he is right on the clamp, thats how i do it.
they will come out, but if you have never had them out you might need to use a hammer to "massage" it out. once out, and you put the new bar in add a little anti-seize to the ends...it might save you some time down the road.

its not really all that bad of a job...JUST BE CAREFUL AND USE YOUR HEAD...you should be fine. keep your limbs out of the travel path of parts/tools.
i have done it several times...it still is a little nerve racking.

 

Thanks, oh ya good job warthog on the ride of the month man!

 

thank you sir...i appreciate it.

 

No problem

 

Wow, they made this look really easy. I'm replacing all my control arms this weekend and the torsion bars are the only part I'm actually worried about. Never removed them before.

 

PLEASE FOR YOUR LIFE AND FAMILY SAKE DONT USE A C-CLAMP VERY DANGEROUS AND CANT HANDLE THE TREMANDOUS PRESSURE THAT THEY ARE UNDER. jaw puller is a little better but still not safe nor recommended. the $80 for the tool, is the way to go. ive seen tools let go and break a guys arm, luckily thats all he broke. take it for what you want but i dont like seing or hearing about people getting hurt when working on their vehicles.

 

That looks like a much more substantial bolt they took out of there, than what I remember from my Sonoma several years back. I don't think I'd do it without releasing the pressure on the bolt. I would also not recommend a C-clamp. A jaw puller worked for me, but you still gotta be smart about it.

 

* Noted - will absolutely not use a C-CLAMP.

Question, and I hope this doesn't sound idiotic.. but here it goes.

Using 2 floor jacks (one to raise the truck and one to lift and lower the control arms) and jack stands for safety.. if I remove the upper control arm first, then slowly lower the jack that is supporting the lower control arm until it's free of tension, would this be a safe way to remove the torsion bar as well as the lower control arm?

Again, I'm really not trying to sound like an idiot, I just don't have a shop lift available or the money to take it to a shop. This ZR2 is starting to scare me. lol

I've never worked on a 4x4 with T-Bars before. My suzuki samurai is way different.

 

Im having trouble removing the crossmember where the keys are located in! How the heck do I do it? Both T-bars are unloaded and free hanging, crosspiece is unbolted

 

I just replaced both upper control arms and both lower control arms this weekend. But I didn't even remove the tbars from the rear cross member. Once my lower control arms were hanging, I just unbolted them from the frame and they slid right out of the control arm.

However, if you're not removing the front components, you may be able to use a punch and a hammer to push it out of the key. Mine had a hole behind the key that a decent sized punch could fit through. I'll go out and take a peek at mine in the morning to see how that thing comes out. I'll browse through the the forum to see if anyone else has posted how to do that. I'll update soon.