Help! Front Torsion Bar

[kpsoerensen]

Hello,

Looking for tips to separate/remove the stock torsion bar from the stock control arm on a 1977 911s.

I am in the process of replacing the front control arm assemblies with the Dansk Control Arms + Lemforder Ball Joints. I am getting rid of the currently installed control arms entirely, and keeping the Torsion Bars. Trouble is, I can't separate the Torsion Bars from the control arms. I am trying to do it with the control arm off the car. I have sprayed PB Blaster into the tube to see if that will loosen it. I have tried pulling on it with a vice grip (with towel wrapped around it and not clamped on the splines) - I have put a pickle fork in between the vice grip and the control arm to gain some leverage but it wont budge. I am reading in Wayne's book that he suggests drilling a hole into the dust cap on the other side and banging it out. Is this my only option, or is there a trick I'm not trying?

I have the front right off the car (this is the one I am working on) and the front left is still on the car (haven't tried to remove the torsion bar on this one).

Thank you!

[kpsoerensen]

Bump! I can post pics if needed.

[juanbenae]

you should be able to remove the cap from the front of the a-arm and punch them out with a hammer and something like a short piece of 1" wood dowel with it secured in a vice..

if you are going so far with all the new parts why save a set of old torsion bars that seem to be frozen in the 45 y/o a-arms? for around $250-300 you could have the piece of mind that a fresh set of bars provide.

[kpsoerensen]

Thank you @juanbenae,

I have new Koni shocks going in, front and rear. I'm not doing much other than spirited driving, do you still think a TB upgrade is worthwhile? I'm already a bit over budget on this project and was thinking of doing the TB upgrade to both the front and rear, at the same time, in the future.

I'm hoping to just get the stocks on out and put into the new control arms...with that said, how do I remove the dust cap? I don't see anything to grip onto to pry it off. Just drill a hole and put a punch in the hole and bang it out that way? Or do I need to remove the whole cap.

Thanks in advance!

[GH85Carrera]

If the old Torsion bars are that hard to get out, they are likely rusted in place, and very likely to break in the near future. When I did my suspension upgrade I found the stock sizes are hard to find due to lack of demand. I replaced my fronts with 21 and rear with 27. My wife did not notice the difference and she is happy to ride with me on long road trips.

[Mark Salvetti]

Slippery slope I know, but don't dismiss the idea of replacement torsion bars (even the same size) until you see the condition of the old ones. If they are badly rusted or scored (from worn out bushings that allowed them to rub), then you should probably replace.

I hope to have the stock bars out of my SC available soon, but I have no idea what they look like.

Don't forget to factor repeating the alignment/corner balance when calculating the cost of doing the bars "later".

Mark

[drewr]

You can probably find some decent used stock torsion bars in the marketplace section. Lots of people who upgraded will have their stock bars laying around. If not rusted or scored, will probably be fine. They should have the original paint unblemished.

When I did this same repair, my bars were pretty damaged, and I had to replace.

[kpsoerensen]

Okay good to know, even though I used a towel over my vice grip I definitely chipped off some of the paint on the TB. Splines look fine otherwise.

I'll see if I can get the dust cap off and bang them out to have a look. Sounds like new ones are probably the way to go - @Mark - slippery slop for sure. Is it alright if I just do the front TB and do the rears at a later date? Also, there is no rear sway bar, and I have the stock 22mm sway bar up front.

The complementary parts I am putting on now are: Turbo Tie Rods, Koni Shocks (front and rear), Control Arms + bushings, and new bushings for the front Sway Bar.

[kpsoerensen]

Pictures for additional context. Drilled a hole in the dust cap, can't pry it off. Tried to hammer it out with a punch, no dice.

[gtc]

I think you can knock the torsion bar forwards and pop out that expansion plug to get better access. I would go to town on it with a dead blow hammer and see what happens.

FWIW, that plug is available through Porsche - Part number 900-040-008-01.

[drewr]

That's weird. The dust cap usually pops right off. I was able to wiggle out the torsion bars by hand. It makes me think someone pounded the torsion bar in place, or you have some serious corrosion going on in the forward splines.

If you're planning to replace the A arms anyway, you might beat on it with a punch and a BFH to see what's really going on.

[75 911s]

Those control arms don't look bad. 19mm front stock tbars are cheap. Powdercoat the control arms and send the new ones back, use that money to buy new / better tbars. or new strut inserts

[kpsoerensen]

Good call, but my problem remains that I can't get the old Tbars out. Put PB blaster down the tube and let it sit for a few hours, drilled a hole in the dust cap (it won't pop off completely) and pounded on it with a punch and a BFH as suggested. No luck and I broke a punch in the process. Not sure what else to do to get the old TBs out...

If do go with new Tbars, I have been doing research and most of the people asking for suggestions on TBar sizing are running some mix of Bilstein shocks. I have Konis classics in the front. I know I'll likely get a million answers but what size is suggested for a street car? 19, 20, or 21?

[GH85Carrera]

Likely an air hammer will push them right out. But you will need an air compressor and the aforementioned air hammer with a proper bit.

[kpsoerensen]

Yes, I have an air hammer. Good call. I'll give it a try and report back. Thank you!

[kpsoerensen]

Well they aren’t budging. So I guess new torsion bars are in order. Suggestions in terms of size? Koni classics in front. Seems like 21mm is the standard, but again most people commenting that suggestion are running Bilsteins. Any difference for Koni?

[safe]

A sledge hammer hammering it forward and or heating the front spline part of the a-arm.

BTW, your bushings are shot replace those.

[kpsoerensen]

Yep I am putting in entirely new control arms with associated bushings. I gave up on getting the stock ones out and ordered 21mm/27mm solid sway a way TBs.