[Superman]

Thx. I'm not sure what's damaged but I don't think it's tat bad. the a-arm has moved 3/16" rearward. But the distance between the front torsion mount and the aluminum cross beam is not changed. There is a 3/16" gap at the front bushing, and the distance is taken up in two places at the rear of the a-arm. The bushing there is mashed a sixteenth or two and the rest of the distance is my concern. The rearward a-arm bracket that sits inside the cross beam, and through which the mounting bolt goes, has moved a sixteenth or two rearward. I guess I'm not sure how it can move relative to the crossbeam, even this little bit, since they are held by the same bolt.

I have questions. It looks like a special tool is necessary to remove the big castellated nut at the base of the strut/a-arm joint. True?

Can I sidestep this by removing the nut and wedge bolt that retains the ball joint, and just slip the ball joint down out of the strut?

What the heck keeps the end cap, and even the entire torsion bar from sliding rearwards out of its home? Instructions say that, once you have backed the adjusting bolt out of that end cap, the cap just slides off the end of the torsion bar. And it does. And then the torsion bar can just be pulled out. So what, besides just that adjusting bolt, keeps the cap on and the torsion bar held forward?