It's that design's way of transferring the tires' traction forces to the frame. Essentially it transfers the push to the engine through the tranny, and to the car through the engine mounts.

Without it, those forces would very likely form a singularity that would devour the entire earth. Well, some of it, anyway. We'd lose Toledo, for sure.

19 posted on 08/25/2010 7:58:50 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE

(Patton remains confused. Gets knew tread for Opel.)”

Oh no. The last tread we had was Mr. Piper’s Opus.


20 posted on 08/25/2010 7:58:50 PM PDT by jessduntno (The Grand Old Potty needs to be flushed ... vote for Conservatives in November.)
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