Torsion Bar Puller or Removal

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

I will hopefully be installing my Superlift 2" suspension lift this weekend. As part of this, I will need to unload and remove the torsion bars, then reload and reinstall them. The superlift instructions talk about a special torsion bar puller (a c-clamp type puller) that they recommend for this job. Does anyone have one of these that they are willing to loan? I'd pay shipping both ways, of course, and give you a deposit if you wish. If you want something more than that, you'd have to let me know.

How else, or what else have people done to unload and load the torsion bars?

Thanks in advance!

[Blazer69]

i would check your local parts store...they might have one to rent out...i will ask my brother what he used to take his off and get back to you...

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

So far I've check w/ Autzone (AKA Ricer-world for T Man) and Napa. The autozone guys didn't seem to know anything other than--"maybe you should try napa", and the Napa guy searched his tools catalog, but didn't have anything.

Yeah, that'd be great if you could ask your brother.

They do offer a number for a place that makes them, but I called and it was either $100 or $200... and for a one time use, that's really hard to justify. Here is a picture of the tool/setup.

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

I stopped at Car Quest on my way home from work, the guy could order it for $140. Ouch. I'm going to keep looking.

[Blazer69]

my brother said they just unscrewed them with the keys and it all came apart.....said they did a lil prying but thats it...no special tool

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

Then how did he get them back in? I'll have to load them under pressure again to replace them in the new upper control arms.

[87wildside]

I have seen a friend use a c clamp to take them out, but he is an idiot. I have no idea about getting them back in.

[Blazer69]

idk they did a 6inch suspension on my friends 95 sierra and thats what he told me....

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

I have seen a friend use a c clamp to take them out, but he is an idiot. I have no idea about getting them back in.

That much pressure on a standard C clamp would scare me.

[87wildside]

That much pressure on a standard C clamp would scare me.:shake_125 Thats why my friend is an idiot.

[Everfalling]

every time I remove torsion bars here at work we don't use special tools...once you adjust them all the way down there is no pressure on them...also taking the lower control arm off the spindle will release pressure....just be sure that you jack the truck up and then put a jack under the LCA so it doesn't spring...then when you put it back together lower the LCA back onto the jack or stand or whatever you used to keep it from springing then just drop the truck back down on it and it will load up the torsion bar w/o any special tools and without any danger...PM me if you need more instructions on it....it's too hot to think right now

[Blazer69]

wouldn't turning the torsion bar back to spec with the key load it up the rest of the way as well? i would have thought just for 2" in the front cranking the torsion bars would be enough...so with a 2" lift you will actually be moving the torsion bars out from the frame to under the frame?

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

I think you have to partially load them to get them started w/ the adjustment bolt. From what I heard, just cranking the torsion bars will wear out your front end components prematurely. I don't feel like dealing w/ that on my daily driver. The kit include new upper control arms and adjuster keys that need to be put on the torsion bar, so it's not getting moved beneath the frame--just that different stuff has to be on it.

[Blazer69]

u should have just relocated the leafs to over the axle and cranked up the torsion bars...could have gotten 4in right there

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

From what I've read, that makes for a really rough ride, and I think different mounting plates are need to relocate the axle that way. I think that would also wear out front end components faster than I will w/ this kit. And doesn't that also mess up the angle of your drive shaft? I know the 6" lift does some stuff to realign it.

[Tink]

I've heard the same sort of method, Everfalling...

I've run the 2" Superlift on 2 different vehicles, a pick-up and a Blazer.... on the pick-up it was HORRIBLE! I was blowing CV boots on the street!!! :mad: I actually cranked the torsion bars down on it in an attempt to get it to ride better - you'd need a freakin kidney belt to ride in it. I was constantly eating up idler and pitman arms as well.
NOW, on the Blazer, it is a whole other animal... it has been on there close to 5 years and I'm only on my second CV shafts on each side. I replace idler arms about every 2 years and I've only replaced the pitman arm once. The tie rods are all new, though - but that was preventative due to pretty high mileage (220K) on the orginials.
The difference between the 2 vehicles (other than pickup and Blazer) was that the pick-up had factory off-road/heavy duty suspension and the Blazer had sport suspension. I did not run the Superlift keys on either vehicle... from what I have gathered, all the keys do is re-index the torsion bar, so that you get more out of each crank.

[Blazer69]

my friend has a 6in and 3 in body and never realigned his driveshaft and he drives it every day....yeah i've heard the moving of the rear leafs will cause a rough ride....idk just an idea for a cheaper way then installing just a 2in lift

[Everfalling]

I've never put a lift kit on so my advice will only work as far as I know on stuff that is stock...but let me xplain it a little bit better...for those of you that have torsion bars and are planing to do anything that requires them to be unloaded here is a safe way to do it.....keep in mind I'm writing this from memory and I just got back from woodshock so I'm close to medium-well maybe even well done on parts of my head....that sun was brutal...but anyways...here it is
1)Always before you do anything on the front end of your truck consult with a pro or whomever is closest to you holding beer.....that is my disclaimer
2)Jack the truck up in the front and put it on jackstands....PUT THE STANDS ON THE FRAME....NOT THE LOWER CONTROL ARM
3)before you actually pull your tools out of the box grab a tape measure and set your beer on a table or stool well out of reach...the underside of your truck is probably a tad bit rusty or muddy....either one won't taste good in your beer. Using your tape measure...measure the bolt at the rear of the torsion bar...you want to measure it as accurately as possible...I normally use a metric tape cuz it's a bit more accurate and once you drink a 6 pack or so the metric system is better cuz you never have to count past 10. measure from the top of the head of the bolt to where the bolt threads in....on both sides and write that measurement down cuz you'll need it later....
3)The bolts you just measured? remove them
4)this is where it gets interesting...not just cuz I started a sentence without capitilization and have misspelled at least 40% of everything I've typed so far.... remove the front wheels
5) lol tricked ya...removing wheels is booring...not interesting...
6)now you need to remove the lower ball joint....DON"T DO THAT YET...with the vehicle jacked up in the air and on jackstands put your jack under the lower control arm...raise the jack till you have just a tiny bit of pressure on the LCA...we don't want that thing to come off too hard....
7)remove the cotter pin and nut holding the lower ball joint to the spindle.
8) for those of you who look at the letters LCA and say WTF!?!?! it means lower control arm....for those of you that look at this and laugh...don't....I couldn't figure it out either till I read it like 20 times in all those posts...and I'm ASE certified...
9)after you remove the nut you need to pull the lower ball joint out of the spindle so it (the spindle) can be pulled out of the way....some people use pickle forks....personally I think the only way you should ever use a pickle fork is if you are going to replace the lower ball joint.. pickle forks ruin rubber boots...so here's a trick from the "real pro's in town" (shameless advertising of my own business) beat the crap out of the spindle where the shaft of the ball joint goes through the lil hole thingy...lol back yard jargon. after you hit it a few times it'll pop loose and you'll be able to pull the arm down and out of the way....

10) almost forgot to use the nice little "here's the next step" numbers
11) just felt like we needed an eleven
12)now that the ball join is loose you need to disconnect the sway bar...pretty simple most of them use standard nut and bolt...you normally just need a 1/2 in socket and wrench or maybe 13mm...either one works....oh yea...if your vehicle is older than like 6 months you might want to go buy new links right now...they are cheap and they coat them at the factory with some kind of rust magnet stuff that makes them rust faster and worse than anything else on your vehicle....or you could go buy some ZEP 45....more shameless advertising....the stuff is like 10 times better than PB blaster it's freakin awesome
13)this is the unlucky 13 step so for this one we take a break and drink that beer you set aside earlier
14)after you disconnect the sway bar you're ready for the easiest and most dangerous part of the job...slowly drop the jack...once the LCA is at it's lowest point and nothing is holding it up but the bolts on frame you have successfully managed not to kill yourself when unloading your tension bar....reloading it is easy as pie also...all you do is preload it with the jack attatch the ball joint and everything else then put your little bolt back in till you get to your measurement that you took in the first step or two....

I know I started to use numbers to make this more easy for you to figure out and at the end I kinda put like two and three steps together....but keep in mind...I'm fried.....I was in straight beach like sun for 48 hours...and am probably not fit to change oil today...let alone do this write up...lol if you have any questions about specifics or anything else just askaway....or PM me either way...sorry this took so long to write Treason....hope it helps

[JONGO8]

Got a kick out of this.. Thanks :)

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

Tink, thanks for all the info. From what I can tell about the superlift keys, it's just that the key is made differently so that when you return the adjuster bolt to the same amount exposed, it gives you a little lift. So, either way, probably not completely necessary. Also, I'm getting a squeaking from the rear of the vehicle that I'm pretty sure is coming from the add a leaf. My stock leaves have a plastic spacer of sorts between the leaves at the ends, and the add a leaf didn't. I think I'm going to have to put some work into that. My ride seems a little rough right now. What type of shocks do you use? Mine had the bilstein stockers, and I went to the Rough Country Nitro 9000. I wasn't sure how much of the rough ride is b/c of the cranked torsion bars and how much is b/c of the different shocks. And do new shocks have a "break in period" where I should expect a better ride after a while? Sorry for all the questions...

I originally cranked my torsion bars too much, and the ride was terrible. It was 200 miles after the lift installation before I could get the tires on and alignment done, but I turned the torsion bars down after I realized. I also lost a lot of grease from the CV boots. I'm still not sure how much life I have left in them, I'm not driving much till monday, but I will be checking into it more then.

I'm pretty sure that any 6 inch lift is going to include everything you need. I briefly looked at the superlift 6", and I think it includes some parts to lower the front diff.

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

Everfalling, thanks for all the info man. That was a heck a write up!

Your way sounds a lot better than what we ended up doing... In fact what we did was so bad, that I really don't think I should type it up here. But! The job is complete and no one was hurt. Seems like the tool would be really spiffy to have, but $140 is ridiculous, especially for a 1 time job.

While I'm at it, my Chilton manual says to use a 2 jaw puller (which seems like it'd work), but the superlift instructions said specifically NOT TO DO THIS. Because it would bend the lip on the cross member.

[Blazer69]

got some pix of the lifted truck? what size tires u gonna put on there? prolly can only clear 31's i'm guessing

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

Here is one pic of the completed job. I put some more in my vBGarage--check it out.

Yeah, I got the 31" BFG A/T's. I was really hoping for 32's. They did a test fit of the 31's for me, and it was obvious I couldn't go bigger. As it is, I'm going to trim a little off my lower valence, and bend up the lip of the front fender (rear side) to make sure I don't rub.

One other idea that I've had was to get a set of ZR2 front fenders. They have a larger wheel opening, right?

[87wildside]

Looks good, now go get it dirty!