I got my spring plates off, now torsion bars are stuck

[Kevins911]

Well I got my spring plates off, the splines were so rusted together no amount of penetrating oil would have gotten through. I guess I'll be needing new spring plates now, but thats a different forum.

Anyways, onto the next problem, the torsion bars wont come out. I sprayed penetrating oil down the tube, I don't know if that will help or not. Any advice on what to do here?

[reesestewww]

Now you get to play with fire. Soak those bushings and lite em up!

No Joke. Best way to get em off.

[oneblueyedog]

Bang one tbar in to push the other out. Then pb blast the t bar that's left (on the inside) and use a long extension(rebar, pipe with a smaller OD?) threaded through the side of the car into the torsion tube against the end of the bar that pushed the other one out, back out the side it normally rests.

But I'm just guessing here.

[oneblueyedog]

Best carnage I've seen lately. You should barbeque the whole bushing assembly for giving you so much hell. Or toss out of a Cessna over a secluded thicket. But the spring steel may still be salvageable along with the expensive bolts.

[rcooled]

Go down to a tool rental shop and get yourself the biggest slide hammer they've got. Figure a way to attach it to the torsion bar and you should be in business.

[adomakin]

coil overs!

sorry!

[Jesset100]

Mine were stuck, but not that much.
Try to hammer it in alittle and pull it out alittle, Rinse, repeat

[at7driver]

Hi,

Try reading through this thread:

stuck rear torsion bars

I did mine on my early 66 911 a few months back.. on side was easy the other was a bit more difficult.. ended up cutting the spring plate off. Once you do have one side out though you can get a small pipe etc.. and stick thru and bang the other side free. One side almost always will come out easier.. good luck.. be sure and read the above thread it has some wild methods..

[Charlie V]

As oneblueyedog says.....

Use a BFH. I used a 5 pound mini sledge. Use one torsion bar as a punch to get the other side out. Then use a dowel or broom handle from the other side to get the last one out. From what I remember, there is about a 4 to 6" shared spline in the middle. Things get a little rusty in there.

When putting the new ones in - use lots of grease/anti seize on the t-bar spline and work it through a couple of times to get things lubed up in there again. This will make it easier when adjusting the suspension for ride height and corner balance. Or - removal down the road.

As for new spring plates???? Did you ruin the existing?? You should be able to reuse.

Good luck.

[crashmy911]

looks like you have some rust thru around those torsion bars too.

[DUK]

I'll bet crashmy911 is right and it'll look like this...

[Kevins911]

Thanks for the advice, as far as the spring plates go there ****ed , just look at the pics. I went to town on the splined ends with my grinder!! I am going to fix all the rust problems down there, and brush on about 6 coats of epoxy before I reassemble everything. I think I'm going to weld on a 1/2" nut to the end of the T-bar, thread a 2" bolt into it and use a slide hammer. I hope that works.

Thanks
Kevin

[Charlie V]

ah yes......I see it now. Ouch!!

So - perfect opportunity to upgrade.

[Imcoz]

Gorilla clamp a vise-grip on there and use the L hook on a slide hammer to beat it out. Yea, that's what I would do

[Allenk]

How have people re-resurfaced/re-done the torsion tube area that the bushings sit in. That looks pretty rough and based on the scale, would likely produce holes in the surface if ground out.

[beepbeep]

This:





Is best to replace with this:

[Charlie V]

wire brush attachment on a drill.

[bkreigsr]

I feel for you man, every shade-tree's recurring nightmare. But you gotta admit, all this figgerin' out the next attempt is part of the 'fun' of DIY, - 'specially when it works.
hang in there
bill k

[safe]

Kevin, try a slide hammer.
Wiggle the bars to brake the rust and try to get some penetrating oil in there with some long extension.

[adomakin]

Goran, how noisy does that setup make the car?