Stuck Torsion Bar, SERIOUSLY stuck

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Wow...That's harsh. Kroil works much better as a penetrating oil than PB Blaster does...Well worth getting some.
 
FomoReformed
Sorry, can't help you out with a pair of sway bar tabbed LCA's for the 65-72 applications.
As a matter of fact, i just mailed out the last pair that i rebuilt, and had in stock, to another member, up in Canada.
 
All you need is any pair of a-body LCA's. You can cut the sway bar tabs off and weld them onto the new arms if you can't find what you're looking for. Like I said earlier, just burn the rubber out and the pin will fall right out. Then use the press. Piece of cake, maybe.....
 
I have a set of really nice 73 lower control arms that I can send to you for the cost of shipping. Heck I will even sand blast them for you. You will need to weld your sway bar tabs on them. PM me if you want them.
 
Excactly what I would do
Jim Lusk said:
The easy way would be to just replace the LCA, but where's the fun in that? Burn the rubber bushing out so that the LCA pin will just fall out. Then take the arm to a press and press the t-bar out..........
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I've tried this in the past, like I said I took my air hammer w/ the attachment that looks like a little body hammer & put it against the round part surrounding the torsion bar on the LCA & gave it a few good raps around the outside of it to help shock the 2 rusted parts apart. Then chuck up the TB in the vise w/ the LCA weight hangine down & drive down against the LCA & maybe it will come free. Just watch your feet when it does!
Good luck I hope something works.
 
WOW! That's nasty. It looks like it is an Ontario, Canada car where there is no end to road salt. Soak the living Jeepers out of over a few days, have a beer (or two) & giver her 90!
 
We don't see that out west or even when I lived in the southeast for decades. I wouldn't waste time on that LCA. It would take a long time to remove the rust for painting, and it would still be pitted. Just buy a clean one from the west and paint it well. The grease at the front and rear is not for sliding, but to keep out moisture to avoid such rusting.
 
hemi71x said:
Boy, you guys working on 30-40 year old cars in the rust bucket states here in America, i feel for you.
I don't see anything like that at all, being in California.
Sure is nice out west, in California, Nevada, Arizona, not having to deal with rust issues that your going through.
Wow, good luck with that project.

What year car are you working on anyway?

I have a rebuilt pair of LCA's, with sway bar mount tabs on them, for the 73-76 cars, currently listed on eBay.
Jim V.
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2x... thats why i didn't move back east... or even up north... :wack:
 
Just wondering if that arm looks like that what does the rest of the car look like.
 
jtolbert said:
Wow...That's harsh. Kroil works much better as a penetrating oil than PB Blaster does...Well worth getting some.
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This stuffis great. When removing aircraft inspection pannels. It never fails that no matter where you start on the 50 machine screws. The last one is seized, always. :wack: Soak with Kriol, go for coffee. Presto!

I'd like to see the rest of the car too.
 

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If you arent trying to save the tbar, clamp it in a vise and hammer the control arm socket from the side. That would be my last resort, yeah it might booger up the outside of the socket but not to the degree it wont be reusable. And not just a hammer either we're talking 4lb minimum.
 
wow that sucks! i think everyone else is on the right track with the new lca. that doesnt look very salvageable to me.

however if you really want to save it i would soak it for a few days then use the idea of cutting and threading the t-bar



good luck with what ever way you go.
 
FomocoReformed
As others have been telling you, get another LCA from a member out here in the west.
Your going to be well ahead in the long run.
What's your time worth to you anyway working on that piece.
Here's a photo of what a "California" set of LCA's look like after soaking off in a pail of Evaporust.
Wouldn't you prefer to have something looking like this?
This set sold to a member up in Canada.
You will never find anything looking like this up North.
The guy is tickled to death in getting them.
Jim V.
 

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Yeah I'm just going to go with the new LCA plan. At this point I've just been beating mine into oblivion, gonna take Badart up on his offer but will a '73 LCA work on a '70 car?

For those of you that wanted to see some pictures, this is just some of the rot.

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The car needed both full quarters, a full floor pan, both front inner fenders, one rear inner fender, rear crossmember, trunk extensions, both front fenders, and lots of patch work on the cowl, front edge of the trunk pan, the doors, and the roof. Oh and I still need to weld up a spot on the rear passenger frame rail that's paper thin.
 
gonna take Badart up on his offer but will a '73 LCA work on a '70 car?

Sure, any LCA from the 62-76 cars will interchange with one another.
 
hemi71x said:
gonna take Badart up on his offer but will a '73 LCA work on a '70 car?

Sure, any LCA from the 62-76 cars will interchange with one another.
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Shucks, look like I owe FoMoCo a beer. We were just discussing that last night and I thought they changed in '73. Good to know for future projects.

Thanks for the info
 
now that is some rust. i commend you for tackling a car in that condition. i would have ran far and fast. we just dont grow em' like that here in CO. the air is way to dry.
 
Fomoco I will blast the arms tonight and get them boxed up. I have a 73 swinger in the garage that I am cutting up so do you need any more metal patch panels?
 
The location of the sway bar tabs moved in 73, but there's no issue with cutting your tabs off and putting them on arms without tabs.
 
FomocoReformed said:
Yes the retaining clips from the rear anchor were removed. It's all outside the car I just have the LCA sitting on my garage floor next to a broken vice and a hammer, with a torsion bar stuck in it.

Tried using a little bit of heat as well, no such luck.

Considering securing the LCA to a tree and strapping the end of the bar to my truck. :happy1:
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I know the feeling. I started my wrenching career in Rhode Island and know what you run into. I think that even once you get the T-bar out of the socket, the rust inside the socket will probably flake out and make the hole too big and sloppy to reuse anyway. On a side note......I was standing outside the main gate at Quonset Point one day waiting for a ride when a Volkswagen Bug when blasting through the intersection. It was an intersection that has a dip going in and a dip coming out. By the time the bug was completely through the intersection, it was in 5 pieces! The engine/transaxle went one way, the front end another, the right door fell off along with a front and rear fender. After it slid to a stop on the pan, the driver got out, shrugged his shoulders, and walked away. It was one of the funniest things I ever saw. After I picked myself up from ROTGL I walked over and took a look at it. It was a wonder it made it that far without falling apart. Every part of the car was rusted through. The only reason the drivers door didn't fall off was that it was welded shut!
 
Thats a bad all right but NOTHING like the last front end I did,it took me 2 days the get the bars out of this one car.
I had to make up a special plate out of 1/2 steel,it kind of resembled a line wrench "brake fitting wrench" something that I could slide over the bar and fit up against the collar of the torsion bar hub and beat on it with a 5 lb hammer.
What a job...!!!

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