I've been reading up about changing out control arm bushings and ball joints and what all that entails. I was "overjoyed" to read that the torsion bar has to be unloaded. I read on another forum that if you don't have the special tool, you could do the following to get the torsion bar out.

• jack truck up off the ground by the frame
• remove adjuster bolt
• remove wheel
• remove top shock mount (or the whole thing)
• put a jack under lower control arm for support
• remove pinch bolt for top control arm
• let the arm travel down
• possibly step on lower control arm to remove remaining bind

I've heard of guys using a c-clamp or gear puller, but if I'm going to be doing ball joints anyway, I'm going to need to remove the upper control arm anyway. Has anyone done something like this??


I know that the "springi-ness" comes from twisting the bar...and how it attaches to the lower control arm...but what I'm not sure about is how the torsion bar works on the other end. I've found an image with the cover off and there really isn't much there holding everything together.

In the image, it looks like the bar wants to unwind clock-wise and I see how the adjuster works...but what the hell keeps it in place? Is it just the pressure against the adjuster bolt and the plate above the "knuckle"?

 

Unloading the torsion bar is easy.

Just put a bottle jack under the torsion key, to the side of the bolt. Once the jack is holding the tension of the key then remove the torsion bolt and pull out the piece of steel that the bolt is screwed into. Drop the bottle jack and pull the torsion bar out. Easy.

 

okay, I think I get what you are saying...the bottle jack takes the pressure off the adjuster bolt...take the bolt and the torsion bar support nut (#9) out, then let the key can rotate to unload. how far will the key travel past the torsion bar support nut (#9)?

 

Yup. You got it. Once the support nut is out just unload the jack down slowly and the torsion bar will start to dangle freely when all the tension is relieved. Then you'll be able to move it all around however you need.

 

Took me a minute to find it , but some good pics on this thread.

https://www.ranger-forums.com/f15/t-bar-how-97289/

 

Thanks OTRtech, all my searching and missed that one. Showed it perfectly. Looks pretty easy too. Thanks guys for the help.

 

I did mine this way when I put my Superlift on... worked great! It's the safest way to do it for sure. The bottle jack would work well if all you're doing is changing bars or keys, but if you're putting a lift on or changing the lower control arm you may as well do it this way if you have to take that stuff off anyways.

 

I started looking at how to do this because I have an insanely annoying knock in the steering wheel. A bunch of people said to change out sway bar bushings and control arm bushings. I know my ball joints aren't the greatest...so if I'm changing ball joints, might as well change out the lower bushings while I'm there. I kinda like the idea of doing the tbar first, then there is nothing under pressure...no chance of getting knocked silly if I forget a step. I'm a weekend warrior that needs my truck during the week...so I just feel better when I understand what all is going on before I tear into it.

 

Yup
Research before project start = common sense.
or
Better safe than sorry.

 

When i tryed using the bottle jack like in my thread it would lift the truck instead of move the key it might be because i have a standard cab and it was empty so there was less weight. idk. but i used a 4 jaw pulley puller and only used two of the jaws. worked pretty good.