torsion bar change, need help
a few tap of a hammer on a pipe wrench gripping the bar.
DO NOT DO THIS.
At least, not if you intend to ever re-use the torsion bar.
If you use a pipe wrench on the bar itself, its junk. Torsion bars are just unwound springs, any damage to the outside of the bar can lead to failure. The gouges left by a pipe wrench would be a great start for a crack to propagate the length of the bar, and that usually happens all at once when the bar lets go.
The easiest way I've found to remove them is to pull the lower control arms at the same time. Unscrew the torsion bar adjusters until there's no tension, and then a little further to give you some clearance. Pull the shocks, break loose the lower ball joint, take the nut off the strut rod and LCA pivot. Pull the torsion bar clip, and then use a dead blow hammer (not a metal hammer) to drive the lower control arm back until the torsion bar drops out the back. Then, a few taps with the same dead blow in the opposite direction should drop the LCA off the front of the torsion bar.
No special tools needed, torsion bar comes out of it with no damage.
Seems like a lot of extra work, but here's the thing. If your torsion bars need to be replaced because they're worn out, there's a good chance you need to rebuild the entire front end. And while some stuff may have been changed before, there's a good chance no one has looked at the lower control arm bushings since the guy on the assembly line installed them. Even if they don't need to be changed, it doesn't hurt to take a look to check their condition.
Even if everything is fine, the control arm slides right back in, tighten up the nut for the pivot and the strut rod, reattach the lower ball joint. Really doesn't take that long, and its WAY easier than struggling with the torsion bar.
