removing torsion bars

Ron 73 said:

Good luck man! Watch that shoulder!! To bad you cant give it some time to settle down a bit before you tackle this...

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thanks ron,if i have to do surgery on it anyway i might as well get as much done with it while i can,cause afterwards i'd be the one-armed bandit.I did replace my rear bumper on my p/u yesterday but used my floor jack to lift it up in place.

Ron 73 said:

Good luck man! Watch that shoulder!! To bad you cant give it some time to settle down a bit before you tackle this...

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Yes indeed! Careful Man....Completely blow out something like that, it's a game changer.

I would try heating that puppy up. If you plan on trashing the bars anyways, give some good smacks from a 2-3lb maul.

one member said to cut the crossmember out but then i would still have to work the bar out of the LCA,but then i would have to figure out how to get the bar out of the cut crossmember.I really wasn't planning on getting new bars but it may come down to that.i have some that are on a 70 r/t that had a 440 in it.those should work also correct? On a side note i went to the clinic last thursday for a MRI on my shoulder, now just have to wait and see if the doc wants to go with physicel therapy or surgery. Will let everyone know what happens on that.

Those bars off that '70 will work just fine Roger...I still have the old ones out of my bird...they're yours if you want them. Funny how some bars just pretty much fall out and some are like the sword and the stone.

Back in the younger years we had to weld a chunk of square tubing to a torsion bar in a duster and then use a chain come-a-long to get the bar out. Needless to say the bar went in the scap pile.

will,if you want to send them to me,i will take them but this time you better at least let me give you something to cover the cost of shpg or how much you want for the bars.Or maybe when i have a weeks vacation coming soon,You let me know how many thick iowa pork chops you want me to bring up there.

I would say that's a good trade.......BBQ Iowa pork parked on the weber, on the deck with some cold beers and good tunes vs. 43 year old torsion bars sitting in the corner collecting dust...hmmmm Now I just need to figure out how to finangle Donny into sending me some more Ruddy's BBQ sauce from Texas.

I love trading parts! Money is a material thing........good eats..good folks..good times, now that's actually worth something.

will, you're a heck of a guy.Don't care what the wife says while you're sitting in your car pretending to drive down the road.:laughing1::laughing1:.Plan on taking a vacation in the middle of july for our wedding anniversary,maybe we can get together sometime then if you have a free day.

Hey you too Roger....Appreciate it. Give me a chance to get them degreased and packaged up and I'll send them on down the road to Iowa.

When it get's a bit closer, let me know when or if you may be swinging through. Only thing I got going on is a 4 day weekend to a country music fest across state mid month.

It' out !!!

finally got the other torsion bar out.I ended up cutting the crossmember on both sides of the bar and the bar practically jump out of the LCA. Now i hope to start making progress on the floor.

roadrunnerman said:

i did spray some on there before i started,maybe have to spray some more ane let it soek in over nite.How far down to i loosen the bolts?Do i go down till they are almost out?

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Yes take them all the way down. You can remove them if you want.

When I changed my bars, I had a lot of trouble getting the passenger side one out. The driver side came out with just some tapping on the torsion bar removal tool. The passenger side bar would not budge despite lots of spraying and soaking with various penetrating oils (acetone mixed with ATF, WD-40, Kroil) so I finally rigged up a reservoir that would let me fill up the space at the back of the torsion bar socket on the rear of the crossmember and let it sit. I let it sit for a week, at which point it still would not move. I cut the torsion bar in half in case it was also being held by the front socket, but the front half pulled out easily. I could then hammer on the cut end of the old torsion bar with a 2 kg hammer, but it still would not move. I finally rigged up a heat shield above the rear of the socket to protect the carpet and the fuel line and heated up the socket with a propane torch. It didn't take very much heat to loosen it enough for the hammer to drive it out. I was actually surprised by how little heat was needed. Anyway, that was one of the tougher rust issues on my front suspension so far. Hope this helps someone in the future. Cheers!