LCA pivot shaft

All I did was get ahold of the LCA pivot shoulder with a set of vice grips. Make sure you're on the shoulder though, not where the bushing is going to ride. Then I used a cordless impact wrench to start the nut. The impact overcomes the thread resistance easier than just using a wrench or ratchet. Once things are tightened down a bit you can torque it to spec without it moving. The FFI pivots I installed are torqued to 100 ft-lbs, so it can be done.

As far as the torsion bar clip, it has worked just fine for the last 40+ years. Never heard of a torsion bar sliding out the back accidentally. And regardless, the torsion bar isn't retained by the LCA anyway, they can and do slide inside of the sockets even after installation. They don't always, but they can if the suspension is unloaded.

The only thing that holds the LCA pivot to the bushing in the original style bushings is the rubber being bonded to the inner sleeve, and that hasn't been intact on any of the LCA's I've dissassembled so far. I've had a few LCA's just fall off the pivot once the torsion bars were removed because the bushing was so worn out.

The reason I say to use adjustable strut rods has nothing to do with the torsion bars moving. The stock strut rods are a one size fits most deal, and they aren't always the ideal length for a given car. Because the LCA can slide a bit easier on the poly bushings, I like the added insurance of the strut rods being exactly the right length, because that guarantees the LCA is positively located. If the stockers locate the LCA well, they're not necessary. Although that said, the adjustables on my Challenger and my Duster are not set up exactly at the stock length, they're set at the ideal length to keep the LCA from binding as it moves through it's entire arc. Which the stock ones "should" do, but I haven't seen it yet in practice from the stockers. They're ok, but they usually still leave room for improvement.