Thanks for posting the pics. I am changing mine out later this summer. But I hope you are not using the pipe wrench for removal or your not reusing the bars. that wrench could gague the bars making them usless. Just a thought.
Yeah, be very careful about removing torsion bars. A knick could result in a radial fracture.
I was eating dinner one night about 30 years ago. I heard a loud "bang," like someone threw a rock against the house. I went outside and looked around - nothing. On the road the next day, I felt every bump in the road travel through the car's body. Oh, crap. Got the car on jackstands and noticed that the driver side torsion bar was broken; a perfect spiral fracture where it entered the crossmember. Yes, there was a noticeable nick in the steel at the start of the fracture, probably from a stone or piece of metal kicked up on the road.
I have used the broken short end as a paperweight since then.
