Anyone with tips on removing torsion bars on a 98 F150 S/C 4x4 4.6L? Removed the adjusment bolt & nuts, both sides, but having trouble removing adjustment bracket(?) which is inside the crossmember. I assumed it removes rearward and have tried a sledgehammer with no luck yet. Used Liquid Wrench, since tough area to get transfluid/acetone mix onto. Am I right in assuming the whole bar slides out rearward from the lower control arm? Is it okay to pound the bar out from the front? Repair manuals not clear enough for me.

 

Yes, the bar slides out rearwards. Yes, if you can get to the front of the bar, it's OK to whack on it. You do have the front end completely off the ground with the control arms hanging completely free, correct?

 

i used a BFH and hit the bar nearest the control arm and pulled on it as well and it eventually came out.

 

Front end hanging both sides, can push the crossmember around a bit but the bracket will not slide off (good luck!) the torsion bar as procedure says. Finally found procedure, albeit for '99 (Section 308-07B Transfer Case), that indicates only RH side has to come off, which makes sense. Should be able to drop crossmemer out of way if I can get RH side off. Just don't want to bend the crossmember too much trying to get the end off. Saw other comments on web about air hammer and gear puller, both of which I do not have.

As for torsion bar, I will try a bar and a bfh to pound out from front of control arm. Thanks for comments.

 

not to Hijack your thread, But I have a question about the bolts for the torsion bars. Mine are at different lengths is that something to worry about? From what I've been told that it is bad and from what I've tried searching and found is that nobody seems to mention anything about it. I did find a picture and nobody had anything to say about it.

Mine look like that but with more thread sticking out. (this was an image that i got from f150.net after someone cranked up there torsion keys)

 

it's fine

 

It's completely fine. Even beyond being completely fine, it's sometimes required. Most often noticed from the factory, they can be used to level your truck from side to side. As an example, a technique for gaining a few free inches of lift on the front is to crank these bolts full to the stop (you've probably at least heard of this). With my truck, this left the truck higher on the drivers side by a solid 1/4". I simply backed off the drivers side bolt until the desired height was achieved paying no mind to the position of the bolt. 100% trouble free.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program already in progress...

 

Without drifting from my original topic, I can tell you my RH adjustment bolt was 3/16" longer (less threaded) than left, but the torque on the RH bar was way more than that on the LH (almost turned by hand after initial release), yet the truck appeared balanced and aligned.

 

No luck on driving key off, BFH and punch w/handle welded on, small air hammer, all no use. Will try and get some tranny fluid/acetone mix in there somehow, and get larger air hammer. Also, will relook at pulling crossmember back as far as possible to see room avail for transfer case. Another forum noted may be able to draw out without removing torsion xmember. I think exhaust may be in way though.

 

Finally some luck, or maybe just a better procedure. Lubed with tranny/acetone mix, wrapped chain around crossmember and tensioned toward rear with a come-along, used BFH and blunt punch from front, and it came off in a few minutes. Driver side was even easier, practice I suppose. Now I can get on with Transfer case/Tranny and get my clutch done.

 

I haven't worked on a ton of them or anything, but I've never had to whack one out that bad, much less use a come a long to get them out. That's crazy.

 

save your self alot of headache your probably now going to get it lose from lower control arm so i took a cut off wheel and split mine in the middle knocked the bottom off then the top to 5 min tops you will need a new control arm but that probably why you are doing this in the first place

 

I would hope he's already gotten them out by now and hasn't been trying to remove them for the past 3 years.

 

yea some of these guys days weeks years i took just minutes after hitting a few times with bfh i said screw it cut.

 

Yes, I did get the keys removed, as noted in Feb 2012 above. New issue, different truck - Broken driver's side Torsion Bar on a 98 Regular Cab 4x4 that's rusted in on both ends. Cannot use what worked last time, as now need to remove rear section of bar forward from key (reverse from previous procedure) as it's broken in middle. Then I have to pound the front section out from front as it removes rearward based on all comments I've read. I'm thinking I should weld a hook on each part, so I have the same pulling support that helped last time. Also, the fuel tank is much closer, and in the way of hammering forward on the rear section through the key hole. I'm hoping I don't have to pull my lower control arm off to get the front. Anyone else have tips on what may work easier. I hope I'm not hijacking my own thread?