Be advised to all who are watching. When reassembling… The only way to get the torsion keys to connect back in the torsion bar is with the wheels on! Ask me how I know 😂 But Overall, Great video man.
Excellent. When reinstalling, its a good idea to coat them with anti-seize. Instead of counting the turns with the adjustment nut, I simply measured the top of the bolt, to the base of the brace. DO NOT USE A REGULAR C-CLAMP - BUY THE RIGHT TOOL. The truck HAS to be off the ground to do this correctly. You need to get as much tension off the keys as possible. Funny story.. I bought my truck new (custom order), and when I picked it up, it had a slight lean to the left. I asked why it was like that, and the dealer said it was probably because of the 35 gallon tank full of fuel. It always bugged me, but I motored on. When it came time to rebuild the front end, I discovered that the driver side torsion key adjustment bolt wasn't even touching the key! I guess the factory forgot to set it. Drove it for 15 years like that. Now it rides flat like it supposed to.
@hawkdsl Thanks for the good points. We forgot to mention that the front of the truck was up on jack stands, it's in the description now. To your point about the adjustment nut, we actually did both but we only mentioned the turns. Can't believe the forgot to set on of your adjustment bolts! That would have bothered the crap out of me!!
@@SuburbanRanch It drove me crazy.. and I was amazed that the bolt was still in place. She had her fun back in the day, 4 wheeling and all the other ruff stuff. But that bolt was still there. Crazy.
man thank you so much, i was so scared of my torsion bars before this video. i really appreciate it, ive changed every single thing on the front suspension and still have a wobble. Im on a time crunch and this shows me i know i can do my lower control arm bushings in one night and still get to work the next day hahaha
@Anything Roam It would probably be pushing it to replace the lower control arm bushings in 1 night! We didn’t replace those ourselves so I don’t know how long it will take. We had a shop do it.
Thank you so much for this.I am replacing a transfer case on a GMC3500 out in the Arizona desert and this cross member needs to be removed to get it out. I went ahead and bought the tool from Amazon.
If you have a rusty truck like mine it’ll be seized. Easiest way I found was to cut a notch in the crossmember to give me space to pull the torsion bar lower and cut a relief slot in the torsion key. Once I did this the key popped free immediately. I welded the cross member back up on both sides on the bench, hit it with black paint, and it’s good as new. Slide the new keys on and you’re done. Takes like 2 hours Helps if you’re a journeyman welder I guess lol
One thing Ive done as a DIY beginner is mark how the bar is loaded into the keys at both ends with paint. That way you know for sure you will load it exactly how it was. Otherwise it is possible to not have it loaded into the lower control arm right.
I wish it were that easy for my Yukon. Another crossmember and a fuel tank prevent good hammer strikes. The torsion bar became one with the lower control arm and the key. Had to cut the key out. Now trying to find stock key replacements. Still great video!
I have just done this on my 1999 Tahoe 4x4. I needed to disconnect the muffler flange so that the pipe would go out of the way, like it does in your video @2:00. I also used the OTC 7822 tool, which has worked out better in my case, as it has a slanted side towards the exhaust for extra clearance. There is another version, OTC 7832, which has equivalent shape to the OEM tool that you are using. However, I must say I find both either OTC versions BETTER than OEM, because their use of 7/8-14 thread vs. the 7/8-9 thread that the OEM tool in this video is using.
if your removing them altogether, I can only assume you're doing lower a arm bushings and ball joints. Excited for that video, as I'm preping to do it myself!
Good pace on the video and excellent explanations of every step. One thing though, you MUST avoid scratching the torsion bars which can/will lead to a crack and failure.
Even though yours was rusted, you got lucky, I've pounded on the end of my torsion bar trying to remove it and so far have no luck. I am going to try CRC freeze off on the torsion bar, see if that helps. I've never used it before, but would rather not heat the metal, since it is a spring metal, I don't want to heat it up. But most of the heat would be on the torsion key anyway, which is getting replaced. So if the freeze off doesn't work, I'll get the torch.
I did my 89 GMC,the bars wouldn't budge hammering them the easiest way was the put a portapower with a bolt on an open end a good amount of pressure and it
Most excellent videos, Dan! Been thinking about replacing control arm bushings while I'm half way there doing ball joints on my '98 Tahoe 4WD but not looking forward to working on my back from a creeper... wish I had high lift! It has "only" 206k miles so it could probably wait a little but since everything else will be new... So thinking about the rusted-in torsion bars others have been "cussing" ;) over (and you started off praying over - too funny!) got me thinking. Once the bars are fully unloaded, wouldn't there be enough play to just drop the lower swing arms down a little below the frame mounts to be able to slide the swing arm forward and off the torsion bar left in place with a hanger wire? That would avoid taking out the cross bar and dealing with torsion bar frozen in the key, yes? Assuming, of course, the bar isn't frozen into the control arm!
@Rob Whitlow That’s actually a pretty good question. My guess is there won’t be enough room to drop the control arm without removing the torsion bar but you could give it a shot.
Hey Guys .. love the channel. I have a slight drop (sag) on the passenger side of my 1996 k1500. I rebuilt the entire front end and rear end and was surprised to see that the problem was unresolved. Could this be a torsion bar adjustment thing?
@Jay T Ours was also slightly lower on the passenger side. We suspected it was for weight offset of the full gas tank and driver but we are still unsure.
Great Video. If you was going to remove the lower control arm anyway, would it be easier to remove the torsion bar with the lower arm instead of removing that central cross member?
@Daz Dazzar You could remove the lower control arms with the torsion bars once you knock them out of the keys. It’s one less step, but the lower control arms will be much heavier and harder to handle
So I am doing a 2015 k3500 and when I unscrewed the tension bolt there was no more tension and everything came out by hand floating super easy. Is there something wrong with my setup?
When re installing, do you have the tire hanging freely or do you jack the tire up, putting the weight on torsion key as it's lowered, if that makes sense
Would you happen to know what size those torsion bar adjustment bolts are? I went out there the other day with a 3/4 inch socket and it was a bit loose. I'm guessing an 18mm ?
Ya believe me when the one I am working on hasn't been took a part 1990 Chevy Silverado 4×4 30 years 3 grown men beat on that dam thing all day with no luck what so ever
@@SuburbanRanch my uncle has pulled the lower control arm bushing off and now needs the rivets gone from the ball joints. I told him he should just bought the whole lower control arm and did it in one piece but he's been hammering away to get the bushing out, I fear the jagged edges might shear the new bushing under pressure, plus he's towing a 30 ft 5th wheel gooseneck on a ball hitch. It's a 90z k1500 everything rebuilt new engine. Just updating the whole front end. He's about to drive it from Utah to Texas so hopefully he'll make it. Although I wouldn't doubt if the wrecker has to come grab it from the drive way lol
@Ashton Guillory We actually have a video on removing those rivets. You have to use the old lower control arms because they don’t make new ones. Here’s that video though. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q97TVSpFQ8s.html
What if I just need to replace the mounts do I just put the torsion bars back in the same way? I got one side installed no hassle but the other side is the not fitting in
@Suburban Ranch - Hey.....Absolutely love your ViDz buddy...Srry ....don't know your name...So whats your name....I'm Steve - with my 1988 Chevy K 1500 4x4 Silverado Off Road Edition Z-71. Well,,,, at least thats what all the stickers on the truck are saying - hell...who knows what it really is ....with all this new Technology now days it could very well be a Dodge Power Wagon dressed in chevy colors and clothes - just kidding - and trying to put a smile on your face my brother...hope it worked - Have a great day Mr. No Name....lmao Steve Capizzi Age 57 Columbus, Ohio USA And Yes - - - I am a CHEVY MAN...!!!
@@SuburbanRanch Hi Dan - And your welcome...!! Now if you could please tell me the reason why the Torsion Bars would need replacing on your truck - cuz they look perfectly fine to me Dan...?? But...I'm not a mechanic like you are,,,,so give it to me - Why replace them...?? Thanks Steve
Oh ....and I'm sorry Dan....One more question......why does'nt my 1988 chevy k 1500 come with coil springs and a sway bar in the the front end cuz it seems to be missing both of them...???
@steven capizzi In this case, the torsion bars are being removed as the first step in the process of removing the lower control arms so that we can replace the lower control arm bushings. Regarding your other question, the torsion bars are the springs, the k series trucks do not have coil springs. Not sure about your sway bar, perhaps someone removed it?
@@SuburbanRanch am I gonna need to move the hole crossmember out of the way also? Or do I have enough room to pull the torsion bar out of the way some and pull the out the old control arm and install new?
@seamorebuttz In our upcoming videos we will be rebuilding the front suspension and removing the torsion bar is the first step in that process. Lots of people remove these to install lift keys as well.
@John Wilson You can probably remove the transmission without removing the torsion bars and crossmember, but it will be a lot harder to pull the transfer case out since you will have to lift it over the crossmember
@Zombie Nugz Yeah we got lucky with no rust. I have seen a video of a guy using a jackhammer but this sounds like a good idea. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AYxZzWj0yX0.html
I'm getting ready to install my torsion bars on my 97 Chevy k1500 suburban and I was wondering if there's any front suspension parts that need taken off before I crank the torsion bars? Like do shocks or anything like that need taken off before cranking them?
@Bread 101 No, nothing on the front suspension needs to be removed. The from end of the truck should be up though. We have a video on reinstalling the torsion bars actually, we start the torsion bars at 36:45. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VQ6Y5VoUQBw.html
@@SuburbanRanch I'm in the process of putting the front suspension back together I didn't know if there was anything I had to keep off before loading the torsion bars. Thanks for the info I appreciate it!
