Help.... I'm in the middle of replacing the transfer case on my '97 F150 4x4. I've released the tension and have removed the adjusting nut and bolt for the torsion bars but with 150K miles on the truck I guess the trosion bar is beyond rusted into place. I can't get the bars to break loose of the adjusting arm or the control arm. I've tried beating it from the back by the cross member, tried heating both the control arm and the adjuster arm, tried using a hydraulic jack from behind but I can't get the bars to break loose so I can remove the cross member. All I need to do is to get the adjuster arms out so I can drop the crossmember. Any suggestions?

 

Hi dobie and welcome to the forum

Any luck yet?
I remove the torsion bar crossmember bolts and then hit the lever ( adjuster arm) with an air hammer. It usually knocks them out quite easily. If you dont have an air hammer you can probably just use a big punch and big hammer. You can get the punch in to the lever from under the corssmember. It's easier to take a look that have me try to explain it Just pushing on them with a jack wont work. You have to "shock" them loose.
Getting the bar out of the control arm is a real pain usually. Today I had to replace 2 lower control arms on a truck. I heated the arms up almost red hot and then beat the heck out of the bars to get them out. I have a cut off torsion bar that I use as a punch. I bungee strap it to the frame at the front so it stays where I want it while I wail on it with a sledge hammer.

 

I was wondering how bad it would be to remove those bars. Dave's explanation made it quite clear you have to use FORCE.

 

Well brute strength won out over brains again. I heated the adjuster arm and then beat them off towards the back of the truck. I like the idea about the old torsion bars being used as a punch. Thanks for your help. Much appreciated.

 

Good to hear you got it out
Have you tackled the top bolts on the transfer case yet?
Man I hate those
lol
I always wire wheel the bolts and run a thread chaser through the bolt holes in the transfer case before I install it. That way you hopefully dont have to fight the whole way with the bolts.