Torsion Bar issue/question?

[Puller]

New to the forum so I will say Hi to all!

Now for the question, I just purchased a Z71 1995 1500 Regular cab to restore. I'm in the process of rebuilding the front end and thought that the previous owner had the torsion bolts turned up. Upon further inspection the bolts aren't touching the keys but the trucks a-arms are bottomed out of the frame from being lifted so much and have zero droop when jacked up. I've had about seven of these style trucks and never seen this before. Is it possible to clock the torsion bars and reinstall them? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as everything appears to be stock hardware. I am not looking forward to removing the torsion bars as there is no way to relieve the pressure on them. Thanks, I'll take some pics tomorrow to show what not to do on an IFS and to give you a better idea what is going on.

 

[LoudnLifted88]

just take and loosen the bolts and it will lower the front end back down

 

[shelbyt.67]

He said the bolts and keys are jacked. Bolts not touchin the keys. Fuggin need to see this.

 

[shelbyt.67]

I would put a floor jack under the a-arms and jack it up, remove ball joint, then lower the jack. (from a safe distance)

 

[Puller]

Not great pictures but you can see the bolts are backed out all the way and the key is setting on the keeper. Changing out the steering box and pitman are right now and then I'm going to see about undoing the torsion bar issue.

 

[shelbyt.67]

OK, I see it now. The bars have been clocked wrong. U can remove the keys the same way u regularly would. I use a gear puller to lift the key up and remove the keeper. Then release the key. In your case u may have to get creative about it. Maybe jack the arms and remove the ball joint nut after removing the key keeper. All depends on the tension left on the arms after the key is released. IDK, with that much torque put into the bars, It would be a see as u go type of deal.

 

[JollyGreen]

How can you tell the bars have been clocked wrong?

 

[shelbyt.67]

How can you tell the bars have been clocked wrong?

They are torqin the arms all the way down to the stops without the bolts. The keys were resting on the keepers as opposed to being cranked to the max by the bolts