Torsion Bar Removal for Front End Rebuild - HELP

So after a year or so of compiling parts, and learning what I need to do to fix and upgrade the front end of my truck over the holidays I decided to start the process.  I've run into a bump in the road though.

I've got new ES Control Arm bushing to be installed as the old stocks are pancake thin as well while I've got everything off I'm doing balljoints, tierods, pitman, idler, hubs ect...

The problem I'm facing Right Now is I cant seem to get the darn torsion bars out.  I've used a 6ton 2Jaw gear puller and pulled the driver side Torsion key bolt and nut out, and I've tried lifting pressure on both the front Control Arm and the key where it sits in the torsion bar cross member, neither seems to help. 

I found one crappy vid on youtube relating to a GM 1500 IFS and pulling the T-bars, the video was bad and the guy just kept saying how dangerous it was and such.  Not being a wimp but does anyone have a trick to getting the Tbars out so you can pull the lower control arms to replace the bushings??

The following pictures show my setup, issue and attempted fix which isn't working.

This is how I got it supported, theres another pair of axle jacks on the frame by the torsion bar cross member. 


The Torsion key with the bolt and nut out drops down and makes the tbar rest on the inside lip of the crossmember.  I put a jack under to try and get enough clearance to get it out.


Looking from the front it almost appears that the Tbar is still "loaded" in so how would I go about getting it out from this now?


I tried using a pipe to wack it through the rear hole, didn't observe any noticible movement and after 10 minutes my arm was ready to fall off 


All the steps I've done have been in reference to my Haynes manual Suspension and Steering Systems section -> Torsion Bar Removal and Installation Part.  It says to take key bolt and nut out like I did, then Slide torsion bar to front of vehicle (I'm assuming it means through control arm) then remove torsion key, and bring torsion bar to rear dropping under torsion bar cross member to remove.  Repeat for other side.

I'm confused, frustrated, and if the damn shop didn't want 2 grand to do this stuff labor alone I'd be rid of this headache.  But alas challenge breeds character.

Any insight or tips would be greatly appreciated.

I never did this, but the manual says remove the cross member by taking out the 4 bolts

Wow quick reply MS03 2500

I'm not sure then does that mean you have to drop the crossmember to take out the Torsion bars?  Anyways thanks for the pic I'll use that when I get my reallift torsion relocators in.  Thanks for the help!

Are you trying to get the keys off , because it took me a can of wd40 and 2 hrs of beating the keys with a sludg hammer. If I recall when I did mine you can't take the cross member off until the keys and bars are out

Ya posted doing half time so I did a quick lookup. Yeah that's what it said remove te cross member and move it back to get the tbar out. But I guess you could l take off one side at a time. Yes the keys should be removed first.

Looks like you're right about the bar still being under load. What have you done to release the tension?  You may have to undo the shock to let the lower control arm drop some more. The bar will come out the front a little bit until you can drop the cross member.

When you compress the key with a tool to remove the key bolt, you can then remove the little block that it rests against.  Once this is removed, you can let the key rotate and completely remove all loading.  Did you remove the block?

Trey said:

When you compress the key with a tool to remove the key bolt, you can then remove the little block that it rests against.  Once this is removed, you can let the key rotate and completely remove all loading.  Did you remove the block?

Click to expand...

Yes, the little block was removed, it's rusted into place perhaps.  After a few more hours of searching I think I'm just going to pull the torsion bar cross member.  It's just 2 bolts like MS03 2500's picture in response #1 shows.  I've read where some people have had the clearance to take the tbars out without moving the crossmember, while others have had to take it down to clear the bars.

I'll report back with results.  Thanks for all the help and info so far. 

I recently helped do a 9.5" lift in an H2 and we didn't pull the crossmember to get the keys out. They were stuck in there pretty good though. Mine had to be cut off when I had new keys installed in mine.

I've heard some people had to use an air hammer to whack the torsion bar out the back of the key (hitting forward from the rear).

Well I got the torsion bars yanked out.  

Trey said:

I've heard some people had to use an air hammer to whack the torsion bar out the back of the key (hitting forward from the rear).

Click to expand...

 That might work, but boy these suckers are in there tight.  I ended up pulling the crossmember and taking both bars out as a set.  They are still stuck in the keys, stuck in the crossmember, but I just set it off to the side and will deal with that later.  Heck if it's a total turkey to take apart I'll just leave it and put it all back in as is.  Removal of the torsion bar crossmember was actually surprisingly easy.  With the Procomp lift I have there was all ready a drop bracket lowering the crossmember down from the frame of the truck.  This made it very easy to get a impact wrench on those nuts and blast them off.  One thing I found is that they were "like" welded on a few corners of the nuts to the crossmember.  I'll get a pic of it tomorrow.  Not sure if that's a safty thing, should I tac weld it when I put it back together or will the use of thread locker and torquing it down suffice?

Anyways I'm happy now because with that monster off I can yank apart the rest of the front and start makin some progress.  Thanks for all the help guys.  I'm sure I'll be back asking for more info, tips, and tricks once I delve into this beast a bit further.  This site and it's members RULE!    

Glad you are on your way of getting it done, I didn't think removing the cross member would be a big deal.

spetch said:

I've heard some people had to use an air hammer to whack the torsion bar out the back of the key (hitting forward from the rear).

Click to expand...

If his is like mine there is a cross member behind the one for the keys. It's hot riveted in.