Torsion Bar Ride Height Adjuster troubles

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I'm in the process of installing the autorust torsion bar crossmember frame cap on my 75 duster. the perch that the ride height adjusting bolt makes contact with is stuck all the way up, causing the rear torsion bar socket to be partially twisted about 30 degrees out of position. i'm not sure if it's binding up against part of the frame rail or if it's binding somehow in the lower control arm, maybe someone can tell from my pictures. any ideas on how to get it back down? appreciate the help.
 

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How did it get that way? did you remove the torsion bar yet? Or is this after you removed it and are putting it back together? Where's the adjusting bolt? Is the frame where the back of the torsion bar mounts solid or rusted out?

I would start with spraying/soaking them in penetrating oil then trying to pry with a pry bar to see if you can get it to move.

If that doesn't work you may need to remove the lower control arm, clamp it in a vise and work on getting the center to pivot. Once the center pivot frees up, the tab that the bolt end seats on can move.

Where's the adjusting bolt for the torsion bar? Is it not seen in the angle of the picture, or has it been removed? The end of the adjusting bolt should seat in the pocket of the arm...
 
the 2 piece construction of the lower arms allows them to spread wider over time. There are videos on the web about fixing them. Anyway... Then torsion bar socket gets stuck. Try smacking the the lower arm left and right.
 
krazykuda, the frame where the torsion bar mounts in the back was rusted out so i removed part of it to accommodate the kit from auto rust. the adjusting bolt has been backed all the way out. even when it was all the way in, the perch for it was stuck up way too high and it wouldn't seat. I haven't removed the torsion bar yet.
 
The Auto Rust part is a saddle, leaving the T-bar sockets alone; right?
If you need to you can back off the nuts that hold the LCA pin in. Then you can pry the LCA back, which will drive the T-bar up against the retaining clip, where it will stop. Then it is possible to hold it there and tap the front socket forward, which should release the adjuster.
If you look it over, you will see that you might not have to actually remove those nuts, if you put levers in the right places.

Edit
Oh shoot, I missed where you said the rear socket was rotated some 30 degrees. I'm assuming it is torn out of the crossmember? In which case, you will have to rotate the entire T-bar system. I'm assuming that is what you are trying to achieve. Well you cannot clamp the bar with any tool that will leave marks in/on it cuz that will predispose it to failure.But I'm a guessing you already know that, and that is why you are here. So the rear socket needs to be re-indexed, And the front is all bound up, right?
Well I see no recourse but to free the LCA from all incumberances, and force it to rotate down. I think it would be helpful to reinstall the adjuster bolt, to about its former setting.
 
Did you weld in the cross member cap yet?
Is it possible that rear mount twisted?

Pull the torsion bar out and pry that arm down. Go to the next flat.
 
If it were me, I would Disassemble the front suspension. Including removing the bumpstop to the upper control arm. That will allow the suspension to drop. Remove the nuts on the lower control arm, and the strut rod. Remove the clip that holds the torsion bar in at the cross member. Pry back on the lower control arm. It should push out the torsion bar. Then repair the cross member. Make sure that the torsion bar mount is in exactly the right place. Including the clocking. When reassembling with all new parts, rotate the torsion bar adjuster arm down, with the suspension at full drop. Put torsion bar back in. A long way to say that the torsion bar rotated when the rear mount rusted out.
 
if the rear mount was "torn" up - then the whole lot is compromised and you'll need to pull that torsion bar anyway - get it out, do the repairs, reset the adjuster (which SHOULD be a "brain fart" without the T-bar in there) and then put it all back together.. I'm guessing when you took the adjuster bolt out, nothing happened - the car didn't lower.. ? Got a pic of the rear support area?
 
Turn the torsion bar adjusting bolt all the way out, remove the bump stop under the upper control arm, loosen the lower control arm pivot nut. Now rotate the torsion bar socket in the lower control arm, either pry down on the blade or try to grab the LCA torsion bar socket with a pipe wrench, don't grab the bar with a tool and put gouges into it, this would be bad. Weld the rear torsion bar socket back in when the suspension is fully drooped down without the upper bump stop and the adjustment blade is touching the flat chunk of steel in the lower control arm.
 
furyus2 has a plan here. With it dissembled, a clear visual for any other issues might be worthwhile and comforting. Penetrating fluid to free everything is good. Check for bolt wear on the end. Dab a little grease on torsion bar end and bolt end before install to stop bolt wear and for easy bar removal down the road. Always make sure you don't adjust bolt (height) under load. No alignment should be required. If I remember correctly we used a bottle jack and cable (sort of like a come-a-log) to pull the adjuster down 'cause it was so seized and tight.
 
How could you weld the rear socket back in without the bar in there to keep it in alignment?I don't get that.
Just a couple of degrees of non-concentricity, and you will be pounding on the back end of the bar to get it seated. And then, how would you ever get it out?
 
i see guys are recommending a combination of disassembly of the LCA and torsion bar, and various amounts of forcing and banging things to get them back in place. whats the best way to get the torsion bar out? do you think the ride height adjuster is more bound up against the frame rail or the lower control arm? i'm definitely gonna get everything with PB blaster. scamp mike here's your picture of the rear mount, and for anyone else interested. excuse the atrocious welding
 

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Whoop, there it is!
I see the problem clearly now. Man that is ugly.
With the front fully assembled there is a turning force up there, which is pulling the back end up into the floorboards. my guess is the LCA bushings or their pin-tubes are also really tired. I highly recommend to remove everything from the LCA, and let it rotate to the floor.Before welding the back up, I would inspect the pin-tube and replace the LCA bushing.
But firstly I would inspect the entire front frame support system, from the floorpan to the firewall to the fender aprons and the entire length of the stub frame. If the stub frame is not well supported, the entire K member may be twisted up.
From the last pic, it is clear to see the floorpan is toast. It is easy to imagine that the stub is compromised.The floor and apron are the stubs main supportworks.
The weight of the engine and tranny may also be playing a role in pushing everything out of alignment, by twisting the K-member and drooping the tranny x-member. I hate to say it, but it might be best to pull those out too, and get the body supported, somewhere other than the anything attached directly to the frame., allowing the frame to relax.

Before you go thinking;"that's insane", you need to know that if the frame moves while driving,then the alignment goes away and the car becomes self-steering. I once ran off the road as i was crossing some diagonal train-tracks, at about 50mph. This was directly traced to unsupported frame stubs .74Duster.
 
AJ/FormS. I had a similar issue I repaired just not this rough. This baby is in rough shape, I didn't realize just how bad. I never welded the end of the torsion bar, only around the mount. I cut a circle in a plate to cover over the member and big enough to weld to good steel. I welded the mount to the plate installed bar and set the height. The car drove fine.
 
sorry, I may have over simplified my answer - it clearly needs to come apart but also needs to be aligned before repairing... my bad. I didn't thing it was as bad as it is but did figure the back hole was "out"...
AJ/FormS said:
How could you weld the rear socket back in without the bar in there to keep it in alignment?I don't get that.
Just a couple of degrees of non-concentricity, and you will be pounding on the back end of the bar to get it seated. And then, how would you ever get it out?
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